[mattr832]

Hi all - I have an OG M2 and have started to track it for half-day lapping sessions after attending a HPDE. I'll continue to attend HPDEs (driver mod) and lapping sessions about once a month (Pacific Raceways and the Ridge here in WA). The car is completely stock, but I'm in the process of buying some TC Kline COs and camber plates to better set up the car for dual use (street and track).

I know the added negative camber on the front will help with turn-in and general track driving, but I'm wondering what other suspension components I should be mindful of as I go down this rabbit hole. I don't plan to lower the car very much, and I'm mainly looking to improve track manners while maintaining the ability to drive to the track.

• Will the COs and camber plates require some other suspension upgrades due to increased stress (i.e. sway bar end links if lowering)?
• Another member recommended monoball thrust arm bearings as another way to improve track-oriented handling. Does it make sense to do this at the same time as the COs are installed?
• Are there any other suspension components that are recommended for this vehicle?

Thanks in advance for helping me learn.

[medphysdave]

You probably get the best bang for buck going with a coilover that has built in camber plates and good tires.

I say this because you'll avoid a lot of the metal on metal noises from solid connections, but increase grip.

You'll like have to deal with a bit of squirmyness under acceleration and braking until you decide to go to more solid connections.

I can say that rear toe arms fixed the squirm under acceleration and solid bushings in the tension arms helped a lot under hard braking. (Tire pressure also made a difference)

I didn't go coilovers first because there wasn't an EDC solution that I wanted.

[OG Shark]

Welcome to the track addiction!

Might get more of a response in the track section so might try there too. Since you are using the car on the street too it is going to come down to how much compromise you can tolerate and how much added NVH you can tolerate.

First if you are just starting out one of the best ways to learn quickly and minimize the forming of bad habits is to keep the car the slowest while your skills catch up. This allows for the establishment of car control skills at the easiest - when the car is slowest. When you add grip the limit of traction gets higher and the speed and precision of recovery gets higher as a result. Building the foundation and engraining into your muscle memory/reflexes is usually easiest at low speeds/grip levels. Also can allow for a quicker move away from DSC (which can also engrain bad habits early) but that is another conversation.

That being said a better suspension at the beginning like you are moving to definitely has some merit. Being able to run a much more suitable alignment can really reduce tire wear and being much more budget friendly being a big one especially tracking in the frequency you mentioned. As fars as the other bits past the dampers & plates - nothing is really "needed" except for maybe sway bar links. Not sure about the TCK kits but I know with our Nitron kits we need an adjustable link in the front in order not to preload the sway bar. You might chat with TCK to see what they recommend. Just make sure that whoever does the install does so with the suspesion loaded at not at droop - see this quite a bit. The thrust arm monoball conversion is a nice upgrade as it does provide a bit more feel and reduce some of the slop of the oem bushing. I do like this one but can feel it a bit more on the street - not overpowering or anything but the feedback is increased. I run the SPL version on my dual usage M2 and along with our damper kit it's my preferred setup up for this usage. You can upgrade arms - you will restore the geometry, add strength, and further reduce the slop of the oem bushings but again its a case of NVH, budget, etc. They are an improvement but even as a dealer for the these kind of components I would recommend holding off for now. Maybe something to consider down the line. Other than that really not much else in the way of suspension available for the platform.

Outside suspension would look into one of the diff lift kits. I personally like the offset version from KMP but there are other good ones out there too. They will add NVH - usually in the form of some whine - but I actually like it on these cars. Aside from the performance aspect they add the offset brackets also restore the angle of the axle to a proper degree when lowering a car improving the longevity of the axles. I do run this on our street car as we have seen accelerated axle issues from lowering & track usage without them. Just something to consider.

