s13 rear traction rods?

[ScrapnSidwayz]

first let me give a quick rundown of the suspension mods i have on my s13. i got it dropped on pbm coilovers, pbm toe rods, isis rucas, tein tie rods and a really wack alignment.

so my question is... whenever im driving and i come to a rough, bumpy patch of road the front of my car tends to stay glued to the road but the rear of my car tends to skip around. so i was wondering if replacing the traction rods and getting those correctly adjusted when i take the car in for a alignment would help the rear end to stay planted while driving?

i have read that traction rods help to reduce wheel hop and that feels like the problem im having. so does anybody have any experience with this?

thanks,
Mike

[homeslicej2]

I would venture to say that it's not the traction rods. More likely, it's that your subframe bushings are shot, you have parts that are loose, or it could be the non-aligned rear. I think the first two or more likely.

[Gabes13]

and a really wack alignment.

Get an alignment?

[ScrapnSidwayz]

and a really wack alignment.

Get an alignment?

yeah man im trying to get all the parts for my suspension installed before i go in for an alignment, thats why i was asking if i needed traction rods so i could get some if necessary before i pay for an alignment.

I would venture to say that it's not the traction rods. More likely, it's that your subframe bushings are shot, you have parts that are loose, or it could be the non-aligned rear. I think the first two or more likely.

yeah subrame bushings are a possibility but i have double checked everything else on the alignment and everything is tight

so i probably should check my subframe bushings and get an alignment. so nobody thinks its the traction rods?

[Gabes13]

From what Iv'e read, traction rods help adjust something like caster for the rear and really smoothen out the camber curve on a lowered car. As for a loose rear end feeling? I don't think it's from that. I'd invest in some subframe bushings. Even if they're not "shot", they have seen better days. If a job like that doesn't seem practical, RPsports has nice subframe braces that can help and install is easy.

[ScrapnSidwayz]

yeah after you guys mentioned subframe bushings i started researching them and i got the symptoms... excessive wheel hop and a clunking noise coming from the rear of my car... so im pretty sure my bushings are shot. i will check out the rpsports subframe braces you mentioned. thanks man

[poshatch]

ya ill go ahead and agree with everybody else lol...my friends rear end wanders constantly and you notice it alot when sitting in the back seat although this problem i think it might be a combo of things...id start with the subframe... if you dont want to do the whole bushing thing collars work good too but still a good idea to replace the bushings..alignment would help and from my understanding the stock traction rod would be ok until your car is pretty slammed then it should be extended 10mm i believe or so you might have alot of bump steer in the back if your really slammed (and you got PBM so you are!) on stock traction rods...

[nifares240]

what you have is rear bump steer. you need to fix your toe alignment. since you mention "wacky alignment", I suggest to take it for proper alignment. a nice set of rear toe rods will help you out.

[ScrapnSidwayz]

what you have is rear bump steer. you need to fix your toe alignment. since you mention "wacky alignment", I suggest to take it for proper alignment. a nice set of rear toe rods will help you out.

yeah man i already got pbm toe rods. im just getting all my suspension parts installed before i take it in.

..alignment would help and from my understanding the stock traction rod would be ok until your car is pretty slammed then it should be extended 10mm i believe or so you might have alot of bump steer in the back if your really slammed (and you got PBM so you are!) on stock traction rods...

thank you. i just ordered some traction rods and was wondering how much i should adjust them. i guess i will start with 10mm and see how it feels then adjust from there.

[poshatch]

yeah set them to stock length and you will end up with the same bumpsteer, you make them the 10 mm longer and it should help

others can correct me if im wrong...for the above statement and for the next one

some people run an agressive tension rod set up to give it more forward bite while drifting (one thing i have not experimented with in setting up my car so i dont know how it changes the actual feel of the car) however this shortened traction rod gives it more agressive bumpsteer so to combat it they run some toe-in. toe-in from my understanding makes the care more stable and gives slightly more grip. when the bumpsteer occurs on the toed in set up, it toes out to roughly 0 toe so the wandering effect is neutralized (since its not toe-ing out just maxing out at 0)

[ScrapnSidwayz]

yeah toe in, in the rear does make a car more stable. i also got some tension rods on the way to so im gona experiment with those as well. i also replaced the subframe bushings and i noticed that it helped a lot with the wheel hop. im hoping i notice a huge difference after i go in for an alignment.

but right now im contemplating whether or not i should swap my 10kg front, 8kg rear to 8kg front, 6kg rear. the car rides good over rough roads, its not bouncy or anything. but im thinking that would give it more grip since most of the roads i drive on arent very smooth. anybody think thats a good idea?

