I have a street, daily driven EG4, as up now I hate the handling, naturally, its understeering like hell, 14" with huge tire walls dont do it any good either.

I bought:

Benen front strutbar
Benen front tie-bar
Benen rear tie-bar
Benen front Xmember brace

Rota 16" Subzero bronze running on 195/45/16 Yokohama Prada 2's

Going to buy:

Omnipower Street
ST front+rear swaybars

Now i was thinking.. on my last car i had full PU bushings and it handled like a dream, but with the Koni yellows on the Skunk2 sleeves it was a low and STIFF ride.. I'd like a little more comfort this time round, but still would like the instant reactions and feedback. Would you recommend the PU's or replace the bushings with stock again (these have been on the car since '93).

 

The delay in turning...I.E. the reaction time of your suspension has to do with the suspension bracing, and tire sidewalls.

A stock suspension with your strutbar/tiebar/xmember setup and front and rear swaybars will turn razor sharp. But it will still understeer.

I guess my response to your question would be to get new bushings from the factory. But use urethane bushing on the sway bars.

Sounds like a hell of a setup you got though. Go autocross it.

 

Autocross, LOL, not before I get the better brakes & discs in the rear..

And an engine, 100hp just isnt going to cut it.

So its new factory bushings over PU.. But with the low dollar and high prices at the Dutch dealership its more or less the same price, if not cheaper for the full PU kit.

Then still factory, for that little comfort?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dirk-EG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Autocross, LOL, not before I get the better brakes & discs in the rear..

And an engine, 100hp just isnt going to cut it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

wow. way off. just go drive the damn car.

&lt;-- autocrosses with drums in the rear and a 100hp engine and loves it.

lose the drag racer mentality and go learn how to drive.

 

Okay so besides the 100hp engine with imho not enough torque to get me away from the corner.. We dont have that much auto X here.. in fact none..

some trackdays and for 15 bucks a lap on the Nordsleife in Germany, but thats 2 hours driving (minimal)..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dirk-EG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Autocross, LOL, not before I get the better brakes & discs in the rear..

And an engine, 100hp just isnt going to cut it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Dont need any of that. Seat time is seat time.......

 

Agreed, seat time is seat time, however, doing so here in Holland is going to be expensive.. Auto X is very rare.. The few trackdays are expensive and crowded..

The only alternative is a racing course or a skid course, which i'll only take once the car is done, so I can learn to use it properly the first time round..

Mind you I am no n00b when it comes to driving, since i've been driving for @ least 5 years now and karting for even more (min. 4 times a year).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dirk-EG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Autocross, LOL, not before I get the better brakes & discs in the rear..

And an engine, 100hp just isnt going to cut it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just go and do it. You don't need better brakes. I had a hard time learning on my modified civic. So much going on and having a hard time controling the power. Went back to square one, drove my stock auto celica the first year and learned to drive realy well. Next year I used the civic.

 

Yes, but you guys arent listing to what I'm saying..

NO AUTO X IN HOLLAND GOING ON..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dirk-EG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Now i was thinking.. on my last car i had full PU bushings and it handled like a dream, but with the Koni yellows on the Skunk2 sleeves it was a low and STIFF ride.. I'd like a little more comfort this time round, but still would like the instant reactions and feedback. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I think your ride issues were probably related to too aggressive a spring rate and the car set to low and likely regularly hitting the bump stops which really impacts ride quality. If you had the Skunk2 sleeves, then all you had to do was raise the car back up if it was too low. With the Konis, sleeves and interchangable springs, you had a very adjustable suspension with a wide range of options but if you have it adjusted to settings that you don't like then they are not helping you. Maybe the urethane bushings are also contributing a bit to the stiff ride or at least harshness on impacts if they are on control arms and so on. Urethane on sway bars will not negatively effect ride quality normally though.

If you are still on stock dampers and stock springs, the car is going to be pretty soft and the braces you have will have pretty limited effect. Once you get good dampers (first) and not overly low or aggressive springs (second) then the car will respond much better and your braces may have more input. If you strengthen what is not the weakest (eg: softest) link in the chain (putting braces on the body), the chain itself gets no stronger as the weakest link is still the weakest link. If you replace the weakest link (worn dampers and stock springs) then the chain gets stronger until you are satisfied or decide what the next weakest link is.

Agreed that there is no autocross in Holland. We in the US can get spoiled by having the lowest levels of motorsports relatively within our easy reach but you have a "mecca" of world class motorsport in the Nurburgring just a few hours away and the ability to easily drive street cars there. I have visited it twice as a spectator at professional races (an enduro on the Nordschleife and a DTM on the grand prix circuit) but have never had the chance to drive it myself. For years I have had a large framed track map poster of the Nordschleife on my wall. If I lived nearby it, I would go broke $15 at a time with a stupid grin on my face.

 

I hear you on the Koni dampers, but at -6cm on the Skunks it couldnt have been bottoming out on the Koni's.. since i cut the bumpstops in half just like Skunk2 suggested i should do..

I ran with the koni's screwed 75% stiffest, and I didnt say I found it too hard & stiff, but I'd like a little more bounce this time round.

And I realise that the braces dont do **** at the moment, thats why they are still neatly packed in a box waiting for the Omnipower coilovers and the swaybars to be mounted all @ once.

Sure the Nordschleife is great to drive, agreed, but waisting 70 bucks worth of gas every time you go, (not including the gas used on the track) its a costly expedition only to be taken when you indeed can have enough fun on it with proper suspension & stuff.

In any case, thanks for the great reply.. I'll get back to this topic once I get my stuff installed and report back with my findings on the next weakest link or something that i'm not really satisfied about but cant put my finger on.