Best suspension for street, strip, and auto-x

[GotBoost2jz]

Hey. I'm looking at suspension and wanna know what you people suggest for a really good strip/auto-x suspension set-up that is still streetable. I wanna be pushing around 300-400hp and I'm looking to spend around $750 for the suspension...maybe more if I have to. Wut are your opinions?

 

[jtmcinder]

...I'm looking to spend around $750 for the suspension...

You're in luck! The new ATI set-up is only $625.

- Jtoby

ps. you were talking per corner, right?

 

[matt97gst]

!

 

[DG-FNR]

As a rule of thumb, it is always better to buy quality (even if it costs you more money up front) than to try and go cheap. In the long run, you'll save quite a bit of money (usually much more than the good setup cost to begin with) and a LOT of frustration.

Quick story to illustrate the point: I broke a hub once, racing, and it sheared the end off the axle at the same time - so I needed a new axle. A new factory axle (which had proven to be plenty strong enough for all but broken hubs) was ~$250. A "new" Brand R axle was ~$100.

So what the hell; I'll save the $150 and get the cheap axle.

Well, that axle snapped clean on the second launch of the next race. Cost me the race. So now I'm out $500 in travel expenses, plus at least $500-$1000 in winnings, contingency, free tires etc.

But we're not done yet. The cheap axle swedged itself into the spines of the differential, to the point where I cracked the trans case trying to get it out. Then I had to drag it to a mechanic I trusted to dismount the trans and remove the diff, the axle, and the portion of the trans case that was captured between them. Then that huge, bulky, heavy assembly had to be shipped across the country so the diff manufacturer could prise the axle out of the diff and rebuild it. Then I had to buy an OEM diff, and pay to have everything reassembled.

By the time everything had run its course, I had dropped about $2000 in repairs, had screwed one race, missed two others, and had taken a year or so off my life in stress and frustration.

To save $150.

The ATI package is a good deal more expensive than your expectations. It also uses the highest quality components available. Draw what conclusions you wish from that.

DG

 

[logic]

Dennis is absolutely right: you really do get what you pay for. However, I don't know if that's the biggest issue here. The broadness of the way you worded your question tells me that suspension tuning may not be something you're experienced in.

A universal truth: the best (insert component here) is the one best matched to your level of competance. For Dennis, that's a set of remote reservoir shocks on custom coilovers, adjustable swaybars, sticky meats, custom bushings, and a ton of datalogging. For someone else, it might be a non-adjustable package put together by a suspension shop for them, because they would just screw up the adjustments such that it didn't handle well in any condition; maybe because they didn't understand the implications of adjusting the rear sway bar, or didn't realize what happens when you adjust both compression and rebound together. Et cetera.

Buy a system you (or your shop) can adjust (or not) to conditions. Anything else is just throwing money away.