Much appreciation for all the support and advice for all that given.

I went out last night down to the garage and took off the front passenger side wheel (it has a very apparent negative camber only on that wheel) and checked everything, nothing was cracked, broken or loose. I also checked the wheel and rim and that was all fine too. I just couldn't figure out how there is such a noticable camber, so it must be some sort of alignment problem, which I will have to take care of today otherwise a good tire will go to waste.

I noticed that my steering is a bit off too, I have to keep the steering wheel pointed at the 2 o'clock position just to drive the car straight.

Would anyone have any idea what's up with that?

Thanks again.

-Dan

 

Dan- Get your front end alignment done by a shop with a good reputation. They will set the steering centering by adjusting the tie rod ends. Did you or the previous owner hit a curb or bad pothole, or was the car in an accident? You may want to have them check the rear alignment too.

A second issue is perhaps your tires. Probably no one improvement will upgrade the cornering ability of your car than a top line performance tire. The stock tire for the R1 was the Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position, which is now available as a S-02 or S-03 version. I have had the S-03 on the car as well as three other so-called performance tires from other manufacturers. The worst was a set of Yokohama A003, which I could break loose in almost any gear and would let loose on turns without warning. The S-03 are predictable and have at least 40-50% better lateral adhesion and perhaps the same improvement on straight ahead traction. If your tires are not up to the performance capability of the rest of your car, you will never really appreciate how well it handles.

 

this is my first car, so getting used to it wasn't hard, i love it, and i drive careful when i drive my mom's lexus or my dads audi, probably more carefully than i need to, i'm glad i learned this from the 7, it'll keep me safe. I've hydroplaned twice, both times pretty serious (once on an onramp next to the metal barrier, the other time in the middle of a heavily trafficked intersection), the rx7 gets scary when wet =\

i definitely agree with the being nice to other people statement. the ricers do what they can with what they have, they drool at our cars, don't be an *** and roll up your window and drive off, talk to them, they're people too and they look up to us. I don't mind sharing the beauty of my car with other people, showing off is another thing. if they want to admire it, i respect that, and i respect their cars as well.

 

I dont' know how much longer I can wait, but a reputable speed shop near my apart does alignment but they're busy today and I don't have time tomorrow so I made an appointment for Friday afternoon. If worse comes to worse I'll just get it done tomorrow at one of those world wide tire shops that do alignments, I just can't bear to drive around with that camber in the front wearing out my pretty tires.



YayeR - Agreed.

-Dan

 

A book that helped me a lot is called "Secrets Of Solo Racing - Expert Techniques For Autocross & Time Trials", by Henry A. Watts. I've read it a number of times, particularly before a track event. I think it's really good, as I learn something every time I read it.

The track is the best (and only appropriate) place to learn how to drive fast.

 

It took me a curb scratch, alignment, and one hell of ride to realize when, and when NOT to push my car.

 

I'm in the same boat as you........... Those are things that I will never ever forget as long as I live.......

-Dan

 

Not much, but this may help.

 

Thanks a lot for the source. I will look into it.

-Dan

 

It is very scary when you lose control of your car. The FD is the first rwd car i've driven, and i'm still adjusting to it. I've gone to a big empty parking lot at night, and played around a few times, even in the rain. that helps alot, you just can't stay long or else it's an absolute certainty that the police will be called. I am going to look into a few days of driving school for after winter when i take the 7 out of storage.

I've gone thru 2 wheels too many since i've gotten my car. It really isn't worth it to see what the limits of your car are when other people could be involved.

Thanks to the more experienced driver's here who've shared experiences/techniques to us 'rookies'.

nice avatar by the way Dan.

Jimmy

 

I admit I've neglected to use better judgement before in my RX-7. When about 3 years ago while I had my 93 base model I was testing out my new blueprinted turbos and spun the car about 4 times at 85 mph on a 4 lane road. I think it wouldnt have spun out, but I hit the brakes in a turn (I know I know, never brake hard in a bend, especially if you are already moving too fast). No one else was on the road which is why I was ******* around in the first place, but still not a well thought out decision. Didnt wreck or collide in any way with anything, but a major wake up call non the less. Everyone be careful, I already read about one death in this forum this week, we dont need another. Think before you make any drastic decisions.

