Finally sorted out handling...

[peterrosey]

Finally sorted out the handling of my Megabusa - thanks for all your tips. I actually posted the settings wrong before (doh! and it is actually running 1.5 degrees negative camber front, 0.5 degrees negative at the back, 20 minutes toe out at the front and 20 minutes toe in at the rear.

The main problem was the tyre pressures - which I've now dropped to 15 psi at the front and 17psi at the rear - and overly soft damping. I've now set this to 25 clicks front and rear (the Gaz dampers seem to have an almost endless number of clicks to adjust and take forever to tweak - but they seem to work well enough) and this seems to work really well. Didn't realise how sensitive Westies are to tyre pressures - from 20psi to 15psi it's like a night and day change!

However, I'd like slightly flatter cornering and sharper turn-in. Am I best to fit anti-roll bars? Do I need both a front and rear, or will just a rear one do? Are the Westfield ones the best to go for, or do any other firms make decent ones? Or am I best to look at stiffer springs - it does feel quite soft and dives a fair bit under heavy braking.

Thanks for your help - nearly ready to take it on track now...

[Blatman]

ARB's......always fit them in pairs.

They will effectively "stiffen" the springs, so don't go fitting stiffer ones at the same time, try the roll bars out first.

Suppliers would include the factory, Plays Kool, and Terry Nightingale...........

[stu999]

Anti-roll bars will not help front dive when heavy braking. But again it is hard to judge what is right if you are a newbie to Westy ownership, as sitting in the cockpit you have the sensation of the car diving, as well as watching the front wheels apparently lifting as the suspension compresses! It is a preference thing, but with very little weight on the front of your car, you may find stiffening the front up with springs will increase understeer. IMHO the factory supplied springs (I presume) are going to be 'in the ballpark', I am not saying that for personal preference they cant be improved on, but I would be inclined to play with your set-up a bit further first before dabbling with springs and anti-roll bars. Even the ride height of your car plays an important part in the way it handles, dropping the front/raising the rear slightly will put a bit more life into the front end. Try dialling a few more clicks into the front shockers too, you can tell when you have gone too far as the car feels skitish and seems to 'patter' on ripply surfaces. As you can appreciate, it is difficult to put into words, but the bottom line is go and have a play just adjust one item at a time and note what effect it has. Having a fiddle is probably one of the best bits of owning a Westy....

[peterrosey]

Yeah you're probably right I've only been driving it for three weeks and I'm still adapting.

One thing though that Westfield don't warn you about when you invest in one... it ruins every other road car for you. My wife's 200bhp Mitsubishi FTO (0-60 in 7 secs) feels so dull and slow to drive! Every 'fast' tin top I've driven recently just feels like there's something wrong with it - the steering feels like mush and they don't respond at all!