Improvements that can be made for grip driving

[SimpleS14]

Right now I like the way my car (S14) handles fairly well, but as usual I want to improve not only in my driving skills..but how my car handles. Lately I've been wondering what modifications or areas should I focus on to improve my cars performance when grip driving.

Right now I'm thinking about getting these parts....

*SPL fender braces
*Whiteline (or Cusco) swaybars (F&R)
*Subframe collars
*Rear tie bar
*Cusco strut bars (F&R)

Does anyone have suggestions or opinions on anything else I should consider? what setup are you currently using if you grip drive?

Right now on my car I have these parts...
*KTS coilovers
*SPL T/C rods
*TIEN tie-rods
*NISMO Power brace
*E-bay special front strut bar

Also judging from the current parts on my car....where would that put me when I go to an autox event?

TIA


edit: I think I posted this thread in the wrong section

[ThE_BoMB]

okkkk..... lol this is gonna be a long one.

240s are testy cars especially when its grip related. Thankfully ive had alot of experience with all of these.

Probably the best thing that makes a car grippy is throwing out the camber waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy out like im talking -4 degrees + camber oh yes the tire destroyer in a day camber.

Whiteline sway bars are kinda scetchy using the endlinks that they supply. I believe pdm racing sell hard endlinks which i would definatly reccommend. I personally have ST sway bars and they suck donkey nuts. The intall sucks considering that nothing fits. I was actually thinking of the tanabe sway bars. Considering fit and weight. Cusco would be worthy of a try as well.

Next we shall move to the rear end. Ive got the kts pro arms back there. And would reccommend getting them. However if i were to do this again I would definatly get a set that has dust boots over the ball joints. they maybe rediculously expensive but it saves you soooooooooooooooooo much time with cleaning and such.

All of the control arms will help you get more grip, increase the traction arm to increase the stiffness of the rebound so that the tire is firmly planted and can handle alot more aggressive driving. Toe well thats a given you need it for the adjusting the highly aggressive camber settings. Rear upper year to get that camber heh.

I was able to get some crazy traction last year even with cheap all weathers. I increased the traction arm a little bit longer then stock and increase the camber to the maxium the rear upper control arms could handle. I also adjusted the toe to give a little bit of toe in.

Upfront the hard t/c rods power brace and pillow ball mounts would be very useful. I maxed out the camber on the pillow ball mounts. Kept the tie rods and t/c rods very close to oem settings.

Ive got falkens on right now and am only running -1.5 camber on the rear and -1.3 camber on the front and i get a very good amount of grip. 240s like to be low as well. ive maxed my drop out at 2.7 inches up front and 1.5 inches on the rear. im runing 15s as well.

[kandyflip445]

Fender braces are awesome. I have them on my s13 though. They made turn in a lot better, even with my broke ass tie rod ends. The Nismo Power brace would put you in a higher class at autox because it ties the two frame rails together. I don't remember what class though. If you want solid endlinks for Whitelines spl parts has some nice ones.

[holisticbeatz]

Falken ST-115

[jmauld]

Originally Posted by SimpleS14

*SPL T/C rods
*TIEN tie-rods
*NISMO Power brace

these three things put you into one of the prepared classes.

[KA24DESOneThree]

Originally Posted by SimpleS14

*SPL fender braces
*Subframe collars
*Cusco strut bars (F&R)

Yes.

If you're really serious, you need to mess with your alignment too.

Search around for peoples' thoughts on other swaybars.

Even out your weight distribution and try to lower your CG. Get some badass tires. Tires are the only thing on your car actually touching the road, so they're one of the most important upgrades.

[ThE_BoMB]

^^ agreed its really hard with falkens and even a huge list of suspension mods to keep up, to only a car with lowered and larger sway bars with r compounds. Im normally a second off those guys. However i would like to mess with the camber but because its within stock camber then im street prepped and not modified heh.

[420sx]

st-115 dont grip worth shit. yokos es 100s is ur alternative

[Maeda]

Originally Posted by 420sx

st-115 dont grip worth shit. yokos es 100s is ur alternative

This is speaking from experience I take it?

In your experience on a hot track or unnamed road, you didn't notice the ES100 tendency to GEL!? ES100s suck even for the back.
ST-115s are a better bet.

[papershot]

ST115s are pretty grippy but they tend to not last as long as the ES100s. i never had problems with the ES100s besides having them chunk a couple times. throw down some cash and buy the new US advan neovas...

[TurDz]

How about an aftermarket LSD? That would probably affect handling and grip more than any of the mods you plan to buy.

[kandyflip445]

A Quaife would be awesome.

