Selecting the right suspension

[fhudsonjr]

I was cruising this thread from 2003. Guest v413nc3 had some good info. He talked about giving some more info and calling it Suspension 202.

He never came back as far as I could tell. Does anyone know what happened?

[v413nc3]

Sure he did, but he's a total jackass :)

What would you like to know? Other than V413nc3 (me) Erron Spalsbury is a huge resource on the topic, and if you can get past the porches are the best thing on the planet speach, Fusionsport (Don) has a wealth of knowledge on road racing (just bustin your chops Don :p).

[fusionsport]

The question is- what specifically do you want the suspension to do and what are you prepared to spend to allow it to do it?

[fhudsonjr]

Mtndragon had a further comment about strut bars, but there was no reply.

Forgive me,but I have not figured out how to put his quote in here since it is from another thread.

In reading the thread v413nc3 (aka Styroduck) said strut bars should push out on the strut towers.

Questions:
Do you adjust them out as far as humanly possible just shy of bending the towers or the strut bar? :rolleyes:

Do you adjust them w/the vehicle on the ground or raised w/the suspension hanging?

After adjustment does it require wheel alighnment?

Is there one adj. for street and one for road race?

There was a sarcastic comment about Eibach Pro kit. What is the best compromise-springs and shocks-for a daily driver that would also do Hdpe and TT in Nasa?

Budget would be $500 to about $600 for a FWD.

As Mtndragon said, that is an excellent thread.

Thanks for answering.

[fusionsport]

Do you adjust them out as far as humanly possible just shy of bending the towers or the strut bar?

Adjust them so they are "snug" but dont overtighten to the point you are stressing them. Doing so will pre-load the chassis and you have no way of knowing what effect it will have. This is generally regarded as a very bad thing.


Do you adjust them w/the vehicle on the ground or raised w/the suspension hanging?

On the ground.


Do you adjust them w/the vehicle on the ground or raised w/the suspension hanging?

You better hope not- if it does you have serious issues beyond the alignment.


Is there one adj. for street and one for road race?

No.


There was a sarcastic comment about Eibach Pro kit. What is the best compromise-springs and shocks-for a daily driver that would also do Hdpe and TT in Nasa

For roughly 500 bucks the best you can do for a 1G is a set of KYB AGX's and a spring kit. If you can find one, a used set of Ground Control "coilovers" would be a nice addition, but dont hold your breath. Tokico Illuminas work OK but I have never had good luck with them lasting any length of time. For generic street and track use the springs themselves arent going to make much difference, other than being too stiff or too soft, because you cant adjust the crossweights and have so much compliance in the suspension it wouldnt matter if you could. IF you can find people with different spring and shock setups to get rides in that might help your decision, but again, no two street cars are close enough alike to give a really good idea of what they will do in your car.

[v413nc3]

Do you adjust them out as far as humanly possible just shy of bending the towers or the strut bar? :rolleyes:

You want to snug them up pushing outwards, not pulling inwards. But don't go so tight as to actually move any suspension pieces.


Do you adjust them w/the vehicle on the ground or raised w/the suspension hanging?

Raise it in the air, get it taught but not to push or pull on the towers, then lower it and snug it up.


After adjustment does it require wheel alighnment?

If it does something is wrong, you have probably over tightened it.


Is there one adj. for street and one for road race?

Suspension yes, tower bar no.


There was a sarcastic comment about Eibach Pro kit. What is the best compromise-springs and shocks-for a daily driver that would also do Hdpe and TT in Nasa?

Eibach springs are shit. Find whatever setup you want to use and replace them with Hypercoils. The hypercoils come in a plethora of sizes and rates, and run about $65 a spring.

[fusionsport]

eh, Eibach springs are ok, Hypercoils are fine too.Never had a single issue with an Eibach spring on a race car- ever. My only issue with them is they have a somewhat limited selection in smaller sizes for Formula/Sportsracer cars. Eibach "kits" such as the Sportline or whatever are not especially great, but a lot of people have used them. My issues with thier "kits" have been that the rates are often wayyyy off for my purposes.

As far as adjusting the bar on the ground or in the air, I prefer to always adjust anything that might pre-load anything on the ground. Swaybars for example MUST be adjusted on the ground, preferably at race weight, at proper ride height and with all crossweight adjustments made. Since an adjustable strut bar has the potential to pre-load the chassis, I would never adjust it off the ground. Honestly though, a strut bar does so little in the grand scheme of things I would really concentrate on other areas, like swaybars, shocks, etc.

[v413nc3]

eh, Eibach springs are ok, Hypercoils are fine too.Never had a single issue with an Eibach spring on a race car- ever. My only issue with them is they have a somewhat limited selection in smaller sizes for Formula/Sportsracer cars. Eibach "kits" such as the Sportline or whatever are not especially great, but a lot of people have used them. My issues with thier "kits" have been that the rates are often wayyyy off for my purposes.

As far as adjusting the bar on the ground or in the air, I prefer to always adjust anything that might pre-load anything on the ground. Swaybars for example MUST be adjusted on the ground, preferably at race weight, at proper ride height and with all crossweight adjustments made. Since an adjustable strut bar has the potential to pre-load the chassis, I would never adjust it off the ground. Honestly though, a strut bar does so little in the grand scheme of things I would really concentrate on other areas, like swaybars, shocks, etc.


Meh, Eibachs can get heated up and anneal, thus changing their spring rate. I'd much rather go with Hypercoils. As far as adjusting, I prefer it under load, but when putting adjustables tower bars on I like it to be not under load, that way you don't have to fight to put them on, just make them as loose as needed to put on, lower the car to put some tension on them and adjust away. I'm completely with you on the tower bars, they don't really tie shit together but the towers, removing them and adding a cross bar for a cage and tying it into the X brace is 100% better to control body roll, with the nice added safety benefit.

[fhudsonjr]

Thanks for the info.

I was interested in the strut bars because I have them and it seems like everyone else does, but I never saw anything about adjusting them 'til I saw that thread-and no I wouldn't jump off a bridge just because everyone else did. :rolleyes: Don't cha just love mommas?

Where do you get Hypercoils? I'm relatively new and have not heard of them before.

On GC coilovers: Since you raise and lower these, I assume,as the need arises, what do you do about alignment? Do you have to realign the front end every time?

I've read that some people feel the AGX's are too harsh for the street-keeping in mind I'm talking about a daily driver.

Thanks again guys.