Blk98Bird

Been doing a lot of research on springs, and i'm between BMR and DMS for the progressive rates they have. My understanding is that since my car will be daily driven with little to no track use, I won't need a linear spring (and harsher ride in consequence). Car in question is a 98 t/a, stock suspension other than dms subframes.

The dms are about .3" lower it looks like, so i'll probably go with those instead. Now here's where some of the conflicting info is coming in...

Running 5/8 heater hose with no stock spacer levels out the car and removes the 'rake' correct? Some say the rear is still slightly higher, some say it levels out. I'm assuming it's somewhat dependant on the car itself, but i'm just trying to find the majority. Would removing the rake and leveling the rear to the front impact handling characteristics of the car? A while back, I think dms mentioned something about leaving the car raked for performance reasons but I can't remember so I figured i'd ask.

I'll be going with bilstein hd's for a shock. It looks like the DMS rates are:

Front: 325-630
Rear: 95-160

I saw someone mention that progressive rates in the front can cause over/understeer situations...judging by these rates, would a front and/or rear sway bar be beneficial to prevent that from happening? What size would be good to go with for those rates?

I also found a post or two saying that with a ~1.3" drop, some things like lca's and adj. panhard aren't necessary. I'll probably be going with new lca's anyway since I believe one of my stockers bent somewhat, should I then go with relocation brackets?

Recommended alignment for a dms/hd setup, daily driven? 16" wheels, nittos in the rear which may 'push' the car a little.

I'm basically trying to set the car set up for street driving and dial in the best handling characteristics I can with that fact in mind. I can tolerate a bit harsher ride if it means better handling (stock decarbons are about blown at 59k so it's already getting rough), I just don't think it makes sense to set it up as an all-out AX or RR car when it'll never see that kind of track.

Last question is more for fun. Going from an all stock suspension with blown decarbons and an out of whack alignment to a dms/hd setup...will the car handle only slightly better than stock, or will it corner like a bastard for my extra money?

Sorry for all the questions, my searches just gave me more info which gave me more to consider! Thanks in advance!

Blk98Bird

Thanks for all the info. I see what you mean about the slightly higher rear, but to be honest I don't know if I would have even noticed it without you telling me. Then again it's probably harder to tell from a picture.

Since you mentioned your old 1LE springs I might as well ask, was your car originally a 1LE? I'm thinking of running the 1LE swaybar up front in addition to the dms/hd combo so that may help my handling characteristics a bit as well.

Alignment specs look pretty good, i'll have to try that myself since you're having success with minimal wear.

Blk98Bird

Sounds good I think i've got my setup all picked out then . I'm probably going to go with just the front 1LE bar for now since I hear the rear is a bit stiff to cause a little oversteer and I have nitto drags in the rear which already cause a little bit of 'push' in the turns.