What can i do about my handling?

[Guest RedLineGTR]

Recently we on a cruise on the Great Ocean Road. I found that the car is pretty average while cornering, dosent hold the road too well. The car is a 2door r33 gtst, i was wondering if maybe stock r33 GTR suspension would fit & if it would, will there be a difference. If they cant fit what would be a good upgrade that isnt too steep if any...not after something for drags just for good cornering etc.

Cheers Rob

[nismoman18]

the front is said to fit but the rear is meant to be totally different according to speed or HPI magazine (one of those). just get sum king springs and sum shocks. ive got kings on stock shocks, great on the corners!

[4 Doorz]

try your alignment to whiteline specs off their website...may work for you

[predator]

Some really stiff suspension well help your cornering Rob.. also a front strut bar.. you should feel a big difference with that, but then again everyday driving will be a bit of a bitch so you often can't have everything.

[skylineakt]

Hey Rob

Got the same problems as you mate, and now my left hand side suspensions sound a bit suss after the cruise.

I'm not expert in handling, but I have been looking around for some new suspensions part. I was thinking about Lowered King Springs on stock susp. but got mix reaction from different people. Some said it was really bad, some said it improved handling.

I also looked at some strut bar. This meant to help a fair bit as well, saw some pretty cheap $89 - $100 but no brand. There is some guy near Springvale which have some second had strut bar. Will check it out some time later.

Whiteline also have a fair bit of bits and piece for our car that improve the handling. Depends on how much you want to spend, I guess. Like you I'm not looking at spending much as well, trying to save up for an e-manage hehe. And also don't forget our cars are AUTO haha

Aaron

[Guest RedLineGTR]

hmmm so maybe a front strut bar is the go for now and maybe rear strut bar too (for the rear people havent noticed much difference) but yah seems like the first step to see how it goes. As i dont want to destroy my smooth normal road driving i know stiff suspension wilil help it out but at the cost of feeling bumbs on the road like never before.

[Duncan]

redlinegtr, are you running decent tyres? thjey can make a HGE difference

[BHDave]

Better swaybars will give you a better result than lower stiffer springs, along with a good alignment. Tyres will make a HUGE difference as Duncan said.

There is an abundance of second hand coilovers out there aswell for under a grand.

Too many options......

[red900ss]

Originally posted by RedLineGTR

Recently we on a cruise on the Great Ocean Road. I found that the car is pretty average while cornering, dosent hold the road too well. ...

What suspension is fitted atm? It's obviously not stock as you couldn't call the standard car's handling average.

It may be that your shocks, springs, bushes are worn or just the wrong ones.

As Duncan said tyres make all the difference too.

[Guest RedLineGTR]

it's stock suspension but compared to other cars it's farken great, just looking for something abit more...well...more sharper turnin.

[Duncan]

sharper turn in = toe out at the front wheels. You shoudl try some different alignment settings first, much cheaper than all new suspension. Of course, depending on age of the car and suspension it could just be worn out....

[slip]

Whiteline kit. Easy.

[Zensoku]

maintaining optimum camber and positive caster settings when you're going hard into a corner (or even starting a controlled drift) is the name of the game. To do this, you need:

A higher spring rate (coilovers are best, offer more travel than lowered springs in OE strut assemblies)

Damper adjustment (not mandatory, but some drivers notice a huge difference in weight transfer characteristics here)

Larger sway bars with polyurethane bushes (Note that this isn't to be confused with everyone's favourite which is the shiny strut bar!! Sway bars control body roll, not strut bars!)

and you can continually spend money on getting polyurethane bushes throughout and the more adjustable strut tops and control arms you have, the more control you have over your handling.... oh and strut bars merely look good and maintain dynamic camber, not that skylines have weak strut towers which which flex badly anyway!

but for a street car, this makes the ride very harsh!

Whiteline's kits are well matched for a locally made setup.

[MoonButt]

I would go for a strut bar to stiffen the chassis a little and then go for koni adjustables shocks all round. Finally a wheel alignment to factory specs. This way you can control how hard or soft you run your car daily.

[Mick Trainer]

If you are serious about getting your car to handle or too find out why it does not handle then there really is only one place and guy to go. Top Performance Koni employs Ric Kemp who is one of the top set up guys in the country at this time. If you go there at an arranged time you can take Ric for a drive (if you are smart you will let him drive it he will not be going hard just wants to feel the charateristics of the car) and he wil tell you what is going on and what you need etc. They will not rip u off nor tell you rubbish to sell you expensive stuff. They have just set up my GTR and it cost me heaps less than other places. They have the score on the board as they have set up some of the known motor sport team cars in this country as well as some of the fastest circulating street cars at local sprint days. These guys know their stuff and are not macho imbolsiles. They will help set your car up to really do the job you need it to do. Anyone is motorsport circles will know Rick and use him often.

It is up to you guys but for me if you really want to know what is going on and what to do about it too get the car to handle go see these guys. The improvments to my GTR is massive and the ride etc cannot be beat. The mods are small (king springs and Adjustable shockes (yellows) but they set the spring artes and bump and rebound to alter the charateristics of the car as it did not truly like the handling of the GTr (to much oversteer). The car now is incredably neutral with much greater turn in and almost zero oversteer on the exit. It is very flatering to drive.

Well thats the end of the add. No I don't owrk there nor own a share in it but they do know me well.

Mick

[slip]

When getting prices on suspension bits from a retailer, compare the prices with the supplier if you can.

A major susp place up here didn't fare too well when i compared there prices with the same thing direct from whiteline/k-mac. Same with repco, $140 more per rotor for DBA than another supplier.

[Guest RedLineGTR]

Mick Trainer thanks for your help. Much Appreciated.

Cheers Rob

[streamer]

rob, dont know if this is of much help m8 but im in perth...

n ive had my car lowered 6 mnths back cause it handled like a boat.

ive got springs frm lovell...dunnow if uve ever heard of em but apparently they're pretty aiite for 200 and the car looks great and drives great...handles real great too and is real comfortable on the road...im still running the std shocks too...

wil have to change em eventually...might as well use it till i cant then change...im using polyurethane bushes and lowered springs..std shocks and even on 225/50/16's my car handles good...

if cash is a problem, like it was fer me back then, i wouldnt splurge out on major susp kits frm whiteline and etc cause yr just out for better handling round the corners but not rollercoaster rides...

give it a thought..=)

hope it all works out

laters

[Guest RedLineGTR]

Thanks for all your advice guys i'll keep it in mind. Found other things to waste money on that will set me broke so these upgrades will have to wait.