Front/rear sway bar questions

2011 Nismo#91

Personally I'd avoid mismatching dampers and springs. Pretty much everyone uses the stiffest front sway bar they can for the track, Hotchkiss is the stiffest off the shelf bar. It's up to you what you want to do with the rear, you can put faster lap times with out it but it can be less predictable on the street.

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GTR TT 493Whp/431lbft, Ecutek, Southbend 6puck,Quaife, RPM RollBar 4Point, R888R, JRZ RSPro F(10R/10C) R(10R/6C) 1000f500r inlbs+150inlbs Tender, SPL everywhere.Full Specs

victorofhavoc

you ever see a car drive straight down the road but it's sitting sideways? That's the result of frame damage or an alignment where two wheels on an axle pull one way while the others pull the other way. Improper alignment may result in the car going straight fine, but being lazy turning one way, and fast another way. If the bump comes at you anything other than head on, chances are the wheels will start to pull in opposing directions at different times and with varying forces. - That's why alignment *could* affect what you're feeling.

The other thing to consider is type of coil. My car sitting on Bilstein monotube coils with about 400lb springs rides like a stiff brick compared to my racecar on kwv3 with 14k front and 10k rear springs on slicks. BC are not exactly known for having the most comfy coil out there, and each person's expectations are usually different. If your ride height is close to bottoming out the coil or only one of them is at a lower than expected height, you can be left with odd bump characteristics that ruin the ride entirely. Combine being too low with a super stiff monotube damper and it likely won't be comfortable, even on the smoothest of racetracks.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

victorofhavoc

Tramlining, rapid darting, or following every bump in the road can be a result of a lot of camber.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

Ralphatron

Ok guys, the verdict is in....

It was the hotchkis rear sway bar that was causing it.

I removed one of the endlinks to test it and low and behold, that was it. I'm almost tempted to switch out the front sway for something slightly less stiff since now I know the effect it can have on handling over uneven surfaces.

After unlinking the rear sway, I played around with the rear damper settings since I had them on the softest setting originally. I noticed even with the rears on 50% stiffness (15 out of 30 clicks) the darting was still a lot less noticeable and the stiffer damping still helped the rolling as expected, just not as ridiculously as the fat rear bar being connected.

So let this be a lesson for anyone else that falls in the same trap as me. I knew it was not the alignment causing what I was feeling even though im in serious need of one at this point and I'm looking forward to even more improved handling from that. Just need to fine tune the height now since I just put this kit on last weekend and wanted to let springs settle a bit.


Anyway, thanks to everyone who chimed in... too bad Geokots ain't gettin a giftcard!

2011 Nismo#91

Car fixed

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GTR TT 493Whp/431lbft, Ecutek, Southbend 6puck,Quaife, RPM RollBar 4Point, R888R, JRZ RSPro F(10R/10C) R(10R/6C) 1000f500r inlbs+150inlbs Tender, SPL everywhere.Full Specs