Posts: 992
Joined: 9/9/2004 From: Amsterdam, New York Status: offline
I have already asked a few people on this forums this question already . .but i want as many opinions as possible. I want to upgrade my suspension with a budget of like 800-$1000 and i want to start off small . .not upgrade everything, maybe just the front first but i want to eliminate body roll so i can safely run with sum really sticky tires. . anyone have any ideas?
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1996 Mustang GT 5 speed manual transmission BBK cold air intake SLP loudmouth 1 catback system Steeda UDP's 3.73's
I replied to the other topic with some suggestions but I want to add: I would not recommend running "sticky" tires when you start out. You need to learn on a street tire so you can feel when the car is understeering or oversteering. Running a plain street tire will help you feel where your car is Not working so you can make adjustments for better handling. Making adjustments to your car will help you forever, tires will wear out. A sticky tire, not only expensive, is going to act like a crutch. You will be faster but not better.
Posts: 80
Joined: 3/8/2008 From: Douglasville, GA Status: offline
CMC#11 definitely speaks truth. He seems to know his stuff . . .Street tires in a performance environment will teach you a lot about how to drive inside and outside of the limits of your vehicle's grip. We have an autocross coming up on Sunday, I'm going to bring the Bullitt out there and see how she does, the best part, I'm going to leave my daily driver tires on . . .they're horrible, but it should make for an interesting . . . yet probably frustrating . . .time.
Posts: 111
Joined: 11/21/2007 From: Bakersfield, CA Status: offline
I may be a little late for the party, but they are speaking the truth. I finally got my 90 LX going last spring. I had a nicely modified suspension, stiffened chassis, a good bake setup and I always thought myself to be a pretty fast driver. I wasn't. And --it was not all my street tires, although they were crappy. I thought I needed to get the stickiest DOT tire I could find or al least afford. I talked to a few experienced drivers and they ALL told me to practice and then practice somemore with those crappy tires so I could learn to drive the car. Another tip I got was to go auto-Xing if you can. Have an experienced driver take you for a couple laps after you have gone about as fast as you think you can. It will supprise you.
Road course driving is addictive! You will not be satisfied with your budget suspension mods. You will want to go faster ,and then faster. This will take more mods, and more $$. Learn to drive what you have before you spend too much money. I know from experience.
. .not upgrade everything, maybe just the front first but i want to eliminate body roll so i can safely run with sum really sticky tires. . anyone have any ideas?
Right now, assuming that the car is in at least decent mechanical shape, it's faster than you are. The most that I'd recommend now in terms of parts is struts/shocks and maybe springs. Adjustable struts/shocks for suspension tuning down-the-road (not yet!). And the only reason for listing the springs is so you won't have to disassemble the suspension twice. Get a mild performance alignment that you can live with for daily driving (maybe learn how to do it yourself). Then - other than a little tire pressure tinkering - leave it alone while you're catching up with its capabilities.
Understand that the roll that comes from hard cornering isn't the same as "about to tip up and roll over" (unless you're driving something like an SUV). If anything, the time it takes for stock-ish amonts of roll to develop will slow down the rate at which you can get the car to respond, which isn't an entirely bad thing in the early going. From inside the car, large roll angles as seen from the outside don't look nearly as bad. I've attached a thumbnail, and from the driver's seat I'ld have guessed the roll angle at about half of what it really was.
Get instructed performance driving. What you can learn in a single day from somebody who knows what happens when the car is being really pushed will take you years to figure out on your own. I'm not a newbie to auto-X by any stretch of the imagination, but I had an instructor sit with me for a couple of runs at last weekend's auto-X. Knocked whole seconds off my times on each of my 2nd and 3rd runs, and his advice was a big factor in my winning my admittedly small class that day. With little more than the mods listed above and on true street tires (OK, SCCA Street Touring category rubber) against a stripped car on off road only race rubber.
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