I have a 02 Turbo and wanted to know what you expert drivers do to minimize understeer in the 4wd 996 turbo at the extremes...?

Do you have certain tire pressures that make a difference, certain braking techniques etc ... I'm open to learn how to drive this thing at the limit ...

 

Interesting, I just had to replace two tires on my 996 because the car was seriously mis-aligned: two rear tires were down to the steel showing on the inside edge at only 6100 miles. The car was new and I went back to the dealer who denied setting it up this way, but . . .

Anyway, I did not have a Porsche shop do the realign (I actually used the local ford dealer because they have a mechanice who is amster -sets up Ford GTs, etc. The technician who re-aligned it said my car had been set up to understeer and "feel very stable at speed" -- something to do with camber and toe in. After re-alignment it was much more neutraland less understeer, but felt much "twitchier" and less 'I want to take a straight line" than before. I actually don't like it as much but I should be able to get a normal life from my tires.

Apparently, you can effect under- and over-steer a lot through alignment. I'd find someone who knows and get them to do it your way.

 

Thanks Lee,
I just re-read your post and you said the rear tires were the problem... Did you mean front? You got a re-align - I'm assuming it was the front you realigned and changed the toe-in camber etc... OR was that actually done on the rear ... ????

 

You have to get all four corners of Porsche aligned. Its the same with most IRS cars. In my case all four wheels were out of alignment. There are three adjustments on each wheel: caster, camber, and toe in.

My rear tires wore significantly faster than normal and the car understeered more because of the rear camber adjustment was way way off. It took 90 + minutes for him to adjust all to right on spec.

Often, squirelly handling is due to out of alignment rear suspensions, not front.

I would take your car to a really good alignment guy and have him put it right in the middle of the permissble range on all for corners, as a a start, then play with tire pressures. .

 

Lee, That all makes perfect sense. My car seems to be setup fine, and let's assume for a second it is.

What I have noticed is that it understeers when I am on the juice. Now with the amount of power/torque the TT has, obviously when you're on the gas it will tend to lift the weight off the front axle, and of course, the amount of grip a tire has is in direct proportion to the weight on it. So with the weight lifting off, obvioulsy it loses grip.

On a long constant-radius curve, it sticks to the road, and I can get it pretty balanced (to the point that all four wheels starting to slide together - well mostly) - unless I get too much on the gas - then it's mild understeer.

So is it my over-eager right foot causing the real problem? Or should I adjust my (alignment) setup to suit me??? (I'm guessing I'm the one that needs 'adjusting').

Any tips....?