They kind of scare me!

i just put on a front and rear strut tower bar today, not too sure about them yet. First of all, I was very confident in my car. It never felt like it was going to loose grip and even come close to spinning around. Today I put these bars on, so of course I had to hit up patterson road...WOW! They sure do change the cars handling a TON! I got into a little section and the back end got a lil squirley which has never happened with my car no matter how hard i push it!


The front feels very connected and solid, actually find it lil harder to steer. i havent pushed it to close to the limits b/c the streets are very unforgiving when it comes to making mistakes! So I cant tell if it going to understeer or not, but it feels like it might if pushed harder.

As for the back, its definately alot tighter also. As I mentioned above it wanted to come right out from beneath me, and I wasnt even close to the speeds I normally encounter through that turn.

So is this just normal since I just put a new part on my car it will take a while to get used to? should I try taking one bar or the other off to see how the car reacts? Change my driving style to suit the cars new handling characteristics? Leave it and just try to learn how the car wants to react? Or

Now dont get me wrong, the car does feel alot tighter. I guess Im just not used to it, I think my driving style actuals plays off of my body roll/flex. Im just not sure if this has hurt my cars handling or just made it better and im not used to how it reacts now...any opinions???

 

Congratulations, your chassis is now allowing your suspension to do more of the work!

It will take some getting used to, and likely some adjustment somewhere to bring back into balance. Your suspension was having to compensate for a lot of chassis flex before, now it's not. The suspension is effectively stiffer than it was, especially in the rear. So, if you have a rear swaybar, backing it off a notch might help.

Or, it could be as simple as changing the alignment, or even the tire pressures. What about shocks, are they adjustable? A little softer in the rear could help.

 

YAY! haha, I do not have an sway bor nor do I have adjustable shocks. The tire pressure is already at a decent level(puts it around 38psi when hot) on Azenis. Should I lower or raise the pressure? The back already wants to get loose....not a bad thing, just hard to test on the street of how far it actually wants to go! any more tips would be great! I dont really have much for adjustability right now...

Another ??, on the strut bars. Do they adjust for anything besides just fitment? Cuz I have them basically as tight as they will go before they stop fitting. If I were to turn them a turn or to to make it a lil looser would that "adjust" anything or just defeat the purpose of them alogether?

 

Since you don't have adjustable shocks or a rear sway bar, I would imagine your best bet is to back off on the rear tire pressure. In doing this, you effectively un-stiffen (not sure of the proper word here) the rear end, helping to decrease oversteer or increase oversteer. It might take some time and fooling around with tire pressures to find the proper balance.

With my car, I have adjustable shocks but no rear sway bar. The car is neutral but at the limit will understeer. I'm hoping the rear sway should eliminate that, and also get rid of some unwanted body roll.

 

Ill try messing with tire pressures...even though I think they are pretty low already. The back might be able to come down a lil bit more, but the front it pretty damn low(actually need to raise it for street driving)

 

What he said, lower rear pressures should help the rear stick.

That is, IF your pressures all around are near their sweet spot (or higher) for pressures... if, by chance, you were already running pressures on the low side of the sweet spot, then lowering them further could give you even less rear grip.

Sounds like you're in a good place for the Azenis. Lower rear pressures should be the ticket... or at least an improvement.

Don't forget alignment. How adjustable is your suspension?

 

I usually run 32 psi all around for street driving, when I autocross I bump it up to 35/38 or 36/40...something around there. I play around with it from time to time. This is on Azenis mind you. It works decently well.

 

Loren, the suspension is NOT adjustable. unless you are talking about the factory adjustments? In that case I really have no clue.

My setup as is:
Stock if not mentioned.
-H&R Race Springs(dont know the rates)
-Tokiko Blue struts in front/stock in rear
-Front and Rear Upper Strut Bars

-205/50/15 Falken Azenis(about to the treadblock in front, back are still pretty meaty)
-Complete Integra Front Brakes-
-PowerSlot Rotors
-hawk hp+ pads
-Motul Brake Fluid
STOCK drums in rear.

The car is basically gutted, weighs right around 2240lbs(half tank and w/o me in it)

 

For my track event in Miami, I was running about 36-38psi hot. Which is where a fellow Honda challenge racer recommended them be at.(Rafael Santoni-Fl Region Champ)

 

Typically, if you're running higher pressure in the rear vs. the front in a FWD car, it's to try to get the rear end to "rotate". Obviously, your newfound stiffness has improved that situation. So, a good starting point might be to set your rear pressures the same as the front. or even a few psi less. Find out what it takes to get the rear to stick again, then you can raise the pressures back up from there to get just the amount of "looseness" that you desire.

Alignment = caster, camber and toe. Some or all of these may be adjustable on your car, I don't know. To settle the rear, you want to try to get more negative camber in the rear or a slight amount of toe-in.

Conversely, you could lessen the grip at the front of the car to acheive balance. (I don't like that idea, myself, but if it's the only option...) In that case you would want a little less negative camber in the front to get the front end to give way before (or at the same time as) the rear.

A lot of experienced FWD autocrossers (where's Muddy? PsuedoX?) actually prefer the car to be set up a little bit "loose". With the balance set that way, you're getting maximum ability to apply power and turn with the front wheels, which is what you need in a FWD car. You just have to learn to deal with the fact that if you do anything silly (like braking or abruptly lifting while entering a turn), the back end of the car can catch up with you VERY quickly.