Vibe GT and autocross - setup

[that_jer_guy]

Hello all,

I am new to the board and I am looking to share setup information with fellow Vibe owners. I am an avid autocross competitor and have been competing in autocross events for 10 years.

The Vibe is a super fun multi purpose car but I must say that I have struggled with this car on the autocross course. I have only done 2 events so far with this car and I am looking to share some experience with members on this forum.

Here is my best finish in the Vibe:
http://www.wosca.com/Event_Res...s.htm

Tire pressures:
I am running H-stock with Bridgestone RE-01Rs - stock size (205/55/16) on stock wheels. I ran with pressures at 32 PSI rear 36 Front set cold. These crept up to about 35 rear and 40 front when hot.

No other modifications from stock.

Here is what I struggled with:
The car has gobs of power but I am having a lot of trouble keeping the wheel spin in check. Although the crowd enjoyed the smoke show it was not the fastest way around. It seems that as soon as the steering wheel is turned at all there is inside wheel wheelspin and more so than pretty much any other FWD car I have run on the autocross course. The obvious driving change was to modulate the throttle better. I found that in the low-speed stuff 1st gear was useless over 6k RPM because of... well if you own a GT you know what happens over 6000RPM. So I have spent my time trying different combinations of entry speed and exit throttle amounts to try and eek out the best times I could.

Grip was O.K. The car pushed some - which I expected since it is stock with not a very sophisticated suspension.

I'd like to stay stock. If anyone has stories about how they changed driving style or did something and still stayed in stock class... those are the kind of things I'd like to try first. What comes to mind immediately is shocks. If anyone would share what they are running and how the behaviour of the car changed especially with respect to wheel spin that would be awesome.

I am not completely against modifications but my opinion is the next class up would be significant time and effort.

I'm looking forward to the 2009 season.

http://www.wosca.com/

[AKLGT]

ya, sorry, the body roll on the stock suspension is just god aweful! Mav added a min of a rear sway, springs, better tires (RE01's are awesome) and a front strut brace. Forget what class he ran in though. oh, we also had an intake, exhaust and unichip which greatly improved the car all around, but he had a base 5MT and not the GT. I never autox'd my GT, that was before we got into autox.

[Mavrik]

It may be different for the GT but the base Vibe 5spd needs all the help it can get. I ran STS with my base 5spd

As mentioned I had a unichip, magnaflow cat back, INJEN intake, rear sway bar (which made a huge difference in rotating the rear of the car out in the corners) I had a front strut bar, does nothing really. I also ran KUHMO(however its spelled KUMHO) P215/45R17 tires.

I usually ran the front tires at about 38psi because the sidewalls rolled under at hard cornering. I'd run the fronts around 34-35psi.

There is no cure for the right wheel burn out on corners. I hated left turns or pivot cones. because that right front tire would lift and leave a smoke trail.

I've been into autocross since 2006. I did the 2006 season in the Vibe. I did the 2007-08 autocross season with my 07 STi. I didn't do any of 2007 in the Vibe. It wasn't cutting my needs lol.

[that_jer_guy]

Thank you for your responses. I was afraid that there was not much that could be done without significant changes. I'll probably some small changes to start. In Ontario I have 2 preparation points to play with and still stay in H-stock.... so I could do a rear sway bar for 1 point and something else like maybe some tires with <140 treadwear rating for the 2nd point. I don't think I could run H-stock when I go to Michigan for SCCA events. Not too big a deal since I haven't been to Michigan for an event in years anyway.

What the car really needs is a limited slip differential. Too bad it didn't come that way from the factory.

Speaking of limited slip differentials.... the STi sounds like a good choice for this stuff. I have not had a turn in the driver's seat in one yet but I have seen a lot of them that come out for slaloms/autocrosses. They never cease to amaze me at the starting line. There is a fellow in Toronto with one that runs big wide Kumho V710s. I have never seen a car launch like that one.

[northvibe]

Yes a good choice would be the RSB or maybe coilovers/springs?

ugh wish the GT had a lsd, love having on in my ms3. Made autox'ing and road tours more possible.

Man all this racing talk is getting me excited!!! i still have snow tires on last week was sunny though so I threw on the summer wheels for 4days...OHHH the fun.

post pics of autoxing!!

