springs

[Norm Peterson]

I'd probably tune from here with sta-bars for a daily driver, though I'd still first run through the numbers for front and rear ride frequencies and find where the flat ride speed is. If it's too much lower than where normal driving, or any intended possible driving happens to be, you may well benefit from a little more front spring (or a little less rear spring). Flip-flop the above if the flat ride speed is way beyond anything you'd ever be able to average.

What you're trying to eliminate is a 'pitchy' ride. If the car simply rises and falls as you go over normal smooth heaves in the road, you're in pretty good shape frequency-wise. But if the front and rear suspensions seem to be working opposite to one another (and your head always seems to be moving front to back as well as up and down), there's too much pitch. Better shocks will reduce this, but the more thoughtful approach is to not demand pitch damping of the sprung mass from the shocks. Let the frequencies push the pitchiness away from your normal driving speeds instead.



PM or e-mail me if you'd like me to toss this problem at Version 1.6 of a spreadsheet that I've put together (with a little input from and several reviews by Jim Wurth).

Norm