AST 5200 Dampers Updated 25th Feb DYNO CHARTS ADDED

[Jive Turkey]

i have 6/7 on my AST 4150's. in love with that suspension, your 9/10 must be pretty stiff on the street!

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

i have 6/7 on my AST 4150's. in love with that suspension, your 9/10 must be pretty stiff on the street!

I have 6k/6k atm with the Eibach sways. The Eibachs are towards the stiffest sway options available. I am hoping that the removal of the sways plus the higher spring rates won't be that big a jump in over all stiffness. Remains to be seen/felt.

[Vinnito1]

I run 8/8 on my MCS coilivers and think it's a good compromise for everyday driving. I can definitely feel the increased spring rates on bumpier roads. Driving impression with them on the track was awesome. The increase of control and confidence felt like I had upgraded tires. I really don't feel the need to increase roll resistance (sway bars) when on RS3s tires. I feel there would be no benefit due to their sidewall stiffness, but PSSs are a different story. An adjustable sway bar to would help me out to better tune oversteer/ understeer

[cdrazic93]

Did you have these shock dyno'ed @Captain Snooze? and/or can find one? I've looked for one but I cant seem to find it.

I feel like we need atleast one rep from each of the big names on here that would help so much

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by cdrazic93

Did you have these shock dyno'ed @Captain Snooze? and/or can find one? I've looked for one but I cant seem to find it.

I feel like we need atleast one rep from each of the big names on here that would help so much

I didn't ask for a dyno for a couple of reasons that come to mind as I write this.
1/ I don't think a dyno sheet will tell me what they would be like to drive on. That is, the numbers don't convey the experience.
2/ I wouldn't know how to relate the information given on a dyno sheet to real world application.
3/ Given that each damper is made to order any dyno posted is only applicable for that car on those spring rates.
4/ I didn't think of it :|

I have just emailed the distributor asking for dyno sheets and will post his reply.

[cdrazic93]

Hey atleast we can kinda cyber buttdyno it ourselves with your "custom setup" that you got goin on if we get a dyno sheet

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

I have 6k/6k atm with the Eibach sways. The Eibachs are towards the stiffest sway options available. I am hoping that the removal of the sways plus the higher spring rates won't be that big a jump in over all stiffness. Remains to be seen/felt.

i have a lot of bushings done but no sway bars...can't decide if i want them though, you're swaying me not to haha.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

i have a lot of bushings done but no sway bars...can't decide if i want them though, you're swaying me not to haha.

As my avatar says everything's a compromise.
On the plus side ways are a relatively inexpensive for noticeable gains.
On the minus side not only do I feel cross talk at the front but I get this weird slow speed waggle at the rear on quick medium radius bends. I am hypothesing (I can't stress that enough) that it is the rear sway loading and unloading side to side. Maybe it is a positive feed back of the rear spring rate and the sway bar rate. I do not know. I haven't read of this else where. These negative points are not significant on public roads. I do not get this waggle at the track.

Given the range of sway rates available and the possible spring combinations available I am thinking choosing the "right" sway bar is a bit of a gamble. (I have seen some math that is just plain scary http://www.optimumg.com/docs/Springs...Tech_Tip_2.pdf )

Useless statement coming up.
If you track your car sways might be advantageous and if you didn't like them you could always sell them only taking a small loss.

[fatoni]

Best coils under a grand threads go for pages and this might be lucky to get to page two. Says a little bit about the community I think.

[Jive Turkey]

the thing is though, at track my car feels excellent, at auto x is where i really really feel that a front bar would help me out a lot.

but then i drive it on the street and i don't care anymore

something in me just wants to keep interring though, but i should really leave it alone, its hell of a car already.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

the thing is though, at track my car feels excellent, at auto x is where i really really feel that a front bar would help me out a lot.

Quick, rough, heavy steering inputs, vs slower, controlled inputs.

[cjd]

I suspect those spring rates won't get you what you want without a swaybar - however, I like your approach. Very interested in how this works out for you since I'll probably start at 9k/10k but will keep the stock sways (not AST's, mind.)

I'll be tuning for AutoX though, so will still likely end up in a different place. I was originally going to start at 10k all around but have been convinced to try a little less forward bias to start (assuming my math was right in the first place.)

I assume the rear end waggle is with the nannies off? The first few times I ran into the influence of the nannies it was more than a little waggle, very disconcerting. I was coming from a (lightly tuned, all strut no spring so horrible ride) FWD (ACR) though. Maybe somewhere between the thorsen and traction control? I can imagine a way no rear sway has potential to help that if you've got the droop travel, but not sure if it actually works that way. Don't remember if you've a clutch-type diff or the stock unit.

The math is a lot less scary once you plug in the known values. Even better if you can find a spreadsheet or similar that hides it all from you... enter the variables and see how it works out. I haven't found anything like that, am almost tempted to see about putting something together - I suspect others would have done so already if it were that easy.

[Black Tire]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

As my avatar says everything's a compromise.
On the plus side ways are a relatively inexpensive for noticeable gains.
On the minus side not only do I feel cross talk at the front but I get this weird slow speed waggle at the rear on quick medium radius bends. I am hypothesing (I can't stress that enough) that it is the rear sway loading and unloading side to side. Maybe it is a positive feed back of the rear spring rate and the sway bar rate. I do not know. I haven't read of this else where. These negative points are not significant on public roads. I do not get this waggle at the track.

Given the range of sway rates available and the possible spring combinations available I am thinking choosing the "right" sway bar is a bit of a gamble. (I have seen some math that is just plain scary http://www.optimumg.com/docs/Springs...Tech_Tip_2.pdf )

Useless statement coming up.
If you track your car sways might be advantageous and if you didn't like them you could always sell them only taking a small loss.

I had a lot of rear end "waggle" in certain situations on and off the [short] track with stock suspension. You may not get the "waggle" on track because the bushings could be loading and unloading (probably crushed) slowly. The stock bushing setup seems prone to a certain frequency of loading/unloading. In my case, the problem was almost entirely fixed with a set of these:

Whiteline Rear Subframe Bushing Inserts

That is until recently, as now my rear shocks are completely gone. (This is the reason I am reading lots of posts about my suspension options – the fronts are almost as bad too.) Whiteline also has a newer kit that may also work well:

Whiteline Rear Subframe Bushings

Same idea, just a more comprehensive solution. Both of these should be readily available in Australia .

Also, I have found that the car GREATLY benefits from this front brace:

Carbing Front Crossmember Brace

If this is too difficult to source locally, there are a few other companies that make somewhat similar products if you cannot find someone that sells this one. I had to go with this vendor's site to show the product on this one as I could not find a Carbing company site that showed the product.

[Captain Snooze]

Mmmm... I can't quote you Black Tire

I had the rear sub-frame bushes replaced a while back (full bushes,not the inserts). I have thought about the front subframe brace but I hadn't read of any benefit so I hadn't pursued it. I had alloy steering rack mounts installed but I couldn't tell any difference.

I have considered these as well but once again have not read of any reviews.
http://www.gtspec.com/product/gtspec...r-s-gt86-ft-86

I might have to put that front brace on the shopping list but the law of diminishing returns and diminishing wallet have prevented me so far.