Hi there, I'm not an Impreza owner, but I sneaked in anyway and besides I borrowed a mate's car to do the track day at Goodwood yesterday (blue one with schoolboost.com on the back).

Hello to everyone there I met, it was quite an eye opener for me to drive 4wd on track for the first time. I had no idea it would be such a laugh.

Liftoff oversteer in the dry? Certainly sir, would you like that medium or large? So controllable and easy to catch too. Brilliant fun.

Shame about hitting that cone sideways at 60mph, but hey, these things happen and the car didn't even spin. I'm amazed to find that it really is true that you can bring 4wd cars back from ludicrous slip angles.

With my current car, a BMW323i, you can certainly get the back end out, but beyond a very finely tuned balance point, you have no hope of getting it back, and boy does it flick round quickly.

Just one thing: the Impreza I borrowed had had the 'Prodrive geometry' tweak done - apparently only 30 mins work to do. What does this entail exactly?

Cheers,

Mark

 

I can confirm, Mark is a complete nutcase and did indeed have his (Borrowed !!!!) Impreza completely sideways. I remember at one point looking down from the pit straight and seeing these two headlights travelling perpendicular from the road for what seemed like 60-70 feet.

Cheers to Mark for taking me out and showing me how this is done (boy can you be agressive with these things and still not exit scenary stage left !) I honestly didn't realise how good our cars are (and I have done a few track days now).

Tried it myself, but I'm just not aggresive enough (I can't believe how fast he was entering the corners - waaay to fast).

Nb he did confess to having been on the Wetter the Better course, now I must book on that thing.

Gary

Ps Prodrive mod is just a geometry change to reduce understeer on hard cornering (because of bump steer) - but increases tyre wear (cost is the same as a track up). Better is the Powerstation bump steer mod (£100) much better solution and no funny tyre wear problems (reduces bump steer by shimming the steering rack by a few mm)

 

Gary

Sorry to be pedantic, but setting the geometry to our recommended settings WILL NOT lead to increased tyre wear.
I don't know who first stated this but they were WRONG.

Mike

 

Mike,

I have that in my head too for some reason, i.e. ProDrive settings cause inside fronts to wear if you do lots of motorway stuff.

So, is that not true then Mike ? Or anybody ?

Cheers

Ian

 

Mike you need to have a word with the Subaru dealers. I was told by a dealer that they don't recomend it as it increases tyre wear.

Mark

 

Logic tells you that if you increase the camber to it's maximum achievable negative setting then the inside of the tyres will wear quicker, especially on motorway journeys.
Or is that not logical?

Stef.

 

Mike

Your not being pedantic, your just pointing out that I'm wrong, I have no problem with that you are the expert

Ps echo the other guys comments - I only had those geometry settings on the car for a month so I don't have any practical experience to speak of - just what I'd heard from somewhere.

 

If I remember correctly, the Prodrive geometry settings are simply a tightening of the tolerences specified by Subaru, so it is entirely possible your car could come from the factory with these settings.

I believe P-Zeros, due to their design, wear heavily on the inside edge, other tyres will wear differently.

I know the P-Zeros I replaced were almost bald on the inside, and as far as I am aware, I don't have the Prodrive geometry settings... yet .

Simon

 

The dealer only recommended the Prodrive settings, when the car is using the Prodrive suspension kit!

I've driven 50,000 miles with Prodrive settings on two different cars, about 40,000 of these miles were on cars with the suspension kit, and 10,000 on standard suspension. Never had wear on the inside fronts go bald. It's always given uniform wear across the tyre.

I think it's STATED in the SIDC FAQ that the inside fronts will wear more.

Andy

 

That Impreza Mark borrowed is mine. I can't believe the difference in handling that change made. I'll happily trade off any increase in tyre wear (I've not noticed any, but then again I only get about 5,000 miles on a set before either I or Mark knacker them anyway...)

Thanks for confirming that he was driving it properly. I don't mind the dent as long as it was done with style.

Anyone get any pictures?

SB

PS Its also bloody annoying that he can drive my car far better than I can. After only being in it once before...