 

Evil,
I notice you in bay area.
I am in Fremont, where are you?
I found some practice place in fremont if you want to play.
I spun my car just 3 weeks into owning it.
I let go the gas during turn, the car fistail left right, then made a 180 degree, with me ended up facing the traffic, with engine stall. Quickly start the engine, and went into a driveway, where several other drivers on the road, stop by and check me out, making sure I am okay, a few suggested that I do donuts and other stuff in mall parking lot before pushing the car more. I also go to auto-x sometimes.
PM me.

Reza

 

Yeah I'm in the Hayward area for most of the weekdays then back to 925 for the weekends. I'll hit you up when I get back.

Do any of you get nightmares in your heads when you spin out thinking that something worse than death can happen as a result of the spinout? I mean like going mountain driving at night, if I had spun out at the wrong corner, I could've slipped and fell down the edge and died a horrible death and nobody would have known about it. Or how about on public streets, if I ended up crashing into someone and then seriously injuring me or the other person(s), how would I live on to repair the damages? My insurance rates would explode for life, the hospital bills will be unimaginable and on top of that getting the guts to go and apologize to everyone for what you did.....

I dunno why but I seem to think of the worst case senario and it keeps running through my head.

-Dan

 

Dan,

Let me know if you want to goto the track with me sometime. I go quite often. Its safe and fun.

 

Yeah I would but I don't know if I want to sign up for all these things and then pay annual fees and event fees for one race. I'll go and watch tho..

-Dan

 

I haven't got into autoX yet, I do 1/4 drag. Its fun too. Its 20 bucks to run.

David

 

Great advice, Max.

On a related note, my wife and I were in California visiting her parents a couple weeks ago, and at a rest area we stopped at near Buttonwillow, there were two wrecked (but obviously very recently new) Boxsters on the back of a flatbed that I figured must have come fresh from the track.

I think half the problem is that you've now got owners who have never driven rear-wheel drive sports cars with decent horsepower before, and you've got a younger group of owners now who apparently never learned or don't often practice preventative maintenance... like checking the condition of their tires before going out "drifting" in the rain...

I don't think that the FD is necessarily any more difficult to drive "fast" (and in fact, in some ways it is much easier) than any other high-power sports car. I think that the other half of the problem is that the car is so stable and corners so well, that people get lulled into a false sense of security, and when the wake-up call comes, they're often going far too fast to do anything about it.

Common sense and experience go a long way towards keeping your butt (and car) in one piece. You didn't automatically inherit any new driving skills just by buying the car, so your best bet is to take a driving instruction course or two at the track and periodically check the "normal wear" items on the car... like the brake pads, rotors, and tires.

 

rwd from fwd isn't much of a problem to get used to. you can feel the limit of traction around a turn so you still have a sense of what speed to take it at. the problem imo is you're driving a turbo car. you have to realize that a turbocharged car's power curve is not linear. if those turbos kick in when you're already at the limit of traction going around a turn your in for a whole heap of trouble.

 

fdracer - the sequential system seems to be more difficult to "predict" or probably in my case "get used to". I was always concerned that second turbo was going to kick in going around a corner and start me on a ride I wasn't ready for.

Now that I am single, the power comes on so much more predictably and no pull-dip-wham like I had with the modded sequential twins. Now it's get ready, get set...spool...shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!

K

 

Dan, if you get my wheels on your car you will really notice a reduction of snapping ur rear end out so easily......... the grip is scary at times....

 

yeah exactly my point.

 

Just got my alignment done. The guy says the tests and results are like night and day. Camber and caster were completely different from each other after he re-aligned my wheels. Nothing broken, bent or bad news like that.



FRONT LEFT/RIGHT
Camber 0.2/-2.6
Caster 6.7/4.1
Toe 0.54/0.44
Total Toe 0.98

REAR LEFT/RIGHT
Camber -1.2/-0.9
Toe 0.12/-0.02
Total Toe 0.10


As you can see my readings were pretty ugly and total toe was off by almost an inch. The guy tells me that I had all these weird toe problems and he fixed them and made them a little better. The car drives like nothing ever happened and I couldn't be more happier.

-Dan

 

glad to hear it dan, I figured when you told me this that it was just an alignment problem. I think it would be difficult to mess anything up other than tires or alignment at 40 MPH.

David

 

dan... my alignment specs are better then that
and they are not that bad on the tires....

 

Thanks for the chat man. I'm all back on track now and go back and start doing what I left off which was order the downpipe and get my wheel deal done.

-Dan