suspension/tire question marathon! answer them all and ill mail you a cookie!

[chmercer]

-Car model/year240sx se/1995-price rangecredit card, bling bling!-goals of the carvery stable in corners-use of cardaily driver with autox ever once in a while-style of wheel you likedont really care about appearance-other useful informationdont care about ride harshness, main focus on dry traction, not enough rain to worry about that a lot and 0% snow here in texas. If possible i would prefer to not use spacers. I have the 5 lug bolt pattern.

ok, heres my questions.Im getting ready to start on my suspension setup and am looking over different options for coilovers, wheels, and tires. ill start with my wheel questions.

wheels -1. since i will use this for autox somtimes, i should have same diameter / width wheels on all 4 corners, as opposed to wider in the back, right?

2. as i mentioned in goals for the car, i want high stability in corners. oversteer at high speeds freaks me out. wider wheels would help prevent oversteer by adding more contact patch, correct? how wide can i go? I am guessing 9-9.5 is about as big as you can go before the wheel starts sticking a good ways out of the wheel well? if you can do larger without problems, could somone please correct me on this?

3. as for diameter, is there any performance related reason to have a larger diameter wheel? i see lots of posts of people who want 18"s etc. is there a reason for this aside from increased bling factor? what is the smallest diameter you can do while still clearing z brakes, and would this be a smart choice?

4. what is meant by a wheel having a polished lip? i could never figure out what this was.

5. anyone want to suggest a wheel after reading all the junk i typed?

coilovers-

please help on this, i am trying to understand the many intricacies involved with suspension, but there is too much information. please give as much information as you can while i go scrounge for more info on the net

1. why would one go with a coilover setup instead of just upgraded springs/shocks? the only reason i am able to get out of my friends is "because coilovers are better". is it because they are adjustable? or have better spring rates? or...? please help.

2. http://www.jic-magic.com/armnrod/armnrod.htm what is all that craziness? i havent been able to find much specific information on what control rods are, how they work, etc. so any info on that would be very much appriciated.

tires- edit - havent looked into tires hardly at all, so i wont bother wasting anyones time with questions that have probably been answered already.

misc-

where can i get derlin bushings? i have heard this is the stiffest material bushings are available in?

[p00t]

im a n00b so ill only answer your tension rod question

they are sort of a "cusion connection" between your Lower Control Arms, and car frame. the ones you linked to are the hard pillow ball type.

Nissan OEM TC rod Bushings - inexpensive - have a soft gooshy feel through the steering... when worn, create excessive side to side play when turning and going over bumps.

Whiteline TC rod Bushings - inexpensive - firm consistant feel through the steering, slight play still exists but for the most part it is effectively eliminated.

Pillow TC rod (one piece) - very expensive - very stiff feel, eliminates practically all side to side play. a big downside to this is there is no more big rubber bushing... and you can feel the fast harsh response when going over bumps. Buy this only if u know you need it.

Pillow TC usually comes as one assembly, the other bushings can be bought seperately and pressed into the tension rod. Going with a new OEM or Whiteline bushing would save you alot of money at the expense of effort/time to press out the old bushings and put the new ones in.

Hopefully im on track :icesangel

[SmithSR]

1: I recommend that you use same size at all four corners. You never know when you'll either decide to rotate/change tire position for various reasons. This does not include scenarios in which you will have track-only wheels/tires and regular street setup. Either way, ease of use in increased greatly when all four are the same(one less thing to mess with) and time will be critical when race day comes, as you'll be checking/tweeking everything twice and three times.

2: IMO, there is no need for 9.5" width wheels for a daily driven car that sees occasional track use. Your car's power output(if basically stock) doesn't really need that much tire. To summarize, you will have more problems trying to find the *perfect* fit for a 9.5" wheel, and you'll cause unnecessary headaches trying to figure what you think is best versus what your pals say will work. Oversteer at high speeds can be virtually eliminated with a little more of a "cautious" approach, or maybe some driving classes. With the car you have, if you outfit and tune the suspension/tires properly, oversteer should not be an issue on a road course.

3: Nowadays, big is cool for shows, but we all know that the light wheels are what cuts down on unsprung mass and shaves rolling resistance. Both are critical to auto-xing a basically stock engined car. As for what will clear a Z brake... what diameter fits on a Z ? there ya go.

