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Just curious what you guys have your xida set at for track.
Did a search and found someone set at 10 for track while someone else is 2-4 clicks stiffer for street.
I wiIl be going to the track and following 949’s instructions for tuning.
But just curious what setting worked for you guys and with what complementary upgrades (sway bar, brace, etc)
2003 stock engine
Xida XL 550/350w/helpers set to 5.25 pinch front 5.75 rear. Stock sways and Elbj for 2.3 and 1.8 camber with zero toe up front and 1/32 total rear toe in. 15x9 with 225 RS4s.
I run full soft on the street, little floaty at times but it soaks everything up.
Last few trackdays I've been getting progressively stiffer on the settings.
Was at 5 clicks from full stiff on the front and 4 rear, then eventually ended up at 2 clicks front 1 click rear. There are certain times where I would want the front to be a bit softer for weight transfer but it seems like it just makes it wallowy and unstable. With relatively soft springs and stock sway bars I guess it can't be helped.
The balance is still great, the car is mainly just a daily so I don't need to chase down the last bit with a lower setup or stiffer springs.
Wow, almost full stiff with 550/350!! Stiffest I've run 700/400 Race, race alignment at 4.75" pinch weld with RB 1.125 thick wall front and SPM sway rear is 11 clicks from full soft. 15x9 225 RS-RR or 15x8 205 AR1.
I used to turn them down to 3 clicks on road, until a few times I drove home from the track at 8-10 clicks from full soft and only remembered I wasn't in my soft road settings when I got to a roundabout. My old dampers, when heading home, even before leaving the paddock I'd realise they were still in track mode and I'd stop and re-adjust to avoid the need for any post-trackday back surgery.
Now, if I remember I'll turn my Xidas down to 6 clicks from full soft for road use, purely to reduce wear on them.
Mine are set right in the middle of the adjustment range, which is how they came out of the box. Xida race, 800/500. I haven't found any reason to change any settings yet as driver consistency is still the biggest improvement needed. I'm also still on stock wheels with skinny tires (195 R888Rs). Xida big grip kit for sway bars with both bars set to full soft. ~4.5" pinch weld height IIRC.
Times are still dropping as I get comfortable with the car, throttle management, and threshold braking, so I've far from maximized what the car can do at current prep. Won't be making any suspension changes until times plateau. New wheels (15x9s) are on the way for next season though, so I am excited to see how the car performs with the wider rubber.
I feel some people over-mess with their cars for lack of a better word and don't give enough time between changes to see if the change was truly beneficial or harmful so I'm personally trying to avoid that. Until I can put down back-to-back-to-back consistent laps (or better yet, sessions) I don't thing changing anything is going to net me much (yet!). This is just for me personally, not against anyone else in this thread who could be a much better driver and can feel the changes more easily than I can at my current experience. Though I can say that I am much faster than some of my friends who spend all their time between sessions making tweaks whereas I just sit in my trailer and visualize the track and work on hitting my marks.
It's much more simpler than you think. If you feel like the chassis is rolling going in and out of corners, the back end steps out on you slightly, it means your car is on the softer side.
Go 4 clicks from full stiff. If the car feels rough and bouncy, soften it by two clicks each session until you find the sweet spot. You'd have to sacrifice a half to full day of track time to get to your desired stiffness.
You want the chassis to be as stiff as it can be without it being too busy.
I've settled for around 6-10 clicks from full soft in the front for a dry track. Higher end for a smooth track like Pitt Race and around 8ish for Mid Ohio. I cut that about in half for a wet track (so like 4-5).
I spend a bit more time adjusting the rear than the front to adjust the balance, but I'm usually about 1-2 clicks softer in the rear to get it neutral with just bit of oversteer.
If you are just dialing everything in for the first time I wouldn't bother using less than 3-4 click increments until you figure out the general area that handles predictably and has quick lap times. You need a gross change to be able to calibrate your butt dyno. Even with 4 click increments that's a full day of 5 sessions just to sweep the range, but I think you won't have any need to go all the way to full stiff before you determine it's not ideal. The goal is to generate as much mechanical grip as possible, so this is dependent on the amount of acceleration being generated and the accompanied spring rate. It will also be easier to drive and a bit more forgiving on tires than if you crank them down. If you find people running stiff settings on soft springs, that just means they're using the compression damping to band aid blowing through their wheel travel and into the bump stops. I use my track notes from previous sessions/days to get a base setting for a specific track with specific conditions (rubbered in track, green track, wet track, cold and overcast, cold but sunny, hot and sunny). That's basically within 1 click from ideal usually. I might make an adjust after the warmup session and then typically forget about, unless conditions change significantly.
