hey im new to handling upgrades but what do you think would be the best first upgrade that i can notice a difference in handling?
thanks

 

I would say lower the car, put some sportlines on therem or go from 16" to 17 or 18" rims, you will notice a difference there. And you gotta a pm.

 

wider wheels and softer rubber, that will make the biggest difference, followed by shocks and springs, I'd go with a linear spring personally and strano revalves seems to be the order everyone can agree on

 

where can i get a "linear spring and strano revalves "

 

After doing a few suspension upgrades, the biggest change was with the 35mm front sway bar. Awesome mod. HUGE improvement.

Next is better shocks. I got the Bilstein HD's.

Third is better rims/tires. Looks alone makes this a great mod, and the added rubber did make a substantial difference, but if I was purely looking for better handling, the sway bar would come 1st, then the shocks, then the tires/rims. Tires and rims are expensive.

Dan

 

do you have any link for where to buy the front and rear sway bars you got?
thanks

 

Sure do. www.stranoparts.com Give them a call, really. Ask for Sam, he's the owner. Great guy to talk to and will help you out with ANY questions you have. He's on this board(01 FS Z28), and is the ESP SCCA national champion.

My front bar is the solid suspension techniques 35mm bar. The rear is stock, which works out to be a great balance.

Dan

 

would it help any if i got the rear one too?
and thanks for the site man u rock

 

Probably not. Give the front bar a try first.

Dan

 

Yeah, the front swaybar would be my first mod if I had it to do all over again. It makes a huge difference.

 

Some where near the top of the list I would put a quality set of weld in SFC. Our cars are quite flexible in stock form. Installing parts to tighten up the handling will only make that worse. Installing them will also help you get the most from your other modifications.

P.S. A larger rear sway bay will only make the car more twitchy and harder to drive near the limits. I'd keep the stock one and install poly bushings.

 

I was wondering when someone was going to say SFC's!!

 

Well, I don't consider SFC's a "handling mod" Yes, the first thing I did, before I did any handling mods, was to in install SFC's. They are a chassis mod, but can be grouped in with the handling mods I suppose.

Before handling mods are done, installing sub frame connectors is always a good thing. It will help keep the chassis more rigid once you start putting greater forces into the chassis from the handling mods.

Dan

 

I will respectfully disagree with both comments.

My car does not have SFC's on it. And handles quite well. They are also not all that flexible in stock form. The 4th gen was designed with a convertible option in mind. That alone means the looked more at rigidity. Also I know of 2 cars with 200k+ miles on them that are doing very well without SFC's. And both are driven hard and autoxed, etc.

SFC's do make the body stiffer. But it seems weak due to the stock suspension. See, the stock setup does a terrible job of taking care of impact harshness. Those impacts get through the suspension and into the unibody, making it quiver like a tuning fork. In that regard SFC's help. BUT, those impact should not get through to the body, and with good dampers (shocks) largely do not get through..... In other words the stock shocks put more stress on the chassis then they should by not doing their job. You can leave the root cause alone and band-aid it with SFC's which will help the body but not the handling so much, or fix the base problem itself.

As for the rear bar. I kind of agree..... A bigger rear bar with a stock front bar, or very small increase in front bar is a bad idea. However if you run a 35mm front bar a moderately larger rear is very well liked by many folks. Shocks are the first thing that needs fixed. The front bar is the next most helpful thing, and then it's a toss between springs or more rear bar. I usually recommend at stepped approach. Start with shocks and possibly the front bar. See what you think. It will be MUCH better. If you feel you want more, we figure out what part would best suit what you want to change and add it. That way you know you need or want it vs. buying useless or questionable parts.

And I'll add that putting urethane bushings on does not make a swaybar stiffer. They only make it react initially a touch faster. Once the bushing is deflected it's inactive whether it is rubber or urethane, and the roll stiffness is all from the bar.

 

I never said you can't live without them, but a quality set will make the car feel more solid, reduce rattles, and improve handling somewhat. And you are right, the 4th gen cars are a ton stronger than even the 3rd gen convertables. But that dosn't mean much, because the 3rd gen car unibody structure was a piece S**T.

As for the rear bar recomendation, that comes from extensive personal experience. Most rear drive cars don't need a large rear bar.