Also with the OG cooling is one of the weak points of the car. Lots of info out there so if not already familiar might start looking into that as well. Braking is also not a strong point of the OG so make sure you keep a close eye on them. Brake performance and fade resistance have a lot too do with user input & track characteristics as well as the usual grip level, hardware capability, pace, etc. What works for some might not work for others so definitely keep a good watch out for any signs of fade. A good pad and fluid (really like Castrol SRF for dual usage) at minimum and solid surveillance from there. Also keep in mind that DSC uses all four corners of braking to keep the car happy so if you are tripping it often that can easily add quite a bit of heat to the system - just fyi.

Have fun out there!

[mattr832]

Originally Posted by medphysdave

You probably get the best bang for buck going with a coilover that has built in camber plates and good tires.

I say this because you'll avoid a lot of the metal on metal noises from solid connections, but increase grip.

You'll like have to deal with a bit of squirmyness under acceleration and braking until you decide to go to more solid connections.

I can say that rear toe arms fixed the squirm under acceleration and solid bushings in the tension arms helped a lot under hard braking. (Tire pressure also made a difference)

I didn't go coilovers first because there wasn't an EDC solution that I wanted.

Thanks! Appreciate the response and feedback. Good to know I'm on the right path with COs and plates. I got some new PS4s back in April, but quickly realized that I probably don't want to keep using those on the track so I'll be looking for some track tires to put on the extra wheels I have.

[mattr832]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

Welcome to the track addiction!

Might get more of a response in the track section so might try there too. Since you are using the car on the street too it is going to come down to how much compromise you can tolerate and how much added NVH you can tolerate.

First if you are just starting out one of the best ways to learn quickly and minimize the forming of bad habits is to keep the car the slowest while your skills catch up. This allows for the establishment of car control skills at the easiest - when the car is slowest. When you add grip the limit of traction gets higher and the speed and precision of recovery gets higher as a result. Building the foundation and engraining into your muscle memory/reflexes is usually easiest at low speeds/grip levels. Also can allow for a quicker move away from DSC (which can also engrain bad habits early) but that is another conversation.

That being said a better suspension at the beginning like you are moving to definitely has some merit. Being able to run a much more suitable alignment can really reduce tire wear and being much more budget friendly being a big one especially tracking in the frequency you mentioned. As fars as the other bits past the dampers & plates - nothing is really "needed" except for maybe sway bar links. Not sure about the TCK kits but I know with our Nitron kits we need an adjustable link in the front in order not to preload the sway bar. You might chat with TCK to see what they recommend. Just make sure that whoever does the install does so with the suspesion loaded at not at droop - see this quite a bit. The thrust arm monoball conversion is a nice upgrade as it does provide a bit more feel and reduce some of the slop of the oem bushing. I do like this one but can feel it a bit more on the street - not overpowering or anything but the feedback is increased. I run the SPL version on my dual usage M2 and along with our damper kit it's my preferred setup up for this usage. You can upgrade arms - you will restore the geometry, add strength, and further reduce the slop of the oem bushings but again its a case of NVH, budget, etc. They are an improvement but even as a dealer for the these kind of components I would recommend holding off for now. Maybe something to consider down the line. Other than that really not much else in the way of suspension available for the platform.

Outside suspension would look into one of the diff lift kits. I personally like the offset version from KMP but there are other good ones out there too. They will add NVH - usually in the form of some whine - but I actually like it on these cars. Aside from the performance aspect they add the offset brackets also restore the angle of the axle to a proper degree when lowering a car improving the longevity of the axles. I do run this on our street car as we have seen accelerated axle issues from lowering & track usage without them. Just something to consider.

Also with the OG cooling is one of the weak points of the car. Lots of info out there so if not already familiar might start looking into that as well. Braking is also not a strong point of the OG so make sure you keep a close eye on them. Brake performance and fade resistance have a lot too do with user input & track characteristics as well as the usual grip level, hardware capability, pace, etc. What works for some might not work for others so definitely keep a good watch out for any signs of fade. A good pad and fluid (really like Castrol SRF for dual usage) at minimum and solid surveillance from there. Also keep in mind that DSC uses all four corners of braking to keep the car happy so if you are tripping it often that can easily add quite a bit of heat to the system - just fyi.

Have fun out there!

