edh said:
Rich's geo sounds fine to me. In your position I'd probably look at Bilsteins, - possibly with a coilover sleeve? Rear coilovers don't always mean re-indexing, (mine didn't) but I believe it's a bit hit or miss.
FWIW, KWv3 Coilovers are very comfy for road use, even mine with 500lb springs, much firmer than their std. I have -3 deg front camber & that's still OK for me. Car is comfy enough to drive to Spa / Nurburg. It's probably marginally harsher than my m030 Boxster.
Ok,
Yes to my knowledge Bilstein don;t offer an adjustable ride height strut and their Sport road shocks are an Insert using the standard strut housing with the fixed lower spring platform, which could be used with lowering springs if required.
A coilover Sleeve ? do you mean cutting off the
original strut spring pan and welding a sleeve to the strut body to use 2.25ID race springs?
Re-indexing the torsion bars is often required to change the rear ride height when the front has been lowered, the torsion bars
can be "left in" if rear shocks absorbers with higher rate springs than the torsion springs are being used, especially if going really stiff as the coil springs over ride the torsion rates and render them redundant.
500Lbs front springs is seriously
HARD for the road !
I was discussing the
V3 system with
KW UK a few weeks ago and they quoted their spring rates were 340 front / 280 rear
which they said would be way too stiff for my 1030kg 924S
Road car as also are all the other offerings from Koni, Gaz, Avo and Spax etc..
so I'm considering having a special valving and spring rates made to suit my lightweight Road application from a Dutch company called
INTRAX because my current front spring rates are generally too harsh & stiff @ 190 & 220lbs front & Rear
The KW V3 System does use helper springs to assist & eradicate vibrations and also the inserts have a special valve for high load compression which releases oil flow and allows much more movement and (Comfort) absorption when encountering potholes and large underlations but with 500Lb springs the word "Comfy"? surely can't appear anywhere near a description on the road ?[/b]
That's a fully blown race car rate / poundage.
Dependent on how much lightening? you've done to your S2 (which lighter would make the car even more harsh ?)
Each front corner will have approx 700Lbs? in weight, which means your front suspension will only
drop from full droop (When jacked up in the air) by 1.4 Inches when loaded and back on it's wheels!
This can't be right? maybe the 500 is a metric or other format ?
On this thread subject of Suspension, for Rob & Other members considering Upgrading and wondering about
the
Pro's and con's Here is some of the Info from a USA website in regard to different set-ups:[/i]
Basically, changing to higher spring rates for the front springs, torsion bars, and sway bars can benefit all vehicles in the 924/944/968 model line. The main benefit of changing to higher spring rates is reducing body roll during cornering. By reducing body roll, the tires maintain contact with the road longer. Other benefits are reduced squat during acceleration and reduced dive during hard braking.
[FONT=book antiqua,palatino"]Regardless of the spring rates listed above (in lbs. or Newtons), the ![[FONT=verdana,geneva"]](/forum/styles/default/pcgb/space.gif ". [FONT=verdana,geneva\"]")
[FONT=arial black,avant garde"]
maximum[FONT=book antiqua,palatino"] spring rate for any (standard) 924/944/968 suspension is approximately [FONT=arial black,avant garde"]175 lbs.
So, we need to pick a spring that is something greater than 175 lbs. if we want to improve handling. So, exactly how much do we increase the spring rate? Generally, spring rates from 200 to 220 lbs. provide a good performance improvement cars that are primarily street driven. For street cars that see some track time, spring rates from 250-275 lbs. are an excellent choice. I have seen some cars where 400 lb. springs are used on street/track cars. In my opinion,
400 lb. springs are entirely too stiff for a street driven car. They provide much
too harsh a ride on the street. More importantly, as streets are generally much less smooth and hence much less forgiving than a track,
they can in fact be dangerous on the street. To give you some idea of the stiffness of a 400 lb. spring, 944 Turbo
(Race) Cup cars used 375-410 lb. progressive rate springs.
Example Suspension Setups
Sport Suspension
A good sport suspension setup for a car that is primarily driven on the street might include 220 lb. front springs, 27 mm torsion bar, 30 mm front sway bar, and 19 mm rear sway bar. Personally, I like a car that has very neutral steering characteristics. If you prefer to maintain the understeering characteristics of the stock 944, you might prefer a 26 mm sway bar to the 27 mm. If you prefer a car that oversteers, you might choose a 28 mm torsion bar. Just realize that a car that oversteers is much more sensitive to steering corrections and can you into trouble during a panic maneuver. With regards to the sway bars, I really like the 968 M030 sway bars. The reason I like them is that the 19 mm rear bars are 3-way adjustable which give you another option when it comes to changing the steering characteristics.
High Performance Street/Track Suspension
A good high performance suspension for a car that it used on the street and track might include 260 lb. springs, a 28 mm torsion bar, 30 mm front sway bar, and 19 mm rear sway bar. Again, if you want more understeer, you might choose a 27 mm torsion bar. And, if you want some oversteer, you might choose a 29 mm torsion bar. As I've already cautioned you about oversteer we won't repeat that again.
Full Race Suspension
While I've seen this suspension setup used on the street, I don't recommend it. A good combination for the track might include 400 lb. front springs, 31 mm torsion bar, 30 mm front sway bar, and 19 mm rear sway bar.
For further details have a look at the website:
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/susp-15.htm
R
