65 replies to this topic

[Ali87]

Standard NA for the win

[909]

Your car should be a missile wet or dry.

 

You have ace tyres by the sounds of things don't worry about them. 

 

Yes, backwards in the wet if you don't respect a rear engined (rear weight bias) car's handling characteristics. 

 

AD08R tyres might be "ace" tyres, but they are predominately a dry surface, track biased tyre, again some respect is called for in wet or damp conditions.  The OP is questioning wet grip on the road.  There are other road tyres more suited to damp or wet, normal road conditions. 

[Captain Vimes]

Just my 2p.. In the south east we've had a very long spell without rain. When we did get some rain recently the roads were lethal - there's loads of rubber and debris that hasnt been washed away. I could push the shed into under steer at very low speed. I suspect this played a part in the OP's experience and a few weeks of prolonged rain will make driving in the wet much easier...

[siztenboots]

Okay, car's booked in at Back on track for next Friday. Having the suspension checked over and full geo. I am only on standard shocks, they recommended I look at getting adjustable nitrons as having them setup softer during the winter months will likely help handling a lot.   Then I think I'll look at getting the mapping checked out, see if it can be tweaked for smoother power delivery.   One thing I noticed this morning was that one of the spark plug holes ( nearest to the cambelt ) had about 1-2cm of water in it. Cleaned it out and throttle feels much more responsive now. I wonder if the engine was running pretty poorly on my drive back and that was making the the throttle response poor & jerky. I've got the part numbers for the water ingress kit, so I'll either pick that up or make myself a shield to stop the water getting in!

James , will you be at BoT on saturday morning to collect the car? I can try and speak to Jez after he has done the geo setup and taken the car out , to get some feedback. Then we can have a chat about map options. Steve TeamVXRacing

[james4563]

 

Okay, car's booked in at Back on track for next Friday. Having the suspension checked over and full geo. I am only on standard shocks, they recommended I look at getting adjustable nitrons as having them setup softer during the winter months will likely help handling a lot.   Then I think I'll look at getting the mapping checked out, see if it can be tweaked for smoother power delivery.   One thing I noticed this morning was that one of the spark plug holes ( nearest to the cambelt ) had about 1-2cm of water in it. Cleaned it out and throttle feels much more responsive now. I wonder if the engine was running pretty poorly on my drive back and that was making the the throttle response poor & jerky. I've got the part numbers for the water ingress kit, so I'll either pick that up or make myself a shield to stop the water getting in!

James , will you be at BoT on saturday morning to collect the car? I can try and speak to Jez after he has done the geo setup and taken the car out , to get some feedback. Then we can have a chat about map options. Steve TeamVXRacing

 

 

Steve,

The car is booked at BoT for Friday 16th Sept. I was planning to take it down and wait around in the area for a few hours while the work is done as the journey makes it quite annoying to leave it there and go to collect on Saturday. Why do you ask, are you going to be there on the Saturday?

We will see what they say yes, as I've mentioned before I've not driven any other VXT so I don't know how it feels compared to others. Hopefully BoT will be able to give me some feedback as to if it feels 'good' or not.

 

Thanks for the reply!

James

 

[siztenboots]

okay, no problem, I am fully booked up with work at the moment for next 3 weeks during weekdays in central London, so can't get down to Guildford for Friday to check for obvious problems and discuss other options.

[Johnboyhgt]

In the wet the best you can hope for is some better degree of consistency in the handling of a properly set up car. The rest is down to you. The gulf between dry and wet grip is far wider in a vx than a golf or whatever. If you have come from a fwd background this can take some getting used to. The turbos unique power delivery characteristics can exacerbate this somewhat but with a decent setup and a bit of confidence to have the rear dancing about they can be a lot of fun in the wet and still reasonably quick but more modern cars with front or all wheel drive and driver aids will embarrass most vx220 and lotus cars at least until the road is dry.

 

 

Jonny is spot on just drive the thing to enjoy the experience and use the power mainly to overtake, if you want to wring its neck then that's when you need to do a track day - I speak from bitter experience, see below 

 

https://goo.gl/photo...W9fynji3AjY2PU7

[siztenboots]

 

In the wet the best you can hope for is some better degree of consistency in the handling of a properly set up car. The rest is down to you. The gulf between dry and wet grip is far wider in a vx than a golf or whatever. If you have come from a fwd background this can take some getting used to. The turbos unique power delivery characteristics can exacerbate this somewhat but with a decent setup and a bit of confidence to have the rear dancing about they can be a lot of fun in the wet and still reasonably quick but more modern cars with front or all wheel drive and driver aids will embarrass most vx220 and lotus cars at least until the road is dry.

 

 

Jonny is spot on just drive the thing to enjoy the experience and use the power mainly to overtake, if you want to wring its neck then that's when you need to do a track day - I speak from bitter experience, see below 

 

https://goo.gl/photo...W9fynji3AjY2PU7

 

 

looking at that photo, it has a very odd chargecooler setup, with two pressure drops after the turbo , far from ideal to achieve a nice linear throttle and fast response. 

 

* just had another look * , the tmap sensor is in the wrong place, so that will never work

 

the difference between the other maps out there and my own specifically written for the vx is like day and night. 