Great info and thanks for taking the time to respond. I have so many follow-up questions so I'll do my best to keep it organized:

1) What bad habits should I be mindful of as I'm learning to drive on the track? They covered some of these in the HDPE and with the ride-along instructor, but would love to learn more.

2) Could you elaborate on the following a bit more for me"whoever does the install does so with the suspesion loaded at not at droop"?

3) Any other diff lift kits worth checking out? I don't know much about this so would love to learn more.

4) For OG Cooling, are you referring to the heat soak? I have a CSF intercooler and new CP sitting in the garage which I'll install in the next few weeks. Are there other cooling considerations aside from the brakes and the turbo?

Thanks again for all the help!

3)

[medphysdave]

If you can watch some YouTube videos of folks running these tracks it can be helpful to work on your lines. Try to find a similar vehicle in power and weight.

I didn't have time to do this before my event earlier this week and I felt I wasn't as comfortable as usual. Usually I watch a couple hours of video prior to my track day.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by mattr832

Great info and thanks for taking the time to respond. I have so many follow-up questions so I'll do my best to keep it organized:

1) What bad habits should I be mindful of as I'm learning to drive on the track? They covered some of these in the HDPE and with the ride-along instructor, but would love to learn more.

2) Could you elaborate on the following a bit more for me"whoever does the install does so with the suspesion loaded at not at droop"?

3) Any other diff lift kits worth checking out? I don't know much about this so would love to learn more.

4) For OG Cooling, are you referring to the heat soak? I have a CSF intercooler and new CP sitting in the garage which I'll install in the next few weeks. Are there other cooling considerations aside from the brakes and the turbo?

Thanks again for all the help!

3)

The biggest one that I see that can be hard to break later is the reliance on the nannies (DSC, MDM) to keep the car happy. Mainly in not establishing good throttle control, recovery techniques, etc because the car keeps the car heading the right direction most of the time even when what the driver told it to do wouldn't have. Now there is nothing wrong with running traction control - just know that if you get used to mashing the throttle out of the turns and the car is cutting power, applying braking to one of the four corners, etc to compensate then it can be really hard to build up the proper feel for the throttle application. Instead the brain gets used to just push the gas and go. Again - nothing wrong if this if it is how want to track - but it can take a lot of practice to break that habit later once it is formed if you want to move to traction control off. Traction control off isn't the only use for the good habits too - even as the car gets faster if/when you modify these skills will definitely come more into play as the speed gets higher and the car cannot keep up as well. Its much harder to try to relearn these skills to fully utilize the car at that point and you see a lot of underdriven cars as a result. Again - nothing wrong if that is how you want to drive the car - just something to consider.

Adjustable end links - do not want to determine the length unless the suspension is fully loaded with the weight of the car at rest. See a lot of times there they are hooked up on the lift while the car is in the air - and at droop the length would be longer than when the car is at rest. Now if there is no adjustment in the end link - either in the arm itself or in the attachment to the damper - then you can hook them up at any point as the length is fixed and will always be that length no matter the position of the car. But with adjustment when you lengthen them to connect with the suspension in droop at what would be a longer length than what would be required to have no preload weighted then it is going to add preload - and in some cases could be quite a bit. Can be a pain in the butt to hook up but the way it needs to be done. Also alignment with the the end links disconnected too.

Diff - Turner, Powerflex, really quite a few out there that jumped on these. Like I said I'm a big fan of KMP here and prefer their offset option. Search for M2 diff lift kit and you should be able to find a lot of info out there.

OG Cooling - yeah heatsoak, IATs, all that fun stuff. On the IC lots of info out there about the different brands and how well they work - might look into that a bit. Once the IATs start to climb can really see a drop in power. But overall better cooling also is never a bad thing on a track car - and once you start really being able to lean on the car something to keep an eye on and see where the weak links start to show up. Unfortunately heat is a bit of the achilles heel with the OG - can eventually be a bit of a ceiling with this car. But there is a lot of fun and potential to be had in the OG up to that point.