Spirited Drive

[NIKICH]

A friend that i use to work with has a 1984 model Porsche Carrera, i met up with him on saturday and he took me for a drive through the national park in sydney. The road for those that dont know is curvey but its also very bumpy. Going through there in this car was a dream. We headed back and it was my turn to take him through in the Stivo. Ive lowered my car on King Superlows and that the only suspension mod that i have. Corners that he took at 70kms i was taking at 50kms and losing traction. The other problem was the car was so unsettled from all the bumps.

My question is for all you people riding on coilovers would the coilovers stop or minimise the car from being so unsettled, one corner in particular had 3 large bumps mid corner and that caused me to go straight on...

[redvvtli]

A friend that i use to work with has a 1984 model Porsche Carrera, i met up with him on saturday and he took me for a drive through the national park in sydney. The road for those that dont know is curvey but its also very bumpy. Going through there in this car was a dream. We headed back and it was my turn to take him through in the Stivo. Ive lowered my car on King Superlows and that the only suspension mod that i have. Corners that he took at 70kms i was taking at 50kms and losing traction. The other problem was the car was so unsettled from all the bumps.

My question is for all you people riding on coilovers would the coilovers stop or minimise the car from being so unsettled, one corner in particular had 3 large bumps mid corner and that caused me to go straight on...

Yep,

I took my stivo for a spin there the other night for the first time. My car is stock standard. What struck me was that very fact, the car was incredibly unsettled over bumpy surfaces to the point of being downright dangerous. The first thing I though of was - time for mods. But then I thought, its just a TOYOTA!. Now on the subject of mods to make the Stivo a safer drive, I await for responses -

[vin corolla]

Which national park did you go? is it the on at Mt Ku Ring Gai?

The reason why it is so bumpy and unsettle is becos your standard factory shocks do not have enough travel distance to absourb the bump once you had changed to low spring.

I used to had a car with super low spring modification only, and every bump and dent on the road just make the car bounce around, and that's not a healthy driving.

With the good Coilover setup, everything is designed to work together, and although it would still be bumpy, but you'll find it lot more controlable.

They are so expensive...... :(

Edited May 22, 2006 by vin corolla

[NIKICH]

This is the royal national park inbetween engadine and helensburgh.....

That road hasnt been relayed for a long time

[SILVABULLIT]

Superlows on stock shocks basically means that you're riding on the stops. Coilovers will make a huge difference but a rear sway bar and front strut brace will also be of benefit handling wise. Koni's with kings lows will improve your handling out of sight as well for a cheaper alternative to DECENT Coilovers not the cheapo ones. :D

[Kevsta]

Don't spring installers usually cut the bump stops when installing lowered springs ?

[BLKRLA]

The "NASHO" road between Engaine & Stanwell is a shocking road for potholes, it's a shame cause its got some great corners. 15 years ago it was a lot smoother & a hell of a drive.

If you got some decent shocks or Coilovers you will notice a big improvment. Another thing that makes the road feel bumpier are low profile tyres. If the Porshe is running standard wheels then it probably has reasonable tyre profile to absorb the bumps. If you are runnning 17" than your tyre profile will be very low.

A Sportivo unforunatley will never handle like a true sports car for many reasons, Some of those reasons are it doesnt have IRS & its front wheel drive.

If you live in Sydney you should come along to one of our meets.

[ZEEROLLA]

Nikich, i have driven the nasho abt 4 times now, all with my current suspension setup.. my mates with fwds (a swift and Civic) have lowered springs only and all sat in my car on a run once with the other guys here at one of the meets and they said my car handled really well and i had no problems with "driving straight on".. braking was also improved. It was bumpy, but i was still able to turn sharply with no problems, my tyres didn't even squeal the whole way. Maybe its my camber settings at the front that helped but it was great. Besides i have Konis dialled up to 75% stiffness so it will be bumpy but stable. Then it was them that took their cars out with another RX8 and MX5, both RWDs were stock standard. The FWDs have no chance of keeping up with the RWDs. My mates cars with lowered springs only complained that their cars were so much bumpier than mine and very unstable they disappeared from my rearview mirror less than half way through the run. The 2 RWDs were bloody quick mid corner, i was ony able to keep up in faster smoother corners, but when it came to the tighter hairpins they killed my front heavy Stivo :(

Edited May 22, 2006 by ZEEROLLA

[NIKICH]

The "NASHO" road between Engaine & Stanwell is a shocking road for potholes, it's a shame cause its got some great corners. 15 years ago it was a lot smoother & a hell of a drive.

