Hi all! well, I've been going nuts about how the FO8 fries the fronts whilst the rears are just below opt. temp (Using R3s, fronts reach up to 105-110 and rears 95-100). Basically, theres always a difference of about 5-10 degrees between the fronts and the rears. I've noticed that a lot of people mix compounds (R3s Front, R2s Rear / R4s Front, R3s Rear) but I'm kind of hoping to avoid that and just use R3s all over or just for the sake of sticking with the same tyre grip for fronts and rears to have the temps balanced.

I've tried softening the car in general (softening spring stiffness by 10 N/ms, Dampers by 1 and Roll bars by 10)... that didn't work. I then left the suspension settings as they were except for the front end in which I softened in general (front spring stiffness -10, Dampers -1, Roll bars -10) but still, the bloody thing won't get it!

I can be open to the idea that maybe I'm asking too much of the car but this is a rare case for me as when I drive the other single seaters or other cars in general, I can easily adjust the setup or don't even have to sometimes to keep the fronts and rears at a balanced temp.

So what can I do to make it so that either the fronts are slightly cooler than the rears or both at optimum?

Thanks!

NOTE: I'm using Unknown's Westhill set at Westhill.

I don't know much about setups but could you try changing downforce?

Lower the rear tire pressure, maybe brake bias might be hurting your front or be smoother / easier on the turning...

Generally speaking, try to make the set a tad more oversteery. That will remove stress from the front tyres and add some to the rears. Of course, if the setup is already at the limit, you'll have to try different things.

Reducing rear tyre pressure can be a two-edged sword. It might give you better temperatures at the rear, but at the same time the rear grip will be better due to a larger contact patch (and more optimal temperatures). This in return causes more understeer which will heat up your fronts more.

The front tyres generally have more negative static camber, that combined with the effects of steering geometry (namely caster and inclination) means that the front tyres are going to be more inclined to run hot than the rears. Of course the front tyres aren't having to handle all that torque, nor are they semi-linked together by an LSD, so these effects help keep the rears warm. As mentioned, tyre pressures, spring stiffnesses and downforce all have effects (of varying magnitude).

Driving style is such a larger factor that it can't be ignored though.

Given the difference is only up to 10°c though, I wouldn't worry about it, given how much they are likely to warm and subsequently cool over the duration of a race.

I thought the same thing when I read this yesterday - your temps sound fine to me, and I wouldn't change anything if it's handling okay and reasonably quick.

Tyre temp balance only becomes really important over a long race where as the tyres temp balance changes over the race you have periods of understeer and periods of oversteer. Changing balance.

I always try and set up my GFC race sets so that the handling balance is consistent over the full heat cycle of the tyres. It's always safer to set the car so that the fronts run a bit hotter than the rears so that if you have a change in balance it is most likely to result in understeer as you over heat one of the front tyres.

If you over heat the rears on something like the FOX or FO8 then this causes real probs as you begin to oversteer more you generate even more heat in the rears and you spiral into uncontrollable oversteer very quickly. It can take as much as 2 or 3 laps of very careful (and slow) driving to get the temps back down again.

This is in contrast to having too much heat in the fronts which means you can still push fairly hard without scrubbing the front. Generally this costs you less time.

Thanks for the tips guys! . Also, a special thanks to Bob for VHPA as I was able to grasp where the most understeer exists and tweak it. The odd thing is that my anti roll bar settings were 55 Rear and 80.2 Front. This would obviously cause some sort of understeer due to the front being stiffer than the rear (corner entry) but thing is, I kept bringing it down till, according to the graph of understeer/oversteer, I got it to neutral which is 55 Rear and 36.2 Front but even though that the suspension settings are set to neutral, the tyres and downforce set to slight understeer, I actually felt oversteer in the setup, not neutral or slight understeer so found that a bit odd.

In the end, with the new front ARB, I did get the fronts and rears balanced but the car is very pointy and the car skids quite easily in T2. Even though this corner is flat out, when I'm doing around 260 Kmh and then I start to lose the rear end, its seriously scary. I haven't spun once and was able to bring the car back. I then found a way to only turn a little bit as not to amplify the effect of the Front ARB but still, feels edgy.

I suppose increasing +1 rear wing or softer rear ARB would help a lot but thing is, I love the way it handles in all the other corners but its just T2 where it gets a bit hairy.

The safest option as you said is most probably just live with the understeer for a while till you can get in the tyre cooling zone but I just hate understeer, really do but if its for the best interest of my race then I'll do it.

ARBS make most difference to understeer/oversteer when you have the suspension fully loaded up - i.e. mid corner and exit. If you are suffering from corner entry oversteer you should try 1 click more front bump, or maybe even slightly more rear rebound.

Another thing that drammatically effects balance is the diff. Less coast lock = more oversteer at turn in. More power lock and you get that snap oversteer at exit. To tune the power locking listen to the engine revs. If they rise slightly as you put the power on then you have got it about right. If there is no rise in the engine pitch just before the back snaps out on you then reduce the power locking a bit. If you can here the wheels spinning but no oversteer results then you haven't got enough power locking.

Yeah, I want to start experimenting with the diff. I've noticed that a lot of Storm_Cloud's setups have that power thing you're talking about but more like the revs lock for a bit and then it slides. I think using a looser coast setting will most likely give me the results I'm lookin for.