AST Coilovers and Stranoparts bars: a review

[Sam Strano]

I think you ought to try more rebound too.

Can't hurt, and it's easy to do. The settings you are in are pretty soft, in fact softer than I run my AST's with the FRPP's on they Shelby or the Koni's on my car with H&R Race (similar rates).

You only live once! Try about 1/2 way in front, and about 4 clicks in the rear.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I think you ought to try more rebound too.

Can't hurt, and it's easy to do. The settings you are in are pretty soft, in fact softer than I run my AST's with the FRPP's on they Shelby or the Koni's on my car with H&R Race (similar rates).

You only live once! Try about 1/2 way in front, and about 4 clicks in the rear.

Hell, I'll give it a shot... In 4 hours, I leave for a five-hour drive to my next event, so I'll try anything at this point!

More data when I get back from the weekend.

 

[Random Asshole]

I'm curious to know how they compare to the KWs.

Did someone say KW's?

BLAM!

I'm Dave and I got the best suspension in the world..Blah blah blah..Hey Asshole, you're running those POS Eibach bars, right? What spring rates in that shitbox of yours?

Now you've gone and done it Dave. I try to be nice, but you just keep flappin your gab. May 3rd, Autobahn. Be there. Be prepared to instruct someone how to get there ass handed to them.

And Yes Dave, they're Eibachs. Spring rates are F/R: 570/340.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Dude, you have GOT to warn me before you do that!! Now I have to clean beer off of my laptop screen and keyboard...

May 3rd, eh? You're on! Run what ya brung, 180+ UTQG, 275 width. Oh, and for the record, I didn't say "POS Eibach bars," I said "Craptastic..." LOL!! This is gonna be fun!

 

[Random Asshole]

Dude, you have GOT to warn me before you do that!! Now I have to clean beer off of my laptop screen and keyboard...

May 3rd, eh? You're on! Run what ya brung, 180+ UTQG, 275 width. Oh, and for the record, I didn't say "POS Eibach bars," I said "Craptastic..." LOL!! This is gonna be fun!

I can't make any promises on tire specs. They'll be street rubber is all I can say for now. But, yes I want the comparo as close as possible, as well.


So there's no crying later..

 

[KoolerSL2]

glad to see your happy with em dave!
cant wait to see some pics and videos!
ooh and BTW the stuff is still in my trunk... lol

 

[Philostang]

What the heck is going on May 3rd and why wasn't I invited?!

Autobahn...hmmm, let's see, I cancel class (professor prerogatives), drive the hour down, then pit for the two of you. I've got a Quantum data logger that's easy as pie to slap on to each car and get some hard numbers for comparison....yes Dave, it WILL work this time. Damn user error...

Oh, hey I also have a window mount Hero cam we can point at Dave and get the tears on video.

Sound like a plan?

-j

 

[Sleeper_08]

Philostang

Have you upgraded your Quantum to the latest firmware and software. Contact for the foks at MaxQData for details. I also upgraded the Netbook and now my second video camera works.

 

[Random Asshole]

Sound like a plan?

-j

For fucks sake, YES!! I want Dave's demise fully documented. But seriously, that would be very very cool. I'll see you at the titty bar, gentlemen.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Did someone mention "titty bar?" I'm in!

Philo: Of COURSE you're invited, hell, if you want, we can make it a 3-way battle! Just leave the R-comps at home...

Data would be awesome! I might just have to rent the datalogger that HOD is pimping to try out for that session, that way maybe we can do a direct comparison between the two cars.

Oh, and tears? Please... There's no crying in baseball! Oops, wrong movie reference. Honestly, Carl might just have me, who knows! Either way, it'll be a fun little run. Maybe I'll finally win the Intergalactic HPDE Championship that has eluded me...

 

[Cookiemonster]

seriously, I love this sub-forum.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

While the official results will be posted soon, I can give you a teaser...

The damper settings Sam recommended were a definite improvement for the street, but it's still pretty brutal on rougher roads... Mostly spring rate issues. As an experiment, I'm going to go to a higher rate up front, just to see if that more closely matches the compression curve of the struts. Probably sometime in June...

