Suspension - how much travel needed?

Captain Muppet

Captain Muppet

Pro-tard
Hello,

First post :wave: woohoo. I'm preparing an S12 Driftshed and I have a question about suspension travel. I'm going to get some springs made up and I'd like to know how much suspension travel you guys are using.
The cars I've seen jacked up at competitions seem to have about an inch of sag/extension and not much more compression travel - I'm assuming that to keep suspension geometry changes to a minimum while throwing the car around the suspension travel is small and the spring rates are huge. You need enough suspension travel to get away with clipping a kerb without bouncing the other tyres off the ground, but that's about it I suppose.
I'm on a tight budget (hence the S12) and I can't afford anything much more than springs, check straps and maybe something along the lines of elastomeric damping as a bodge. I'll have to compromise between dry and wet settings, but that's having no cash for you. :(
I'm an engineer so I'm hoping for a target for wheel control from some of you guys :worthy: before measuring the stock spring rates/lengths and working out how much I need to change them.
I'll post the results up here, if divorce/house selling/job hunting don't get in the way and kill the whole idea stone dead. :dermal:

Cheers for any help, even before and after spring rates on other cars will be useful,

Muppet.
 
hey captain hows it goin,im still on the hudge learning curve myself and hope that the more expirenced will steer use right because this info will help me asweel but imo i think having enough spring rate to clear the curbs and no more as with feint drifts and the like you would need strong stability no?
 
suspension is the second most important thing to be set up after LSD. for a drift set up you dont want a large amount of travel, although maintaining good solid damping is needed too. spring rates of around 9kg front and 7kg are good for drift. stiff, but not silly :thumbs: keeping the ride hieght low to lower the cars roll centre is good. you want to avoid anything that resembles wallow, lardy wieght transfer and deranged rebound. :wack:
 
My LSD will be a MIG spec job :) Very limited slip, like none at all.

What car are those spring rates from? I'll need to work out how it translates to the S12 suspension layout. The S12 is currently wallowtastic :dermal:
 
Those spring rates are from an S14
That's the same as I'm running and I think that's about right, it's a good compromise and will mean you can drive it on the road without loosing your fillings. An S14 is about 1250kg, not sure what an S12 weighs........
 
both mine and james's cars are stripped out to the hilt, so i'd say you can easy drop 50kg from the curb wieght. S12's do struggle drifting and wallow like a goodun. i recall myself and driftybolox blowing one up within 30minutes of half decent drifting :smash: :wack:
 
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