Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior why is my friend's gsr handle better than my car?

a co-worker of mine has a 96 gsr and he only has kyb agx's...he's got a nice litlte over steer at the corners and handles pretty well. now i have a trd rear strut bar, hotchkis street sways, and trd struts on my 00' gts and i under steer more than he does. sure my car stays more level but i feel as if his car takes the corners better. would my tires be the culprit? i have pirelli p4000 he has khum ecsta 712s...my only handling department i have over him is that my braking is better. what the f- is going on?

depending on your sway bar setup, that can do it.

well the sway bar i have only sets up at the front. the rear is set at 88% stiffer than stock and i set the fron on soft (44% stiffer then tosck) to promote oversteer...i'm confused

Well, the Kumho's are a Performance summer tire. While the p4000 is a plain all season tire. Or maybe he has a better alignment setup than you. Probably more camber in the front to keep the front planted to where the rear will give more easily than the front. Or maybe it's tire pressure, try adding a few pounds of air in the front to keep them from folding over and planted to the ground. Or maybe it just "feels" that his car handles better than yours.

yeah my tires are ASS.. .

are you sure it doesn't have the itr body and suspention.

they did sell the itr body with a gsr engine, that would definately have a much nicer "feel" than a celica would. turn in is very quick on the itr's, almost as quick as the modded mrs feels.

he could also have done the complete itr suspention swap, to his integ and not told you also.

what size front tires are you using?

currently i'm running yoko es100's 225/45/16's up front and 205/50/16's in the rears, it helps to promote plenty of oversteer under hard breaking

i'm stock 205-55-16s...no he has no other suspension upgrades. he has some power upgrades though...intake,headers,ported head,ITR cams...but suspension wise, all he has are those kyb agxs...and he has no reason to lie. i've known him for a while now.

Just because a car "seems" to take the corners better, doesn't mean that they do. Maybe he can just drive a little better, or maybe his tires are better.

As for oversteer, I don't think there is such a thing for a GSR.

On another note, is he lowered and you aren't?

again i was in both cars. we both are not lowered. he has set the agxs at a setting to promote oversteer but that is theonly suspension mods he has. my car felt in went to turn in faster but i made the turn at a slower pace than the gsr...i made sure i came in at the same speed at 2 speeds...25, and 35. both times they were the same result

One thing the stock tire size for the celica (gts) is 205/50/16 not 205/55/16. Also tires make the biggest difference they are what let all your other suspension do its job. Also it might just be you are going quicker into the corner then the GSR and there for understeer rears its ugly head! Running some neg. camber in the front will help you though.