The DSM cornering guru is here to help.

[Mike@DSS]

Well everything is in the subject.
Start the questions coming.



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Mike@DSS
(805) 541-4483
www.diamondstarspecialties.com

[joec]

Mike, what's your opinion on sway bars for 1G cars? I remember in the "old" days that people weren't that big on them, but now I notice people just upgrading the rear bar (either ST or RMRacing).

1G AWD, Eibach ProKit, GABs. Occasional autox.

[gsxalex]

I am wondering how much of a differance front and rear strut tower braces make.
Does anyone have any proof that they make a differance in dsms?

Mike,
I'm new to this board but had a question.

I busted a spline off of my transfer-case and now the tranny is leaking oil. A dealer said I would need a new one of each. I've got it at another shop getting a second oppinion. I've been looking around for both a transmission and transfer-case but no luck. I've tried thepartstrader.com and dsmtrader.com but everyone I find is sold. Any leads? FYI, I own a '92 Laser RS Turbo AWD. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Zach
'92 Laser RS Turbo AWD

**Admin Edit: Zach - In the future please don't post identical posts in different areas. :) Thanks.**

[Note: This message has been edited by WhoaTed]

[Nino Mastrocola]

Strut towers help brace the car to keep susp. geometry and there cheap so why not? They all work so don't spend big bucks on name brands. The rear is great for fastening a race harness. You only need to upgrade the rear sway bars to promote oversteer as DSMs understeer heavily. A stiffer front sway bar will only increase understeer, which is bad.

[ohmygawd]

I found a great deal on front Strut Bars. Nopionline has the Freedom Designs front Strut bars for $40.

I couldn't tell from the website exactly what the bar would look like so I took a chance and ordered one.

It is great. It's an adjustable polished aluminum bar with red mounting pads. The only problem is when the mounting pads are torqued down the paint cracks a little.

Here's a picture:
http://www.zing.com/picture/p4b3d92ee9692f884e3bd91818e66ace3/ff724ce5.jpg.orig.jpg


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95GSX
http://www.zing.com/picture/p96d08345b4b3a1eb71cffca209ea66a2/ff734d4a.jpg.orig.jpg

[WhoaTed]

Well it seems the "The DSM cornering guru" is NOT here to help. :) anyway... <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Strut towers help brace the car to keep susp. geometry and there cheap so why not? They all work so don't spend big bucks on name brands. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>This is not true Nino. A strut tower brace system is only as strong as its weakest component. The one that OMG posted above appears to be a good one. However, I have seen ST brace that have a good stiff bar, but their brackets that affix to the top of the tower and the piece that goes between the bar and that bracket are such thin flimsy metal, often with 90 degree bends... that I contend some strut tower braces do almost nothing and are in fact a waste of money.

What you should look for in a ST brace system are nice round mounting collars that go all the way around,and no bends between the two collars. That pic shows both of these attributes.



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http://www.dsmtalk.com/images/forumgallery/burnout.gif Ted - 95 GSX
12.48@109.68 MPH

[Mitchy]

I have seen and heard that one of the best strut bars that is relativly cheap is the RRE
(Road Race Engineering. It is not the prettiest though. It is a round grey tube like 3/4"-1" in diameter and has the hole to attach to the strut. I beleive they are about 90 bucks also.

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[FastFWD]

I just ordered a Ractive front strut tower bar from a guy on Ebay. Supposedly it has the mounting plate that goes all the way around the shock mounting point. Is this design better than the ones that don't go around? And has anyone heard anything bad about the Ractive bar?

I paid $58.95, and he does have more...

