How's Our Cars Handling? Options

[TheChildOfTheSea]

Since my accident with my GT4, I've been a little scared of driving faster that 60mph on the highway and taking sharp corners...How much can this car handle in corners without losing control?
I also drive a Mazdaspeed protege as daily car and I take sharp corners no problem, it's really only with the GT4 that I am scared...

[mkernz22]

near me there's this one corner that ends one highway and brings it onto another. the guard rail is all banged up from people hitting it and whatnot. the speed limit on the corner is 30 or 35 mph, but I can take it 60-65mph, no problem at all with my USDM GT

[delusionz]

It takes a while to get used to driving the GT4 at high speed, I understand how you feel at the moment but the more milage you rack up behind the wheel of that the more comfortable you'll feel.

The GT4 can do amazing things that even modern sports cars cant do.

I think what you might be experiencing is called "lots of low end torque", you'll have to adjust your right foot for that. this is what makes the car step the ass out sideways when you suddenly press the pedal to the floor half way through a corner you have to work on your throttle control.

And by the same token never suddenly lift off the throttle mid corner either as this could put you sideways too.

Once you master the car though... Just you wait.

[808celica]

Hit a mountain, hit a gaurdrail, hit a chicken............all going 45+ and still doesnt phase me

Hella Flush I dont care

[azian_advanced]

our cars' handling would be better if we had short-long-arm type suspension.

[richee3]

There's only one way to test your car's handling, and that isn't by sitting at your computer. Anything your Mazaspeed Slowtege will do, your '4 will do better.

[TheChildOfTheSea]

There's only one way to test your car's handling, and that isn't by sitting at your computer. Anything your Mazaspeed Slowtege will do, your '4 will do better.

haha thanks! that really made my day hehe!

[yungazzdriver]

Hit a mountain, hit a gaurdrail, hit a chicken............all going 45+ and still doesnt phase me

Hella Flush I dont care

LOL nice one! Hella Flush....

[Euphoria]

Get some good tyres! make sure your shocks aren't completely ****ed and even GT Celicas handle very well! When I had semi slicks I hit 1.5G's on an iphone app haha, Bit inaccurate but I did it on other cars and they struggled to get over 1.

[SwissFerdi]

Well, I think, compared to other vehicles of the same class, quite good. Although USDM Celi's might have gotten the shetty end of the engine department, the chassis remains the same. Typical FWD understeer, but I've always felt the thing to be quite responsive. Especially with a bit of spring stiffening and grippy tires, like euphoria said, a Celica does quite well. I'm confident in pushing mine around a little, and I've learned the point at which the tires will slowly let go, so it makes for quite good fun and a well-cornering car, methinks. This is speaking of course strictly for FWD models...the GT-FOUR is a different story.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 24, 2011 - 10:17 PM

[cax_11]

Takes time to learn the way the GT-Four handles throttle, if your stepping down hard exiting a corner, the torsen rear diff and torque will easily get the @$$ out, but at the same time if you rush into a corner with to much speed it understeers. All in all I would say it comes down to driver skill, gotta know when it will break traction and when it won't when it will understeer etc. I've driven a few different cars before and the GT-Four is high up on my list, wayyyy better than the nissan Pulsar GTI-R for sure...

[azn87]

personaly i would get ur self into some autocross or just find a big parkinglot with no poles or parking stones and just start to mess around and get to know ur car

[BonzaiCelica]

I just installed my Helical LSD Transmission and so far even though I haven't pushed it yet, Helical LSD is like day and night!! Helical LSD is like a 50% improvement what do you think guys???

[delusionz]

If you give it the right inputs, you could potentially take an average 2nd into 3rd gear corner (say 70kph recommended) by entering at the top of 3rd gear and change into 4th on the apex and hit 180kph on the way out with this car. (This scares the **** out of me, I don't feel safe doing it but I've done it)

I'm not recommending you go trying this because even the car can handle it, nomatter what speed you do really, the wrong throttle/brake/steering inputs will get you into trouble.

this is a beast you need to learn how to tame, ive been driving Celica now for 3 years, GT4 for 2 of those years, previously I was a motorcyclist. I've maxed out every car and bike I've ever had pushing its limits of speed, traction, cornering, power, etc. the GT4 I still have not maxed out, the upper limits of cornering traction and stability are at speeds greater than I'm prepared to risk trying for.

[delusionz]

I just installed my Helical LSD Transmission and so far even though I haven't pushed it yet, Helical LSD is like day and night!! Helical LSD is like a 50% improvement what do you think guys???

GT4's don't have that up front like SS-III's.

I've owned both, SS-III slides wide about 40-50kph slower than a GT4 does mid corner

Eg if an SS-III (stock susp.) took a corner at 60kph and it was so badly cambered that it slid wide, a GT4 (stock susp.) could take that same corner at about 100+kph before sliding wide

[delusionz]

The difference between Superstrut & LSD vs not having it
(I've never had LSD by itself in a FWD Celica)

Is like the difference between driving straight off the road, and going round the corner. lol

so more like 100%

[BonzaiCelica]

well ya your right the topic was started by a member who has a gt-4. Of course awd will do better than fwd thats a no brainer. Like I said before I still do not know what the limit is of the Helical LSD is like but so far I'm liking it a lot!!

