Ok, i understand the TC is a front wheel drive.

I drove my cousins car today, he has a WRX impreza, he got it today.

1) that thing is fast...wow...turbo starts spooling and BAM! im to the back of my seat.

2) AWD, wow, goes through the corners like awesome!! Sticks so well, and is on rails.


okkkk, so heres my question, and i know it'll never handle like a WRX -- but, is their anything to make it handle around corners similar. I want my car, to go into the corners hard, and just stick. I understand I need stickier tires (suggestions would be nice) but what else..as far as sway bars, coil overs, etc...

Qauife LSD? Thats some big bucks, but how well does it help...

Anyways, let me know. I understand it sounds like a stupid question, and im not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Thanks~

 

with the money you'd have to spend to make a tc handle NIce, you mite as well go buy a better handling car. the tc is all about looks and features/price. imho

 

well, coilover, strut tower bar, swaybar, sticky tires (wider as well) will make a huge difference. LSD will help power yourself through corners

and i havent found a stock wrx fast. they get a 1 car lead on me because of awd but but thats it, i can hang with them. they really aernt fast.

 

Yea, it was nothing stunning, but the pickup was so nice, its pretty much, how I want my car to drive, but mine a little faster of course!!

With all that stuff, would it even be compareable??

ps: the reason I wont sell my TC and buy a used WRX or EVO is because this is my first car and madre would be ____ed!!

im gonna dump all my money from work into parts for this

 

What does fwd have to do with anything? Honda's over seas have killed competition with their type-r classes and other racing series they enter. Look at the honda fit, Spoon's fit ran identical times on their test course (road course track) as a stock nsx using the same 1.5l and 99% was only modifying suspension, wheels, and addition of a roll cage.

I've ran against very few rwd cars in autocross, but i've beat a few. And comparing times to friends at some events last year, i ran faster than them on a few runs. Now of course, the wrx and especially Sti can kill you in this environment, given the proper driver. And honestly, very few drivers that go to these kinds of events know how to drive well enough to use awd as an advantage. Theres quite a few, but most common drivers don't.

The tC's biggest disadvantages are, top heavy and weight in general. I've ran against two tC's in autocross so far, one modified and one not, killed both of them. One of the drivers was a good driver, the other one wasn't there to compete more or less just have some fun.

So basically what i'm getting at is this, drivetrains have nothing to do with the ability to handle and corner. Secondly, you have two pretty big disadvantages that play against you with pulling good times. The tC can easily out corner a stock wrx with just springs, shocks, better tires and sways with equal drivers.

 

Ok, well the problem with my TC now is the fact that I seem to get lots of body roll. Today I drove it pretty ____in hard going on a pretty good onramp today, and it just felt like the car was wobbeling pretty bad.

As you said its top-heavy, and I defiently felt it, but it felt like the tires where rolling underneath me, that probably has a lot to do with preasure / the tires..

anyways, im stoked to find out I can drive this thing hard and still feel safe with some extras! :D

 

The tires suck stock on the tC, alot of again has to do with the weight being tossed around. And top heavy hurts you guys bad. Get some coilovers, Tein ss's are pretty good, i haven't been keeping up with tC parts so you'll have to look around. Get some sways, don't get the shock mount kind, get true sways that mount to the subframe. If you can't find any, have some custom made. Shock mount sways help, but if you really want to make a big difference go all the way. Next, pick up some light weight 16's or 17's (i would recommend 15's but that wouldn't do you justice since stock you have 17's) and put some good rubber on them. Or keep your stock wheels, and put some money into better tires. Next thing you could do is run some camber, i'm not talking about full blown 5 degree camber. 1-2degree camber makes a huge difference in cornering, and regardless of what people tell you it doesn't eat away at your tires. I've had 1.5degree camber in my rear, and .5 in the front of my box for over a year now. No problems. I need new tires though since after daily driving, and 8 events of autocross last year..It takes its abuse.

