I can help but wonder which set up would be better in terms of handling. My car is current on Swifts, Koni Oranges, and a Progress RSB. It is a great setup for a daily driver but when I push the car hard i am still greeted by body roll. In the back of my mind I hand help but wonder if the Bilstein setup would have less body roll and ride stiffer, would it be a noticeable upgrade switching to the Bilsteins or am i wasting money? I drive the car easy during the work week, but during the weekends I push it quite hard in the turns when no one is around.. I would also like to do a few auto x events as well...Maybe a track day at etown's road course a few times a year.. any other options?

 

do you have a stiffer front swaybar or aftermarket dampers on the front? if not, that's wat you are missing.
a lot of folks just stiffen up the rear thinking that will increase turnability, but that's not really the case each
time. the front of the car has to have the correct posture to carry the weight through the turn.

if you want to tune out roll, you might want to look at coilovers that have simultaneous
damping adjustment for our cars. koni's are rebound control only. wish tokico made d-specs for our cars.

 

First could you give reasons why you feel the need to decrease body roll more than you have already, or why what you have done is not enough?

I ask because there may be other options depending on what your answer is and where you are driving the car (circuit, parking lot, back roads)

 

I have Bilstein, but to reduced body roll further,
I install Spoon Front Sway Bar.

 

huge swaybars front and rear will reduce roll =)

koni oranges are factory replacements , you can upgrade to koni yellow if available ..

had the progress rsb , it's tiny in diameter ..

 

alright, so the car is on koni oranges on all 4 corners, the only sway bar is the progress in the rear.. It is kind of hard to explain but on long swooping corners that are followed by a quick turn in the opposite direction, the car feels unsettled this could be due to the stock tires being on the car, but they will have to stay until after the winter at this point( need to buy snows) . I hate how the front of the car wants to push to the opposite direction of a turn as well ( say i was taking a right turn, the front of the is pushing left) I have driven RWD cars and trucks for the past 11 years, maybe I am just use to them and using the rear to decide where I wanted the car to go? what should I do here? I know tires would be the obvious thing but they will come in the spring....If i keep the car that long

 

A little body roll isn't really a bad thing per se. ICars can handle pretty well with relatively large amounts of roll. The unsettled behavior you're describing in transitions is a sign that the car is pretty well balanced overall. The car *should* tend toward oversteer in that situation. That's why you see rally drivers do a "Scandinavian flick" in the opposite direction of a corner just before turning in toward the apex...it gets the car to rotate.

In a FWD car, you typically want to control body roll with springs. The sway bars are more for tuning the balance. A big front bar will make the car slower to accelerate out of corners, as the bar will pick up its inside wheel and the car will spin it. A big bar out back is there to lift the inside rear tire and help reduce grip at the back. Fast VWs (with similar suspension designs and weight distribution) tend to go with stiff front springs and a gigantic rear sway bar to get the best balance traction and least understeer. Having a big bar at the front *feels* faster, but it's slower when you measure by the clock.

I've got the PSSs and progress bar. The front spring rate isn't high enough IMO, and I'd love to find a drop in replacement that didn't require a revalve of the shocks. Still, with enough camber and a hair of toe out it turns in really well and isn't an understeering mess. In a sweeper under neutral throttle it's more balanced than my M3...

IMO, get better tires and then go run a track day with an instructor bone up on FWD handling and see how it goes. Tires will help. On the squishy low rolling resistance ones, my car feels twitchy. On Dunlop ZIIs it's rock solid.

 

Yeah that's your tires + the nature of FWD.

If you've driven RWD all your life you have some learning to do, especially when it comes to WHEN to apply throttle. Start learning left foot braking and learn to transfer weight to the front at turn-in. You have to remember your front wheels are doing a lot of work; they're braking, accelerating, turning. With RWD you at least hand off one of the tasks to the rear.

Tires are limited in the amount of forward, braking, and lateral force they can provide. You need to balance those forces even more diligently in FWD cars.

Practice clearing corners with the LEAST amount of steering input possible. Whatever you have to do to go as fast as possible while minimizing steering input, that is what you should do. Positioning the car properly in preparation for the next turn is #1. They say you should be looking two turns ahead... for the driving you are doing you can usually only see one so get to know them in your mind. Always look THROUGH the turn, not at it.

Always remember: smooth is fast.

In conclusion, I think you need to work on basic FWD handling skills before you worry about dumping a bunch of money on suspension you don't know how to fully use. This is not a knock on you, but if you've been driving RWD most of your driving career FWD is a completely different animal. Good luck