Im due on the track Friday, so I though I'd get a couple of niggling issues fixed.
Barke Pads - first time i've ever had to change the pads that came with the UAS big brake kit. The pads it came with are good... and bad. Because of the monster size of the rotors & the relatively light weight of the car in comparison, my braking has been rubbish on the street during short drives. Mainly due to the fact that the pads dont heat up to their recommended / optimum temperature. On the track they are absolutely sensational.
Droplinks - As you may or may not have seen , I've fitted up a more heavy duty Whiteline front droplink to cope with my heavier duty swaybars. I was chewing up & spitting out standard units every 4 months before that.
Wheel alignment - my alignment has gone to sh*t after bashing the car down the straight with the nos on full blast... it was bound to happen, I knew that much stress on the standard steering components was bound to do something I didn't like to the cars geometry.
So, I stared the day early & replaced a stereing rack bush that I already knew was well on the way out ($10 from mitsi) - easy done. I then inspected the Whiteline droplinks, only to find the ball joints were worn to the sh*thouse. A call to Whiteline - "No we dont sell just the ball joints, you have to buy the whole kit again"
..... That makes sense, dont offer the parts that will wear the quickest as a replaceable item......... idiots. So I made some calls & located replacment ball joints that would fit from a local nuts & bolts supplier. Went & grabbed them - swapped them out - perfect. New ball joints even had built in grease nipples, much better quality.. take note Whiteline.Next up was a wheel alignment. Now Im very specific about my alignment. I go to my local shop (because I had to run home & get online for work) and tell them - " I want 0.5 of a degree toe in and 1.25 degrees of negative camber." I have my reasons for these figures which I will not go into now. I then run home, do what I need to do for work, then get the call that the car is ready. I run down to pick it up & speak to the..... *shudders*.... junior who has done the alignment. With great enthusiasm he tells me he dialed in some 'custom' figures to my alignment cause I told him I was about to go racing. 2 degrees of neg camber and 0 degree of toe in.... cause one goes quicker on a race track when there is no toe resisitance....
I got the sh*ts & told him to put it right back on the rig & put the half degree of toe in I asked for
He did so. If you've ever driven an overpowered front wheel drive car with no toe in, you'll know what Im talking about. Try holding a tram in a straight line when driving it thru 2 ditches... its not easy.Anyway, after the toe adjustment is done, I drive home.... only to notice a massive 'BUNG!!!!' sound everytime I turn the wheel more than 2 full turns
I instantly knew what it was - they've put so much negative camber in from the Tein strut tops, that the springs were now binding up against the inside wall of the strut towers So I roll it straight home, loosen the strut tops & reconfigure the negative camber setting to somewhere near it needed to be. I then pulled the Whiteline droplinks off & put the new ball joints into them - reassembled no problem. I then attempt to put the new brake pads in.... wrong f**king pad supplied. A quick and very forceful phone call ensued, resulting in a courier arrived 30 minutes later with the correct pads. After cleaning myself up, I go for a test drive. Got 20 metres down the road listening to "bing! bing! bing! bing! bing!"
My fault for accidentally pushing the disc brake backing plate in so much it was touching the disc while I was changing the pads....a quick bend off the baking plate while I was down the road sorted it.What a hassle thou, You either drop your car off to a suspension & braking expert & pay thousands of dollars for what I know full well, shouldnt cost more than a couple of hundred - OR go buy the bits yourself, only to find they are sh*t products that dont fit or wear out far to quickly!!!
everything else was right so i know he had the right vehicle
