Aftemarket suspension setup help drag times?

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:44 pm

Hi guys. Me and a friend were discussing the effects of a suspension on launches in a drag race.We know a lsd helps but we were wondering about some other things.I know there are a lot of factors in a 1/4 mile time but if a car has some sort of an aftermarket suspension setup, say some good struts and springs,along with some motor mounts, will this,in turn, help the takeoff of the car when launched?I have heard that these things help prevent squat and an un-wanted momentum transfer to the back of the car due to the lower center of gravity.I realize that with slower cars this isnt as big of a factor, but is this concpet correct...

Answers ASAP will be much appreciated

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:04 pm

anybody have some answers???really would like to know.

NSDPerformance · Post by **NSDPerformance** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:19 pm

I notice a nice increase of traction with the prothane LCA bushings. Reduced wheel hop will always result in better off the line traction. I also installed a set of Hotchkis springs on my SRT and the reduction of squat helps the front tires gain more traction.Hope this helps.

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:25 pm

thanks for the reply.can i get e few more guys to post to help prove this point.

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:02 pm

bump ttt for some more answers

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:16 pm

The simple answer is yes. Solid motor mounts almost eliminated all wheel hop on my srt. Some solid lca bushings should eliminate it comppetely. I'm certian the stiff sportline srings are helping with traction. some adjustable struts would be nice, set to the hardest setting to keep front end squat and weight transfer to the rear down.

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:41 pm

thanks guys.just had to prove a point to someone.any other comments would be great as well.let me know if u guys have noticed some differences since geting ur springs and/or struts on.thanks

OverDrive418 · Post by **OverDrive418** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:49 pm

Indeed, the stiffer you can make the front end (on FF cars anyways) the better espescially to eliminate wheel-hop. All mentioned above will help and beleive it or not so will a wheelie bar (or drag bar...whatever the vernacular nowadays is). It keeps the front end planted to the ground. Sounds crazy but I've seen numerous full drag civics use them for the holeshot burst for the win.

dwagner77 · Post by **dwagner77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:44 pm

so besides the mm, are the springs and struts just as important???

Hudson_Neon · Post by **Hudson_Neon** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:01 pm

yes, cause with just stock struts and aftermarket springs you can easily blow out the struts. coilovers FTW!

OverDrive418 · Post by **OverDrive418** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:02 pm

If not they wouldn't make drag springs. And you'd need struts that are made to handle the spring rates of drag springs so I'd say yes and yes!

Post by **racer12306** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:12 pm

Stiffer suspensions will reduce the amount of rear squat. The stiffer the rear the better the front tires will stay planted. However, if you get too stiff then the rear is going to bounce on the slightest bump going down the track.

Moving this to the suspension section.

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:49 pm

racer12306 wrote:Stiffer suspensions will reduce the amount of rear squat. The stiffer the rear the better the front tires will stay planted. However, if you get too stiff then the rear is going to bounce on the slightest bump going down the track.

Moving this to the suspension section.

QFT.

I might add that I know guys in the 2.2L Chrysler turbo cars often run "dogbones" in the rear for the track, to keep the front firmly planted... just a bar that would prevent the rear suspension travel entirely, and they'd remove it for street.

Wheel hop is an issue, yes, but tinkering with the tire pressures in the rear (i.e. lowering them) can counteract that somewhat on a FWD with a stiffened rear.

Another thing you can do is with camber in the front. An adjusted front camber can be set up so that when the front lifts (and the rear dips down) in a launch, and the lower control arms come down in the front, the camber can compensate and bring the wheels more straight, and giving a better footprint. Likewise, I've seen RWD cars do this, but in the reverse camber direction because the drive wheels see their end dip, not lift.

NSDPerformance · Post by **NSDPerformance** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:58 pm

Be carefull with agressive camber adjustments the inside sidewalls of my drag radials started to cut after a year. I'm going to get new fronts this spring and lessen my camber.

Hudson_Neon · Post by **Hudson_Neon** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:48 pm

NSDPerformance wrote:Be carefull with agressive camber adjustments the inside sidewalls of my drag radials started to cut after a year. I'm going to get new fronts this spring and lessen my camber.

that would more than likely be caused by negative camber... due to lowering the car? don't know if yours is lowered or not. an alignment would solve that issue

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:13 pm

EJ, if he has a little negative camber, he's going to see more of his inside edges worn than normal.

EJ, drag guys use a little neg. camber because when they launch, the weight transfers to the rear, pushing down the rear a little and lifting up the front. When the front lifts up a little, the control arms come down a bit and level out the camber. Better footprint on launch.

Since I don't drag rage, I could care less about that sort of thing, but honestly NSDPerformance, it's one of those things, you either suffer a little wear from the daily driving -- and gain launch traction, or you save your tire life and lose your camber advantage on launches. You can't have it both ways, unfortunately. That's the drawback to FWD and straighline racing vs. daily driving.