Pre-winter inspection and prep

At the beginning of every season there's always a mad rush to try to get an alignment scheduled so this year after speaking with Steve at SJF Performance, we decided we'd do it differently. Bumblestook stays in hibernation all winter so there's no reason why we can't do an alignment before putting her away so she'll be all ready next season and that's exactly what we did.

Pre-winter prep -  SJF Performance - 11/21/2015

There was a bit of slippage since the last alignment and magically I regained some of the camber I had lost on the front driver side. This allowed us to dial in some more front camber so the front bites a little better for better balance. She was getting a tad pushy at the end of the season. We suspect my front subframe shifted a little during Nationals back to it's "normal" position so the final alignment we ended up going with was:

Front:
-3.4 Camber
0 toe
5 degrees caster

Rear:
-2.5 Camber
0.06 total toe in (1/16")

At the last event, we also start hearing some squealing noises from the front wheels. We thought it could be bad wheel bearings but after getting her on the lift, we noticed no play in the wheel or suspension whatsoever. Then we looked at the next obvious thing, the brakes, and was shocked to see that I've basically gone through the front brake pads almost to the backing plates. That in and of itself isn't particularly shocking since it is a race car so it goes through brakes but considering Bumblestook is trailered, she's basically gone through a set of front pads in about 250-300 competition miles.

Front brakes are done - 11/21/2015

Almost down to the backing plates - 11/21/2015

Since these are Hawk HP+ pads and are fairly aggressive, the rotors have also been chewed up quite a bit so I'll have to replace these before I race next season. So much for being race ready before winter. We also used up all the Ethanol in the tank at the last event so I filled her up with pump 93.

Finally, I compiled a list of things I have to get done early next season:

• Replace front brake pads and rotors 
• Replace driver seat rail/slider (Ballade Sports ultra-low seat rail)
• Re-dyno and verify the tune and double check the throttle bodies