There is something enthralling about watching muscle cars autocross. It’s just amazing to see something big and powerful also be nimble and agile. I’d say it was all sorts of awesome like a bear that knows how to kickbox. This is a video from RideTech promoting their coilover and air spring performance suspension systems by showing off their customers having some fun at an autocross.
I had to do a rear anti-roll bar adjustment on my AE86 the other day, so I figured I would take pictures and do a write up on it. A lot of people overlook the role of anti-roll bars (also known as swaybars or anti-sway bars) when it comes to tuning chassis balance. You can dial in large changes in grip for the front and rear axles to compensate for the natural tendencies of the chassis you’re working with. I like to use the anti-roll bars to get the front to rear axle balance in the ballpark before fine tuning it with the damper settings on the shocks. If only damper settings are used to control body roll, the shocks will be too stiff on compression. The car’s overall grip ultimately won’t improve because it’ll start crashing over bumps and upsetting the weight of the car on the tires. Trying to tune chassis balance using only the springs and dampers is an incorrect way to implement those parts. That’s why I don’t consider an adjustable suspension setup complete until you have anti-roll bars. Continue reading