Hi guys,

I'm not new to car modifications. I used to have a RA 06 with some handling modifications.

I now own a 2010 SE. Now for those of you who don't know, the 2010 SE comes with a 18mm rear swaybar and also a front swaybar. Unfortunatly, I'm not sure of the front swaybar dimensions. There are no strut bars in an SE, which is different from a 06 RA that came with a front strut bar.

I know my SE cannot reach the handling that my RA had. And that is not really the point. I remember taking corners with my RA and then with my SE, I can't even take these corners as fast, without feeling safe. I'm feeling a lot of bodyroll and some understeer.

The SE is a heavier car with smoother suspensions. I'm not looking into modifying the springs and struts. I would like to have a bit better handling. My options are limited, but here they are :

Get the 22mm RRM Swaybar...but would 4mm really makes a difference ? I had the 19mm Progress on my RA and it made a very good difference. The RA stock was 13mm.
Get a lower tiebar. This made quite a difference on my RA, so I would like to think it would on the SE too.
Get a front strut bar. I don't know if that would make a big difference. It would stiffen up the chassis a bit.

I'm not looking into extreme modifications. I'm not modifying the OEM suspension nor putting extreme stuff.I don't want to lower it and I need my full trunk, so no rear strut bar. I don't want the car to stiffen too much. This is our family car, but I'm trying to feel a bit "safer" in it. I like to drive it a bit hard sometimes and I would like that the car respond quickly and less numb.

As for the tires, these are the first "upgrade" I'll do in summer. This winter, I got some Nokian Hakka 5 and planning on getting some Toyos this summer. Tires are, in my opinion, the most important part of a car.

This topic is more a discussion than questions. I don't know anyone who owns an SE so it would be great to know what SE owners have made in term of handling modifications.

Thanks !

Neo.

 

well I do not have an SE but autox regularly in my GTS. Increasing the rear sway bar will reduce understeer and i would think 4mm would make quite a bit of difference. May even lead to oversteer but not sure. tires are the most important thing along with springs and dampers. My current setup is as follows:

Front:
Hankook ventus RS2 - 225/40/R18 (200 TREADWEAR) @ 42PSI

Rear:
Kumho Ecsta SPT - 225/40/R18 (320 TREADWEAR) @40PSI


Prior to that I was running kook's all the way around and had to run the following pressures:

Front:
45PSI

Rear:
38PSI

My point is there is more than one way to reduce understeer in your car. My gut feeling is that most of the kits out there (which do provide some degree of better handling), are mainly designed to reduce oversteer (heavier spring rates in the front) which is much safer. To quote one well known company when i called them "We are not willing to design a track product and take liability for fatalities/problems on the street". If the sway bar does not provide the handling you want, play with tire pressures. Mcphearson strut suspensions roll the tire on its sidewall during loading due to camber going positive.

 

One thing I didn't check though. I gotta check those tire pressures. I didn't check since the dealer put the Hakka 5 on the car.

 

interesting im running goodyear eagle gt's all around psi right now is between 32-35 not 100% sure of the psi but anyway what would u recomened setting the front tires too if a higher psi increases handeling

 

Here is what i did, I was having issues with the car understeering so i read some books. turns out there is a fairly simple test. go to walmart and get four small orange cones or coffee cans, etc. find a large empty parking lot with no thru traffic and set up the 4 cones in a cross about 40 ft in diameter. mark the sidewall of your tire with white chaulk rite up to the edge of the tread. start slow and drive around the circle over and over increasing speed and stop to inspect the chaulk periodically. if the chaulk is starting to smear increase tire pressure rechaulk and redrive the circle until the chaulk mark stays on the tire. This test will determine the right pressure for the front. once complete on the fronts drop the rear pressures 2psi at a time and drive the circle faster until the car stops pushing (the car will oversteer and the back end will come around (fun). Not familiar with the goodyear eagles but I think you will find your best handling @ whatever the cold pressure rating is in the front (probably 40+psi) and 5-6psi lower in the rear. This setup is really for autox cornering which is significantly tighter faster turns than on the street so this may seem extreme but I drive 40 miles each day with this setup and no issues for almost 30k miles. here is some more info on suspension tuning:

http://www.se-r.net/car_info/suspension_tuning.html

 

ill deff try this out once it gets nice out i just got hit with some serioussss snow lol

 

To reduce understeer, try setting a lower pressure for the front tires and a higher pressure for the rear tires. I also have a rear sway bar which helps a lot.

Also the way you enter a corner is what makes most of the difference. Entering while braking lightly puts more weight on the front tires which increases their grip. On the other hand applying the throttle too early in the corner will have the opposite effect.

 

Did you ES came with an OEM swaybar ? The 2010 comes with a 18mm swaybar, but I don't know about the 2008.

And thanks for the tip for cornering! Really makes sense

 

yes it did but I upgraded to the Works 22 (or 23mm I don't remember) swaybar.

 

So I guess it's worth the upgrade from 18mm to 22-23mm. Thanks

 

I will agree that the bigger rear sway bar works and weight transfer is important, but cannot agree about the tires pressures. I initially tried this with my lancer taking advice from another driver. the car pushed (understeered) even more.

 

not sure what an SE is where your from but here the GTS handles pretty well. im sure better than your old RA

 

SE is ES. In Canada, they call the ES, SE

GTS handling better than a 04-06 RA ? Hum I never tried a GTS, but I have some doubts about what you're saying !

 

It worked for me (well it may have been a placebo effect but at least handling did not become worse). And it makes sense because a slightly lower pressure will increase the contact patch.
For example some people might do this if they're stuck in snow because the principle still applies.

 

Placebo imo. Increasing your rear sway bar b/c it reduces front roll coupling (%). Standard cars with standard suspensions and most of the weight in the front of the car have a front roll couple of 98 to 90 %. increasing your rear sway bar will drop this to about 60 to 70 % significantly reducing understeer and providing some oversteer. The funny thing about tires is yes you will have less contact patch to work with (slightly), but you sacrifice that for improved contact and grip during hard cornering (like camber adjustments) were you are transfering alot of weight to the outside tire. remember that the recommended pressure (usually 32psi) is based on the cars vertical load and driving on streets that have low speed and soft lateral g turns. when you start really pushing the speed of the car, the tire deforms due to increased vertical load and starts to roll on the sidewall.the tire must maintain its contact patch throught the corner to provide grip. this controls the tires slip angle which gives you speed through the turns. driving around town and pushing the car a little might not need to increase tire pressure, but if you feel the car start to push (understeer) just increase your front pressures about 2psi higher than the rear. this will increase the tires grip by increasing the spring rate of the tire which will support more vertical load before deformation occurs. If that doesn't work increase them a little more. if you are still not happy, go to the roll bar.