Gateway is NOT one of my favorite tracks, just to get that out front. It's a fairly long cruise for me, around five hours, so I didn't bother ordering new R-comps, and hauling the tire trailer, I just drove down on the street tires. It's also the "home track" of my main competitor, an extremely talented driver running a hopped-up Evo IX on slicks, so I knew that I was just in it for second-place points. Saturday, I achieved exactly that, second place, so I was "happy" with the results, back around 6 seconds or so off his time. BUT, something interesting happened... In one of the later sessions, I hooked up with a One-Lap Mustang running in TTU, and we had a pretty epic 5 or 6 lap battle. Since we were both on street tires, it was a pretty even contest, in terms of grip, and we both had a real blast "playing" out on track. There are really only two short straights, and one longer straight, and he would pull on me solidly through there. I guess a 3.0L TechCo blower will do that for you... But I noticed that I had him cold through the braking zones and arguably an edge on corner entry. Sunday, I re-classed up to TTU, and went to town, and I beat him, running a 1:12.445, which was good enough for a new track record in class! Meanwhile, my Evo buddy jumped to TTS, so NOBODY ran in TTB on Sunday (DOH! Points!). That 1:12 was a scary fast lap on street tires in a 3600lb car at that track, and I think I soiled myself not once, but twice... Got both the Saturday battle and the hot lap on Sunday down on video (borrowed camera), so I'll upload those once I have some time...

In short, the dampers gave me the feedback I needed to drive the car HARD, and the control necessary to throw the car around the corners with confidence that I could catch it at exit, despite lots of concrete EVERYWHERE around the track...

As long as I didn't completely destroy my street tires at Gateway, May 3rd is shaping up to be pretty awesome!

 

[Philostang]

Sunday, I re-classed up to TTU, and went to town, and I beat him, running a 1:12.445, which was good enough for a new track record in class!

Got both the Saturday battle and the hot lap on Sunday down on video (borrowed camera), so I'll upload those once I have some time...

CONGRATULATIONS! That's great news! Looking forward to the video post.

-j

 

[Sam Strano]

I'm glad to hear the damping change helped. A few questions though....

How low is the car? how much air pressure in the street tires (it matters). And how much tongue weight on you little trailer? That matters more than you'd think too.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I'm glad to hear the damping change helped. A few questions though....

How low is the car? how much air pressure in the street tires (it matters). And how much tongue weight on you little trailer? That matters more than you'd think too.

Sam:

In order: 27-1/8" at the fender lip (275/35-18 Dunlops, with a 25.6" diameter) on all four corners; 32PSI cold on the street, and I bump that to 35PSI for the track, tongue weight hasn't been measured, but since I can lift the tongue off the hitch ball with one hand, I would guess around 35-40 lbs.

I've got a couple of tuning questions I want to run by you... Is PM or phone the best for you?

 

[Sam Strano]

Try both... I'm swamped. Either you'll get me right away on the phone, I'll have to call you back, or if it's easy PM might be ok too.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Okay, with the traditional amounts of headache and drama, I finally managed to get some video transferred from the borrowed camera to my PC, chopped it down, and set up the title screens...

HERE is the 1:12.445 run at Gateway. I'm seriously digging not having the front end fall flat on it's face when I hit the brakes, and the car is FLAT around the corners! Big pucker factor going into T1 (concrete!) and into T2 (ABS chirping away even through turn-in). I know I left some time on the table going into T5, but I HATE decreasing-radius corners, particularly when you need a micrometer to measure runoff room at apex...

I'm working on the chase video with me and the OLA Mustang, it's a lot of fun, but it'll take me a little bit yet to get it cut down and finalized.

 

[ArizonaGT]

NICE!

 

[Random Asshole]

Great job, Dave!

Man, I was pretty surprised to see how well that civic was husltlin down straight.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

That's my buddy Joe, who is also a fellow instructor... HE set the TTE record at 1:13.179, which would also be good enough to set the lap record in TTD! Basically a stock Civic Si, with just an intake and Hoosiers. It's amazing what sticky rubber will do. He was pulling away from me on the oval section, because his car stuck while I was kind of fighting mine... The previous day, he was on street tires as well, and could only turn in a 1:15.962, so there's the evidence that Hoosiers are worth almost 3 seconds a lap... It's really all about corner-exit speed!

I appreciate the Kudos, guys, that was a pretty terrifying lap for me to turn in, but it felt good! The other Mustang and I were the only two cars out there NOT running on race rubber, so it was a pretty fair competition. I think this is going to shape up to be a pretty awesome season, at least as long as I can afford to run the Hoosiers, anyway! Seven days and counting until my showdown with Asshole, and then it's off to Putnam, where I did my pre-season testing. That'll be fun!