Suspension Setup for a daily driver

[SingleCamSam]

Any thoughts on a good suspension set-up for a car that will never see a racetrack (maybe auto-x once in a blue moon). Simplicity is the key here. I've seen people upgrade every single component of their suspension, spend thousands of dollars, and still wind up with a worse handling car because they had no idea what they were doing. I obviously don't want to do this. I'm looking to keep good ride comfort/drivability while still being able to carve the occasional mountain road here in VA. Here's what i've started with and any feedback would be appreciated...

Whiteline T/C rod bushingsWhiteline Subframe bushingsKYB AGX and Prokit SpringsSusp. Techniques SwaybarsPotenza RE750 Tires 225/50 front 245/45 rear (on 300zx TT wheels)

Keep in mind i want the most bang for my buck, so if there is a component listed that isn't really worth the money please let me know. Thanks.

[bdawg46]

I have Eibach sportlines, kyb agx adjustable shocks, whiteline t/c rod brushings, and front and rear struts. My car is a daily and it works good for me. Tho some sway bars on next on my list to get.

[SingleCamSam]

I thought you could only drop 1.5" on the AGX?

[Exar-Kun]

sam: looks good, thats a popular combination of damper/spring for a reason I may look at a few other MFR of springs, like tein and tanabe, just out of curiosity. but thats a nice solid street setup you've got listed.-chet(note the twin turbo rear wheels are pretty wide, you may want to just run the front turbo or n/a Z32 wheels all around on 225-50-16 tires, it'll handle more neutrally for you, and help tire life by beaing able to rotate them..)

[SingleCamSam]

Quote »(note the twin turbo rear wheels are pretty wide, you may want to just run the front turbo or n/a Z32 wheels all around on 225-50-16 tires, it'll handle more neutrally for you, and help tire life by beaing able to rotate them..)[/quote]

I was considering this. Here's my debacle though...I want the car to make about 250-270 to the wheels, and was wondering if a 225 width tire would be able to give me good enough hook-up (though overall suspension set-up to maximize contact patch is probably more important than actual tire width)? I also like the meaty look in the rear, so i've got to make some compromise between form and function. Thanks for the responses btw!;)

[Phax]

Sam,

It looks like you have a good setup spec'd out there. I'm looking at purchasing a nearly identical setup for my daily driver. The only difference will be that I'll have some Ground Control coilovers, so that I can get the car corner weighted and have some camber correction.

[fiznat]

I just installed the KYB AGXes and Ebach Pro-Kits on my car (check out the install in 240 general), and they are REALLY sweet for street use. I thought that they might be too harsh or lower the car too much, but it turned out that they were exactly the balance I was looking for.

I dont know too much about the other components, but I'm looking into purchacing those same brands pretty soon, so I might be able to let you know how those work out as well

[Q45tech]

"...I want the car to make about 250-270 to the wheels, and was wondering if a 225 width tire would be able to give me good enough hook-up "

Friction is a function of weight on the tire, compound softness and temperature curve and local instant temperature.

The total area of foot print is always the same, its the shape that changes with wider tires with the same weight and psi.A rear tire with 850 pounds inflated to 32 psi will have 26.56 square inches of contact area if it has 7" wide tread the patch longitudinal depth will be 3.8".

250 might be 300 lb/ft and 1st gear total multiplication might be 13.5 that's 4050 /2 tires or 2025 lb/ft per tire.

You might consider something like Corvette sized rear tires, something at least 255 or wider...............pretty much you will be limited to 0.87 G in forward acceleration peak.

The heavier old 300zxtt had 255 rwhp and about the same torque 245/50/16 were the rear tires.Depends on rear weight the more the narrower tire you can use.

[Exar-Kun]

considering the ferrari testarosa ran a 225-50-16 with well above the 300hp mark, it should be fine if you get a nice sticky tire, a wider tires does not automatically increase grip! dennis is right, its more a function of weight and stickyness of the tire than tread width, by making the tire wider, your essentially taking a long contact patch of X area and making it a wider contact patch of the same area (theres limits to this, but fundamentally, thats how it works).

run some nice s-03's in 225-50-16 all around or a Pzero, or any sticky tire, and it should provide more than enouhg grip. and trust me, a 225-50-16 is pretty meaty on the back end of a 240...(which came with little 195's)

plus, you'll save a bit of weight by using the narower wheels(and probably save money on the wheels, and get to rotate your tires to help even the wear out! win-win!).

note: the rear tire size of the twin turbo Z was 245-45-16.-chet

[SingleCamSam]

Hmmm, longer tire life, less rotational mass, cheaper over-all. Sounds good to me!:)

Now what about the sway bars? Will they really make that much of a difference on a DD? I've heard if you get a set of adjustable ones and tune them right it can make even more of a difference then shocks/springs?

[Q45tech]

Thats the problem with HP, when! rpm wise. "ferrari testarosa ran a 225-50-16 with well above the 300hp mark"......at 7,700 rpm.

The torque curve/rpm must be provided to calculate the torque at the tires at launch.

"if a 225 width tire would be able to give me good enough hook-up "

Obviously if 300 lb/ft was available at launch the tires would spin as no tire other than massive racing slicks might handle 2000 lb/ft per tire [with 100% locked differential] instananeously [clutch dump].

I always assume that any spinning is bad because it lowers et.