Tyre Wear

[Big A]

Hi
I am trying to decide wether to go for the old chassis or the new De Dion chassis. have any of you dax owners with the old chassis had any uneven tyre wear issues. Car will not be raced or rallied so I was wondering if the upgrade to De Dion chassis is worth it.

Regards Alan

[craggle]

No reason why you should get tyre wear with the standard chassis. Mine works fine and as long as the suspension is correctly setup at the correct ride hight you should be fine.

I went for the standard chassis as I had started collecting and reconditioning the running gear about a year before buying the chassis. The De-dion was just being released when I ordered. I decided to stick with what I had rather than replace all my hard work and money spent, with new running gear.

I think if I hadn't of already had the running gear in a reconditioned state and spent about £1000 on it, I would have gone the De-Dion route.

Craig.

[Wilburn]

Hi Alan,

I have a De Dion Dax and I almost opted for the standard chassis but I am so glad that I didn't.

My car is not raced or rallied either, however with the De Dion chassis and the back tyres being 295 wide, even with 450bhp the grip is amazing. There is no smoking the the back wheels for me when I boot it - just awesome acceleration, even from standstill using 1st gear.

Also it helps with breaking (and of course cornering)

Hope this helps

Paul

[runt]

Hi Alan, I went for the standard chassis as I wanted to spend the money on other things; DB and I agreed that as a 'cruiser' I didn't really NEED the extra nimbleness of the De Dion; then again Paul Wilburn is also right; it is a superb design, you only have to see how it copes with all that torque in DJ's demo.

I find the car offers a better ride than I was expecting, grip on the Toyo's is good in the dry, haven't been caught in the wet yet, I guess the choice is yours.

Paul/runt.

[Big A]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the input much appreciated, hoping to visit the factory next week. The explanation of the De Dion chassis I fully understand And found impressive. there are pros and cons to both, but to be fair the only con I cans see for the De Dion is the cost. I was going to see DB about building one for me, but have decided it would be nice to build it myself just need to get my head around all the different options.

Thanks again Alan

[runt]

[quote=craggle;207082]No reason why you should get tyre wear with the standard chassis. Mine works fine and as long as the suspension is correctly setup at the correct ride hight you should be fine.

Craig, is that done by DJ's as a matter of course on a rolling chassis? (DB will probably confirm this, come to think of it!)

I was talking to Peter Walker re; damper adjustment, he advised me to set @ position 9, working in a clockwise direction; nought being softest, twenty being stiffest, was wondering what setting you used, also my car was @ Cheng's recently, he found the front wheels were toeing out slightly, does feel pretty good now.

Paul/runt.

[Wilburn]

Gary at Dax advised me to set the back to one complete rotation from minimum (sorry not sure how many clicks this was) and leave the front set to absolute minimum.

Handling is great with this setup

[dingocooke]

I think youll find the main culprit for uneven tyre wear on a cobra replica is poor tracking and ride height settings.

I would say go De Dion purely for resale later on; but I always think about how Im going to sell a vehicle before I decide to buy it!!

Have fun with whatever you decide

[craggle]

Don't know if Dax will set up the geometry on a rolling chassis. No reason why they couldn't but it may be an extra cost option.

I did mine myself as best I could using tape measures, straight edges, spirit levels and laser levels. It drives well but I should get it set up properly some day.

I counted how many positions my damper dials had and set in the middle. So far I haven't experimented with changing them.

Loads to do but so little dry days to do it in!

Craig.

[runt]

Paul; very different from Prof. Walkers's advice; but of course mine is standard, yours De Dion.. OR, do Pete and Gary differ on this..?

Steve, you surely are right there; I think DJ's sell many more DD than standard these days.

Craig, your settings are virtually identical to mine, (and as your a perfectionist I bet you set the geometry up ok), yep that and the toe-out were rated by Cheng as the (probable) reason for a bit of 'waywardness' I noticed coming off the gas @ 70-80 one morning (admittedly in a force eight gale on the freeway), not having driven one before I of course have nowt to compare it with..!

Paul.