[ultraDorksGarage]

Originally Posted by TurDz

How about an aftermarket LSD? That would probably affect handling and grip more than any of the mods you plan to buy.

or a nissan one, i was supposed to drop a s15 one in my car this weekend, but between work and my grandfathers birthday, itll be next week.

subframe collars are supposed to be the next on ur list for a s14. from what personal friends down here say, theres alot to be gained there. just remember to do a search on them, different thickness ones can raise/lower ur roll center. the gained/lossed theoretical leverage can be catastrophic for car handling ,(i think the original "drift pineapples" raise rear RC, mainly to compensate for huge ride height change.) but if u raise rear RC and not ur front RC, then ull be tail happy. so stick to bushings that dont change RC.

i dont like anit-sway bars personally, for track surface i like spring rate to reduce body roll. hasnt anyone noticed that weight transition from one side to another is harsh as car goes over level, right at that point car gains some major inertia? yes antisways are needed, but the lighter the car the less bar u should use, well imo. not to mention how inside tire starts to unweight and not grip maximum potential? if u have to deal with some major low speed corners maybe antisways are in order.

full tubular arms would be nice, but id rather buy some tires, stinking re730's are like clay now.

just my .02

[sdtouge]

rea;;y sticky tires help alot.

i put on voilovers, and still have crappy tires on steelies, and i have them set on full stiffness right now, and i have gotten slower at grip driving becuase the setup is too stiff for my tires, there is not enough suspension travel and the tires just give out.
i could loosen them up a bit but i dotn really want to.

i just wanted to warn people that your suspension can be too stiff, well, if you have crappy tires.

[ultraDorksGarage]

Originally Posted by sdtouge

rea;;y sticky tires help alot.

i put on voilovers, and still have crappy tires on steelies, and i have them set on full stiffness right now, and i have gotten slower at grip driving becuase the setup is too stiff for my tires, there is not enough suspension travel and the tires just give out.
i could loosen them up a bit but i dotn really want to.

i just wanted to warn people that your suspension can be too stiff, well, if you have crappy tires.

yeah, spring and bar do take away traction,(at a certain point negating traction reduced body roll gives). that sux><. im thinking of going kumho MXs cuz they are friggen cheap, either that or to S03s, havent decided...

did u try taking away some dampeining, for track i go pretty higly dampened, but for touge i go fairly limited, just enough were im not oscilating, but skip only when i hit those crap elevation change swithcbacks. car is slightly oscillating when just driving, but when i gain a little speed, it comes to its own on the touge. 10/8 is too much for the touge, but than again, its a compromise for track/touge.

[ThE_BoMB]

for autox i normally run a 3 front and 6 or 7 on the rear. For the track i run 4 and 8. (kyb agxs on the tanabe coilover system). Tubular control arms would be very good upgrade especially with the t/c rods and powerbrace. Technically the power brace just stiffens the t/c rods. The oem t/c rod braces are already attach the axles together through the rad support. Azenis are really sticky tires and allow a driver to keep up with the r compounds but you need alot of driver skill to drive along with the r compounds. I wouldnt neccessarily get a aftermarket lsd. VLSD are really good for all weather traction try racing around a track with a 2 way in the wet, its freakin hard.

If your concerned about going over the tires grip and causing understeer because of stiffer sways and a too stiff suspension. You can sacrifice your street prepped for a modified and throw the camber way out. 240s are very grippy in the dry with more then -4 degrees of camber, even on all weathers. If you feel that a bigger sway is a problem then reuse the oem mounts with oem rubber and not polyurenthane. Adjustable bars like whiteline will allow you to adjust how strong you want the bars to keep some nasty body roll away.

Rear subframe bushing collars are a given, 240s handle soooo much better with them mainly because they help remove the slop from the rear suspension. They help to keep the tires planted firmly. Paired with tubular arms they make a very potent combination. For beginners start with a oem vlsd much easier to learn on then a clutch type.

[SimpleS14]

Thanks for the replies guys, learn some bit of info from reading them. I completely forgot about the Tanabe sways and SPL endlinks...I think I will opt for those instead. I guess the first thing on my list are subframe collars. Right now my camber is -1.3 in the front and -2 in the rear and I'm using a J30 VLSD. I daily drive my car (drive ALOT of miles a week)...so if I get grippy tires...they have to go on rims I sparsely use or seasonal. I think I will put them on something wider than stock (maybe Gram Lights 57S). What kind of level are these prepared classes? I'd hate to have to compete with cars running ungodly amount of HP.

[ThE_BoMB]

as much as hp seems like a advantage ungodly amounts of it would actually be a disadvantage. I have been in the 240z with the rover conv at autox before and those are very heavy cars. It had some advans on but still was struggling with getting through the cones and tight corners. Throughout the course he was throttling it very easily.

240s may have smaller engines but still very competitive car. If anything you should be more worried about the guys with a few autox seasons and r compound tires on their cars. Street prepped isnt that bad of a class. Although i havent participated in a autox down in washington yet, up here its a pretty moderate class. Modified however is a very hard class and unless you have r compounds its very hard to compete.