Next Suspension Mods
#16
Rennlist Member
You are right. The solid inners are nothing magical. The issue is the factory stopped making the right sizes and to custom fab in low quantities means $$$. Cary has these made by a specialty maker in the us due to the process of building them (specifically the ball joint) the machinery is very $. All his other parts he makes in house.
And agree on the factory outer for a stock / street setup. It's fine. But that rubber floppyness in the stock inner made a very real difference ditching it. If you ever drove a g series stock and then put turbo tie rods on you know the feeling.
That said I disagree on using monoball or harshness as a result, most specifically on the rear end which felt like a wet balloon to me stock. Yes, I like sharp, precise, and predictable handling at the limit on track. . Of course my car never sees the wet ... that is a real consideration. And so is intended use. Street vs track.
When we get the final uprights on my car I'll post in my build thread the toe deviations over the curves on the front end so you can see it. Yes my car is lower than row, but it's not slammed. And even with rs uprights and bump correction I can feel bump steer jumping kerbing on track.
On street? Nah. It's fine.
All,of these changes are about predictability and consistency in the chassis at the limit. The more comfortable the driver the faster. And some may not make real performance differences, but they increase driver confidence which is a very real thing.
Example: on my rs which is my maintrack car I changed from an ohlins 1 way to 2 way race damper. A pro was near same speed on our local track with both setups in my car (but he commented the 2 way was remarkably easier to drive) . I was 2 secs faster. Why? Easier for me to drive closer to the limit. The pro, well, he's just good!
And agree on the factory outer for a stock / street setup. It's fine. But that rubber floppyness in the stock inner made a very real difference ditching it. If you ever drove a g series stock and then put turbo tie rods on you know the feeling.
That said I disagree on using monoball or harshness as a result, most specifically on the rear end which felt like a wet balloon to me stock. Yes, I like sharp, precise, and predictable handling at the limit on track. . Of course my car never sees the wet ... that is a real consideration. And so is intended use. Street vs track.
When we get the final uprights on my car I'll post in my build thread the toe deviations over the curves on the front end so you can see it. Yes my car is lower than row, but it's not slammed. And even with rs uprights and bump correction I can feel bump steer jumping kerbing on track.
On street? Nah. It's fine.
All,of these changes are about predictability and consistency in the chassis at the limit. The more comfortable the driver the faster. And some may not make real performance differences, but they increase driver confidence which is a very real thing.
Example: on my rs which is my maintrack car I changed from an ohlins 1 way to 2 way race damper. A pro was near same speed on our local track with both setups in my car (but he commented the 2 way was remarkably easier to drive) . I was 2 secs faster. Why? Easier for me to drive closer to the limit. The pro, well, he's just good!
#18
Race Car
The rear trailing arm bushings don’t tend to go. It’s impossible to tell from the photos since so much of the Bush is behind what you see.
If you are looking for marginal improvement, grab a set of elephant rear trailing arm bushings and replace. If money is any kind of an issue, leave them alone and put the money elsewhere. When improving the suspension, this is the last place to look for a street car.
That may not be the most helpful advice in terms of what you want to hear. But I’ve replaced a few and kept a few, and there is really no difference. If that bushing were “gone”, you would know. But yes, it can be improved.
That said- for the same money, you can add one of the following - sway bars, monoball top hats, or spring plates...and make a huge difference...
All the money in the world....replace EVERYTHING. These cars are awesome once they are corrected.
If you are looking for marginal improvement, grab a set of elephant rear trailing arm bushings and replace. If money is any kind of an issue, leave them alone and put the money elsewhere. When improving the suspension, this is the last place to look for a street car.
That may not be the most helpful advice in terms of what you want to hear. But I’ve replaced a few and kept a few, and there is really no difference. If that bushing were “gone”, you would know. But yes, it can be improved.
That said- for the same money, you can add one of the following - sway bars, monoball top hats, or spring plates...and make a huge difference...
All the money in the world....replace EVERYTHING. These cars are awesome once they are corrected.
#20
Banned
While I don't have all the money in the world, I am currently in the process of updating my suspension to coilovers, new OEM outer tie rods, new OEM ball joints, ERP inner tie rods, ERP spring plates, Elephant racing "sport" bushings for the front and rear trailing arms, monoball top plates, RS sway bars, drop links, rothsport steering rack brace and bushings. I'm excited to see how the car drives once everything is installed.
