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2G Looking to improve handling and would like some insight.

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jakk220

10+ Year Contributor
1,319
312
Nov 13, 2010
Akron, Ohio
So basically I want to get my car to handle a bit better on tack and on the street. One of my big concerns is that I live in Ohio where the potholes are plentiful and roads are crap. The car is not a daily and is garaged for Winter. But is street driven more than track. A lot of my bushings are worn out and in need of replacement and I would like to upgrade the suspension without killing the ride quality completely.

My first question is would going with a spherical joint control arm set up make the car rough on the street? That may be a stupid question, but I have never rode in a car that has them.

At the very least I would like to get a tubular design, like the 3g set up. Partially for looks and partially because mine need replaced anyway. I am also wondering how badly poly bushings would hurt ride quality.

I am also open to other modifications that I can do that will help with handling and steering input / feel. One of my future plans is to pick up some Fender braces in the next group buy. I also will be picking up some strut braces.

Current suspension mods are Megan racing coilovers and RM front and rear sway bars. I cant exactly recall my rear camber but I believe it is at -1.6

Thanks
 
What wheels and tires do you run? If you want ride quality do not run spherical joints. Replace worn parts, run decent struts, run GOOD tires. That last one is most important. My car is daily and I run urethane bushings, koni, prokit, rm bars. Ride is acceptable but a little harsh for my 50 year old body. Ground clearance is...well mostly acceptable. I may go back to stock ride height. Most importantly I run a 17x8 wheel with 235/45/17 michelin pilot sports. Yes they wear reasonably fast. Yes they are expensive. You wanna play you gotta pay. on a low mile per year car non daily I might even consider something stupid sticky the likes of bridgestone RE71R or yokohama ADVAN A048 etc.
 
What wheels and tires do you run? If you want ride quality do not run spherical joints. Replace worn parts, run decent struts, run GOOD tires. That last one is most important. My car is daily and I run urethane bushings, koni, prokit, rm bars. Ride is acceptable but a little harsh for my 50 year old body. Ground clearance is...well mostly acceptable. I may go back to stock ride height. Most importantly I run a 17x8 wheel with 235/45/17 michelin pilot sports. Yes they wear reasonably fast. Yes they are expensive. You wanna play you gotta pay. on a low mile per year car non daily I might even consider something stupid sticky the likes of bridgestone RE71R or yokohama ADVAN A048 etc.

I am currently on ASA AR1 wheels and Sumitomo HTR-Z III tires (2014 production). I like the HTRZ just because they worked for me and were priced well. I just put a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's on my girlfriends 1g and I was impressed with them at AutoX. They are a very well balanced tire for street / track use. Seeing as they are primarily street cars, the 340 treadwear rating is plenty sticky for me. Both tires are in 225/45/17. Mind you I only attend racing events for fun, not competition. So I am not chasing tenths. I just want the car to feel more solid and less flimsy.

While I like my Megan Coilovers and they have treated me well, I will be installing Feal's when they go out. That is what I am putting on my girlfriends 1G soon. Hopefully I like them.

I definitely think that I will see the biggest differences with freshening up the bushings, adding some fender braces, and installing strut bars. With that being said, is RockAuto an okay place to go for refurbished control arms? I doubt the OEM ones are available anymore. I wasn't sure how much to trust aftermarket rubber bushings, but unless I go prothane I might not have a choice.
 
Energy suspension is fine. Sumitomo??? Umm...no.

As in the Energy suspension bushings won't be too rough? And I really do not mind them. The side walls are a little soft for my liking, but compared to the all seasons I used to ride on they were much better. Now the firehawks on the other hand I really liked. Im sure compared to pilot sports they would feel like Power wheels tires. But for something that is primarily street with the occasional track day they are okay. Sometime in the future once I am done changing my suspension set up I may buy a set of Pilot Sports just to compare and determine if its worth it.

With how my car has been treating me lately ill be dead before I need to replace the tires.
 
