I currently have a 89 crx that didn't come with a rear sway bar. I have g/c c/o with 425/545? spring rates. I'm not to sure if it is 545 in the rear but it is closer to 600. Anyways, I put the ST rear sway bar on the car and is it more benifitual to have a softer spring setting in the rear or to keep it stiff? I read somewhere on HT that the reason to have a stiffer rear spring rate is to rotate the car without a rear sway bar. So since i now have a rear sway bar, should i go to a softer spring?

Lastly, If my car starts to produce oversteer, how would i correct this with my current setup? Assuming im going in a corner and the car gets tail happy? More gas? With understeer, you use the ebrake and gas correct? Thanks for your help.

 

I think you're supposed to countersteer and give more gas. I know not countersteering and staying off the gas makes it worse. You shouldn't slide that much in the first place. I'm pretty sure you're never supposed to use the e-brake, that would make it worse I'm pretty sure.

 

with the understeer senario, i'm talking about if you didn't have a rear sway bar and had the same spring rates. I would like to know what to do incase i do over steer. Your talking about over steer right? correct and gas? I just want to make sure.

I also would like to know what do to in a case of understeer as i'v been in situations which involved it before and it wasn't fun.

thanks for the input.

 

If you have to ask how to correct a car when it gets loose you need to go to an auto-x and spin one...about 10 times. The first time I spun it snapped, and I don't think I could save it today. If I did it today I woudl know exactly what was going on and would be able to make the nessecary corrections immediatly. Then I couldn't. When the ***-end steps you don't have time to think about what to do. You have to have been there a few times. It's just one of those things you have to learn the hard way. If a FWD car starts pushing 1) lift off the gas 2) unwind the steering wheel a bit. I teach that to 15 and 16 year old in car control clinics. Go to a auto-x and make the car do these things so you know what they feel like know how to fix them. Don't worry about how the car is setup.

Go to a auto-x where you won't hurt anything by doing it.

 

Yea, i hear you about the auto x thing but there are times where u won't be able to wait for autox. Thats why when i loose it, i will atleast have an idea to get be back in the right direction instead of the wrong one. thanks man. anyone else?

 

Well hopefully it's not THAT loose, it shouldn't be. I hope yuo're not at 10/10ths on the street also. If you're that worried about it take the bar off until you can get to a event to see how it handles with it.

 

You can talk about the proper thing to do in a certain situation all day long, but until you practice it and train your brain to react and not panic it won't do you any good. If you are asking these questions, maybe you aren't skilled enough to be driving a twitchy, oversteer biased setup?

Having said that, I run 12Kf/14Kr plus a 23mm rear bar in my Integra and even through the winters and tens of thousands of miles driving to autocross events and a bunch of track days I have never found this setup to be anything but predictable and perfectly balanced. Obviously if you lift mid corner or make some other bonehead move you will be going sideways/backwards fast if you don't know how to drive but I wouldn't call it dangerous at all.

 

*psss* set up your voice mailbox!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PIC Performance &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">*psss* set up your voice mailbox!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

huh? lol, i'm guessing this is sarcasum.

Well, before I got my bar, I was driving on a mountain road and a deer jumped out at me around a blind turn. I wanted to go into the mountain and or hit the deer rather than off of it and or hit an on coming car. Instead, the car understeered and I went around the deer and into the other lane then managed to correct and get back into the correct lane I was suppost to be in. Weather you think this was the most stupidest thing in the world or not, this is what I would of rather perfered.

Yes, its true, you can talk about anything, but when coming to actually doing what you say is a different story. In most cases, I can do what I say because I understand what is suppost to happen so my brain naturally reacts to what i'm thinking. Does this make sense? It isn't just practice that helps, its understanding and the practice that helps in every day situations. You could practice all day long and still not get what you want your car to do because you arn't understanding whats going on. When you understand what is going the principles, practice helps to gain further skill in driving. This is why i'm asking this question. Maybe I am not a skilled enough driver as of yet but I would like to still understand the theory and or other peoples experience with setups of an "oversteer biased setup". Maybe you don't believe this, but there are people who learn visually/physically, or mentally. I'm one of the people who learns both ways.

Thats some pretty stiff spring rates you are using. And its good that you found the "predictable and perfectly balanced" setup for you. This is ultimatly what I want as well.

 

Think all you want, you won't learn how to save a snap oversteer situation until you've been there a few times. That's how it worked out for me. Now I try not to put myself in a position where it can happen again. Luckily I never smashed up my car. You really have to be ready to do the right thing right away, if you hesitate at all, you're going to spin, it has to be instinct. Do yourself a favor and don't learn on the street.

 

You are going to die soon if you are playing with the car on the street and you think the way to cure understeer is the e-brake. I suppose you've seen TFATF 3 and believe what you saw.

 

I personally found it very hard to get the car to 10/10ths on the street (curbs, trees, other cars, guardrails, debris, all kinds of **** that makes it IMPOSSIBLE to drive on the edge...except in a straight line LOL). Go to an auto-x and youll learn alot about yourself and your car. Maybe youll meet someone with a similar setup that is willing to share experience...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00R101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You are going to die soon if you are playing with the car on the street and you think the way to cure understeer is the e-brake. I suppose you've seen TFATF 3 and believe what you saw. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No, I personally hate the series of movies.

I'm not trying to get the car to the maximum. I just would like to know what to do. and yes, I know it would help more if i got more seat time and experienced what to do.

As for the spring and sway bar combo, does anyone know? I'v been to autocross before and there arn't that many crx's out there. i'v personally talked to the guy i regularly see out there and all he has is some springs, coil overs and rims.