Evo X upgrades

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by Kracka

This especially irks me when you're at an automotive shop.

You hit the crux of it there. This didn't happen at a dealer, Jiffy Lube, or a run-of-the-mill tire shop. It happened at a shop that focuses on alignments for high performance/race cars. I'm not the only guy that is going to roll in there with $850 rims and $340 lug nuts.

For the record, I did find a door ding that was undoubtedly done at DB. Then again, the car was there for 3-4 months and they have to pack them in like sardines at night. That's the sort of thing that I can forgive.

As a complete aside--the guys a Discount Tire in West St Paul are pretty amazing. Really professional and they love my car. They mounted the tires on my rims without making a single scratch. I'm pretty impressed with them and that was a place that I was *worried* about bringing my rims to.

[Murlo26]

^They do quite a few nice cars though as well remember. I am usually happy about the service i get at my discount tire...but am still afraid they will wreck something.

[mlomker]

Justin from Stellar sent me an apologetic email. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. I had my first set of Rays "Duraluminum" lug nuts fail so at this point I'm super skeptical that it is a strong enough metal to use for a lug nut or an insert in one.

goodhart, I'm sure those CBRD titanium lugs are stupid-priced but titanium might be a strong enough metal for the application. I know I'm just a n00b but I've developed more respect for CBRD the more that I've learned. They have some truly quality shit. You can be baller and buy crap or you can be baller and buy good stuff. I've done a bit of both.

[Kracka]

If it comes out of CBRD or Chad says something is good then you can rest assured it is of the highest quality.

[mlomker]

So, I spent some more money on stupid crap. It's not my fault, I still have a little credit left. I blame it on the banks. They should know better.

My first impression is that leaving a stop light is a bit easier. I've had too much vodka tonight so please ignore this post and any future ones. lol.

[Kracka]

Originally Posted by mlomker

So, I spent some more money on stupid crap. It's not my fault, I still have a little credit left. I blame it on the banks. They should know better.

My first impression is that leaving a stop light is a bit easier. I've had too much vodka tonight so please ignore this post and any future ones. lol.

As far as I can figure this thing is nothing but a throttle signal booster, basically when you give the car 50% throttle this thing sends a 60% (for example) signal to the ECU.

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by goodhart

$2xx doesn't seem to bad for the CBRD lugs I guess.

If they are that cheap then I'm not sure why they don't list a price on their website. The only issue that I see with them is that none of them are locking/secure lugs. At least with the Rays they are all 7-sided.

Originally Posted by Matt D.

Looking at the tires I don't see what you're concerned about.

I'm concerned that they aren't going to last a Summer if that's what they look like after just one trip to Brainerd. I'd prefer to only buy one set per year since it's over $1k/set after you pay for mounting, balancing, and all that.

Based on some of your comments, you don't follow this thread regularly. Stellar was fairly insistent on the rear toe whereas I had gone in there asking for 0. I deferred to his advice but I'm inclined to go back and have him remove the toe now.

I tried getting an appointment with Jeff last Winter. He wasn't good about returning emails or phone calls. I've also had people tell me that he doesn't like to do corner balancing and that might be why he wasn't returning my messages. It wasn't a good first impression. Maybe I'll give him another try next Spring if I only need an alignment.

Originally Posted by Kracka

As far as I can figure this thing is nothing but a throttle signal booster, basically when you give the car 50% throttle this thing sends a 60% (for example) signal to the ECU.

Not according to them nor my initial impressions. Leaving from a stop without bogging was more difficult before because there was a brief delay after a throttle input. I installed it like 5min before finding the nail in my tire so I can't say much beyond that at this point.

[goodhart]

Originally Posted by mlomker

If they are that cheap then I'm not sure why they don't list a price on their website. The only issue that I see with them is that none of them are locking/secure lugs. At least with the Rays they are all 7-sided.

http://www.cbrdspeedfactory.com/CBRD...ous-Parts.aspx


Price- $285

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by goodhart

Price- $285

nice. I had first heard of these a week after ordering the Rays ones.

[Matt D.]

Originally Posted by mlomker

I'm concerned that they aren't going to last a Summer if that's what they look like after just one trip to Brainerd. I'd prefer to only buy one set per year since it's over $1k/set after you pay for mounting, balancing, and all that.

My first set of Dunlop Z1s lasted me 19 autocross events and around 20k street miles. At that point they were at or below the 2/32 wear bars. This was with very aggressive camber (for a street car) and zero toe, negative 2.5-3 in the front, 1-1.5 in the rear.

Originally Posted by mlomker

Based on some of your comments, you don't follow this thread regularly. Stellar was fairly insistent on the rear toe whereas I had gone in there asking for 0. I deferred to his advice but I'm inclined to go back and have him remove the toe now.

The fact that they insisted on giving the car something other than 0 toe when it is street driven (your only car) and is not trailered to the track absolutely concerns me. It's just like any salesperson trying to sell you something that you don't need instead of finding out exactly what your application is and then providing you with the proper product or service.