[Johnboyhgt]

 

 

In the wet the best you can hope for is some better degree of consistency in the handling of a properly set up car. The rest is down to you. The gulf between dry and wet grip is far wider in a vx than a golf or whatever. If you have come from a fwd background this can take some getting used to. The turbos unique power delivery characteristics can exacerbate this somewhat but with a decent setup and a bit of confidence to have the rear dancing about they can be a lot of fun in the wet and still reasonably quick but more modern cars with front or all wheel drive and driver aids will embarrass most vx220 and lotus cars at least until the road is dry.

 

 

Jonny is spot on just drive the thing to enjoy the experience and use the power mainly to overtake, if you want to wring its neck then that's when you need to do a track day - I speak from bitter experience, see below 

 

https://goo.gl/photo...W9fynji3AjY2PU7

 

 

looking at that photo, it has a very odd chargecooler setup, with two pressure drops after the turbo , far from ideal to achieve a nice linear throttle and fast response. 

 

* just had another look * , the tmap sensor is in the wrong place, so that will never work

 

the difference between the other maps out there and my own specifically written for the vx is like day and night. 

 

 

Agreed - was like it when I bought the car, and something I was going to sort out after I had done all the important bits that were hanging off !!.

 

It drove either all or nothing which probably explains the accident.

[SteveA]

I was only doing 30 officer

 

Proper job there love the v and keys above the door as an homage to the car.

[Rosssco]

Lots of factors (potentially) noted above, but I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds AD08'r very average in the wet / damp. As a comparison I've run 595 RS-R's and they were much better in wet / cold conditions (whether that was actual grip, or just confidence), although obviously both are not as good as a proper, good quality road tyre.

[Johnboyhgt]

I was only doing 30 officer   Proper job there love the v and keys above the door as an homage to the car.

Why thank you kind sir !! Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

[Ormes]

 

In the wet the best you can hope for is some better degree of consistency in the handling of a properly set up car. The rest is down to you. The gulf between dry and wet grip is far wider in a vx than a golf or whatever. If you have come from a fwd background this can take some getting used to. The turbos unique power delivery characteristics can exacerbate this somewhat but with a decent setup and a bit of confidence to have the rear dancing about they can be a lot of fun in the wet and still reasonably quick but more modern cars with front or all wheel drive and driver aids will embarrass most vx220 and lotus cars at least until the road is dry.

 

 

Jonny is spot on just drive the thing to enjoy the experience and use the power mainly to overtake, if you want to wring its neck then that's when you need to do a track day - I speak from bitter experience, see below 

 

https://goo.gl/photo...W9fynji3AjY2PU7

 

 

OUCH!  

[Paulus H]

Just one point to add tyres wear across their surface. If they are underinflated they wear on the outsides as the tyre shoulder is supporting the car and eventually they surface of the tyre becomes flat again (of course the outside will be worn more than the middle). If you overinflate your tyres the middle will wear out first (until the tyre has worn flat).

 

Also I have driven with some very quick VX owners with lots of power. The quick people are still very quick in rain and damp conditions.

 

Seems like you are doing the right thing by getting the car checked by people who know what they are talking about. Stiff suspension is the enemy of wet grip particularly. Stiff springs kill grip and stiff damping to contain the spring boinginess kills the grip even more. Certainly until you decide if you can cope with the high power to weight ratio and no 4WD and electronic nanny devices I would recommend staying with std springs and dampers.

 

I really hope you gell with your car and enjoy to the max but it is never going to be a Mitsi EVO in terms of ease of driving.

 

Kind regards, Paul

[scw02102]

one of the reason I don't drive my VXT in the rain

 

Its all about control and confidence

 

Stage 4 boost is aggressive and cold tyres + rain is not ideal hence I just drive something more practical in them conditions, in the dry its a different story

 

BOT will sort out the GEO which will help and try and wet tyres like Eagle F1 or other rain support tyres with A ratings

[james4563]

Just to update this I had the geo done at BoT, and they said it was all over the place. More worryingly though the previous place that did the tracking in Southampton had left the locking nuts for the adjustment on the rear loose, so it basically would have been adjusting itself as I drive down the road, kind of dangerous.

 

Not had a chance to try it out in the wet, but it did feel more stable overall on the drive back to Southampton.

 

 

They said the map is quite aggressive, but they only drove it around the industrial estate so no major road test. They also said that my only choice in terms of smoothing out the map would be to take it back to Courtney as they lock the ECU or something so only they can change it. Bit of a pain because they're so far away from me   .

 

Now to wait for some wet weather to see what it's like now..... fingers crossed the dry continues as long as possible

[SteveA]

Siztenboots will be able to sort it for you and he is close-ish.

[TheRealVXed]

That video wasn't even stage 4 it was stage 2 at the time. Cs map has always been too boosty I had mbr sort my map which made it smoother. Throttle position is very different to a non turbo car with just millimetres of moment to be applied. You will get used to it

 

I had forgotten about that video. SSSF

[siztenboots]

Siztenboots will be able to sort it for you and he is close-ish.

 

This is true , I can unlock all the CS and other companies maps. But my own charges are £500 for the software license , which as a customer, then entitled to ongoing support and maps changes. I appreciate it is quite a lot to have to pay, but I understand that CS will not update software if the owner has changed. My view is to support my customers and their car , even if the car is sold, both will get continued support.

 

In terms of availability I am taking bookings now for October for the mobile service, ie. at home, work , weekdays / evenings / weekends

[glitch]

If the geo was out now wonder you had some interesting handling. When my rear toe was significantly much more toe in due to the geo place not having a clue the rear end was super scary even on dry roads as the rear didn't want to change direction until it finally let go voilently almost. Fortunately never had to drive in the wet like that.