I just got back from the track with my '03 c32 yesterday. It is all stock and I can not begin to tell you how impressed I was.

Now I want to do some mods - I am good with the power and torque, but I could use some better handling. I am in the Atlanta area and would like to start on the mods ASAP. Any recommendations are welcome as well as a reliable shop here in the ATL to do the mods for me.

Thanks.

Andrew

 

Okay, where to start. I'll bet your left front tire is almost worn out on the outside edge. Can you say negative camber. Two ways of fixing it, 1. KMAC 2. Washers.
http://www.k-mac.com.au/
Washers, give cyncarvin a PM, sorry I lost the instructions on this DIY

I went with the washers myslef, as every KMAC story I have read about gave tooo much harshness, ie poor ride quality.

Next, what tires are you running on? Get some Bridgstone 050 PP's for dual purpose, or some dedicated R coumpounds. The later is better, but WAY more expensive. I choose the Bridgstones for dual purpose, and can hang with most R-tired cars at Beaverun running 40 psi front, 30 rear. Okay 40 left front, 38 right front to be excat.

Finally, how much money do you want to spend on your new found hobby. There are plenty of suspension upgrades, from basic springs, Eibach, to coilover Bilestiens. Price 250-2000.
I left my swaybars stock, as the car was fairly neutral for me. Even with the poor weight distribution that we have. Going with a bigger rear bar will help understeer tremdously, however it will lift the inside tire more, potentialy causing wheel spin, and the ESP cutting power. A Quaifi diff would cure this at about 2200 installed

There is ALOT more my friend, just some reasonable starting points.

See yeah

 

I have Michelin Pilots, and the rears are gone after this experience. I would not go with those again - way to soft for my liking.

Thanks for those suggestions - I am not sure of a budget right now, but I do want larger wheels/tires, better sway-bars bar and a stiffer, more reactive suspension to start.

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum and kiss your $$ goodbye.....j/k

You will see that your car is an amazing beast, even more amazing with a couple of simple mods.

I would definately remove the resonator (just sounds cool) and get some good rims/tires.

Then talk to the LET team about waking her up a bit. They have just about everything you need to bring the sleeping beast to life.

 

PSS9 and H&R sway bar and you are set.

lowering the car should correct the front + camber problem so that the front tire makes proper contact and normal wear on them. you may want camber kit for the rear tho.

 

...........I know the Atlanta modd community very well. There are very good individual mechanics but no "performance shop." There used to be one in Sugarhill but they closed. This is important because ideally you want just one person doing all the work. Each mechanic has specific areas that they are very good at. When your car bounces from one mechanic to the other to take advantage of their specific areas of expertise, you often get caught in one mechanic blaming the other for sloppy job. Nothing new. this happens in Medicine also. New doctor swears that the reason he can't fix your problem is because the previous doctor was sloppy. Whether true or not, the real crime is that you are still sick and your problems unresolved when you leave his office. You, the nonmedical person is left holding the bag.

............I think there is need for an MB performance shop in the South East that people from GA, NC, Alabama,TN, SC, North Florida can come to. A shop that can be comprehensive. Engine mods, ECU mods, Comand mods, transmission mods, handling etc. Like the VRP guys are doing, pricing should be bundled instead of hourly. You shouldn't really pay hourly for performance mods because there is no standard to guage it against. For instance you can charge a hourly for changing brake pads because everyone knows approximately how many hours it should take and there are books that show how many hours it should take. If you get charged hourly for installation of a K-MAC camber kit, you will end up paying $10K, because there is a lot of adjustment needed, but is not really a $10K job. Right now for example, there are good people for bolt on engine mods but they can't modify your ECU, so you get stuck with a powerful car without the corresponding ECU modification. There are good people that can lower your car, but they don't do alignment. Once you get your car lowered by one guy and you go to another guy to get an alignment. The guy doing the alignment will claim that the guy that lowered it screwed it up. You end up stuck.

...........I vote for a comprehensive MB performance shop to open in the South East. At minimum the individual mechanics should talk to each other and form a strategic patnership where the different mechanics doing different things "work together" an form a virtual performance shop where one mechanic is loosely affiliated with the other and the customer is not left holding the bag.

.........specific to your problem, you will probably benefit from having your car lowered plus a K-MAC kit but it is a pain to get right. Pm me if you want more details

Ted

 

pss9s will limit the size of rubber you'll be able to fit in front- due the increased strut tube diameter. a bad thing for our nose heavy c32s.

also lowering the car give some -ve to rear but not front.

here's my minimum prep list, given what i know now post 18 events in c32.

1. k mac front camber bushings, lube them between black bushings and they will not squeak. (i've done 5000 miles on mine). your car will thump over bumps but will be noticeably more precise in steering input due to the flexy thrust and control arm bushings being replaced by hard urethane.
2. springs
3. sways front and rear (may need to fab the bushings from urethane as you will destroy the stock pieces)
4. larger HE- you have to fight heat soak.
5. stainless brake lines (i had brake line failure last yr)
6. motul 600, 660, or castrol SRF. i boil ate blue.
7. brake pads- i like porterfield r4 and raybestos hp41 (if i remember correctly).
8. a radiused symmetrical DOT tire like- toyo r888, yoke a048. destagger and go 255 rear 245 front.
9. Quaife LSD is good but not a requirerment. run the front bar at stiffest and it keeps the inside (unloaded) rear end planted a bit more.

my 1st event for the yr is coming up. not sure if i'll be in the c32 or the m3. have fun.

 

Thanks for the replies. I just need to find a shop in the area I can trust to do the installs.

Andrew

 

Send mbenzman (Rich) a PM. He'll steer you in the right direction.

 

don't want to argue, but lowering the front does give you NEG camber as well. this is evident visually as well reflected on your front tire wear.

stock 17" 225 tires shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't "slammed" the car. unless he is going to run the 245 rear wheel up front then it will be a problem.

 

Adjustable swaybar end links

 

There are threads that talk about Modding your car for better AutoX/Track Course use just perform a search on it and it will answer alot of questions.

 

yes...some of the threads go back 6 yrs! there's some really good info buried here. (i'm the "old fart" who's been around reading them since 2001).

 

Welcome to the forum fellow Atlantan! C32s are a rare sight around here and I like it like that!

I have not made any suspension mods but I did replace my Continentals with Michellin PS2s. The difference is very noticeable, even with our "vague" stock suspension.

If you change out your wheels and move up to 18", get the lightest, strongest wheels that you can find. I moved up to the 18" SLK55 turbine wheels and added like 10 pounds per corner. It further comprised the handling and acceleration, but they look good.

I'm considering the bilstein pss9 coilovers in the near future, just not sure if it will work with my 18" wheels without spacers. From what I've read, the coilovers will make a big difference in your handling.

Good luck with your mods and enjoy the car!