Driving fun factors / upgrades and recommendations?
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 847
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Going fast and having fun are not necessarily the same thing. Likewise, faster cornering and body roll are not mutually exclusive.
Body roll on the stock S suspension is not that bad. Compare the S' stock suspension to a Miata and you would not be complaining about body roll. Sure, if you wanted to track or autoX the car you would definitely want to drop it with some stiffer springs but a little bit of body roll for a street car is not a big deal for me. The body/suspension motions are exaggerated and you FEEL like the limits are probably lower than they are so you FEEL like you are pushing it more than you probably are.
I have driven a S that has been lowered on slightly stiffer springs and they are more confidence inspiring. You are flopping around less, so you FEEL like you can push it more, but that just means that it FEELs like the limits are higher which, for a street car, can get kind of boring before getting dangerous. That highway off-ramp that was a little terrifying at 50mph you may have to take at 70mph to get that sense of "I'm really pushing it". Whether you are simply driving faster because your suspension inspires more confidence or if your car really is that much better or a combination of both, in any case you are driving the car closer to the tires' limits. Yes, that can be more fun but that is also more dangerous on the streets.
I highlight the word FEEL since a lot of it does boil down to how you like your suspension setups. Some people are amazingly good with stock setups and the body roll doesn't seem to faze them one bit (I'm not talking about me, lol, just go check out the local autoX stock class and see just how fast some of those drivers are and the crazy body motions they get out of their cars). I'm sure they could be faster with a lowered setup but my point is that it boils down to how much you FEEL like you can deal with and what makes it fun for you.
Personally, the body roll on the S' stock suspension doesn't bother me that much. It's mainly a street car and the S is amazingly competent at that already and I feel like if I put stiffer springs/drop on it, I'd get into the "danger" zone too easily to get that fun factor back.
Body roll on the stock S suspension is not that bad. Compare the S' stock suspension to a Miata and you would not be complaining about body roll. Sure, if you wanted to track or autoX the car you would definitely want to drop it with some stiffer springs but a little bit of body roll for a street car is not a big deal for me. The body/suspension motions are exaggerated and you FEEL like the limits are probably lower than they are so you FEEL like you are pushing it more than you probably are.
I have driven a S that has been lowered on slightly stiffer springs and they are more confidence inspiring. You are flopping around less, so you FEEL like you can push it more, but that just means that it FEELs like the limits are higher which, for a street car, can get kind of boring before getting dangerous. That highway off-ramp that was a little terrifying at 50mph you may have to take at 70mph to get that sense of "I'm really pushing it". Whether you are simply driving faster because your suspension inspires more confidence or if your car really is that much better or a combination of both, in any case you are driving the car closer to the tires' limits. Yes, that can be more fun but that is also more dangerous on the streets.
I highlight the word FEEL since a lot of it does boil down to how you like your suspension setups. Some people are amazingly good with stock setups and the body roll doesn't seem to faze them one bit (I'm not talking about me, lol, just go check out the local autoX stock class and see just how fast some of those drivers are and the crazy body motions they get out of their cars). I'm sure they could be faster with a lowered setup but my point is that it boils down to how much you FEEL like you can deal with and what makes it fun for you.
Personally, the body roll on the S' stock suspension doesn't bother me that much. It's mainly a street car and the S is amazingly competent at that already and I feel like if I put stiffer springs/drop on it, I'd get into the "danger" zone too easily to get that fun factor back.
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