good suspension book on googlebooks.
03-15-09, 12:10 AM
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good suspension book on googlebooks.
Ok so I have been looking around for coilovers lately and I have uncovered to things I dont' quite understand. Can a single coilover setup be "excellent" at road race, drift and autoX? The stance 3way seem to suggest that they can do it all.
Can anyone recommend rate balances which would be good each setup
HC recommends 10k8k of the FD for a street/track car.
would a 12k/12k be more for drift cars? I read somewhere that in general a stiffer front and less spring in rear will make the car more neutral, but I also understand once you change thing such as staggered tire width, stiffer sways, the whole exact rate thing is garbage.
check out this book, it's interesting but kind of wordy..
http://books.google.ca/books?id=BJUVdn5SMBgC
Can anyone recommend rate balances which would be good each setup
HC recommends 10k8k of the FD for a street/track car.
would a 12k/12k be more for drift cars? I read somewhere that in general a stiffer front and less spring in rear will make the car more neutral, but I also understand once you change thing such as staggered tire width, stiffer sways, the whole exact rate thing is garbage.
check out this book, it's interesting but kind of wordy..
http://books.google.ca/books?id=BJUVdn5SMBgC
03-15-09, 10:23 AM
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03-15-09, 04:46 PM
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thanks, read that already. HC wrote about a good street/track setup, I'm leaning more towards a track setup and differences between the different setup like in autox and road race, and track and even drag if you will...
Howards's thread is really good, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to suspension, I'm sure he won't deny that.
Howards's thread is really good, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to suspension, I'm sure he won't deny that.
03-15-09, 10:37 PM
#5
I'm just an amateur but you might be over thinking it. These are my thoughts based on what I learned reading howard's thread with input from others and my own personal experience changing my suspension setup (and a few books that I've read).
Howard's recommendations of 450# front and 350# rear spring rates is a great compromise b/c it does set the car up to handle in a pretty neutral manner. This setup still offers enough ride comfort for street use that you won't hate driving the car too much... You can fine tune it with sway bar settings, shock settings, tire pressures, tire sizes and alignment settings. I find that this works well for my car on street tires (Dunlop Z1 now) w/ no cage or roll bar or other chassis stiffening devices.
Read through comments from ptrhahn and Fritz Flynn on that thread and others in the Race section to get some perspective on what those guys running sticky tires in a more dedicated track or "race like" setup.
A generalization that I discovered that seems to be true is that as you go to a more track only or race like setup, you stiffen the springs (and shocks if needed). Many seem to wind up running stiffer springs to help decrease the body roll, yaw and such that stickier tires and race brake pads generate.
It makes sense when you think about it. It makes more sense when you actually experience it by driving/testing the car with different rates (which is what I did) on track.
I'm glad I started with regular shocks and off the shelf H&R springs and moved up to a more track oriented setup. It was much easier to learn the limits of the car with the softer springs b/c you had more time to react when you did reach the limits of traction. I like my custom valved Tripoint Konis with Ground Control kit for the reason that I can swap springs using cheap, generic $50 race springs. You can buy them used for $75 a pair and figure out what works for you.
Howard's recommendations of 450# front and 350# rear spring rates is a great compromise b/c it does set the car up to handle in a pretty neutral manner. This setup still offers enough ride comfort for street use that you won't hate driving the car too much... You can fine tune it with sway bar settings, shock settings, tire pressures, tire sizes and alignment settings. I find that this works well for my car on street tires (Dunlop Z1 now) w/ no cage or roll bar or other chassis stiffening devices.
Read through comments from ptrhahn and Fritz Flynn on that thread and others in the Race section to get some perspective on what those guys running sticky tires in a more dedicated track or "race like" setup.
A generalization that I discovered that seems to be true is that as you go to a more track only or race like setup, you stiffen the springs (and shocks if needed). Many seem to wind up running stiffer springs to help decrease the body roll, yaw and such that stickier tires and race brake pads generate.
It makes sense when you think about it. It makes more sense when you actually experience it by driving/testing the car with different rates (which is what I did) on track.
I'm glad I started with regular shocks and off the shelf H&R springs and moved up to a more track oriented setup. It was much easier to learn the limits of the car with the softer springs b/c you had more time to react when you did reach the limits of traction. I like my custom valved Tripoint Konis with Ground Control kit for the reason that I can swap springs using cheap, generic $50 race springs. You can buy them used for $75 a pair and figure out what works for you.
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