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What is better handling
- Thread starter Levo
- Start date
ExigeV6|Q5|DS3|Fiat
dont be misled into thinking wacking a set of hard springs will do your suspension any good. To achieve a set up which is at all beneficial you will need to purchase a good set of both shocks and springs which function at the right poundage weight.
It may seem to handle ok when your going slow, however push your speed up and your car could easily lose it, it wont be any good on the limit and not only that wont do your current oem shocks any good at all.
Depends what you think handling is. My view is its the potential of the car ie what it can do. Its nothign to do with how the car feels approaching the limit.
Best way to descibe it is this my old escort was a unless car going round bends the car leaned over and the chassis bent like mad but I could tell how the car was close to the limit which was way more enjoybale than the Clio which can go round bens quick but I cannot tell how hard Im pushing it. The escort had usless handling and the Clio great handling.
Suspension mods to new Clios with electric stearing racks cannot be made to have feeling in them. I asked RobFen this and he said it made the car handle better but the stearing feedback was the same.
Lowering the car means the springs can compress less as there less distance them can squash so they are harder. This means the car will roll less in bends. As the wheels are on the ground better grip levels are increased
Also lowering the suspension means the car rebounds faster and the wheels stay to the ground more so the grip is higher.
The thrid advantage is that the cars center of gravity is lower this means theat the car willnt tip over as easily or roll as much.
Since there no way of getting feedback at the wheel without either changing to a hydrolic stearing setup Im not going to bother doung any work to my car just goping to get something which has better road feeling. After all going round a bend at 100mph is unejoyable woith no road readback IMO. Id prefere to be going much slower and enjoying the feeling of using the car to a greater level.
Ps I wrote this originally when noone else had posted on here.
EDD
Just to quickly add my experience:
My lowered 16V handled better on 15" wheels than the 16" ones I bought it with. By "handling" I mean that it was more friendly and covered A-B quicker.
My totally standard Williams is even better than the lowered Valver - I think because it has more suspension travel, which is better for me and my driving (Welsh B-roads).
on a lot of previous cars i have had when ive fitted lowering springs it improved the cars grip around corners and reduced the amount of bodyroll,but on some cars i think the standard suspension is quite good and fitting lowering springs would reduce the feel of the car and make it to twitchy/hard to judge.on a smooth racetrack having harder suspension would probably improve grip but on normal roads where it is bumpy etc making the suspension to hard could make the vehicle very twitchy and could easily catch you out.i think if i ever change the suspension on my cup i will go for one with adjustable shocker settings.i do think the standard cup suspension is quite good and is a good comprimise(quite hard but there is still a bit of roll so giving you more feel of what the car is doing around corners).this is all my own personal opinion and im sure people will disagree but i have found in my own experience that i can drive a car thats got a bit more feel to it a lot faster around corners than a car with really hard/solid suspension.
Audi TT Stronic
Normal suspension will cause more body roll, but the car will progressivly let go when you hit the edge of the grip.
A lowered car with stiffer suspension will hold on right to the end but when it lets go it will really let go. And the back end has a tendancy to skip over bumps when going round corners.
Mazda MX5 1.8
basically i recon good cornering is less body roll and more "control" but this often means it eliminates room for error and when things go wrong.......... it well.... isnt good!
so really u need progressivly hard suspension which will forgive u a bit if u overcook it but will be stiff enough not to create body roll
I had Eibachs on another car and what _KDF said is more than true, as I found that I could do some nasty corners on the A3 nr Guildford at 120 mph which was alot higer speed than b4, but b carefull as I hit one of those little bumps mid corner on a tightening bend, the rear hoped at 120 mph and I needed a new seat where I had made a bit of a mess.....
Depends on what roads you drive etc.
My old Fiesta RST had the standard no suspension travel and was like a go cart - great for flat roads as it gave loads of grip.
Usless for bumpy back roads as with only a small amount of suspension travel your wheels spend less time in contact with the road giving you far far less grip.
My Williams can corner about the same as my Fiesta in the dry now ive changed from the standard sized tyres to the wider 195s. On the back roads it would annialate the Fiesta as the suspension is far softer and gives contact with the road in the most amazing situations.
So if you think lower and harder is quicker you are not really correct. It may be quicker in certain circumstances but slower in others.
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