#21
Thought i may as well add my findings with the evolution of my suspension setup. When I first got my car it had a ruf bilstein set up including shocks, springs and roll bars. The car was a great fast road car and a great gt car but the body roll on track was ridiculous, along with the understeer! On went a set of cup spec shocks, rs springs, adjustable roll bars and monoball top mounts with front camber plates. The solid mounts were fine with the progressive rs springs, no crashing at all. The car was much better on track and with hindsight was perfect on the road as the comfort was great and the cabin noise was fine, even with the rs carpet and no sound deadening. However the ride height caused horrendous bump steer. You could work round it on the tracks I go to but on the roads around me it was scary at times. So a little further down the slope I went and on went what I believe to be the last set of rs uprights in the country went on the car, this meant gt2 track rods etc along with big reds and a set of moton clubsports with linear springs. While the car is now totally over the top as a road car and now way too bumpy, loud and really quite harsh it's become a weapon on the track. The lack of stroke to the suspension along with solid mounts and linear springs are to blame here. This is the point I was getting to, now my car goes round the track so much better, the rear trailing arm bushes that had always felt ok now feel like they're made of jelly. The car feels like it has a hinge in the middle. That's where I'm at now, fitting bushes and waiting for adjustable spring plates. What I'm getting at is that the last couple of stages have been forced on me by going a step too far. Don't get me wrong, the car is epic and will only be better when these last changes are made but they only really improve the car on the track and don't really help on the road. The car was better on the road when at the cup shock set up and would have been perfect if I'd raised the ride height a bit and still a lot of fun on the track. My mono ***** last around 7000 miles before they start to knock which means stripping the suspension and re doing the corner weights each time which is a bit of a ball ache. They will be off as soon as i stop tracking the car.Beware the slippery slope.......
#22
Rennlist Member
It's great to see so much interest in developing products for the 964 platform, but let's steer clear of contributing to some of the middle-man price gouging.
"Rothsport" steering rack bushings are made by Ricochet Polyurethane Technologies who sell them on ebay. The only difference is the 50% markup.
"Rothsport" steering rack bushings are made by Ricochet Polyurethane Technologies who sell them on ebay. The only difference is the 50% markup.
Of course save money if you need to... but we're all benefitting from a community here... It's give and take.
*YMMV
#23
Rennlist Member
based on a lot of car mods and riding in cars of various stage of 'build' this is the way I think of it:
basic: shocks
next: drop links (allow corner balance) & steering tie rods
advanced: sways, front a-arm bushings, front camber plates
all in (i.e. no rubber) - rear top mounts, rear spring plate, rear swing arm bushing, front RS uprights
of course, as you go up the chain, you should consider the level of shock. With all in you'd really want a top end double adjustable damper or race damper. These can be valved for street use and the level of compliance on a great damper is amazing.
there are advantages beyond 'control' with monoballs, the ERP spring plates have a lot more adjustment for example.
You have to think of it as a system, not a piece meal thing. Keep in mind what you're going for and adjusting. For my car, I know what I wanted end state, so I went 'all in'.
When we put car back together I may change to an Ohlin damper and I'm definitely upping the spring rate on the KW Clubsports, need heavier spring up front. I have Ohlin TTX on my RS and well, they are magical. Really. Amazing shocks. Unfortunately they are 3x the cost of the clubsports.
basic: shocks
next: drop links (allow corner balance) & steering tie rods
advanced: sways, front a-arm bushings, front camber plates
all in (i.e. no rubber) - rear top mounts, rear spring plate, rear swing arm bushing, front RS uprights
of course, as you go up the chain, you should consider the level of shock. With all in you'd really want a top end double adjustable damper or race damper. These can be valved for street use and the level of compliance on a great damper is amazing.
there are advantages beyond 'control' with monoballs, the ERP spring plates have a lot more adjustment for example.
You have to think of it as a system, not a piece meal thing. Keep in mind what you're going for and adjusting. For my car, I know what I wanted end state, so I went 'all in'.
When we put car back together I may change to an Ohlin damper and I'm definitely upping the spring rate on the KW Clubsports, need heavier spring up front. I have Ohlin TTX on my RS and well, they are magical. Really. Amazing shocks. Unfortunately they are 3x the cost of the clubsports.