back 5 minutes...already have another question, rear springs....a question of balance Options

[Joseph Mills]

My car has 180# springs in the back with 19 or 21mm torsion bars front. Koni adjustables all around.

This summer I installed a 22mm Weltmiester swaybar to cure some EXCESSIVE oversteer (to put it mildly).

Now it's about as neutral handling as you could hope for on the street. At 60mph on off-ramps taking it up to the final point of adhesion, you can abruptly apply throttle lift and the back-end just jumps out a little....real nice. If you floor the throttle, it will slowly start to push. ALL VERY controllable.

But at slower 30-40mph speeds typical of some tight autocross turns, it has a slight tendancy to push. I've always heard that slow speed pushing is very difficult to overcome. But I hope that I can still get the car to rotate a little better yet.

I'm considering going to 200# springs. I've even considered 220 or 240# springs, but I don't want to end up with TOO much oversteer again.

I know many of you have been here before. What shall I do? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[ArtechnikA]

Also, remember the general tendency of all cars to understeer more at low speeds and oversteer more at high speeds. That's just the way they work.

well - RWD cars, anyway...

drive traction shifts you on the friction circle, which is why RWD cars tend to have bigger rear tires.

FWD cars just tend to understeer.

if you've watched the British Touring Car Series, you've seen the FWD cars with big rear wings, and it wasn't until recently that i figured out what that was about... they're obviously set up with so much suspension oversteer to make them turn in for the slow corners that they'd be evil-tailhappy in the fast stuff (aero lift...) that they hafta plant 'em...