Next suspension mod?
 

I am looking at getting into track racing next year, nothing hardcore its just for fun right now. What would be next best mod for me to improve handling in corners? My only suspension mods so far, are

sturt tower brace
3 point weld in subframe connectors
BMR springs
adjustable yellow Koni shocks

I would also like to upgrade the brakes at some point. I know ls1 brake swamp is pretty good but i am wondering if there are better kits out there that are not crazy expensive or just do ls1 swap.

Thanks

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

The single most important thing for handling is tires. What are you running?

Skip the LS1 brakes and go right to C5/C6 Corvette brakes. Requires a 17” or larger wheel.

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

Also: which BMR springs do you have? There are a few. IMO, their “handling” springs are way too stiff for ideal handling, and their regular lowering springs are good in the front and slightly too stiff in the rear. I’m using and strongly recommend Strano springs. For F-body handling, Strano and UMI are the places to go. Sam Strano is a champion F-body autocrosser with tons of experience racing F-bodies. He knows what he’s talking about. When he puts his name on a product, it’s because it didn’t exist on the market or whatever was available wasn’t up to his standards.

I’d encourage anybody setting an F-body up for road course use to call him and discuss your plans. He won’t steer ;) you wrong!

For the record: BMR stuff is mostly fine, and it’s a fair bit less expensive than UMI alternatives. It’s great for drag cars, fine for street cars and casual track use. But if you really want the good stuff, UMI is generally better. (Also, BMR has a history of doing some shady stuff. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that I won’t ever buy from them or put their stuff on my car.)

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

Hi,

So the tires I got on now are Continental extreme contact 275/40/17. I completely forgot tires until you mentioned it, i guess its because i got like 80% tread left on this set so the thought of getting better tires never crossed my mind.

The bmr spring are 1 1/4 lowering springs (SP001) which were paired with koni shocks, it was a package deal. The car handling was a night and day difference and i love the way car rides, handles and sits right now. Would the car ride/handle better with Strano springs, perhaps.but there were few reasons i went with bmr over Strano. I just did the upgrade last year and i no intention of changing springs again. At that time all i wanted to do really was lower the car because i hated the huge gap between fender and tire but i wanted to get good shocks to go with it, it was only after i installed everything was when i discovered how much fun i had putting a car thru the corners that i wanted to look at going to the race track and further improve handling capabilities of the car.

I was thinking about going with Sams hollows sway bars next,

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

Seems like the only things that gets posted in the “Autocross and Road Racing” forum any more are Feffman's notices of local and National events. So…. hate to suggest another possible site/source, but this thread on ltxtech.com appears to have some hands on input, backed by actual track videos. As I recall lots of info on brakes and tires. Might be worth reading through, even though it's 221 posts:

Haggard-hawk

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

I've got them and agree! Also, if you don't have the LCA relocation brackets, they're cheap and will restore the rear end's geometry for better traction. If there's money left in the budget, also consider an adjustable panhard bar to re-center the rear after lowering.

Re: Next suspension mod?
 

Thanks Fred, i'll look into it.



I dont currently have LCA relocation brackets, i thought that you should get them if you got a wheel hop after lowering the car, which i don't have that problem now. Also i don;t have adjustable panhard bar, I checked the center or the rear end before and after the install and its the same, i think it was only 1/16" off from one side to another. Paying all that money for adjustable panhard bar to move it 1/32" dont seem worth it.

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