I spent a very valuable one hour conversation with Sam, complaining what I didn't like with the car and what I wanted to change. My goals were to lower the car without sacrificing ride quality too much. I also wanted to decrease brake dive and body roll.

Koni SA
These were installed using the front's lower pearch and the rear heater hose mod. This lowered my car about 3/4" up front and about 1/2" in the rear. Sam gave me some alignment specs to try (-.7 camber, max out the positive caster, 0 toe). With the fronts set 4 sweeps back from full firm and the rears set 1/2 turn from full soft the improvement over the stock decarbon's is day and night. I immediately noticed less body roll and brake dive, and the cars weight transitioned less abuptly and with far more control. Bumps in the road that once sent my live rear jumping and skipping are a thing of the past. Highway speeds are very smooth and stable, to the point it feels like the car is traveling 15-20mph less than actual.

Strano 35mm Front Swaybar
After about 2 weeks of shock and tire psi adjustment I put the bar on. Firstly, the hollow bar is a good weight and is marginally heavier than my stock 32mm. The bar is of good construction using good quality endlinks (alot beefier than stock). If pressed for one critisism I would say the that the bars grey paint is easily scratched, mine was damaged during shipping. A non issue to me, the bar will likely not appeal to those looking only for the bling factor. This is however a very functional piece that does the job at a fair price. The bar has a BIG SOTP improvement over stock. Noticably, a flater Go-Kart like steering along with even less brake dive (don't understand why).

Strano 22mm Rear Swaybar
Two days after the front bar install, I decided to put the rear on. The differences are noticable albeit not as extreme as the shocks and front bar alone. I found that with the 19mm stocker the rear of the car was "just along for the ride", almost felt lazy. After the install the car feels more balanced, although I feel i picked up some low speed tire spin during corner exiting. I would not recommend installing just the rear bar.

Sam's suggestions have met all of my requirements. By installing the parts separately I have learnt that the stock springs are not the issue with these cars. For the street I'm gald to have kept the comfort of the stock spring rates but still have been able to lower the car with the Koni's. Overall, the car feels smoother with vastly improved steering precision and control, very balanced and is confident inspiring. I'm amazed what a few good parts can do!

Thank you Sam for your wisdom and best holiday wishes to you and your family at Stranoparts.

Scott.

 

Good to hear that. Enjoy.

 

Scott,

Thank your for taking the time to update me/us on your findings. It was very well written and thought out, and the testing was done in a controlled way which allowed you to figure out what each part does on it own, and in conjunction with others. I'm sorry to say that most folks don't do this and as a result they don't know what to change and how if they end up with something they don't like, and tend to blame things like the springs when it's not a spring problem.

Anyway, thanks again for your insight. And hopefully the next time someone poses a question about what to do for much improved handling with a good ride, or that they are CONVINCED the springs have to be changed I can point them to your post (or maybe even get you to chime in).

Have a happy Thanksgiving!!