So I was Autocrossing this Sunday and I've got Tein s-techs and TRD Rear Sway as far as suspension goes. A friend of mine working the track told me that my rear was stiff as a board but my front was swaying alot more.

So I need something to stiffen up the front a little.

I was hoping maybe a strut bar would suffice. But I'm hearing that a front sway is going to be best. I'm a little weary of the install on the front sway.

So I figured I'd ask some advise from you guys who maybe have had the same problem.

Discuss.....

 

Im in the process of buying a Progress rear sway, but from what ive heard, your best bet is to get the Hotchkis front/rear combo. Front sway should be a PITA, but worth if if your AutoXn

 

yeah, gotta pay to play, you need the hotchkis front and rear set, with the front on the softest setting and the rear on the stiffest setting.

also, get rid of those s-techs. they drop your car so low that they actually hurt your handling because the cars geometry is off now.

so get something like trd springs or h-tech springs, and some stiff struts/shocks.

 

hotchkis springs are probably the optimum drop for autocrossers. the tc needs about an inch and a half of even drop all around to perform at their fullest. also, the htechs and stechs arent good because they drop more in the front than the rear. it looks better but it doesnt make your car handle better.

 

hotchkis drops around 2", at least it did for me, so i'm not sure hotchkis would be good, but they sure are stiff and give a rougher ride than other springs. strut bar will do jack squat, so just get yourself hotchkis sway bars, especially if you know you're gona be autoxing a lot.

 

Actually, you WANT a little more sway in the front, but not excessively. This is in comparision to the rear, where you want zero sway for a FWD car.

I think your problem is that S-techs are too low, and don't have high enough of a spring rate for that height. Your roll center and center of gravity are pretty far from one another, which is causing some overall instability.

It WILL LOOK like you need a front sway, since your inside tire doesn't get utilized as well... but in reality, we should probably look to the springs.

If you get a front sway, then it'll probably decrease or have no effect on your handling, since you need to maintain the RATIO of front/rear stiffness, and you'd be throwing that off. I suspect you'd understeer more.

Solution- try out some taller springs, and consider an alignment if you haven't gotten one in a while. Need to correct any positive camber that might have been induced by the drop.

 

Wow. Thanks for all the responses.

I think I'm just gunna keep doin it like I have for now. My car is in between a show car and a track car. Not bent on one or the other. Just lookin to have a good lookin and performing car.

For now I just to autox for fun. But when I go up to new 18" rims, I'll probably go to some higher springs too. So then I'll be good it sounds like.

 

Man, I gotta tell ya. I wouldn't do anything to stiffen up the front at all. This car understeers so bad that I wouldn't change the front sway at all.

I don't know man... with my race car, we had huge trouble with push in high speed corners.. so what we ended up doing after playing with sway bar settings and playing with sway bar settings was increase the front spring rate by about 150 pounds. Believe it or not, it really helped out a lot. Counter intuitive I know, but it did the trick.

With all that front body roll, are you still having push issues?