Track Day Prep: Adjusting Your Coilovers for Optimal Lap Times
A track day is the ultimate test for both driver and car, and one of the most critical factors for success is your suspension setup—particularly if you’re running coilovers. Coilovers provide a high level of adjustability, allowing you to fine-tune ride height, damping, and rebound to suit the specific demands of the track. With the right adjustments, you can transform your Subaru into a precision tool for the track, maximizing grip, stability, and cornering performance.
In this post, we’ll explore how to prepare your coilovers for a track day to achieve optimal lap times, covering essential adjustments and tips to get the most from your setup.
Why Coilover Adjustment Matters on the Track
The difference between a street and a track setup can be substantial, and adjusting your coilovers is key to adapting to a high-speed environment. Track driving often requires:
• Better Control Over Body Roll: Quick cornering demands a setup that minimizes body roll while keeping the car balanced.
• Increased Stability: High speeds and tight corners mean you need stability to avoid losing grip.
• Improved Responsiveness: A track-ready setup should provide instant feedback to your inputs, helping you react faster and take corners with precision.
Each coilover adjustment affects a different aspect of your car’s behavior, so understanding these changes can help you tailor your Subaru’s handling for the track.
Essential Coilover Adjustments for the Track
1. Ride Height Adjustment: Lower Center of Gravity for Better Stability
• Goal: Lowering your car’s center of gravity reduces body roll and improves handling through corners.
• Track Tips: Lower your ride height as much as possible without compromising suspension travel. A lowered stance will increase cornering stability, but make sure to avoid excessive lowering that could lead to bottoming out over bumps or kerbs.
• Adjustment Recommendation: For most Subaru models, reducing the ride height by 1–1.5 inches from stock provides a solid starting point for track performance. Be sure to measure and match ride height on each corner to maintain balance.
2. Damping Adjustments: Finding the Balance Between Comfort and Control
• Compression Damping: Controls the rate at which the suspension compresses when hitting a bump or during cornering. For track use, stiffer compression helps keep the car stable through corners by limiting the suspension’s travel.
• Rebound Damping: Controls the rate at which the suspension returns to its original position. Stiffer rebound settings help the tires stay in contact with the road, especially during quick transitions and high-speed cornering.
• Track Tips: Start with a stiffer compression setting for improved cornering stability and a moderate rebound to maintain traction. Adjust incrementally and test each change to find a balance that works for your driving style and track conditions.
• Adjustment Recommendation: Try a compression setting of around 75–85% stiffness, with rebound set slightly softer, around 60–70%. This starting point should give enough stability without sacrificing too much grip.
3. Corner Balancing: Distribute Weight Evenly for Consistent Handling
• Goal: Corner balancing (or cross-weighting) ensures that weight is evenly distributed across all four wheels, preventing handling imbalances.
• Track Tips: An uneven setup can cause the car to feel unstable or unpredictable through corners. Corner balancing ensures that each tire carries an appropriate amount of weight, improving stability during high-speed transitions.
• Adjustment Recommendation: A professional alignment shop with corner-weight scales can measure and adjust your setup for an optimal 50/50 weight distribution. This step makes a noticeable difference in handling precision.
4. Camber Adjustment: Maximize Tire Contact for Improved Grip
• Goal: Camber affects the tire’s angle relative to the road, which impacts cornering grip. Negative camber (tilting the top of the tire inward) increases the contact patch during hard cornering, improving grip.
• Track Tips: Too much camber can reduce straight-line stability, so a balanced setup is key. For the front wheels, -2.5 to -3.0 degrees of camber is typical for track use, while -1.5 to -2.0 degrees is usually sufficient for the rear.
• Adjustment Recommendation: Experiment with camber settings, starting with -2.5 degrees in the front and -1.5 degrees in the rear. Adjust based on tire wear and feel; ideally, you want even wear across the tire surface.
5. Toe Adjustment: Fine-Tune Steering Responsiveness
• Goal: Toe angle affects how aggressively the tires turn in during steering. For track use, a small amount of front toe-out can improve initial turn-in response, while toe-in at the rear adds stability.
• Track Tips: Toe settings are subtle but impactful. Front toe-out (0.05-0.10 degrees per side) helps with agility, while rear toe-in (0.05 degrees per side) stabilizes the car in high-speed sections.
• Adjustment Recommendation: Start with slight toe-out in the front and toe-in in the rear, then adjust based on the track layout and your car’s behavior. More technical tracks may benefit from additional toe-out for enhanced turn-in.
Pre-Track Checklist: Preparing Your Coilover Setup
Before hitting the track, go through a quick pre-track checklist to make sure your suspension is ready:
1. Verify All Adjustments Are Even: Ensure that ride height, camber, and toe settings are symmetrical on each side of the car. Small mismatches can throw off handling at high speeds.
2. Check for Proper Torque on All Bolts: Verify that all coilover mounting bolts are torqued to spec. Loose hardware can lead to suspension misalignment or even failure on the track.
3. Record Your Settings: Document your starting settings, so you can make informed adjustments throughout the day. Track conditions change, and having a record helps you revert to a known good setup if needed.
4. Inspect for Preload Adjustment: Preload affects spring tension and can alter how your car responds to different loads. For most track setups, minimal preload is ideal to maintain a predictable, consistent feel.
Track Day Tuning Tips: Adapting on the Fly
During the track day, observe how your car behaves in different sections and make small adjustments based on your experience:
• Too Much Understeer?: Increase front camber or increase rear sway bar stiffness to allow the rear to rotate more freely.
• Experiencing Oversteer?: Increase rear damping or reduce rear camber to stabilize the car through fast corners.
• Lacking Grip on Corner Exit?: Softening the rear rebound slightly can help improve traction, allowing the car to accelerate out of turns with more control.
Each adjustment should be made gradually, as even a small change can have a big effect on handling at high speeds. Test adjustments individually and evaluate their impact on lap times and handling feel.
Conclusion: Fine-Tuning for Optimal Lap Times
Dialing in your coilovers for track use transforms your Subaru’s handling, allowing it to perform at its best during high-speed driving. By optimizing ride height, damping, camber, and toe settings, you can reduce lap times and improve stability and control through every corner.
Track day coilover tuning is a process of continual improvement. The more you refine your setup, the more capable and responsive your Subaru will become. Document each change, experiment with adjustments, and fine-tune your setup to achieve peak performance on the track. Happy racing!