So It Rained Today...

[djr81]

So are both of you saying high end coilovers which are built to be STIFF... DO NOT affect your traction in any way at all?

Somehow i doubt this. If anything, its going to be a combination of the two. Having shagged suspension will also lessen your traction, as well as having over stiff suspension in the car in COMBINATION with sub standard or worn tyres.

Obviously this is because when you take off from a stand start, the car is unable to "squat" down which in doing so provides more contact with the road, hence more traction. (Which is why most draggers will use STOCK suspension, as its perfect for achieveing this)

The coil overs I'm using now are extremely stiff this is becuase that are the "drift" series of the the HKS Hipermax, which really is meant for race use only. According to HKS, they are stiff to help the driver enable to initiate the drift. After this a "helper" spring which is built into the rear coilovers then help to press the tyres to the ground, giving the driver more "feeling and control" on how his or her car is going. Due to this, HKS does recommend that the car with this suspension fitted uses "high grip radial tires" to help offset this.

Having said this, I am running street tyres on my skyline. Fed 595SS. 235 FRont and 255 rear. When taking off in the wet ( at normal speeds and revs) SOMETIMES my rear tyres will spin a bit. This is a COMBINATION between Feds being not to great in the wet and my suspension set up being too stiff.

However, when cornering, as long as i take it slow and be careful my car will not spin out or anything extreme like that.

Thats My 2 cents on the matter.

No one is suggesting that suspension does not have a contribution to make to grip level - wet & dry.

What is being said is that the grip level afforded by a good quality tyre (one with silicon as one of its constituent chemicals to help increase grip in the wet) is of greater influence than the suspension setup. In fact the less grip there is available the less influence the suspension setup has relative to the tyre.

In any case the tyre needs to begin to accelerate the car before you can get any weight transference. Which means its grip level (static friction coefficient if you like) is of more importance than spring rate. If you look at a drag tyre you will see how much give there is in the sidewalls - it is there to allow the weight transference to begin.

Oh and my high end coil over are built to be as stiff as I specified. A hard spring rate sounds good but doesn't necessarilly work better. Usually it is considerably worse.

[bubba]

Tyres, tyres, tyres. Regardless of all the other wonderful suspension bits you have, if you have shit tyres then there's not much you can do to compensate for that.

I run Federal 595SS's on my R32, first in 17" now in 18". I have noticed slightly less traction with the 18" tyres but they are more than fine in the wet.. it doesn't do things of its' own accord and is highly predictable.

There was one point in time when I had a pair of LingLongs on the back.. they were shocking! car would step out by itself around corners in the wet but like I mentioned previously, that was likely due to the 2-way AND shit tyres.

Might I suggest, with winter looming, you all try to get out onto the AHG skidpan when it's raining to get some proper wet weather experience. There is no need to panic when the back end steps out on you, go and learn how to react properly

Edited April 30, 2009 by bubba

[NISMOGTT]

simple just dont do what a mate of mine did and slam on the brakes while counter steering ends up badly on the side of the road upside down then back over

I believe tyres to be the main factor in the wet as i have Apexi N1 Drift susspension on my car and i had a very bad time last year with cheap tyres and now i dont have any issues at all except on take off...changes to the car since is more power now due to ECU and Boost controller...

[BANGN]

bubba, it was the bridge that takes that slight bend to the left heading fwy north, not that sharp righthander downramp, my bad with the names

Tyres do come into it definatly but in my experience you buy a really good road tyre, fantastic in the dry.. RUBBISH in the wet.. however you buy a good wet tyre they generally are not to good in the dry. The continental sport contact 2's were the best tyres I have ever had.. fantastic at high speed in the dry but they were the shittest tyre ever in the wet.

the tyres i had with that accident were brand new ecsta's basically, but i dont blame the tyres, i blame me.

Edited April 30, 2009 by BANGN

[bubba]

lol fair call.. the horseshoe bridge is that paved stupid thing over the tracks next to the train station.. I was like htf O_o hehe

[reNEGaDe88]

Woah dude thats crazy damage. Sorry to hear it happened and see the damage pics. Its a deterant for people to be silly in the wet. Thanks. I had old good tyres on a car, and in the wet they slide no matter what you do. Its because the tyres were old and brittle not new and sticky like they should be.

Tires are the contact point of car to road. So if u have shite tyres ur car WILL slide.

[daineisdabomb]

oil buildup on road + rain = slippery so i'd suggest check ur tires n make sure they r decent, slow down a bit round corners and LEARN HOW TO DRIVE!!!! every car is different and driving style needs to b adjusted accordingly. i hav 430 hp at the wheels and i could drive it in the wet without spinning the wheels quiet easily if i wanted to. take ur car somewhere quiet with knowone else around to crash into lol and get a feel for ur car so u no exactly wat its goin to do in every situation. thats the key.

[08yannch]

oil buildup on road + rain = slippery so i'd suggest check ur tires n make sure they r decent, slow down a bit round corners and LEARN HOW TO DRIVE!!!! every car is different and driving style needs to b adjusted accordingly. i hav 430 hp at the wheels and i could drive it in the wet without spinning the wheels quiet easily if i wanted to. take ur car somewhere quiet with knowone else around to crash into lol and get a feel for ur car so u no exactly wat its goin to do in every situation. thats the key.

95% agree with this

the other 5% is understanding how different road surfaces will effect the car. u need to take that into account when driving just like u dont shift at 4k when there is a cop behind u

[bubba]

The good thing about a 3L is that I can shift at 1000rpm

[Ehgriez]

i shift at 4k with cops behind me, i almost always shift at 4k-5k. That doesnt change because theres a cop around.

[bubba]

Yeah.. just don't flat-shift into 2nd at 4k in front of a cop.. trust me, it got me a yellow sticker