[poshatch]

the alignment will most def notice a difference

and dosnt the PBM coilovers come wtih an extra set of 6kg so you can move the 8kg to the front and put on the 6kg? id experiment with dampening on the 10/8 set up

try decreasing the dampening under the same conditions and see if you can notice a difference in handling on those bumps. for drifting id deff keep the 10/8 set up

and yeah so much slock with old stock subframe bushings i put in my old collars on the new car and noticed a fat difference i had forgot how sloppy it was without them haha

[ScrapnSidwayz]

naw they didnt come with an extra set of 6kg springs, but they do sell a set of 6kg for 60 bucks so its pretty cheap if i do wana swap.

i have played around with the dampening but i have decided to leave it at full soft because it feels much more controlled on rough roads then it does when its set stiffer. and im not like a crazy drifter kid. i do drift but thats not what i want the sole purpose of my car to be. i want the car to be set up more for grip (because thats primarily what i use it for) and then i will just slide it whenever i feel the urge.

i actually mainly want to autox it and try to get my road racing license so i can do hill climb runs.

[ScrapnSidwayz]

also i got the springs preloaded. not a whole lot, i think i rotated the preload collars like 2 or 3 times from 0 preload. i can still rotate the spring its just pretty snug now. but is this a good idea or bad idea?

i drove it around at 0 preload for a while and then preloaded it to see how it would feel and it felt better to me than it felt at 0 preload.

does preloading have any negative side effects?

[poshatch]

i like a little bit of preload in my springs as well, preloading is just mostly for seating the spring so that when the car is on its full downward stroke like its off the ground the spring dosnt leave the purch and potentially not line up when its finally to be seated again, plus it minimizes a feel of slop IMO, extreme preloading will cause premature wear on the spring but the way you got it seems the correct way to have them

i want to do autox but im stuck with a welded diff in my car so i have to accept pure drift lol

[ScrapnSidwayz]

yeah i also noticed that after i preloaded it that when the shock rebounds the car seems to feels more stable and less harsh down some rough roads.

i drove my friends car and he has a welded diff and it surprised me. i thought it would of been really rough but it wasnt that bad around turns after we got fast enough to get outa first gear. i been debating whether or not to weld mine lol i dont wana be stuck in pure drift either.

but open diff just sucks. i really would like a helical diff but i hate the fact that it would act like an open diff whenever im tryin to 3 wheel up inclines or any other time one of the rear tires might leave the ground.

[poshatch]

an ideal diff for me would be a clutch type 2 way diff lol, that would be perfect!! i had a vlsd in there for awhile, it locked AMAZINGLY...for a viscous haha, i mean i still had to work for angle but it would always lock hard enough to initiate and it wasnt bad for cornering when i wanted to either, i noticed that with the welded i do have to go slower which suckssss but its so predictable and so easy to drift with it would almost be boring to be in 1st gear haha

[ScrapnSidwayz]

haha yeah a 2 way would be nice to but theres no way i could get that anytime soon. i have spent to much money on my DAMN s13 lol. im brooooooke as hellz now! i really need a better job but thats besides the point lol anyways...

how well do you think a 2 way would work for autox and hill climbs? i met up with this one dude from atlanta and he had an sr powered pignose and he had a 2 way and that damn 2 way was loud. it almost sounded like a welded diff at parking lot speeds but instead of the tires skipping across the tarmac it was the sound of the clutches in the 2 way moving. after he took me for a ride in his car it really made me want a 2 way but im not sure how well a 2 way would be for what i want to use my car for

[poshatch]

well i mean for me since i like to drit more than i like to do anything else id like the 2 way clutch type since i want lock on accel and decel, sorta like the welded, but controling the amount of lock i think would be the greatest improvment in a 2 way from a welded diff

for the autox i would probably get the 1.5 way clutch type because it offsers basically the same amount of control but locking less on the decel would be better for grip i think for autox since you want to maintain a nice equilibrium around corners and not want to get oversteer since it slows you down

i think they make clutchtypes now that are much quiter than the traditional ones

whats a hill climb?

[ScrapnSidwayz]

i actually liked how loud the clutch lsd was lol everything else on the car is rough and loud so no reason to try to keep it quiet now. but you are right about the 1.5 that would work pretty well for autox and it would still lock whenever i get the urge to drift.

i have been reading about hlsd though and people are saying that as long as you dont drive around with uber stiff suspension so you actually absorb bumps instead of bouncing over them then the hlsd works awesome for daily, grip, touge, drift. most people said its a really good all around lsd.

also, a hill climb is an up hill run on a twisty closed off road. the closest one to me is crow mountain. you can google "crow mountain hill climb" and check it out if you want

[poshatch]

lol so its like a touge event? thats pretty sick!

and i think the hsld is in s15 diffs?

[ScrapnSidwayz]

haha yeah its pretty much like a legal touge race, thats what got me so interested. touge is fackin bad azz. the downside is that most hill climbs require a road racing license... something i do not currently have. but i REALLY want to get one.

yeah the s15 has a helical diff. im sure that a hlsd wouldnt drift as well as a clsd cuz it doesnt lock like a clutch type does but i imagine it HAS to be better than my open diff lol. but then again i really dont have money to buy either, so i got plenty of time to decide.

[poshatch]

haha well opens are just super fail...id try to find a local vsld for a cheap price if your looking to upgrade and dont want to spend alot

and you could shim it

but im sure somebody will come along and sees the words shimmed vlsd and blow a gasket

[ScrapnSidwayz]

hmmm good idea. i might have to look around for a cheap vlsd and try that out.