My car setup:
NB1
~125whp
205/50 RE71R
15x8 6UL
Xida Race 800/500
RB 1.125" Fr / Supermiata 14mm Rr
-3.2deg Fr / -2.8deg Rr Camber
0 Toe Fr/Rr
Last edited by engineered2win; 06-16-2019 at 01:27 PM.
It's right where I want it to be now but I feel like once I get new tires I'll be bumping up against the stops.
949 says not to use aftermarket sway bars with the XL/GS but I'm not sure what else could be done short of going to the race with a 700/400. Car is low enough to scrape on things so that's not an option.
Still really happy with them. Local track has a big bump right in the middle of turn 1, I've never noticed it once I installed these. Even jumping kerbs it doesn't care.
For reference this is it at I believe 3 clicks out front and 2 clicks rear.
Enough roll to be a bit under the full potential but not enough to be unstable.
To be clear, we recommend stock sway bars with XL/GS.. for best ride quality. For best transitional and peak grip response, modestly sized sway bars are a plus, but at the cost of ride quality. We know most customers that choose GS/XL do so for better ride quality than Race due to the lower spring rates and reduced roll stiffness. This choice knowingly trades transitional response for ride quality. No magic bullet to get full race car response and the magic carpet ride on bad roads with changing spring rates and ride height.
Thankfully, there is enough damping available to as Jeff mentioned, band-aid lack of spring rate with lots of compression damping. NA/NB Xida only ramp compression on the last 5 or 6 clicks near full stiff. With ideal spring rates for track use, you will actually need less damping force than the driver with soft street oriented rates.
There is no idea damping setting for everyone. Not even an ideal setting for a given car on a given track as different drivers will have different preferences. Different weather changes grip which changes ideal shock settings. Every driver needs to invest in a little seat time to do simple 2 or 3 click "sweeps" to see how the car responds. Always start full soft then add the same 2 or 3 clicks at each corner. Drive, make notes (Write Them Down!), adjust, repeat. Adjust past the point where the car feels best just so you can learn to recognize what too much damping feels like. From there, experiment with different front and rear shock settings.
Emilio, is there a "standard" difference you typically like see between the front and rear Xida settings? As in the rear is 2-3 clicks lower on their settings? Just trying to figure out where to start with front vs rear.
Emilio, is there a "standard" difference you typically like see between the front and rear Xida settings? As in the rear is 2-3 clicks lower on their settings? Just trying to figure out where to start with front vs rear.
No such thing as "standard". We get asked this constantly.. from folks trying to avoid having to learn how to adjust their expensive adjustable shocks.
If you plan to start somewhere, pay attention to how the car behaves, experiment and adjust form there, then it doesn't matter where you start. Think about that for a moment.
If OTOH, you plan to blindly trust someone's educated guess and never touch it again.. we refuse to help. We refuse because our guess might be totally wrong for your car/roads/usage/ weather/etc. You would be unhappy with us and your shocks. That's a crapshoot and not what you paid for.
No such thing as "standard". We get asked this constantly.. from folks trying to avoid having to learn how to adjust their expensive adjustable shocks.
If you plan to start somewhere, pay attention to how the car behaves, experiment and adjust form there, then it doesn't matter where you start. Think about that for a moment.
If OTOH, you plan to blindly trust someone's educated guess and never touch it again.. we refuse to help. We refuse because our guess might be totally wrong for your car/roads/usage/ weather/etc. You would be unhappy with us and your shocks. That's a crapshoot and not what you paid for.
You want the chassis to be as stiff as it can be without it being too busy.
This is actually the exact opposite of the goal.
You want things as soft as possible while still avoiding wallow. Softer = more grip as long as there's sufficient body control for transitional responses and undulations.
I’ve only got three track days on my Xida GS, set to 5.75” pinch weld heights at all corners. Turbo NA6 with no A/C or power anything, running around 200hp at the wheels. 225 RS4’s on 8” wheels. I tried as much as 12 clicks from full soft, and that was feeling harder than I prefer. I seem to have settled in around 7 or 8 clicks from full soft on the track, and 5 on the street. Tires graze fender liners on big bumps, but otherwise it feels really good. Have no problem going hard up over curbs (turn 3 at Road Atlanta, 9 at Barber) without upsetting the car.
Finally got a chance to go to the track.
xida 700/400
rb tubular sway bar
15x8 with 225/45 rival s 1.5
I started out at 10 from full stiff and got down to 4. The stiffer it got the better it felt for me.
‘Still have to go rest of the range next time. But so far I like 4 in front and 5/6 in rear.
06-14-2019, 12:22 AM
What do you have your xida set at?
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