Whoa June 10, 2006
Last weekend I put in a rear strut tower bar and was shocked by how much it improved the car’s handling, especially transitioning out of corners. It also pretty much eliminated the squeaks coming from that part of the car. Best $150 or so that I’ve ever spent.
This morning Jorge came over to install my Megan Racing coilovers with the springs swapped to 6K/8K. We had a few issues that caused us to miss getting an alignment done at a performance shop, but the local Tire Kingdom is open late and did alright. The car is completely transformed, after a quick cruise through my favorite highway exchange (Florida Turnpike South to I-595 East to US-441 North) I would say that the car’s handling limits now greatly exceed my willingness to test them on public roads. Thankfully I’ve got an autocross to run in the morning.
Pushing down on the front of the car I can’t even get it to move now. The ride is a bit on the harsh side but I’ve still got 10 clicks of dampening adjustment left to the softest setting. I’ll probably set it to full-soft before I go to work on Monday and bring it to the firm side one click at a time until I can no longer stand it. Assuming that full-soft isn’t also too harsh. Which it could well be. That would suck a little, but… for the effect on the car’s handling it is a compromise that I can learn to live with.
I’ve also got the M3 in autocross-ready condition, probably next weekend I will attend the Homestead event just to give it a whirl. I had been eager to get in on the track because with its gobs of low-RPM torque and amazing suspension setup I figured it would dramatically outperform the Saabaru, but now I’m thinking that the wagon would give the Bavarian a serious ass-whooping.
- Posted in : Uncategorized
- Author :tby
Comments»
re - rear strut tower bar
Which one did you put in? The whiteline? And I see you did the front as well did you find it as big an imprevement?
I did get the Whiteline up front, the version intented to clear Big TMICs. It looks impressive but I’m not convinced that it does anything. I did notice a difference when switching my front swaybar from the “soft” to “hard” setting.
I finally had time to put in my whiteline rear bar. No question a big upgrade - and it noticeably quietens the noise from the back of the car in normal driving. 2 for 1 pretty hard to go wrong.