[74PlymouthRR]

Hi guys. I've been thinkin' about goin' around corners on the cheap lately. I went down to the local stop-and-rob and bought out alla the Dubble Bubble bubble gum they had. I also have 4 old tire pumps, and stole the springs off my nieces Radio Flyer wagon (what's she need 'em for?). I chewed up the bubble gum real good, then kneaded it like into the cans of my old suspension bushings and let it harden. Then, I took the old bike tire pumps, and filled them up with some of that synthetic oil I got outta the engine the last change (reduce, reuse, recycle). I mounted the springs around it, being sure to "safety wire" them in place. I made my own adjustable setup with some Vise-Grip(tm) pliers that I stole from work. Took it out and road-tested it. And I tell ya', I got more "G's" outta it than a bowl of Alphabet soup! I'm thinkin' about marketing this system now. I believe I could make a lot of money. How many of you guys would give only $7500 to corner better? I'll be takin' orders as soon as I can get a Swiss bank account set up. The line forms to the right.

Scott

(Note: this is merely a joke, intended to make a few grins. In no way should any business or individual take offense as it it not aimed at anyone or anything in particular.)

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DIG through the ditches, and BURN through the witches, and SLAM in the back o' ma' DRAGU-LA-AA!

[Van]

Thanks for the info on that deal from Nopi ohmygawd; and thanks WhoaTed for pointing out the good factors in a S/T bar. I just ordered the same for my car. I had been looking but wasn't sure which one. Some of them are PRICEY! (extreme's) Now I would like to find one for the back strut towers. Any recommendations...anybody? Thinking RRE...$89. cheapest rear bar I've seen.
Any performance feedback on your new bar, ohmygawd?
Thanks

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Rocky Mountain
'91 Talon Tsi AWD

[greenstreak]

I actually did feel a difference in the handling of my car with the addition of the front strut tower brace. It is hard to describe the difference other than saying it just felt crisper and faster to react to a sudded throw of the wheel. the first time I really noticed the difference was when I had to dodge a roadkill and threw the wheel to the side quickly. I guess I had gotten used to how the car reacted to situations like this and when I threw the wheel and the car snapped over quicker I was like "Damn, I like the new bar!" Just for reference I have the same NOPI bar for $40.

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1995 Talon TSI fwd
http://www.zing.com/picture/p111539c01d762c8caad3728ca244351d/ff6bd54c.jpg.orig.jpg

[DiamondsR4EVR]

I have a Neuspeed SOLID mount polished front STB from Mach V. It attaches to the single bolt on each side between the strut towers and firewall (the bolt itself is actually on the rear side of the tower). I'm not sure how it would compare to a STB that bolts to the top three bolts on the strut tower itself, but this way, I can buy one that does and end up with two front STB braces. I wonder if it would be worth it.

Jesse
99 GSX

[ohmygawd]

My butt might not be sensitive enough. Too tell you the truth I can't tell a difference, and I'm an agressive driver. I have my bar adjusted real tight, there is no play whatsoever, but I don't really feel a change.

I've heard from others that you really feel it when you are going over highway expansion joints. I haven't done that yet.

[Mike@DSS]

JoeC
Do put a rear SB on your car. I use the ST, but the RM should also work fine. White line has a rear bar also.

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

I am wondering how much of a differance front and rear strut tower braces make.
Does anyone have any proof that they make a differance in dsms?

We make them, but when I put a front STB on my car (91 AWD), dosn't mater the brand, I didn't notice much.
(I don't have one on my road race car)
But we did see a big difference on a galant.

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

BTW if you didn't know, my computer went down for about 2 weeks. After I posted that I was here.
I am answering all the questions now.

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

ATK, this isn't the tranny section, but...
I can get trannys and T-cases. I sell them for $850. They are used G-VR4 JDM. They have about 50,000 miles on them (if people tell you they have 30,000 they are lying)
They will fit our DSM with no mods, but they are the 22 spline.

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

Strut towers help brace the car to keep susp. geometry and there cheap so why not? They all work so don't spend big bucks on name brands. The rear is great for fastening a race harness. You only need to upgrade the rear sway bars to promote oversteer as DSMs understeer heavily. A stiffer front sway bar will only increase understeer, which is bad.