If you want to do autocross, you might also want to work on top end power. Majority of the time, you will be in the high rpms, and if most of your power is low end, your going to regret it. This would be a great start for someone who daily drives, and wants a well cornering tC. Don't expect to beat everything, the tC is a much better drag car than anything else, but you would kill a stock wrx.

 

its all in throttle and steering control and precision. with any car.

 

To an extent, ive been racing motocross all my life and recently moved-on to 125 shifter karts, not to brag or anything but I consider myself a pretty skilled driver..

I just like to pux my stuff to the max :-x

 

...

 

First, on the same weight and similar geometry, I would put myself in a RWD against a FWD ANY day. FWD DOES make a huge difference. The reason you see cars with fwd handling so well is that the whole reason FWD was ever used was to allow a small, low powered engine move a car due to its lower driveline losses. So you see many ridiculously small and light FWD cars. Start adding the power back and you will see anyone building a RWD or AWD.. hence any actual sports or race car.

Second, the tC does pretty well on its own, it just isnt set up as a "sports car" stock

Now, all that aside, first and foremost get some sticky tires. Second, lower it a little (and yes, too low is bad for cornering due to its effects on the cars geometry, so far I have heard that anything more than a 1.5" drop on the tC starts throwing the geometry off) and use some decent springs. Third, at least run a stiffer rear sway, but replacing both will help a lot. Just keep the rear stiffer to get rid of some of the understeer that FWDs suffer with (another reason I would rather corner hard in a RWD.. oversteer is controllable, even useable if you are experienced.. understeer is worthless all the way around. )

Do those things and the car should be pretty fun to drive. Of course, you can go as far as you like. But even with just springs I found the car to handle great compared to a lot of cars. The body roll and weight setup is its biggest detriment.

 

I always thought of the strut as mainly cosmetic considering performance gains. BTW, you're manual, right?

 

yes i have a manual

The front sturt tower would benifit from a strut tower bar i would presume. but there are alot of other threads on this

 

I don't like the roll that the tC has. It's obvious every time I drive with someone as my passenger-- they're grabbing something to hold onto every time I take a turn at a moderate clip. Hopefully the Hotchkis springs and Progress sway will take care of some of that when I install them next week.

 

I meant magnus* u drive a manual right? xP

 

This is my current suspension setup:

Tein ss w/ pillow ball mounts
Tein EDFC
Hotchkis sway bars
DC Strut bar
Hotchkis rear adjustable control arms
H&R 20mm wheel spacers in front
H&R 25mm wheel spacers in rear
Falken azenis RT-615 225/45/17
Stoptech front bbk w/ axis ultimate pads
Stoptech rear stainless lines w/ axis ultimate pads

I going to get the ingalls rear strut bar when it comes out.
I would also like to try the powerslot rear big rotor kit.

All work was done at Sublime Speed Technology in Omaha, Nebraska

The alignment was done at T.O. Hass tire in Omaha, Nebraska
alignment was set at zero toe front and rear. 1 degree negative camber in the front and 1.5 degrees negative camber in the rear.

I currently have about 3000 miles on this setup and still making adjustments. The car handles amazing and just keeps getting better.

Jeremy

 

Wish I did. It's an auto.

 

manually down shifting into corners will help you ALOT then, but I wouldn't recommend it too much... if you want a car to throw around, pick up some project car but don't mess up your tC off what I say

 

Yeah... my dad does that sometimes, not because he's a performance driver or anything, but because he wants to help out the brakes. I tell him that the brakes are far easier to replace than any of the powertrain regarding wear and tear. Anyway, I'm just going to hope the springs at least take a little of the roll out and the sway bar too.

 

i've noticed a huge improvement in all areas of handling when the TC was lowered on trd's. but i wasn't about to stiffen up the frame to sports-car levels because i'm not trying to sacrifice the nice smooth ride. so understand the trade-off you're getting into when you stiffen up the suspension.