I personally dont think rodends are harsher then polys, just a tad more noisier thats all, Polybushes are a better way to preceed i think in your case, it will freshen up and stiffen up the car without being too harsh for you and you wont feel everything in the chassis,

Megans are like BC they are very aggressive and not really designed for comfort its what kinda makes them good and suited for racing more then others, but feals are a good step towards a good coilover but now the prices went up its getting close to not great value and into the decent range coilovers,

The 3g arms will do you well if you wont a small bit of added strength over stamped but the ARB is different so you will need a new one for the lower arms.

Strut braces and lower under brace helps, 1 other thing to make it handle better is to remove weight you dont want anymore, harder to do if you want to keep it stock interior n such
 
As in the Energy suspension bushings won't be too rough? And I really do not mind them. The side walls are a little soft for my liking, but compared to the all seasons I used to ride on they were much better. Now the firehawks on the other hand I really liked. Im sure compared to pilot sports they would feel like Power wheels tires. But for something that is primarily street with the occasional track day they are okay. Sometime in the future once I am done changing my suspension set up I may buy a set of Pilot Sports just to compare and determine if its worth it.

With how my car has been treating me lately ill be dead before I need to replace the tires.
There is no point in a great suspension if you dont have good tires. On a street car, including my own, most people do not drive them anywhere near the limit. There is no point in lots of parts of they're not needed. You're solving a problem that doesn't exist. My car is lots of fun to drive without pissing me off. That being said I may still go back to just stock springs because I believe it's enough. That is my opinion your results may vary. I'm not a fan of huge parts lists when a simple setup will do. I think many owners would be very surprised at what tires alone do. Add in good struts and bushings if necessary and that's it. No springs. No sway bars. No strut bars. Nothing. I didnt add sway bars until I got the car to push in a corner and I knew it wasn't my driving. The best mod I ever made was the one behind the wheel. Driving skill made a lot of difference in the fun factor of the car.
 
The two best handling mods I've done were adjustable ST sway bars and a manual rack (converted power rack via miata mod). Obviously the rack makes your car feel like a true race car but can be a bi*** in parking lots. The sway bars, particularly the front, made a big difference in steering response. I only use poly in my roll stops and sway bar bushings. Also all of my suspension components have been replaced with OEM type and that alone makes a huge improvement if you're driving on 20 yr old parts.
 
I've gone through the spectrum of suspension mods without going too insane. The car was a daily for years with poly bushings in the rear. A much firmer ride. I've heard people complain about squeaks and noise from them, but I never had an issue with that. I completely agree with the statement about tires. I would highly recommend the RE71Rs. I had them on my car when it was pretty much how yours is. Light street duty and some track time as well. It was only driven on the weekends and trailered to the race track. Those tires are absolutely awesome. Another thing that really improved the car was the addition of Swift springs to my KSport coilovers. I thought with the heavier rates I went with, it would be hell on the street. But they actually improved the street driving aspect as well. I actually felt LESS harshness from bumps and rough roads. I live in NYC, so trust me, the roads are far from glass. Sway bars are some of the last things you do when tuning for track time. They're a tool. Just my 2 cents
 
Megans are like BC they are very aggressive and not really designed for comfort its what kinda makes them good and suited for racing more then others, but feals are a good step towards a good coilover but now the prices went up its getting close to not great value and into the decent range coilovers,

The Megans have always seemed a bit rough on the street. I really do like them on track, but the car is more street oriented anyway so I wanted something a little more comfortable in the future. Which is why I chose FEAL. But depending on what the price is like when that time comes, I may just get something nicer.



I personally dont think rodends are harsher then polys, just a tad more noisier thats all, Polybushes are a better way to preceed i think in your case, it will freshen up and stiffen up the car without being too harsh for you and you wont feel everything in the chassis,

My fear is that I will install the poly bushings and hate them. As in them being super rough and squeaky. I have grown pretty tolerant of the crappy ride quality thanks to the Megans. So maybe it won't be too bad afterall. I guess worst case scenario I have to sell my arms and get some new OEM style ones.

