Yesterday was the first time I've driven the car in the rain with a front strut brace and Corky's plate on it, and it's not exactly an experience I want to repeat.
The car felt as twitchy as hell, and I had to be amazingly careful on the power as the back end kept wanting to overtake me. Bearing in mind I'm running on T1-S tyres (and the pressures are fine) and the car never felt this bad before I put the aforementioned mods on, is this normal? I know the car feels 100% more responsive upon turn-in in the dry so I'll never remove the brace and plate, but has anyone else had this 'problem' too?
Or am I just being paranoid here? s:? :? s:?
I've wondered the same thing about mine - identical setup to yours apart from i'm running t1-r's. It's a hard thing to judge, as i haven't got anything else to compare it to and you're never going to know how a stock car would react to the same bit of road/weather...
True, but the car was never this bad in the wet before I put the brace and plate, which leads me to the conclusion that they (either together or one of them seperately) must be the culprit.
I have the TRD front STB (have had it for a long time) and Corky's plate. I put on Corky's plate over a year ago. What I noticed was there is less annoying vibration, which makes it easier to feel the things that will determine how the car will handle. I wouldn't call it twitchier at all. I'm just more tuned in to what is happening. I have autocrossed before and after, plus driven in heavy rain. Everything from worn out tires to brand new S-03s. Changed the Koni settings from fully firm to fully soft on both ends. I don't think the plate is in any way a negative, nor have I heard of any "complaints".
I can't imagine it would be the corky plate. This increases the rigidity and reduces flex. It will make the car feel more consistent on turn in. Mine actually felt a bit more skittish with the brace off which I put down to the flex hiding what the chassis was actually doing.
Maybe the front brace is drastically increasing front grip - but I'm not convinced.
What state are the rear tyres in?
I find my T1-Rs worse than the stock RE040s for feel but haven't driven them in the rain yet so can't comment on their wet performace.
Are you sure you didn't "alter" something when the car fell down?
Jason
Tyres are fine, still got 5mm left on them. Maybe I did 'alter' (great term! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: ) something when the car dropped... But then the car seems to be fine when pushing it really hard in the dry...
I'm not criticising either the plate or the brace here, as I've already said that they both improve the car 100% in the dry. Maybe it's just that I have to get used to the increased feel when driving in the wet with these on.
the roads will be quite greasy when wet after lots of dry weather, as of late. Could be that's affected things too.
I wasnt overly confident the other day in the rain even though Ive been impressed with the handling every single second so far in the dry.
you sure its that setup thats the problem?? i've had mine fitted for nearly 2 years, no probs and i'm running the T1-R's, sure its not a tracking problem or something, i know the FSB makes the turn in a more positive action but its not too bad, i found it allowed the back end to be drifted more controllabley, rather than the oh **** s:shock: :shock: s:shock: method
I have both, and never found any problems in the wet, but there again, I am a bit of a "granny" when it rains (in any car, not just the '2). You never know whats on the surface mixing with the water.
I've got both and not really had any problems except when I hit the diesel patch in the wet leaving JAE s:? :? s:?
Just to follow this up, I can now confirm that it must have been a bad day when I started this thread, as the car now performs perfectly regardless of weather.
And just to add...
Last weekend I met Roger to sell him my frunk plastics which I haven't had on the car for about a year. Since I'd never bothered cutting the plastics to make room for my FSB, I had to remove the brace to get the plastic in to make the trip. I WILL NEVER TAKE THE BRACE OFF AGAIN!!!
When the brace went on, I noticed a slight difference in the handling of the car (for the positive, obviously), but that experience was nothing compared to how limp the car felt without a brace in at all! The front seemed so slow to react to input, and taking the M11/M25 sliproad towards Watford was a nightmare: I can usually take it at 70mph quite happily, but without the brace I struggled to hold it at that speed and had to reduce power to stop the car feeling fidgety round the bend.
I would now count the front strut brace as a 'must have' mod, rather than one it's nice to have.