Talking about these D2’s is a fave subject of mine :roll: . I reckon its all in the ‘other’ bits you have on the car, not just the D2 and set-up.
I don’t like the material, its too soft. I hate the slotted hole :x , I’ve managed to pull the bolt across on hard cornering a few times already, also makes set-up a nightmare. I’m thinking of grinding a thin crescent block/spacer to stick in the slot, stop it moving, or weld over a thick washer plate with no slot. Other than that they’re nice bits of kit, particularly for the price.
Anyway, I have the car sitting very low at the front, slightly higher at the rear (but not much). I’ve no figures for this though, but the front is just high enough not to rub on the wheel throughout its stroke, and that’s on 15inch rims.
I run low tyre pressures up front (current thinking), normal at the rear.
The springs I backed off until they were totally loose, and wound on half a turn so the spring wouldn’t become loose if a wheel left the ground :-D (this was the best thing I’ve done with the set-up so far), I’m even thinking of dialing out even more spring rate given the weight of the car will compress em some.
I have whiteline rear arb, oe front, bumpsteer kit, anti-lift caster kit. OE bushes for everything else. Dampers on softest setting. Front camber is 2 degrees, rear is 1 degree (this is set-up at home, so everything is probably way out
, but the front wheels look like the rear wheels on a lowered VW Beetle (should mean something to some of you)).
The ride is very hard, but just about bearable. In the dry, understeer will eventually occur but can be powered out. Understeer can be held off for longer if I flick the car in too. Oversteer on power is a bit snappy, but control of tail wagging (if you’re behind on steering inputs) is where the higher rear camber comes in. You don’t get the oversteer on braking/lift-off because of the rear camber which is shame cos it forces understeer, but can’t make my mind up what I prefer.
In the wet its much the same, but I have a few problems still. Sometimes the car will corner off power and grip and grip and I think I’ve cracked it, but now and again it completely loses it in understeer, like dangerously so. I had put it down to road surface or tyre wear but I don’t think it’s that. It bugars up my confidence in corners in the wet. If I chuck the car in hard, slowish in, fast out, power as much as I can through, it solves the problem, but it’s a bit bloody aggressive for every corner.
In the dry its pretty much where I want it – could lose more understeer, might try ditching the front arb / undo the strut brace.
I reckon the spring rates are ultimately a bit too hard though. Its why I’ve not upgraded any other bushes or bought 16’s, and run low tyre press. Those things help claw back some softness in the set-up. Don’t know how you lot cope running lower profiles and full harder bushes. The hardness does throw the car about a bit on bumpy surfaces.
The occasional wash out understeer might be due to the front being too low and makes for some weird geometry (cambellju?), I’d hope softer springs would help this too. I also reckon that running brilliantly grippy tyres makes things more unpredictable. I think T1-S’s work well and anything more slick than these makes it more snappy.
The other problem I have is the car follows every little camber and white line and rut and everything else. Car pulls in every direction and pulls on the steering wheel. Prob due to 2 deg camber and being too low again, but its all a compromise to get grip levels up.
Oh, I also refuse to give my car to anyone else to set it up. They always fu*k it up. Pay £130 for alignment and sh*t is still out.
So I do like the D2’s, but the flaws are that the springs are too hard and some build issues, neither of which yet make me want to buy Teins. I do have a slight worry that the damping is too hard even on softest setting – won’t know until get softer springs.
