basically im tryin to get a halfway decent suspension setup somethin that i can take to a auto cross open track day and still be able to live with everyday daily driving. i currently have stechs in there probably should have just saved and gotten coilovers but i wanna work with what i have stock struts and everything else so where do i go from here? sway bars Strut bars?

 

hotchkis front and rear anti-sway bars.

you should get struts though, your car will handle so much better. s-techs are more for the slammed look, not for handling.

you could also benefit from lightweight 17 in wheels with wider tread tires for better grip. take as much weight out of the car as possible, and while your at it go on a diet. that should hel you out alot!

 

hahah definitely get the sways. struts are always a good ideas for Auto cross.. weight reduction, drax pretty much said it all

 

S-techs not good for autox...H-techs would be better, but coilovers would be best....i would recommend the Tein SS-P's with the EDFC so that you can adjust the dampening force for the track and then for daily driving at the touch of a button...or a couple of touches. Front and rear sways are definitely recommended...and even front and rear strut bars...if u wanna go all the way with the suspension...roll cage

 

You will benefit the most from a rear sway bar

 

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, YOU NEED TO PUT ON THE BIGGEST WING YOU CAN FIND ON THE REAR OF YOUR CAR! THE DOWNFORCE IS CRITICAL!

 

everyone forgot to mention tires. tires will improve the car 10 folds.

if you want to live with your car everyday, don't get tein ss-p. its not THAT bad but it is a rough ride. You can cope with it but if you're spending that much money, why cope?

other than tires, sway bars would be where i go next. unless you get more serious about it, don't worry about your drop or shocks/struts. Once you're comfortable with your car each mod will shine on its own.

Taking weight off your car is a overall a good thing but can have negative results. The tC is already horribly front heavy and guess where weight is easiet to take off? Yup, with the trunk area stripped and rear seats removed, you're gonna save a lot of weight but then make the car's balance even worse. Thats when a good set of coilovers (or springs on ground control) will give you the ability to balance your car's weight.

Strut tower bars are debated a lot here. Some say they are just for looks and don't provide any real benefits. However, all 3 tC members on my team have felt a positive improvement with a rear strut bar. The same goes for the c-pillar bar. Now it could all be just in their heads but at least they got to drive it HARD around a track. Most people never reach close to 1Gs of cornering force or drive on the edge to really be able to say if something works or not.

So to recap:
- take weight off the car. Move weight to the rear if possible (i.e. battery relocation)
- tires
- sway bars
-coilovers
-a "race" alignment and corner balancing
- front and rear strutbars

Thats about all i can think of that you can do. After you've done all this and still wanna do more, you want to look into making your car stiffer, or lighter, or both.

 

thanks guys definitely appreciate the help im currently running kumho ecsta 225/45/18's all day long and they have been absolute troopers i definitely agree about stripping the back and screwing up the balence even more so im not gonna do that not to mention i carry a lot of people around on a daily basis. anyways definitely going to get the biggest double decker spoiler i can find to improve balence in the rear lol.