GMG sway bar settings
02-06-2009, 08:36 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London, UK
Posts: 362
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
GMG sway bar settings
I am going to have a play with my 3 settings GMG sways in a week or so with my tuner. I am currently middle stiffness setting both front and rear.
I want to get the car more stable over rough terrain and I think it's too stiff right now so it's losing traction and feels 'jittery', even a straight line.
Anyone have any recommendations?
GMG recommend stiff rear and soft front settings. Also I know Cannga did some investigations of his own:
I want to get the car more stable over rough terrain and I think it's too stiff right now so it's losing traction and feels 'jittery', even a straight line.
Anyone have any recommendations?
GMG recommend stiff rear and soft front settings. Also I know Cannga did some investigations of his own:
I have tried so far 3 different combinations.
1. Medium front, medium rear, stock drop links
2. Soft front, stiff rear, Tarett drop links (keep in mind the Tarett drop links make the suspension feel stiffer and you'll understand why I had to move to the next step)
3. Medium front, medium rear, Tarett drop links
Making front sway as soft as possible and rear sway as stiff as possible is the setting recommended when one is trying to reduce understeer. However there were consequences when I did this:
1. When I set the front sway to soft, it made the car lean more (as expected) AND the steering response feel loose. For example, when you wiggle the steering back and forth on the freeway, the car wouldn't lean/respond immediately, and would continue to lean a touch after steering wheel is stopped. This is similar to behavior of stock sway.
2. Making rear sway stiff: Might be ok with stock drop links, but I wouldn't advise this with the Tarett drop links. The Tarett drop links make the suspension feel stiffer to begin with, using Tarett with the stiff rear sway setting makes the ride way too stiff for me.
My observation is that the rear sway setting affects your ride quality quite a bit, more than the front. And the front setting affects steering feel. As far as understeer, hard for me to feel the difference, perhaps because I don't track the car and therefore don't corner at speeds high enough to feel a difference.
So bottom line is: keep in mind that when you change sway setting, the ride gets affected quite a bit, particularly in the rear. With stock drop links, I would suggest you try medium front, and medium or hard rear. With Tarett drop links, I would suggest medium front, and medium or soft rear.
1. Medium front, medium rear, stock drop links
2. Soft front, stiff rear, Tarett drop links (keep in mind the Tarett drop links make the suspension feel stiffer and you'll understand why I had to move to the next step)
3. Medium front, medium rear, Tarett drop links
Making front sway as soft as possible and rear sway as stiff as possible is the setting recommended when one is trying to reduce understeer. However there were consequences when I did this:
1. When I set the front sway to soft, it made the car lean more (as expected) AND the steering response feel loose. For example, when you wiggle the steering back and forth on the freeway, the car wouldn't lean/respond immediately, and would continue to lean a touch after steering wheel is stopped. This is similar to behavior of stock sway.
2. Making rear sway stiff: Might be ok with stock drop links, but I wouldn't advise this with the Tarett drop links. The Tarett drop links make the suspension feel stiffer to begin with, using Tarett with the stiff rear sway setting makes the ride way too stiff for me.
My observation is that the rear sway setting affects your ride quality quite a bit, more than the front. And the front setting affects steering feel. As far as understeer, hard for me to feel the difference, perhaps because I don't track the car and therefore don't corner at speeds high enough to feel a difference.
So bottom line is: keep in mind that when you change sway setting, the ride gets affected quite a bit, particularly in the rear. With stock drop links, I would suggest you try medium front, and medium or hard rear. With Tarett drop links, I would suggest medium front, and medium or soft rear.
02-07-2009, 01:52 PM
#2
Alex: Are you on stock drop links? If not, I think Cannga's findings are dead-on.
I've got the same setup as his (GMG sways, Tarett links, Bilstein PSS10). I am using soft/hard but needed to play with tire pressures to get to an acceptable city driving comfort level. And I never ever use PASM's stiff setting.
Good luck - keen to hear what you end up doing.
I've got the same setup as his (GMG sways, Tarett links, Bilstein PSS10). I am using soft/hard but needed to play with tire pressures to get to an acceptable city driving comfort level. And I never ever use PASM's stiff setting.
Good luck - keen to hear what you end up doing.
02-07-2009, 03:28 PM
#3
Racer
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London, UK
Posts: 362
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I have stock drop links on the rears and Bilstein drop links that came with the Damptronics on the fronts.
I discovered today that my tyre pressures are about 2psi more than they should be. Combine that with still some negative camber and cold+wet roads means not much in the way of traction when pushing on.
Things should get better when the temps come back above 10 deg C. When the snow here in the UK lifts, I am going to see my tuner to see if anything can be improved in the meantime.
I discovered today that my tyre pressures are about 2psi more than they should be. Combine that with still some negative camber and cold+wet roads means not much in the way of traction when pushing on.
Things should get better when the temps come back above 10 deg C. When the snow here in the UK lifts, I am going to see my tuner to see if anything can be improved in the meantime.
02-07-2009, 10:43 PM
#4
Race Director
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: KC ex pat marooned in NY
Posts: 13,005
Likes: 0
Received 14 Likes
on
14 Posts
i wouldn't make any changes based on cold weather runs, too many negative variables. I've tried my bars all different combos with the stock links on multiple tracks, mine is happy with middle fr/rear on cups on a long fast track(WG) and front full soft/rear full stiff on hoosiers on a short track(LRP). Tire presuure is a major variable in this situation. My stock links are fine, if any I really like the tpc and trg units.