Originally Posted by mlomker

I tried getting an appointment with Jeff last Winter. He wasn't good about returning emails or phone calls. I've also had people tell me that he doesn't like to do corner balancing and that might be why he wasn't returning my messages. It wasn't a good first impression. Maybe I'll give him another try next Spring if I only need an alignment.

That's just how he is. Customer service isn't his forte, but he does damn good work and warms up to you once he gets to know you, and you him. If you want corner weighting done I'd go to Orr Autosport.

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

My first set of Dunlop Z1s lasted me 19 autocross events and around 20k street miles. At that point they were at or below the 2/32 wear bars. This was with very aggressive camber (for a street car) and zero toe, negative 2.5-3 in the front, 1-1.5 in the rear.

That's very good. I just need to get the rear toe out of there. I'm running -2.5/-1.5 right now. Zero toe in front but he dialed in like .26 in the rear.

it is street driven (your only car) and is not trailered to the track absolutely concerns me.

<--- My daily driver really is a `94 Plymouth Acclaim. The Evo is a toy that usually has a problem or three. At the moment it has a screw in a tire and is parked until a replacement tire comes in, hopefully Wednesday.

I do drive it to/from the track so you're right on that front. I'm going to get that toe taken out.

That's just how he is. Customer service isn't his forte, but he does damn good work and warms up to you once he gets to know you, and you him. If you want corner weighting done I'd go to Orr Autosport.

Does he have fixed prices? I've heard it said that he's very reasonable but taking time off from work and dealing with b.s. might not be worth it to me. Stellar gave me a loaner car. My boss is annoyed about all of the lost work related to the car this year as it is.

[mlomker]

Here are the pics showing what some rear toe dialed in will do to your tires in one track day. I really didn't do all that many laps, either.

[goodhart]

Well if the Rays lugs were $340, $2xx doesn't seem to bad for the CBRD lugs I guess. More than I would ever pay, but that's just me. They do claim it will shave 2 lbs off the rotating mass, so that definitely isn't a bad thing.

[FattyBoomBatty]

Originally Posted by goodhart

Well if the Rays lugs were $340, $2xx doesn't seem to bad for the CBRD lugs I guess. More than I would ever pay, but that's just me. They do claim it will shave 2 lbs off the rotating mass, so that definitely isn't a bad thing.

Yeah, for all four wheels combined plus they're pretty much at the center of the spinning mass.

Are those tire now useless, lomker?

[turbotalon1g]

WTF happened to your tires?

[Matt D.]

As far as Stellar's workmanship is concerned, that is precisely why myself and the vast majority of Minnesota Autosports Club members go to Jeff the Alignment Guy.

Looking at the tires I don't see what you're concerned about. There is still a lot of tread depth, and the pictures look like they've hardly been used. Buy yourself a cheap tread depth gauge at an auto parts store, then you will be able to see exactly what's going on. Toe in/out is nice as long as you are concerned about those extra few tenths of a second per lap (which you shouldn't be) and have a tire budget which rivals that of an F1 team (which I doubt you do.) I'm interested to know what made you want to have toe in a non-competitive car.

[awd-drifter]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

Looking at the tires I don't see what you're concerned about. There is still a lot of tread depth, and the pictures look like they've hardly been used. Buy yourself a cheap tread depth gauge at an auto parts store, then you will be able to see exactly what's going on. Toe in/out is nice as long as you are concerned about those extra few tenths of a second per lap (which you shouldn't be) and have a tire budget which rivals that of an F1 team (which I doubt you do.) I'm interested to know what made you want to have toe in a non-competitive car.

x2. As far as I can see, it might be just slightly negative? but for one track day, those tires look pretty good though.

Mlomker, I used to work with the guys at West St. Paul Dicount Tires. Some of them are even friends and I'm sure when they saw your car, they liked it ALOT. heck, I would. If I were to change any of my tires, I go to where I used to work (discount tires) just because I know they do quality work on tires if you ask them to.

[Speedfreak]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

As far as Stellar's workmanship is concerned, that is precisely why myself and the vast majority of Minnesota Autosports Club members go to Jeff the Alignment Guy.

Looking at the tires I don't see what you're concerned about. There is still a lot of tread depth, and the pictures look like they've hardly been used. Buy yourself a cheap tread depth gauge at an auto parts store, then you will be able to see exactly what's going on. Toe in/out is nice as long as you are concerned about those extra few tenths of a second per lap (which you shouldn't be) and have a tire budget which rivals that of an F1 team (which I doubt you do.) I'm interested to know what made you want to have toe in a non-competitive car.

My sentiments exactly, top to bottom.

[Kracka]

Jeff is open on Saturday which solves your time away from work issue I always tried to get his first appt Saturday morning.

[turbotalon1g]

You can't be cool just working on the driver mod either.

So the car is running good and you are driving it daily?
How are you liking it?