4: the *lip* is the outer edge, farthest from the center, or *hub* of the wheel. the lip is the outer circumference of the wheel. some wheels have a polished lip for bling factor, but some of these wheels use too soft and thin a casting/rolling, which means the wheel is vulnerable to bending if it hits bad potholes, bumps, etc.

5: Volk. Excellent offset selection IMO, you should find something to clear the brakes. They do have a tech line to call, you look it up though. Or if you have $1000 per wheel, Fikse.

coilovers:1: adjustability for track use. not that many people who have them actually ever take their car near a track. Most kids have them for bling or bragging rights. morons if they spend all that money and have no real plans on using them as they were intended. The easiest, and most quirk-free way to do it is with new coils and struts. If you want to set the car up, and not have to tweak, coils/struts are the way to go.2: part of the 240sx *multilink* suspension. If you look under your car, you will see similar parts. Aftermarket rods are available, but do you NEED them? maybe.

tires: don't just look at tirerack.com... there's more out there. Toyo comes to mind. check out the toyo RA-1 for auto-x duty.

derlin: did you run a search on derlin bushings? i swear just read something about them specifically.

this is all summarized. email if you need specifics.

[chmercer]

adjustability for track use. not that many people who have them actually ever take their car near a track. Most kids have them for bling or bragging rights. morons if they spend all that money and have no real plans on using them as they were intended. The easiest, and most quirk-free way to do it is with new coils and struts. If you want to set the car up, and not have to tweak, coils/struts are the way to go.

how would coilover adjustability differ when compared to adjustable springs? just a higher degree of accuracy? and is this the only benefit when compared to new springs/struts?

[Tai Mai Shu]

Springs are not adjustable shocks are, the KYB AGX's is what most people including me use...I use those with tein springs which is a good set up IMO. Coilovers let you adjust more complex things like the bound and rebound. But for the most part unless you have alot of time on your hand to adjust each one for your needs that day I would say for 95% of the publix a nice spring shock combo will come in handly just as much. With the left over money, you can get adjustable susepnsion peices to adjust toe, camber ect. thats just my .02 yen

[Exar-Kun]

1. a 225-45-17 all the way around is agood choice for our cars, it keeps a good contact patch and has a stiff enough sidewall for nearly any application, and has many racing tires available in that size. you can also run a 225-50-16...2.high speed stability is more of a suspension and tire TYPE issue than tire width. Just look at the acura NSX, it ran a 205-55-16 and 225-50-16 early one, and a 225-45-16 and 245-40-17 during its later years, and had great high speed stability. Tune the suspension correctly, and sleect a good tir, and the stability will be there.3. and increased diamtere wheels allows/necessitates the use of a lower "profile"(sidewall height) tire, usually increasing the width of the contact patch and stiffness of the tire, netting performance gains to a point. Anything over 17" becomes an issue more for show than go, generally speaking, as the larger wheels weight more.4. a polisedh lip is when a wheel manufacturere leaves the outer lip(the ring around the wheels outside where the tire sits) machined and clear-coates it for a particular look...see previous posts.5. Volk, racing heart, buddy club, fiske, or evne a forgeline or centerline wheel can be used for your application depending on the look and price you want. MY volk's cost me 1900 with tires for the set in a 17x7.5 30mm offset....

coilovers1. coilovers allow more adjustability, and can deacrese the weight of your suspension componenets if they are mande of a light material. Generally, a good coilver allows full length ride height adjsutability on both the upper and lower perches, so it doesnt artificially compress the damper, and has demper force/stiffness adjustability. Most coilovers allow a range of spring rates depending on the vehicle also, see the FAQ as to what spring rate changes do to a vehicle... really nice coilvers allow spring rate adjustability...but those are hideously expensive usually.2. those are pillow mount/heim joint suspension peices, they allow adjustability for different allignment settings, reduce suspension slop and reduce suspension weight in a vehicle. The major thing is adjustability.

misc-1. derlin is used my NISMO, check the where -to-buy page for info on where to get NISMO suspension bushings and things. Derlin is both expensive and stiff, but its nice stuff... Alluminum bushings are the hardest(obviosuly) but for 99% of people these are far to harsh for them

(please forgive any type-o)*pwhew*-chet

[chmercer]

ok, thanks for all the great info everyone

exar-kun - you mention aluminum bushings..could you please explain how they are 'harsh'? i am not exactly sure how they affect handling, except just tighten the steering? if this is correct, i suppose aluminum bushings would cause very responsive steering, if not too responsive?