[Euphoria]

40-50kph faster is a BIG difference, especially on a corner where 60kph is pushing it. I may not have driven an ST205 but I've driven a couple of wrx's including an STI with semis and other awd's and while they handled better, only a couple would of been 10-20kph faster, the sti had the same tyres as I had at the time and I've cruised often with the guy who owned it and I can tell you theres no way that things gets around a corner 50kph faster.

Also a 120kph corner the difference is going to be more...



This post has been edited by Euphoria: Apr 25, 2011 - 9:24 PM

[delusionz]

you have to have something more between your legs than a twistie and a couple cheese balls for sure. I can't comment on an STI, but I can comment on having owned a 1996 SS-III and a 1996 GT-Four at the same time both at the time running factory suspension, both running identical factory celica 6 spoke 16x7.5 wheels, both running 225/50/16.

My apologies for failing to mention the SS-III was running Firestone's TZ100 while the GT4 was running Potenza RE001

[TheChildOfTheSea]

Thank you delusion! this is really helping I've tried a couple corners tonight at 50-60kph and it went out great without tire squeak!

edit: and i'm driving on all season tires...that's all I could find for cheap! haha

This post has been edited by TheChildOfTheSea: Apr 25, 2011 - 10:50 PM

[whatthe]

RE001 are porn, you should never cheap out on tyres if you plan on pushing your car around corners on public roads.

[TheChildOfTheSea]

Aye no worries! not pushing her too much, I do this with my mazdaspeed...this car is crazy on corners!
I paid cheap but they're good and brand new, from Bridgestone...not cheap tyres made in china!

[delusionz]

Bridgestone Potenza RE001 is awesome, best tyre for the money around these parts.

If you can get it cheaper than Potenza, then the Toyo Proxes T1R are also good performers, so far have not managed to push the car hard enough to compare the limits of the two tyres. So both get a thumbs up from me.

[TheChildOfTheSea]

Aye I've heard lots of good things about the potenza, never heard of the proxes though

[whatthe]

R1R, cmon ;p

[TheChildOfTheSea]

R1R, cmon ;p

seriously! I don't know crap about tyres...they fit or not, summer or winter

[delusionz]

R1R, RE001 are we comparing apples to oranges?

lol RE50 or RE55 I think? Not sure if the later is road legal, but Bridgestone have one down from their top high performance tyre which is road legal. It's way above the RE001 I'm not sure which one it is

[delusionz]

T1R is Toyo's ultra high performance tyre in the affordable price bracket (when I mean affordable I don't really mean affordable but maybe 20% more than a cheapy but suitable for high performance)

RE001 is Bridgestone's equiv.

R1R is Toyo's racing tyre for the street and track, its much more expensive than T1R. It's one down from the all out circuit tyre the R888

As is RE050 to the RE055S in the Bridgestone range.

I'm also fond of the old Grid 3 range which Bridgestone had phased out with Potenza.

I've never followed any of the other brands, nor do I have experience with ice climates. Just all year round high performance sports tyres. But from what I've heard, in the Dunlop range Direzza is not the one to get, they have a higher grade high performance tyre equiv to the RE001 and T1R, but it's not in the Direzza range.

[delusionz]

Lower than that range is the Touring type tyres, These give a quieter ride, more cushioned and less responsive, but still decent grip and wet weather performance. Great for long trips and A-to-B cars but undesirable for high performance driving.

[Euphoria]

Those Firestones are pretty average compared to RE001's, I'm not arguing a GT4 is close to a FWD Celica but I just think 50kph faster through a slow corner is a bit exaggerated, although saying that I do know that going to a good slick or even RE001's after having complete **** tyres, 20-30kph through a corner faster is not exaggerated, dunno much about those firestones though. Also a stock gt4 would have stiffer springs/anti-roll bars than an SS-II out of factory?

And you all aren't wrong there, RE001 are great tyres for the road and even track if needed be, not quite as good as RE050 but still good.

But thechildofthesea just make sure you get some better tyres next time, research them and if you want something really great, aim for a semi-slick, I remember being confused at the higher rate of speed I could can carry through a corner after I got a set of KUHMO KU36's, but they do wear at a ridiculous rate .

[delusionz]

40-50kph sounds like alot, but you gotta remember, a gt4 finishes 2nd gear really fast and hit 3rd gear off the apex of a sharp corner that would generally have you riding 2nd gear 60kph 4000rpm waiting for the opening to come up to "bwaaaaaaaarrr" for a minute before even getting past 80kph, but its that point before the apex where you would get understeer, it would be a split second between the gt4 riding 80kph and hitting 100 at the limiter and changing gear.

So you're right in a way too that it is more like 20kph, but in saying that, i haven't found the limits of the gt4 because i'm not a race driver and i dont intend to drive the car at levels which i dont know that im safe at.

Whereas in the FWD, theres not a whole lot you can do, you either go round the corner, or you understeer off the road, but the best you can do is put your foot down and hope for the best.

[delusionz]

its the cars capability were discussing, not driver ability to master the various machines

[TheChildOfTheSea]

What I'm doing right now is I always take the same corners and try to push a little more everyday. And so far the handling is great! Still haven't reached the cornering performance of the MSP

This post has been edited by TheChildOfTheSea: Apr 27, 2011 - 12:57 PM