The 3g arms will do you well if you wont a small bit of added strength over stamped but the ARB is different so you will need a new one for the lower arms.

I think I will pick up some of the 3g upper arms in the future. I may just leave the lowers since I already have an upgraded sway bar and then get a set of adjustable toe arms as well. Thanks for the tips.


There is no point in a great suspension if you dont have good tires. On a street car, including my own, most people do not drive them anywhere near the limit. There is no point in lots of parts of they're not needed. You're solving a problem that doesn't exist. My car is lots of fun to drive without pissing me off. That being said I may still go back to just stock springs because I believe it's enough. That is my opinion your results may vary. I'm not a fan of huge parts lists when a simple setup will do. I think many owners would be very surprised at what tires alone do. Add in good struts and bushings if necessary and that's it. No springs. No sway bars. No strut bars. Nothing. I didnt add sway bars until I got the car to push in a corner and I knew it wasn't my driving. The best mod I ever made was the one behind the wheel. Driving skill made a lot of difference in the fun factor of the car.

In some ways I agree. However I don't think that you have to have the best tires possible on the car before modifying the suspension. While I agree that the suspension mods I want and super sticky tires could put the potential of the car out of my capability range, I would rather upgrade the suspension now while some parts are being made and are still available rather than be SOL later.

I do agree that driver mod is the best handling mod you can make. A friend of mine used to drive professionally for Porsche. A few years back he had an Evo X with tires (NT05), springs, and a tune. And we were chasing down Challenge Stradale's at Mid Ohio. Perfect Example.

I feel that since I do not want to push my car to the edge and risk killing it, I would rather just push that "edge" a little further back while improving the feel of the car during track and spirited driving.



The two best handling mods I've done were adjustable ST sway bars and a manual rack (converted power rack via miata mod). Obviously the rack makes your car feel like a true race car but can be a bi*** in parking lots. The sway bars, particularly the front, made a big difference in steering response. I only use poly in my roll stops and sway bar bushings. Also all of my suspension components have been replaced with OEM type and that alone makes a huge improvement if you're driving on 20 yr old parts.

I think for me personally a manual rack is out of the question. I am not opposed to just replacing the oem bushings with new rubber ones. I am considering giving the polys a try though. Definitely a good option though.


I've gone through the spectrum of suspension mods without going too insane. The car was a daily for years with poly bushings in the rear. A much firmer ride. I've heard people complain about squeaks and noise from them, but I never had an issue with that. I completely agree with the statement about tires. I would highly recommend the RE71Rs. I had them on my car when it was pretty much how yours is. Light street duty and some track time as well. It was only driven on the weekends and trailered to the race track. Those tires are absolutely awesome. Another thing that really improved the car was the addition of Swift springs to my KSport coilovers. I thought with the heavier rates I went with, it would be hell on the street. But they actually improved the street driving aspect as well. I actually felt LESS harshness from bumps and rough roads. I live in NYC, so trust me, the roads are far from glass. Sway bars are some of the last things you do when tuning for track time. They're a tool. Just my 2 cents


I am not opposed to giving the RE71R a try when my tires go bad. I have heard good things about them. Back when my car was a daily and I was broke, I wanted something that was a little better on the tread wear I guess. And at that time the HTRZIII's got the job done. And honestly still do in some ways.

I am wondering if I would get any benefits from putting swift springs on my Megan Racing coilovers. I have heard of people doing it, but never really heard about the results. The sway bars have been on there since I bought the car so I obviously was not going to get rid of them.
 
Oh absolutely. I've been running the rear RMDSM bar for years. Before I even approached a race track. In the end, track wise, you're gonna end up doing them anyway. Your front setup is more important. I've seen people have a heavy rear bar and not even run a front bar. But that's personal preference and seat time.
 
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