Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance TRD Rear Strut Bar and... OVERSTEER!

Hi Guys
I have a problem with my car...don't know how to solve it.
This is it:
My car was nearly perfect 2 weeks ago; I have 4 Koni yellows,with Hotchkis springs Tanabe front strut bar,Hotchkis street sway bars and tires size 225/35-18.
Well 2 weeks ago I installed a TRD Rear strut bar (the 3 points one) and now it's just become MAD!!!

When I go through a corner (going fast ovviously) and I'm accelerating, if (for whatever reason) I stop accelerating the car oversteers like a TP...and it's not something gentle or slow...it just becomes nervous and very impredictable, it oversteers like the rear tyres are running on ice... onestly I think it's strange it happened just with the TRD rear strut bar (one of my friends have one but he hasn't got this problem) but I have this problem since I've installed it.
2 days ago I installed the Cusco lower arm bar.
The front is better,the rear is still "full of madness"

Today I've tried to drive fast with my stock tires (16") and things are even worse...
Does anybody have some experience with the TRD bar? Any suggestion...ehm...maybe about rear camber?

Bye

Try adjusting the tires... lower! Might help... I noticed the same thing to... its fun but can get you into trouble when you don't want it to happen. How old are your tires?? How much tread??

I've tried with 2 different kind of tires and 2 different sizes.
Today I've installed the new yoko parada spec 2 (225/35-18) and I've noticed tha my rear camber is -0.8. Before I installed the TRD bar it was -1.2.

Maybe I can try to set it at -1.5...what do you think guys?

its your sways, they are too stiff, too much.

I don't think so... I installed sway bars 8 months ago and I love'em...
Today I drove wiht my new tires (yoko parada)... the car is better,but not good yet...too much oversteer again...

I'll try to set the rear camber at -1,3 and then if it still oversteers I'll try again without the TRD rear strut bar.

just remove the TRD rear strut bar.

funny...i have hotchkis swat bars and the trd strut bar and i don't feel that much oversteer..maybe you just need to slow down...lol

a little oversteer can be a good thing... you just need to learn to handle it.

i noticed the same thing, but its friggin hard to control oversteer on a FWD, cause the only thing you can do is just let off the gas and countersteer. usually the car jerks back on track, never that smooth transition like RWD cars.

you should try what HJC_celica said, just lower the rear tire pressure abit. mine is 35 psi in front and 32 in rear, on 16 inchers

there's a lot of factors contributing to it though.

You right,but I don't have a little oversteer...I have TONS of oversteer!
The problem is not that I'm not able to handle it (because I am actually) but is that the car is just slower!
I used to drive on the track sometimes and I want the car as fast as possible. And I just cannot say (in my case) that TRD strut bar has improved my car.

Obviously I'll try some different setup,but if I'm not happy,I'll remove the TRD bar...

VSGTS14
You are right too,there are many factors in it,I'm just trying to understand which can give me a real solution to the problem...I have some ideas,just want to know yours.

In next days I'll keep you updated...I need to do it because next sunday I have a trackday in Monza!

Remove the strut bar, see if it still happens...might not even be the strut bars, maybe you just need to do a wheel alignment.

You just need to RE-learn the car man.

the rear camber is way to much... i have -1.5 in the front... try to get the rear somewhere near -.5... the problem is you have no contact patch over the rear tires and not as much wiehgt transfer.

my friend had this problem before because his shocks were to too stiff.

I see but in my case the problem is a little bit different...
All the things I've installed on my car I installed them 8 months ago and the car was perfect! Very fast and not too nervous. So I already had Koni yellows,hotchkis springs and swaybars...and the car was very good...
About 10 days ago I installed the TRD rear bar and it changed completely...and I started to have problems with this oversteer.

That's it guys...today I'll try to set rear camber at -1.3.
I'll tell you how it goes...

Did you adjust the camber? Does it still oversteer at
-1.3??

It's all about camber man! I have the TRD rear strut bar, and I have NO oversteer. I had way to much understeer... Pissed Me off. I ended up raising the ASS end of my car to give me a higher CG. Fixed it right quick.

In your situtaion, I'd say definately toy with your front and rear camber. You could make it so your front slides out easier to make less oversteer.

Yes you are right.
I adjusted rear and front camber (rear camber is -1,25/-1,29 now, front camber about -0.80) and corrected wheel alignement in the rear (it was not correct).

Well unfortunately I did this on saturday and since that I always drove in the wet...but I can feel the car responding very well now...it's very reactive,fast and nimble.
Even on saturday I had a Track day and it was wet again,but even if I have a very hard ride now,I was able to drive very fast...of course I needed to be very ready to correct any reaction of the back,but everything now responds very quickly.

Unfortunately after that in the parking of the track I had an accident and I have to wait till the car is ok to drive it again..
Some people are very stupid!!!

Anyway one very important thing is that the car had real improvement since i changed tires. Yokohama parada are very good tires,I can't wait to try them on dry street.

Bye and thank you all guys

So

Just to say,with the correct alignement the car was perfect...

Thanx guys!!!

If you can, making the from shocks softer than the rears will help add understeer.