Looking for upgrades for track use (novice driver)

[fsk128]

Hey everyone! Greeting from Argentina!. I ride a 2025 GT auto with PP and MR. Had my first track day ever last weekend! lots of fun driving a car on the track for the first time. I already have done some mods to it. Have steeda support irs bushings and alignment kit. Also did wheels and tires PS4 275/35/20 and 305/35/20.
I want to do more upgrades to the car but since I'm not an experienced driver yet I don't want to throw everying at once on it. Also I'm trying to sacrifice as little ride comfort as possible since roads here are very bad. Anyway I saw some videos from steeda about doing only the front sway bar and not the rear since I'm running stock springs. Don't want to do lowering springs yet because I'm concerned about ride height, very bumpy roads here, cracks, bumps, pot holes, you name it we have it. What do you think? Should I do both sway bars or just front? Also, what other upgrades do you recommend for my use case? Thanks a lot for your help.

Here i upload some pics to make the thread better (i think)

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[LouG]

When you're learning to drive fast, I find it's better to learn in a car that gives good feedback at lower speeds. A good example is Toyota fitting the first 86's with eco tyres. That would slide and rotate like it was doing a rallycross, but gently enough for newbies to catch it.
I wouldn't do any handling mods until you're at a level that the car is the limiting factor not skill.

 

[MidwayJ]

If I was in your situation I would wait and do a few more track days to learn better how the car behaves before doing any more mods. Right now you probably have a lot of room for improvement with the car as is. The goal should be to reach a point where you can recognize what seems lacking. For example, the car might have too much understeer. Then you can pursue mods to address it.

 

[Ninjak]

Hmm, good question. I guess it will come down to use and what you want to accomplish with your sessions. With that, you can find your place, and decide where you want to go to next with your build.

By the By, if you look at my Dark Horse thread, you will see the rabbit hole this can become. I will say with those mods, my car drives very well on normal streets, is not jaring or ready to rattle your teeth out of place. In truth you would not even know the mods were there until I sart doing things that go beyond normal driving and a stock setup.

Take your time and decide how to setup your car up base on what YOU want to do. Then just get yourself there.

 

[fsk128]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Of course there is a lot of room for improving. There where lesser cars that made better times than me, but anyway i think maybe some upgrades could give me more confidence and/or give me a wider margin of error while driving at the track. For example stock brakes are amazing. Its imposible (at least for me) to get the wheels lock by breaking too hard. Also they gave me a lot of head room to brake even if i pushed the pedal too late when going in a corner.
The only thing i didnt like much was body roll. It's strange because the car seems to roll a lot, but somehow it grips really well. Anyway, I'd feel safer if it didn't roll so much. Also, it's funny how sometimes the rear end looks like it's going to overtake, but somehow it stays behind.

 

[Garcia172]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Of course there is a lot of room for improving. There where lesser cars that made better times than me, but anyway i think maybe some upgrades could give me more confidence and/or give me a wider margin of error while driving at the track. For example stock brakes are amazing. Its imposible (at least for me) to get the wheels lock by breaking too hard. Also they gave me a lot of head room to brake even if i pushed the pedal too late when going in a corner.
The only thing i didnt like much was body roll. It's strange because the car seems to roll a lot, but somehow it grips really well. Anyway, I'd feel safer if it didn't roll so much. Also, it's funny how sometimes the rear end looks like it's going to overtake, but somehow it stays behind.

Get a driving instructor first. You can upgrade the car all you want... but if you really want to learn to drive, you should get a street legal track car that has no electronics or driving aids/aero ... light and cheap. run some r compounds. Go beat that car up learning to drive. Do they have any club racing over there?

 

[Garcia172]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Of course there is a lot of room for improving. There where lesser cars that made better times than me, but anyway i think maybe some upgrades could give me more confidence and/or give me a wider margin of error while driving at the track. For example stock brakes are amazing. Its imposible (at least for me) to get the wheels lock by breaking too hard. Also they gave me a lot of head room to brake even if i pushed the pedal too late when going in a corner.
The only thing i didnt like much was body roll. It's strange because the car seems to roll a lot, but somehow it grips really well. Anyway, I'd feel safer if it didn't roll so much. Also, it's funny how sometimes the rear end looks like it's going to overtake, but somehow it stays behind.

What mode? are stability & traction control turned off?

 

[MustangNoob]

my 2 cents.....the best mod you can do right now is to learn the car...You gonna spend $1k for an upgrade to add parts and you can barely notice any significant change in the track. It's better to spend these money to gain track experience ($1k is at least 3 track days..). Once you accumulate few track days you can see what mods you need.

Some of the actual "mods" that can help at the early stages is a dedicate bucket seat, tires and pads.

Once you gain enough experience and start pushing the car you will know what needs to be upgraded.

 

[fsk128]

What mode? are stability & traction control turned off?

track mode esp not fully of (just one push, no button hold)

 

[fsk128]

my 2 cents.....the best mod you can do right now is to learn the car...You gonna spend $1k for an upgrade to add parts and you can barely notice any significant change in the track. It's better to spend these money to gain track experience ($1k is at least 3 track days..). Once you accumulate few track days you can see what mods you need.

Some of the actual "mods" that can help at the early stages is a dedicate bucket seat, tires and pads.

Once you gain enough experience and start pushing the car you will know what needs to be upgraded.

yes, stock seats feels like a roller coaster hahah. But to be honest new seats are out of budget. I plan to do better pads once stocks wear out. Already did wheels and tires. 275/35/20 +35 and 305/35/20 +52

 

[Garcia172]

track mode esp not fully of (just one push, no button hold)

That's why you felt like , "Also, it's funny how sometimes the rear end looks like it's going to overtake, but somehow it stays behind. ".....

ESP (and I'm no expert here) is "less aggressive" vs the "long push-n-hold" off.

But that's why "it stays behind".

 

[fsk128]

That's why you felt like , "Also, it's funny how sometimes the rear end looks like it's going to overtake, but somehow it stays behind. ".....

ESP (and I'm no expert here) is "less aggressive" vs the "long push-n-hold" off.

But that's why "it stays behind".

I honestly didn't feel anything slowing the car down or the ESP intervening, but I could be wrong. If that's the case, the system works very well. In any case, I wouldn't try to disable it.

 

[Garcia172]

I honestly didn't feel anything slowing the car down or the ESP intervening, but I could be wrong. If that's the case, the system works very well. In any case, I wouldn't try to disable it.

It's doing a lot of things to keep it from over steering too much while allowing you to have some fun.

 

[MustangNoob]

yes, stock seats feels like a roller coaster hahah. But to be honest new seats are out of budget. I plan to do better pads once stocks wear out. Already did wheels and tires. 275/35/20 +35 and 305/35/20 +52

20 in for track is too much imo. 18in will allow better acceleration and braking. much more efficient

 

[fsk128]

20 in for track is too much imo. 18in will allow better acceleration and braking. much more efficient

Yes, I know smaller wheels are better for the track, but things are a bit pricey around here. For example, those 20-inch VF5s cost me around 3700 (wheels only no tires). Also not every tire measure is avalible and some are considered rare and even more expensive so i decided that the best i could get were 20 and wider tires. I think it really improved vs stock pirellis pp wheels/tires. Even the ride feels softer. Maybe pirellis compound is harder?
By the way, is it normal for the rear wheel to lift like that when entering a turn?

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