[wyatt89]

Try a bit of left foot breaking, I've found that keeps the inner wheel in check if you are doing autox. Try it out in some deserted place because it takes some getting used to.
I can do pretty tight turns now while in lift without much wheelspin at all, it's much quicker.
Bigger/lighter wheels and lower profile wider tires will make a world of difference. Lowering it, energy bushings, stb, etc. Also, energy motor mounts make power transfer a lot less abrupt from on throttle to off and vice-versa

[Mavrik]

Yeah the STi is great for this sort of thing. Great for launching, good cornering ability and big brakes.

unfortunatly the Vibe does not have big brakes. I'm sure I could have gotten better in the Vibe had I stuck with it. But I didn't lol. I will say that the 08 STi handles a little like it as far as rear end rotation. Just a lot more power and brakes lol.

I never got to see much of the Ontario SCCA stuff when I lived there. I'd go and watch the autocross they had at the old Wal-Mart parkinglot in Woodstock Ontario. One of the techs that worked with me at Gord Anderson Pontiac Buick did SCCA wheel to wheel racing at one of the MI tracks with his Miata. Looked like a lot of fun.

[that_jer_guy]

Ha ! It is truly a small world Mavrik.
That was us at the old Wall-Mart / Blanford square mall in Woodstock. WOSCA and our club events. I ran a silver '00 Civic SiR until Summer 2004 when it got wrecked (the street is way more dangerous than the track)... then I ran a black '98 Civic hatch for a while... then a red '87 Porsche 924S.

Our club lost the use of that parking lot when they built the Toyota plant where that mall was. The tech at the GM dealer, Bill W., is a club member (and a proud grandfather now BTW). I see him once a month at the club meetings.

.... and Wyatt89, thank you for the suggestion. I'll give it a shot at the next event.

The '00 civic

The porsche

The vibe

[AKLGT]

yep, my body roll on my 08 STI sucks, but the handling is still 1000 times better than my VGT. LOL no surprise there! Actually, my stock suspension is better than my coilovers and sway bars on the LGT! Go figure! I can only imagine what a beefed up suspension would do on the car! body roll is atrocious still, but I'm hoping adding the Rear Sway Bar will help with that.

[Mavrik]

You'll have to say hello to Bill for me and see if he remembers me next time ya see him. Probably not to many service advisors named Phil that moved to Alaska lol.

I moved from Woodstock right about the time the Toyota dealership was built. The plant hadn't been started yet.

[mac99d]

my buddy is telling me to remove the front sway bar instead of installing the hotchkis set. what are all your thoughts.

[star_deceiver]

Body roll will increase but you probably won't snowplow through the corners as bad!

[AKLGT]

I've been told to do an RSB and then remove the FSB on Subie wagons. I'd imagine, it'd be similar outcome to help with the body roll.

[vibedrivermatt]

wow this section is pretty barren huh? guess theres not too much vibe racin goin on as of late. seeing as those guys in this thread were in 2004.

[cieglo]

Let's see if we can liven this up a bit.

On my '03 GT
FSB: gone.
Suspension: Tein Basic coilovers. I couldn't convince myself to splurge for the Streets.
Energy Suspension motor mounts - big difference
Hankook RS3 225/40/ZR16 on all 4 corners with cheap-o 6" steel wheels in the read and some 7" montegi 7spoke black wheels in front.
alignment: I have -2.5deg front camber. And now I can turn.

I went from lifting the inside front wheel to lifting the inside rear wheel. Next step will probably be a RSB, but time will tell. I've only run 2 events with my current alignment. It's like relearing how to drive all over again...

The vibe will never be a really competitve car, not unless I can figure out how to move some torque to the low end of the tach and then learn how to race. It's more likely I'll win the lotto and buy a BRZ than the other two happening though...by gosh darn is it fun trying!

[revstohigh]

rather than remove the front bar i would be inclined to shave the corners of the bars . this is an old school way but it does work . most front drive cars respond quite well to a big rear and a slightly smaller bar on front .alot of the honda guys for instance would run an si or aftermarket rear bar and the base model in front . i also tend to run 4-6 psi higher on the rear tires these all help neutral out the car . the goal is no under or oversteer some times even a good idea for narrower tires in the rear than the front . but then you cant rotate . just my 2 cent