One of the major reasons the AWD DSM is such a understeering pig is due to the rear dynamic toe. We are soon to have a kit to elimate it.
Mike@DSS

[Rdy2race]

we are a drift =-) lets stay on topic on this. mike if you don't mind posting trany Q's and info in that section to better help people with Q's about them. Most won't see this B/C of the leanth ( on a slow dial up ) or don't read far enough. We all would rather more posts that were on topic then really long ones that drifted off

but about the topic =-)

I have always used STB's and seed them work wonders for stock car ( no shocks no springs ) it helps cut donw on body roll and make the frame stiffer. For the deag guys like me :) we LOVE the RSTB as it helps get rid of wheel hop with out giving up ride on the Hwy that springs and shocks tend to kill.

[slipspeed]

I recently did a clutch swap on my 2G TSi FWD. I had to remove the suspension to get room to work under the jacks. The struts were off the car for about a week and when I put everything back together I noticed the car sat painfully low. The passenger side is lower that the drivers but both wheels are a little tucked under the well now. I knew my shocks were getting kinda bouncy and were probably going out. Why would they all of the sudden crap out when I reinstalled them?

I use H&R race springs. How long before my passenger springs starts to sag more than the driver springer under the increased load?
What are the effects to camber, toe and caster?

I know the front shocks are blown because I was able to tighten the strut nut by hand when the car was put on the ground!

[This message has been edited by slipspeed (edited October 03, 2000).]

[Jon 97 GST]

how about spring rates for coilovers? what would be a good rate to run up front and rear springs?
On groupbuycenter.com theres a buy going on for ground controls for $210.00 and spring rates of 320F/300R, would these springs be good?

thanks

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Jon
97 GST
Thermal Research 3"cat back, Extreme DIS filter

[Mike@DSS]

I have always used STB's and seed them work wonders for stock car ( no shocks no springs ) it helps cut donw on body roll and make the frame stiffer. For the deag guys like me we LOVE the RSTB as it helps get rid of wheel hop with out giving up ride on the Hwy that springs and shocks tend to kill.

I have seen very little improvment by adding a front STB. I have never added a rear bar to a car. I'll have to make one and see if it works.

If you want to get rid of rear wheel hop you may want to try our rear dynamic toe eliminator kit. That should help. (we havn't tryed it on a car with wheel hop but in theory it should work.)

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

Slip-
The struts do not hold up the car. The springs do. You proably need to reset the springs in the strut. It sounds like the springs came out of the seat, because you said that the stut nut was loose. (wich is not an indicator that the strut is bad, but that it wasnt tightend all the way the last time someone tightend it.)

Mike@DSS

[Mike@DSS]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jon 97 GST:
how about spring rates for coilovers? what would be a good rate to run up front and rear springs?
On groupbuycenter.com theres a buy going on for ground controls for $210.00 and spring rates of 320F/300R, would these springs be good?

thanks

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have not figured out what spring rates are good for a 2G yet, but I do know that those springs are WAY!!! too soft.
I run 400F/350R on my 1G and you need about double that, due to where the springs are mounted on the control arm. They probably are realy short springs also. It sounds like these CO kits are set up for lowering the car for looks, not changing spring rate to make it handle better.
Mike@DSS

[Nino Mastrocola]

Mike, someone suggested for racing a 1G AWD, spring rates about 450/500 or 500/600. Siffer in the rear. Stiffer in the rear seems to work for 2Gs and Type Rs. I assume to promote oversteer. I am going to experiment with some aerodynamics for the track. A front air dam and a adjustable rear wing to produce more down force. I find the rear will loose it on fast sweepers but the front is planted. But this could also be that dynamic rear toe. WHERE's THAT KIT ?

[Rdy2race]

Sorry all but your forcing me to do this. 25 posts and we are a bit off topic. If your Q was not answered start a new post.

Thanx
Bill Marino