BustaWrench › Answers › What order should I change things in when I set up an iRacin
The short answer
Baseline first, then ride height, springs, anti-roll bars, alignment, dampers, aero, and brake bias last. Each step changes what the next one feels like — set your alignment before the springs and you will chase your tail. One change at a time, three laps, write down what you felt, and stop when the car is predictable rather than perfect. This is the order for a car being tuned properly; if you are not yet holding a consistent lap, start with tyre pressure instead — see /answers/what-to-change-first-in-an-iracing-setup/.
This is the full eight-step order, for a car that is already driveable and is being tuned properly — you can hold a consistent lap and you want the chassis sorted rather than guessed at.
If you are not there yet, do not start at step 2. Brake bias is second on the beginner list and last on this one, and neither is a mistake: brake bias early is a feel change you can make blind, brake bias late is a fine-tune once the springs and bars are already carrying the car. See What should I change first in an iRacing setup?
Load the iRacing baseline with no tweaks and run 20 clean laps. Write down what the car does: understeer on entry, loose on exit, that sort of thing. That is your starting truth.
Change something before you know that and you have nothing to compare it against.
Ride height first — get the chassis sitting where it should be. Too low and you bottom out and lose aero; too high and you are a sailboat.
Then springs, which set the car's attitude and how weight moves around. Then anti-roll bars, one click at a time, for mid-corner balance. Then alignment, camber and toe, where the lap time lives — but only once the springs and bars are close. Then dampers, for kerbs and transients. Then aero. Brake bias is the last click or two of feel.
Each step changes what the next one feels like. Set your springs after your aero and you have just undone the aero work.
One change, three laps, log it, then decide. And when the car is 90% there and you can hold a consistent line for ten laps, stop. You are racing, not engineering.
If you are unsure how a particular car behaves on the current tyre model, ask — that is quicker than working through the whole list twice.
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