From the pictures I just realized who you were. Come to the Meet this coming tuesday and I'm sure that someone will be able to drive, or look at your car and see what's going on.
Ok. This morning I went ahead and softened the front bar and dropped the tire pressure to exactly 35 PSI at all four corners. The car feels a lot better...that was a step in the right direction. I can actually hear the outside front gripping the road again like it does on the stock set. So let me try to take a stab at what is going on here and you can let me know if I am off base or not. As the camber and track increased, the car was having a harder time rolling over on the front to use all of the useable tread patch on the stiff setting on the front bar. In turn, what was happening is that there was not enough pressure on the outside front to bite and pull through the turn. This gave a light floating feeling within the steering wheel as the front was basically fighting the bar to find usable grip throughout the turn. On the stock wheels and tires, the stiffer setting on the front bar did not have to work as much to find the grip as the usable contact patch was more inset on the body creating more outward leverage per the center mass of the car. I have actually heard of auto-x racers loosening their bars as they increased tire width and camber...I believe this is why... Am I off base or does that sound about right?
Suspension is one of those things that take forever to fine tune. There could be so many factors that could throw it off. Everyone has different driving styles and purposes. I'm glad you are coming closer that your likings. Keep up posted!
sounds about right. some auto-x'ers have even gone so far as to unhook the sway bar altogether. However, I believe it was the rear bar they disconnected, and the front was softened up as you did.
You are partially correct in your assumption. Its kind of hard to explain without a diagram but your wheel moves on a continuous arc and it gains camber through out that arc. A stiff bar keeps it lower in that arc so it doesn't gain as much camber. In reality its a little more complicated than that but you get the idea. If you are going to be around for the next Tuesday meet I'll go into more detail then. Matt P.S. you can try and stiffen the rear bar now and see how it changes the car
Most likely yes, however its dynamic, everything is dependent on another variable. You are still controlling how far the car rolls into the camber curve.
The rear end does come around faster on the harder setting in the rear. I still took the car up to see the guys at AllPro because it still feels like it is loose in the steering even though the car is biting better now. Ryan took it for a drive and confirmed that I am not in fact crazy! Here is a video of the front drivers side tire. From what we could see...I probably need more camber as the top of the wheel seems to go past the vertical in the turn (1:40 in the video). This is probably also causing the excess sidewall flex. Bottom line...probably time to upgrade suspension components... [youtube]fI__sI83Jzo[/youtube]
Robb, you should drive my car. I only have the rear bar, and its set on stiff. It will basically be the total opposite of what you have. The turn in is MUCH sharper than factory and i also have MUCH more grip (feeling of oversteer) or vice versa. The handling is not as stable, but makes for a blast if you know what to do. Edit* nvm i see that you have been playing around with the rear setting.