Coilovers vs. stock suspension at the track

GSS138

Actual suspension movement/travel data is hard to obtain and requires some pretty expensive software to analyze. Your best bet without race team grade tools is butt dyno. That being said reading temperature curves right after sessions tells you a lot.

I agree that using one of the $20 laser guns is not as accurate as a probe type device in terms of reading the actual temp, however it does still give you a good profile of how well your tires are touching the ground and overall compliance by indicating which parts of the tire are being worked the most.

You want to take the outside/middle/inside temps of each tire-preferably in the hot pit after 4-5 hot laps(have a buddy help you).

So let's say you take the temps of the front left tire Outside-Middle-Inside, and you get the following:

155-135-125 this would tell you that the outside of the tire is getting over worked and that the inside is not doing enough-you are leaving some grip unused. Probably add some negative camber so that more of the tread is put to work.

a reading like:

145-195-145 would tell you your tire pressure is too high.

165-135-160 would mean your tire pressure is too low.

135-155-175 would mean drive faster!


155-155-155 means you nailed it. The entire range of the tire is being optimized as you go around the track.

Caroll smith goes into this in pretty good detail in Tune To Win.

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