Kyle 01 T/A

ok well i replaced my shocks, front springs, and brakes just recently and after i got everything put back on i was a little dissapointed with the amount of improvement i felt. the turning radius reduced but the high speed handling felt a little worse and kind of floaty, so i was kinda pissed and started to back-track thing i may have not done correctly when reassmebling the suspension. and i remebered that i didnt tighten my front sway bar as much as i probablly should have. so when tightening the front sway bar does it need to be super tight or what? any help is appreciated.


Kyle

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

No, you will want to tighten it to spec, and nothing more. You don't want it too tight, or it will start to bind (the rubber or poly, whichever you have), and the sway bar's behavior will become unpredictable.

You said you replaced the front springs only...were they the same spring rate as before? If you went to something lighter, this would make perfect sense. Let us know what you had before, and what you have after, and that will help us guide you in the right direction.

FWIW, if you went with a lighter spring up front, your car will have more of a tendency to understeer, and definitely won't feel crisp at all. Springs support the weight of the car, shocks keep it from bouncing all the damn time.

Kyle 01 T/A

i had eibach pro kit springs up front then i switched to ground-control coilovers w/ 450 springs rates and bilstein shocks all the way around. this was the spring rate recommended to me by strano since i was going with bilstein shocks so i dont think that is the issue, but when i get home i will put the stupid car in the air and see whats up. thanks

Kyle

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Okay, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense then. I use 400 lb/in up front on my Ground Control kit, and my car definitely doesn't behave as you are describing. Hmmmmmmmm...perhaps someone else will chime in?

2MuchRiceMakesMeSick

What is spec on the stock sway bar?

2FAST4U

Yes very inportant as they will bend like crazy! My rear sway bar ends did that the shaft bent not the sway bar!

Kyle 01 T/A

the sway bar is stock

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Kyle,

The swaybar should be torque to about 20 ft/lbs. But, I think there is more to it........

When we talked about shock damping and spring rates, I'm sure we discussed the Revalves vs. HD's. The float is probably a lack of shock damping, hence the reason you have it where Steve doesn't (he has revalved shocks). I can't remember the conversation exactly, but I'm sure we went 450's to compensate for the fact you didn't upgrade the front swaybar, and maybe because you wanted to lower the car more than less. The lower the car is, the more spring rate you need to keep it off the the bumpstops full time.

Check your ride height. If you are too low, you aren't giving the shock a chance to work at all in damping the spring (too little travel), which regardless of valving would make the car feel soft. If you are more than about 1.5" from stock, you're too low.

How about alignment? If the car hasn't been aligned, but you changed the height, the toe will be out of whack and the car will move around and feel unstable.

If you can rule all those out, I think you simply have found out what I try and tell folks, that HD's aren't really happiest with stiffer or lower springs. I've said many, many, many times that the HD's are not intended for lowering springs (which are also stiffer). This is why. Many folks find them fine, I don't. It's a different opinion which is cool. I'm seeing you think more like I do and don't like the lack of damping from the normal HD's with the higher rate springs. And what's worse, stiffer springs like most "kits" use would make the situation worse.

I suppose you need to define what you mean by the car feel floaty.... Up and down from poor body control, or that it hunts around? The former is shocks, the latter is most likely alignment, but can also be a lack of damping.

Kyle 01 T/A

i actually bought the coilover kit to raise the front of the vehicle up a little bit, i had the eibach pro kit springs on it and they sat lower in the fornt than in the back, so i bought the adjustable kit to raise the front up. so it is not too low as you stated it might be. the sway bars will be raplce soon enough with suspension techniques sway bars and the car does need an alignment bad, it pulls to the right like no tommorow, so i will get it aligned, and get new sway bars, and if it still doesnt act the way i want it to i will call you or post up again. thank you sam, it is appreciated.

Kyle

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

No problem, I'm here to help..... I'll do the best I can being 2000 miles away from you.

Get it aligned first, that'll help a ton. Then if need be, we can proceed with the bars!

Sam