I have a 10L30 that is loose coming off the corner on a flat concrete track. I think its a low-bite concrete surface.

Here is my question: I tried a softer center spring to see what affect it would have. It did not help the loose condition, but it seemed to give the car more forward bite and better acceleration. Does that make sense?

The soft center is most likley giving you more foward bite.

I could be that you are loosing side bite is why you are still loose.
Try going a step softer on your side springs.

Are you soft up front? If so the car could be rolling over causing the LR to pick up a pit breaking traction, if so try going up to a harder spring up front, which will put a slight push in the car and hook up the rear end a bit.

Erock,

I'm running Wolfe black springs up front.... pretty firm. I was about to try softer side springs when it started to rain last night.

We run in a concrete parking lot, and I think its a pretty low traction surface - with the dust that is sometimes there and all.

I'm going to get a set of new side springs, the ones I have are used and came with the car. I really can't trust that they are still good and accurate in rate. The front springs are new, that was the recent purchase.

On the center shock spring issue, I had a silver on there, took that off and put a black on, and the car just seemed to leap off the corners.

Side bite coming off the corners is definitely the issue. I can solve it by adding preload to the side springs and tweak the back end, but I'm trying to find a better way. One time I had so much tweak in the rear end, the right rear tire was off the ground with the car sitting still!

The nice thing about these cars is the enjoyment of making changes and learning as you go. We race once a week, but I'm up there testing 3-4 times a week weather permitting.

What tires are you running?

Jake,

usually I run pinks in the back, purple Lf and red rf. I tried running red on both fronts, but that made the car push more getting in, but still loose coming off.

I'm not an expert like some here, and I can't explain it, but I really have a feeling the loose condition is chassis or set-up related, not tires. I just have this feeling that on corner exit, the chassis is not doing what it's supposed to. I have a few more things I want to try, like the softer springs Erock mentioned. I haven't ran out of ideas to fix it, I just ran out of time due to the rain last night.

lose the red front tire.. it is way to hard. there are very few uses for a red right front... i would try 3 pinks and a purple..

Burbs, did you notice my car is loose? going a step softer on each front tire I do not think will correct the situation.

While I know that running reds on the front is not the norm, Its closer to getting the car handling right, and lowered my lap times by .2 of a second.

I appreciate all the input I have gotten from the racers here.

I would think that wolfe black springs up front is way to hard,also your issue is defintely tire related IE: not enough side bite,how about your wing where is it?

I've had that problem before on concrete. The was very loose off and tight in. How is your car turning entering the corner. I found that if you help the entry the loose fixed itself. When the car is pushing on entry and through the center it will slide and scrub speed until the fronts gain traction and snap the car loose on exit. I would stick with the soft middle and soft side spring but soften the front a little maybe green left spring purple right spring or you can move the battery forward a little. If you have a lot of rear wt on the left side it will want to keep turning after the exit.

Ken,

Its not tight getting in, its great getting in. I'll take a look at limiting the weight on the LR. Maybe there is too much weight there, because the car wanting to keep turning is a great description.

One other thing I would try is shimming the left rear out a bit, maybe an 1/8" to start.

Another thing. Burbs might be right about the right front being too hard. I realize this is counter intuitive, but sometimes when a set-up gets too extreme in one direction it actually causes the car to do the opposite of what you'd think. Anyway, I'd give the purpe a try. Typically I've only heard of reds being used on higher speed banked tracks.

I'll be trying lots of stuff! I like the testing almost as much as the racing, and the track is only 2 minutes from my house. Any good weather day, I'm usually there...

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what is your center shock oil wt.? sounds like you're too thin,heavier wt. will help. also try either a green or purple rf spring.

Q-ball you got a PM

Sounds to me that if he is tight going in he may be using to much DualRate and then when the car loads it is getting loose. This might be a case of to tight of a car. Get the car turning free going in and see what it does with less steering input.

Again, it is NOT tight getting in. Its good except loose on exit. Shock oil is 50 wt. in all shocks. Radio is MX-3 by Airtronics. dual rate is 100 arc is set as low as possible. Things I'll be trying today: less dual rate, more RF caster, different rear side springs.

What you really need to do is try is moving that left rear out. Seriously, that will help a lot.

50 WT oil in the sides is extremely thick... when you get to thick on side shock oil it slows down your wieght transfer... the car may be hoding the weight to the right front to long..... i would go softer tire.. purple or double purple.. and a green spring... blue side springs with 30-35 weight oil to start...also if your rear end is loose or not planted enough, the front will bite to much... you need to plant the rear, then make it steer...

Here's an update, after spending an afternoon up at the track, I got a ton figured out. The car is quite stable, and now I can work on fine tuning. I'm sure I will be making more changes, but at least I have the car now where it drives consistent (5 laps within .06 seconds .... 5.93-5.99 as an example.)

The wing was too far forward, I moved it back about an inch. Side springs L-silver, R-red. Center spring silver. Front springs both red. Still 50 wt. oil in all shocks.

I plan to make a few changes and fine tune for more speed, but at least I can drive it now. changes here come slow, as the only place for parts is mail order/internet. There isn't a shop carrying pan car stuff for over 250 miles.

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We race weekly - on Tuesday nights starting at 7:00. But its not in Houston, we're over in Beaumont, about 90 miles East of Houston.