need a teacher

[back alley]

ok, here is an opportunity to show your stuff to an old geezer who wants to learn.<BR>tell me about how to improve the handling on my '92 gs. another recent post said to change the struts and springs etc. but to what??? what part affects what aspect of handling?? i would also like to change my tire size, maybe next summer. i'm thinking to 18's, comments...<BR>any info will be greatly appreciated.<BR>tia

[Esper]

alright, strut tower bars keep your car frombending around in the turns. on front-wheel drive cars, adding a bar to the back increases oversteer (good thing) and adding one to the front increases understeer (bad thing). adding both just add rigity to your chassis. springs and shocks/struts cause your car to lean less through the curves, and thus causes less presure change on the tires (inside tires get more weight on them, outside tires get less). the added benefit of lowering the car's center of gravity is only a very small part of what "lowering" springs do. lower doesn't mean better. does that help?

[Esper]

18's with thinner sidewalls will have less tire roll, but onless you get super-light wheels the turn-in won't be as quick. as far as suspension brands to go with, bilstein makes great shocks, and H&R make good springs, but i personally have never used eaither of them on my mx-3 so don't take my word for it.

[ProtegeSTS]

Stiffer springs and stiffer dampeners allow the car to use more of its tires. There are a number of compaines that make springs for these cars, as well as a few that make dampeners. After market springs will also lower the car, allowing a slightly better center of gravity and a more "performance oriented" look. Dampeners, commonly known as struts for these cars basically control the ociliations from the springs as they react to the road and/or engine. <P>As far as suggestions, any of the large well-known companies, such as Eibach, H&R, Intrax, Suspension Techniques all make good quality springs with varying spring rates (comfort factor). Mazdaspeed and Tokico are the two main dampener manufacturers available for these cars as far as i know, and both deliever good performance, with the Mazdaspeeds much better for any lowering more than 1.5" or if adjustability is wanted/needed. <P>Strut bars stiffen the unibody. On the MX-3, the rear is going to be more important than the front for the simple reason that the MX-3 is a hatchback, and has no sort of physical support between the strut towers in the rear. The front strut towers are close to the firewall, and therefore are fairly stiff from the factory. For the most part, they are dress-up items, and you may only get a slight advantage from them.<P>Sway bars control the ability of the car to lean. Differing the diameters between front and rear will also change balance between understeer and oversteer in off-throttle situations. Basically every FWD car will understeer on throttle. These should be used as a tuning device after the springs have been selected, since most springs will give the car a more oversteering attitude than the oem springs did. <P>Tires are BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT piece of your suspension. Nothing else will even come close to giving you so much bang for the buck. Crappy tires are just that....crappy. <P>Going to 18s is fairly counter productive. Large wheels (17 and over) are just too heavy to allow the suspension to work as quickly. The weight will also slow down acceleration, and work your brakes harder when trying to stop. However, being able to use "rubber band" tires will allow excellent turn-in and response, due to the lack of sidewall flex in the tires. However, note that there isnt much out there for GOOD tires at an affordable price for 18s, and youre gonna be looking at changing tires every 15-20K miles if not much less. There are also problems in that 18s are so big that you run into fender and/or strut rubbing problems, especially while turning, or the car is lowered. 18s and bigger are basically SHOW wheels, and most show guys will ride on something smaller and throw on the 18s for the show. <P>Any other questions....lemme know

[back alley]

wow!!<BR>great basic education. i think i have enuf info to ask an intelligent question and to start doing some researh on the net.<BR>greatly appreciated boys!!!

[Esper]

jesse is the man when it comes to suspension.