SCCA FS Setup Questions

[ZachH]

Hello,

I just purchased a E90 ZCP and have a few questions about SCCA FS setup that I'm hoping folks can help answer. (I saw the 38 page thread but am hoping for something more digestible; let me know if I missed something like that!)

1. What buttons do you push and how do you push them before a run LOL! I see a "Power" button, EDC (two settings?), and traction control by the shifter, and "M" mode on the steering wheel. What are these things and what's the right incantation for autox?

2. Recommendations for wheel/tire combos; I just want wheels which are reasonably practical here, I don't want to spend an extra thousand bucks to shave a pound off (Must look good with white paint

3. I assume folks run front bars/end links? How necessary is this and do folks have recommendations here? Again, something practical and cost effective desired, I don't need a million adjustments here.

4. Alignment; any starting points here? Crash bolts aren't a thing on these cars right?

5. Exhaust: How much weight can be saved here, and are there any that are actually as quiet or preferably more quiet than the stock exhaust?

Ummm, anyting else I should know or take care of before my first event in the car?

Thanks in advance!

[sgreer78]

1. Personal Preference.
2. Apex is the easy button.
3. Dinan seems to be the go-to, Hotchkis is a great company and I'm sure their bar is top notch too.
4. no bolts, pull pins then max front camber, rear is personal preference.
5. A lot can be saved, it won't be more quiet.

I'm sure all of this can be found by reading in the nearly 40 page thread dedicated to the subject.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=981788

[The Nebulizer]

Originally Posted by sgreer78

1. Personal Preference.
2. Apex is the easy button.
3. Dinan seems to be the go-to, Hotchkis is a great company and I'm sure their bar is top notch too.
4. no bolts, pull pins then max front camber, rear is personal preference.
5. A lot can be saved, it won't be more quiet.

I'm sure all of this can be found by reading in the nearly 40 page thread dedicated to the subject.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=981788

1. The 'M' button loads your preset options. Go to idrive settings and modify the M option for autocross settings. I put everything on the maximum, but you may choose a bit differently. Then you just need to push the M button and the DSC button at events.

2. Yep. Apex is the easy button. Great looking, light, strong, and reasonably priced. Someone recently had some TRMotorsports in 18x9,18x10 for sale. I had just bought some or I would have bought them. You might search for them on M3forums. Another nice option is M4 18" wheel option M513 style wheel. I think they look great and they are surprisingly very lightweight. Tough to find used though. Search here in the F80/F82 section.

3. Is the Hotchkis bar adjustable? I recently bought one 2nd hand, but haven't seen it yet. I thought it was not adjustable. Both Dinan and Hotchkis are 32mm. Most seem to like a lot of bar up front. I didn't bother with endlinks.

4. Yep. Pull the pins and get max front camber. Rear - maybe a little less. Toe to preference. I find 0 toe front works well and at least a little toe in for the rear. (I'm erroneously running quite a bit of rear toe in 9/32", but talking with my co-driver I am not sure that it is really too much. Drives great, but I'd suggest more like 1/8" rear toe in.)

5. Stock is 54lbs. Akropovic is probably the favorite with what I understand is great sound and weighs only 23lbs. Costs $3700 - and used if you can find it is not much cheaper. Remember that coupes and sedans have different mufflers (coupe is longer - some are adjustable to work with both). BMW Performance is 34lbs and less pricey - nice sound. Borla sounds good and is probably relatively cheap - I don't have a weight on it. (I'm still on stock waiting to find a well timed Acropovik deal from someone that doesn't realize what it is worth - 1.5 years into that search... )

[Richbot]

+1 for the M3/M4 F80 18's. Needs a spacer in the rear but you're going to be messing with spacers regardless with most of the front wheel options except the 18x9 ET30(?) Apex (and I'd rather run a spacer in back than in front). They are just as light as the Apex wheels, truly awesome for an OEM wheel

Hotchkis is adjustable.

The M performance exhaust is 20lb less than the stock muffler and plenty quiet in daily driving as well. Less bassy at low RPM's and cold start in particular is quieter on the MPE than the Akra. So if you want a rad-sounding exhaust that isn't obnoxious and loses some weight I think that's the best choice.

Easy button tire choice is the 275/35-18 RE71R square on those wheels

GET WHEEL STUDS

None of this stuff is necessary before the first event obviously. Sometimes it's fun to see what a hot mess the car is (or isn't) before you start tweaking. The only thing you need to know before the first event is how to hold down the little DSC button by the shifter for a few seconds until it tells you it's off

[ZachH]

Thanks everyone for the great info, much appreciated!