Race suggested upgrades

[jetboy]

I recently began racing solo II in my stock base vibe and am looking to improve the handling. Initially I will be uing the street rubber. I am considering the following: Springs - The Vibe has by far the softest suspension of any car I've owned. I am looking to stiffen it up but hopefully not lower it if I don't have to. I windsurf/jetski and sometimes need the gound clearance when getting to a launch area. As a FYI, I Measured the stock vibes ground clearance along with other cars in the parking lot and found it has the same clearance as the mustang GT, Honda civic, pontiac grand prix and a host of other cars and is almost 2 inches lower than a toyota avalon and camry. A corvette (C05 style) was about 2.25" lower than the Vibe. With the springs that are available- do you find the car scraping the slightest pavement change, and do you have to watch the concrete parking blocks? Sway Bar: What is the best one out there- Progressive?coil overs: What exactly are they? Will they alow me to (without too much agrevation) raise or lower the car at will for racing or street?Engine Mount: Just how much vibration do these cause? There was a thread that was saying that a cell phone holder was vibrating off?Shift bushings: My car has 12,000 miles. will the brass bushings make any difference over the stock at this age?Brands: Recomendations please and where can I find the best prices?Thanks for reading this long set of questions an look forward to chatting with you guys/ladies

[nismo]

okay. for the sway bar, yes, i would recommend the progress or even the hotchkis sway bar set. no one makes any struts for our cars yet, except for KYB, but they only make the GR-2's. Now, u could get the ground control coilovers for it and jus raise it or lower it on the fly, but u have to get an alignment everytime u do that. So, ask around. the best prices I have seen is on this site http://neverenuf.com/index.cfm...id=74Inder

[jetboy]

Thanks for the info. The sway bar is a definite. About the spring/ coilovers. Which will give me a better performance advantage? What are coil-overs exactly- do they simply slide over existing struts and raise the spring- reducing it's efective lenth by a threaded sleve or what? Do springs give a clear performance advantage with increased spring rate, or are they more of a styling statment? If I decide to go with springs, will my stock 16's completely clear the fenders during hard driving duing my time at the track, and do any of you that have them find your car scraping on the ground through un-even pavement or bumps (I live in south Florida so there really aren't any pot holes here)Thanks,Dave

[Jahntassa]

Shifter bushings are an improvement no matter how much mileage. I got them from Speed Source for $26 shipped. http://www.speed-source.net/I haven't put mine in, but I can see how they'll definitely make shifting smoother. As for the motor mounts, they'll most likely help with the race, it's just that they transfer ALL vibration to the chassis, instead of losing the vibration through the rubber mounts in there..

[Devlop]

Any spring upgrade you have shouldn't cause a problem with clearance of your wheels. I used to own the Eibach Pro-kit which which gave a modest drop of about 1.2". I felt they handled pretty nice. I auto-x also. Last year I raced with these springs, Hotckis frt and rr sway bars, and a STB that I made myself. These all worked really well with handling. As for the coilovers, I haven't heard great things with just the sleeve coilovers. If your going to go that route, I suggest the Tein SS coilovers. They are a full replacement of the spring and strut. THe ride height is adjustable along with the dampening of the struts and shocks. For racing, this was the best upgrade I made. I can set the rear shocks to be really stiff and the fronts to be very soft. I have actually gotten the Vibe to slide sideways through some turns before because of this setup. The only problem is that these coilovers are $1100. If you don't want to spend that kind of money, then I suggest just getting a set of lowering springs.

[jetboy]

Great stuff, thanks for all the quality responses. Devlop, I would love to hear more about your setup and experience with the vibe on the track. How much of a difference was it from the Eibach to the c/o's. Being that there are (suposedly) dampners comming (emailed Koni- still not here yet) would springs now and hopefully new struts soon, compare to the coil-overs, and save me some money? As far as springs, would you say that the Eibachs would give me the best advantage on the course over other springs with the least drop? What tow-in-out/camber have you found best suits a combined street and track Vibe? I know the rear SB is supposed to really help this car- how about the front- how much does it help? Thanks

[Devlop]

Unfortunately, my experiences are limited to only what I've had on my Vibe. The coilovers were a major upgrade to just lowering springs because of the adjustable dampening. The Eibachs did handle very good in my opinion, but they weren't all that low. Seeing as how you live in FL, you shouldn't have any problems having a lower stance than what the Prokits offer. I'm not sure when any companies are gonna be coming out with only adjustable shocks and struts. I'm thinking its gonna be far away still. So, if you went the route of buying lowering springs and waiting for those, it could be awhile. Having the ability of adjusting the ride height isn't as important as being able to adjust the dampening, but at the moment that is all that's out there. My camber and toe are set to stock specs because this is still my daily driver and I don't need to wear the tires out too much. Hotchkis makes a STB that has camber adjustment, but I've heard that it doesn't work with the Tein coilovers. I've taken a quick look at it and I think you can modify to work, but I'm not sure.

[jetboy]

I think I'll start with the Hotchki's sway bars, and run the next event (Nov 6th) with just those. Your testimony make the teins seem very convincing- yet I'm not sure if i'm ready to invest so highly. I may do what you did and race for a season on sprngs, and then if I'm still waiting for (and wanting) more- move to the tein's. One question though- how much of a hassle is it adjust the dampning, and how much of a difference does it make.-- are you setting dampening Full stiff for autocross, and full soft for the street- how much range is there in adjustment? By the way- you really have one killer Vibe!

[jetboy]

Regarding the shifter bushings- I felt for play in the stocks- and there was hardly any. Do you really think they will make a differece even if the stocks aren't worn- and why?

[drunkenmaxx]

we have more clearance than an explorer, but less than a camry? the same as a civic???

[Devlop]

The dampening is very easy to adjust. The fronts have a dial that comes up right thru the strut tower. The rears are accessible by removing a small cover that is in the rear trim panels of the car. Take a look and you'll see two little covers that pop out right above the rear shocks. During regular driving, I set them fairly soft as I get annoyed with a rough ride. During racing, I leave the front soft and go almost full sitffness for the rears. This really helps with the understeer.As for the shifter bushings, I don't own those, so I have no personal experience, but everone swears by them and for the price, I'm sure its worth it.

[jetboy]

Devlop, They sound great- I can't believe you don't even have to crawl under the car. I'm going to have to work on convincing my wife how much safer the car will be with a better suspension- and that the $1,200 is a small price to pay for piece of mind

[Devlop]

Yeah, perhaps if you phrase it like that, she'll understand.