How hardcore to go?

[JRouche]

Great thread. Coil overs do seem like the best compromise. Leaf springs are heavy and inefficient for the the spring rates. Why arent there any torsion bar springs for after market setups? Too much engineering (cost) involved?



Guess it all comes down to the purpose of the car. Gonna be hard pressed to make everyone happy. Will a car be needed to travel down the road for thousands of miles and see the track too. How much maintenance will be required by the user. Solely a track car that will be adjusted at every race. Needs to be fully adjustable front to back, side to side. Does the owner have scales to really fine tune each corner.

Alot of guys want a nice street car but want it to handle like a race car when they need it. Fine line there.

I almost think its easier for a strictly track car owner to figure out what is best for him. Less variables.

A dual purpose car, street and track has more variables involved. Wonder why the engineers at GM or any manufacture get paid the money, they are under the gun to produce the best of both worlds, including one other, survivability. Hell, with these 100,000 mile warranties. Knowing the owner will flog the heck outta the car, fresh off the lot, and wont preform any maintenance that has to be a tough job. Ever see a 18 year old kid take a new Z06 off the lot and red line it from every stop light in town, I have. Its sick :(

Back to your topic. You are very fortunate. There are so many after market companies producing alot of quality products for your car. So the hard part for you is detirmining which route to go. Many less fortunate guys, with obscure cars are left to figure it out on their own, no such thing as a bolt in 3 link suspension for them.

So what would be my choice? LOL Well, I guess the route I took. But I may have different needs than you. But I like the 3 link setups out there. I think they have a good compromise between serviceability, strength, performance and cost. Oh, and I like the 4 link setups too. Solid rear suspensions there. But I also like the idea of an independent rear suspension too. Torque arm rears look good for performance.. Oh, how bout the truck arm suspensions, great stories there. See where this is going. They can all be good for the purpose, I like them ALL...

Im old (43) so I like a air ride with a simple parallel 4 link, watts link and a firm sway bar. Thats the back, the front is next month JR