If you got some decent shocks or Coilovers you will notice a big improvment. Another thing that makes the road feel bumpier are low profile tyres. If the Porshe is running standard wheels then it probably has reasonable tyre profile to absorb the bumps. If you are runnning 17" than your tyre profile will be very low.

A Sportivo unforunatley will never handle like a true sports car for many reasons, Some of those reasons are it doesnt have IRS & its front wheel drive.

If you live in Sydney you should come along to one of our meets.

The Porsche is running the same profile tyres as i am, the only difference is they are wider....One thing that i still cant believe is that his car has no springs, just shocks, Can anyone explain how this would work, I said to him that he probably has coilovers but he said no, no springs at all....

My next suspension mod will be new shocks and a front strut bar

[Mintos]

well, firstly, a 1984 911 is a thoroughbread sports car. It is built to have an optimal center of gravity, aerodynamics, weight distribution, etc. Even though this car is 20+ years old, the purpose for its creation is far different to that of a sportivo and therefore superior in its class.

There is no way i would expect any sportivo to keep up with a stock 1984 Carrera handline wise, if his tyres are the same profile as yours, they are probably after market and 10" wide or something and being RWD, it will leave the stivo for dead.

If you want to get the handling of the stivo as close to a track car as possible, take Silva's advice, however i would have to add front sway bar in there, as although it can induce understeer, it makes the front end of FWD cars much more stable under power while cornering.

[BLKRLA]

If the Porsche tyre has the same profile but is wider than the tyre wall would be larger on the Porsche as profile is a ratio of the width. This is only a minor thing, the quality of suspension components & their design would be the key to a more stable ride.

I have never heard of a car that has no springs, seems a bit strange.

[NIKICH]

Mintos

I never said that i wanted my car to keep up, i just commented on how my car was so unsettled by the bumps and the Porsche was fine, i wanted to know if others that have different suspension setups have fixed that problem...

Blkrla i found that weird as well, i dont know how they did it, but the mechanic told him that there was no spring....

[BigBum]

Do airbag suspension still use spring?

[SILVABULLIT]

If the Porsche tyre has the same profile but is wider than the tyre wall would be larger on the Porsche as profile is a ratio of the width. This is only a minor thing, the quality of suspension components & their design would be the key to a more stable ride.

I have never heard of a car that has no springs, seems a bit strange.

Firstly the Porsche runs independant front suspension(trailing arm type) and on the rear its a full IRs with torsion bars hence no need for the springs as the torsion bar holds the weight of the car and the shocks control the rebound. Being that i own a rear engined VW with the same type of suspension the handling characteristics between the Stivo and VW/Porsche are totally different. If I'm pushing hard into a corner in the Stivo and understeer happens you feather the throttle and gently steer out of it. On the other hand in my VW if this happens you just get off the throttle completely then just stand on the gas again and the rear will then steer as it pushes the front around and if anything will create a little bit of oversteer. IRS with torsion bar with the trailing arm works very well and if anything I feel that I can push the Mighty Kombi harder in and out of corners than the Stivo by simply steering on the throttle.

For the Brissy boys who know my Kombi and have seen it will know what I'm talking about.....(it's nearly as low as my Stivo ;) )

Pacific Hwy heading north at the Gateway Mwy turnoff. Kombi inside lane at 125km/hr and the Stivo at 115km/hr before understeer starts to set in Big advantage of the Stivo is that I can drive the Stivo harder for longer(lighter,power steering!!!!) Kombi will make you sweat in no time as you have to man handle it lol