Suspension Upgrades - what are you running?
Reply #8 –
I haven't got many mods yet but there are more to follow as soon as I recover from my engine spending.
I've got on the front:
TC springs w/1 coil removed
Urethane sway bar bushings
1 5/16 TC sway bar
MM camber plates
MM strut bar
Monroe Sensatrac struts
All other suspension on the front is stock.
The rear is completely stock with a TC rear sway bar.
So how does it handle? Roll stiffness improved dramatically in front with the poly sway bar bushings. The monroe dampers seem like an allright match for the cut TC springs although rebound seems a little light. Compression is pretty tight though. I think Koni reds would be a better match. But they'll have to wait until I install my ST springs.
Camber plates should be the first suspension mod anyone makes to these cars. Equalizing my negative camber and adding positive caster has made the steering feel much tighter and more resposive. The tires dont scrub near like they did in a slow very tight turn and the jacking affect my car had is gone.
It helps greatly when evaluating your suspesion set up to break down a turn into sections like this:
Entry/braking zone
Cut zone/turn in
Accellaration zone
Exit
So basically what happens with my car in a u-turn situation on a rural divided road is this. High speed (2nd gear) corner entry is stable under braking. There is still more brake dive than I'd like but that has improved greatly with the addition of positive caster. Then I cut the wheel for the turn and the front end understeers. At this point I'm off the brakes and not accelarating yet. One thing that I suspect would help this would be to increase rear roll stiffness to induce a bit more oversteer or go with a smaller front bar. Anyway, for now all I can do is reduce steering input or slow down a bit on corner entry. At this point I'm a bit past the mid point of the turn, understeer is under control and I'm hitting the accelleration zone where I'm on the throttle. Here the car transitions to oversteer under power. But at least it's controlable and not excessive wheel spin or snap oversteer so I'm set up for a pretty decent exit line. And that's basically it.
The above example is probably the worst type of turn for these nose heavy modified Mac Strut cars but it really puts the car to the test. I still need to fiddle with my alignment a little and definitely work on my driving!
I haven't had the car on an auto x course yet so I'm not sure how it's transitional response will be, such as through a slalom, but I hope to be ready by March!
Topic: Suspension Upgrades - what are you running? (Read 1803 times)
previous topic - next topic
