Wat Are The Best Suspension Mods To Get The Power To The Ground Quicker I.e Better Times

[gabzr34]

best suspension mods to get the power to the ground quicker on an r34 na

[dori34]

swaybars

coilovers

weight reduction

grippy tyres

[N-DAWG]

In short... lowered springs with matching shocks, or coilovers, sway bars, and don't understimate the tyres ability to get power to the ground as well as stop the car. Depending on what the car is used for will also determine what tyre to get. eg. is it a daily driver where you want good handling both in wet and dry conditions, or does the car predominantly see the track/weekend driver?

Lowering the cars centre of gravity is what you want to achieve, note though that if you go too low you'll achieve the opposite of what you want. sway bars and strut braces help distribute the load between the sides of the car and keep the car flatter around corners. This means the car maintains traction around corners which equals more power to the ground around the twists and more control and less oversteer. Corners and curves are where you will really notice the difference when upgrading suspension in the ability to enter and exit the apex quickly. If all you're after is straightline speed (ie. drag racing) correct me if i'm wrong but stiffening up the suspension isn't necessarily the best thing? I read somewhere that in some cases the softer factory suspension is better for straightline speed/drags.

Whiteline sway bars are a good way to go. Also look at adjustable camber and castor bushings to replace old worn ones, and also get the camber right all around after lowering.

If you're not taking it on the track, springs are probably a better way to go as a daily. I haven't used coilovers myself, but I've heard that you'll be in for a bumpy ride if it's mainly a daily driver. Lowered king springs on my R34 is bumpy enough.

Have a read of the articles on the Whiteline web site, that will be a good starting point in addition to the threads in the suspension forum.

[Baz]

Well being an R34 N/A I dont think you will have trouble getting power to the ground. Invest in a good set of tyres and you should be fine. No need to go all balls out on mods you don't require

[GTS4WD]

The best modification you will EVER do to ANY car is a good set of rubber. I know it can be expensive but its well worth the money. This will decrese braking distances, allow you to carry more speed through the corners and let you put the power down earlier.

Once you have a good set of tyres you can look at upgrading suspension parts.

Strut bars are a cheap, easy and effective first mod. They will stiffen the chassis up, give you a better feel of what the car is doing and stop a little of the body roll. Get yourself a set of adjustable strut bars and you can help cancel our understeer or enduce more oversteer. At $200 for a set of front and rear second hand items, well worth the money and awesome bang for the buck.

Sway bars are also a good option of you dont want to go down the expensive and uncomfortable path of coilovers. They will lessen body roll and combat weight transfer with no massive down side. Prices do very, but general concensis is about $250 per sway bar. The thickness of the sway bar will also deretmin how flex it will cope with and hence aloow for more or less bodyroll. Adjustable ones are the best as you can customise how the car handels around your driving style.

Sping are shockie set ups are readily available with many big name Jap brands (Nismo, Blitz etc.) releasing suspension items. Have a look around the forums and ebay because you can pick up a second hand set of spring and shokies for less $400 quite easily. The spring rates on these are also far less harsh than coilovers. Far cheaper too. There are also products out there with damper adjustability (but no where near as many levels as coilovers)

On a quick side note, not many people use, for some extremley strange reason, (but are AWESOME) are progressive springs. Where the further the spring is compressed (ie, on a bump or during cornering) the stiffer the spring rate becomes. These are optimum for steet use as they are fairly soft over general roads, but once you begin sticking the car into corners and the weight begins to transfer further, the spring compresses further and becomes stiffer, slowing down and stopping the weight transfer once there is enough of it on one side of the car. Id go as far as saying that a good set of progressive springs and shokies on a steet car would be better (and quicker) around twistie roads vs the same car with a set of coilovers as they do offer a some bump absorbtion and weight transfer. These are also very comfortable to drive on.

Your last option are coilovers. Very expensive (in the thousands of dollars) but do very depending on brand. These are generally pretty harsh on the road (you do get used to it after a while though) and offer the best handeling characteristics but at the cost of comfort. Added bonuses include; damper adjustments and hight adjustment on most products. On a track though, these are the pick of the lot, you wont see better gains than sticking in a set of good coilovers over a set of springs and shockies.

And yes, as Nath pointed out, if your going drag racing a softer spring is a better option.

if your going drfting its pretty simple from there - just set everything to F.T (fugn tight) and go for broke.

Hope this helps

Edited February 20, 2009 by GTS4WD

[gabzr34]

Thanks for the help guys but can anyone comment on king springs they are a pretty cheap option to go for at $300, though im looking for good quality + r34's already come with strut bars

Edited February 20, 2009 by gabzr34

[gabzr34]

another question with sway bars, coil overs and great tires how much of a better time will i get 0.5 or something

[N-DAWG]

I'm running king springs 30mm lowered from factory height. Generally look between King Springs and Whiteline.

Back when I got mine done, I actually asked a local suspension place what they recommend, whiteline or king springs. There answer was simply both are good, but we support the Queensland brand which is king springs.

I didn't end up getting them from that place though...I actually got quoted believe it or not around $600 less from Fulcrum Suspension. So shop around when you get your suspension done. Sydney Kid's got a list of recommended suspension work shops.

To answer your question on how much better time you will get... the sway bars, coilovers and good rubber are all going to help stiffen up the chassis and keep the car flatter particularly around corners which will all help in maintaining power and speed...but what time you manage to get will depend on your driving skill. Practice makes perfect and your car will handle differently after those modifications. Once you adjust to the way your car drives and handles, you can improve your times. Don't just expect to get out there with new suspension parts and suddenly pull of ripper times from the word go.

It's good to see someone trying to improve their cars handling and power through suspension and handling before looking for more performance power gains.

[GTS4WD]

another question with sway bars, coil overs and great tires how much of a better time will i get 0.5 or something

How long is a piece of string?

Are you looking for times on the track? Because in that case you could smash your times by simply slapping on a set of semi slicks.. and I mean by several seconds..

There was an add on the forums where an Evo was fitted with a set of HSD HR coilovers and simply from that cut their lap time down by another second.

There are many many variables in this though. Can it you hit the mark on every corner every lap?

[Eug]

most of it has been well summed up.

next time try the suspension section!

[scathing]

another question with sway bars, coil overs and great tires how much of a better time will i get 0.5 or something

If you're only interested in a straight line (I've got no idea what "0.5" means, aside from lowering your ET) then sway bars will do pretty much nothing.

Of course, if you're only interested in a straight line you bought the wrong car.

Simplest mod is tyres. Pop a set of cheater slicks on the car and you'll be able to dump it from a much higher RPM.