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Koni Yellow/Steeda Sport/Strano sway review--street and track

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I installed Koni Yellows, Steeda Sport springs, Strano adj F/R bars, and a Steeda adj panhard on my GT/TP over the winter. I've got over 1000 miles on the street and just finished my first weekend on track with the set up and thought I'd share my thoughts.

First, the install. Drop is about 1 inch all around and looks great. I didn't install a relocation bracket, bump steer kit (or even shorter stops), or aftermarket end links (per Strano's advice on the links). Also did M/M plates. Set the alignment at 1.8 in the front, about 7 caster, and 0'd out the toe.

Street: On full soft, the ride is every bit as comfortable on the street as stock. No added NVH. Very happy with this.

Track: Ran the car on 285 hoosiers on the stock suspension last year. Found the car had tons of grip, but the movement on the springs, especially dive under braking, made it less than ideal for accurately hitting marks and making adjustments.

This weekend, I ran on Grand Am GT-Os (and streets for the first time for a couple of sessions). Also added a GC Lock, which I think helped alot, too. Dampers were set to full soft in the front and .5 turns from soft in the rear per Hypermotive. Strano recommended middle position on the front bar, and wasn't sure how the slicks would work, so suggested soft in the rear to start, but suspected I might need to move to middle. I already had both in the middle so I left them there.

Biggest improvements, not surprisingly, is turn in and under braking. Turn in was much sharper. Neutrality was still there all the way through the turn. On exit, the car put the power down perfectly, even under aggressive throttle application. On the street tires, I could get it to oversteer in a sharp turn with an injudicious application of throttle, but not on the slicks. On braking, the marked reduction in dive made braking and brake modulation much easier. I could rotate it as much or as little as I wanted under braking.

Car was 2.5 seconds faster around the track. I think alot of that was the tires, and even the GC Lock.

I might fiddle alittle to get it to rotate alittle under throttle on exit. Stiffen front rebound to do that?
 
2012Boss302 said:
Just for the uninitiated, what is a "CG" lock ??

The little gadget that locks your stock seatbelt (the waist belt). I don't want to run harnesses without rollover protection. The Lock does an excellent job.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
cosm3os said:
I might fiddle alittle to get it to rotate alittle under throttle on exit. Stiffen front rebound to do that?

I'd stiffen the rear, assuming the sway bar stiffness is 'close enough'. Otherwise start with going stiffer on the rear bar.

CG locks are great. It's the only way to stay in your seat in a non-recaro and OEM belts. Still a help with the recaros and factory belts.

If you look carefully, you can see it for use here:
1070674976_47e6e03913_m.jpg
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1373/1070674976_47e6e03913_b.jpg

For the street, I use an infant seat clip like this:
Baby%20Infant%20Car%20Seat%20Carrier%20Security%20Safety%20Locking%20Metal%20Clip%20H%20Clips-800x800.JPG
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
cosm3os said:
Car was 2.5 seconds faster around the track. I think alot of that was the tires, and even the GC Lock.

So basically the tires make a huge difference...
Much more than your stiffer suspension and lowered center of gravity...?
2.5 seconds on a 1:45 / 2.00 min track, that is about what slicks vs. R tires will give you anyway.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
patrickshelby said:
So basically the tires make a huge difference...
Much more than your stiffer suspension and lowered center of gravity...?
2.5 seconds on a 1:45 / 2.00 min track, that is about what slicks vs. R tires will give you anyway.

That's a good take-away from the data, but know that it's hard to make use of all the grip from slicks without a stiffer suspension because you'd be all over the bump stops in a *bad* way.
 
Grant 302 said:
That's a good take-away from the data, but know that it's hard to make use of all the grip from slicks without a stiffer suspension because you'd be all over the bump stops in a *bad* way.
True ;)
 
Kyle, thnx for the review.
Talking about lap times differences I saw a very nice article that talks about stock mustang GT and scion FRS and compared them to their modified sisters

Here is a quote:


"Stock Mustang Lap Time

The Mustang wallowed, dived, squatted, plowed and oversteered around our roval. It was not fun to drive at all and even looked bad to the spectators. It took a lot of skill to turn a decent lap time but our pro drivers were good at that. The stock Mustang blundered its way around to a 33.61 second lap time, surprisingly good considering that the car looked like a train wreck out there.

Ticket to Ride Mustang Lap Time

The Ticket to Ride Mustang was much more composed and was night and day easier and more fun to drive. What surprised us is that it was not much faster than stock, turning a 32.64 second lap time even though it looked like it was hauling ass. We think it was because the car still had quite a bit of understeer. We are confident that we could get another two seconds improvement out of the car with some adjustment of the suspension. The Whiteline and KW suspension has a huge amount of tuning leeway and we could easily take advantage of that."

The link:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/3468/PageID/7659/Motovicity-Ticket-to-Ride-On-Track-Shootout.aspx

From ArizonaBoss post in a previous thread
 
13Boss#3328 said:
Kyle, thnx for the review.
Talking about lap times differences I saw a very nice article that talks about stock mustang GT and scion FRS and compared them to their modified sisters

Here is a quote:


"Stock Mustang Lap Time

The Mustang wallowed, dived, squatted, plowed and oversteered around our roval. It was not fun to drive at all and even looked bad to the spectators. It took a lot of skill to turn a decent lap time but our pro drivers were good at that. The stock Mustang blundered its way around to a 33.61 second lap time, surprisingly good considering that the car looked like a train wreck out there.

Ticket to Ride Mustang Lap Time

The Ticket to Ride Mustang was much more composed and was night and day easier and more fun to drive. What surprised us is that it was not much faster than stock, turning a 32.64 second lap time even though it looked like it was hauling ass. We think it was because the car still had quite a bit of understeer. We are confident that we could get another two seconds improvement out of the car with some adjustment of the suspension. The Whiteline and KW suspension has a huge amount of tuning leeway and we could easily take advantage of that."

The link:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/3468/PageID/7659/Motovicity-Ticket-to-Ride-On-Track-Shootout.aspx

From ArizonaBoss post in a previous thread

I experienced no understeer on track with either the stock suspension or the new suspension. It has always been remarkably neutral, much like all the BMWs I've driven.
 
patrickshelby said:
So basically the tires make a huge difference...
Much more than your stiffer suspension and lowered center of gravity...?
2.5 seconds on a 1:45 / 2.00 min track, that is about what slicks vs. R tires will give you anyway.

Yup, sorry forgot to mention the starting times were 1:38/9 and the after times were down to low 36s.
 

dmichaels

Papa Smurf
547
30
CT
Thanks for the thoughts in the original post. I just put in Koni's with SR springs, GT500 mounts, and ford racing bumpers. Car will go out on the track next Friday and I'm interested to see how it handles in comparison with the OEM track pack suspension. I agree that with OEM suspension, it would dive, squat, roll, and float quite a bit - had great grip, but just didn't feel "locked down." After just driving today with the new setup, it feels much more crisp with far less squat, dive, and roll. I don't think I'll see much for improved times, but I do expect it to be more confidence inspiring!

Can't wait...
 

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