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Originally Posted by lufsig
How do you like the H&R front sway bar, I know there are not much options for this on the market (only other brands I know are Hotchkis and Dinan) and I wonder how does the H&R compare to those? I'm also looking at replacing the front sway bar, knowing it's a pretty expensive job to do, wondering how much does it improve the car's handling.
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The H&R front sway bar reduced the car's front roll; the reduction was noticeable, but nothing dramatic, and that was what we were after. Importantly, it didn't degrade street driving at all, at least not for me.
I installed the bar at the suggestion of TC Kline Racing, the shop whose coilovers and camber plates I'm running. I can't speak to how well the H&R bar would work with a different set of those components.
I'd only do it again the way I did it this time: as the last and final suspension mod on the car and for the purpose of giving it a bit more front-end grip on the track. At $840 installed by my shop, it's fairly pricey for a modest increase in grip. If my car had been street-only, it wouldn't have crossed my mind to put a front bar on it. Just my 2¢.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeanuKeeyes
Considering the $4,700.00 pay to play price tag for a season of track time, I’m leaning more towards the “race what I brought” philosophy next year.
do you think an R888R or something similar would hold up for a season or two (6-8 track days, per), as a 245/40 R17 without camber plates? Consider that I am at stock height/springs and will probably not be pushing near the limit for extended periods of time during my first couple years.
I thought I read somewhere that the camber issue became more pressing with the stiffer/lowered suspension mods. But having had H&R’s on this car for a minute last year, it looked as though there was a ton of negative camber induced by the lower springs. Removed them as I heard about people destroying EDC dampers while using them.
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1) I think that's wise. It's awfully easy to get sucked into overspending on this hobby. Plenty of drivers have lots of fun driving unmodified or very lightly-modified cars on the track.
One thing to keep in mind is that learning to adjust to a car's specific behavior, no matter the cause of that behavior, is a major part of the fun of track driving. Got a car that understeers? Good – now work on driving an understeering car well. Got a car whose brake pads are 1 mm away from the backing plates? Good – now work on driving a car using the brakes as little as possible!
Seriously, while that's an exercise some of the clubs run (i.e., every driver on the track is doing it), I don't recommend it in a conventional run group.
2) Without optimizing camber and toe, I'm really not sure. R888Rs are what I would do in that circumstance, but that's because that's the minimum tire type I've run on the track. I wonder if something like the Yoko A052 might not be better, especially if you're driving to the track on the 245/40-17s.
Since they know tires so well, why not ask Tire Rack what they think about an Extreme Performance tire that they'd recommend for your use vs. the R888R? If you do that, be sure to let them know that lack of negative camber will be stressing the tire at the track.
3) I wouldn't be surprised, but I've managed to enjoy this hobby for quite a while without ever fully understanding the dynamics of performance suspensions. I relied on race shops and street/race shops for advice, knowing that professionals would be likely to keep me from going off the rails.
In that regard, I have a suggestion: since I don't know any of the BMW-specific shops in CT, Jake Wile at Wile Motorsport is two hours up I-95 from you at 12 Production Rd, Walpole, MA 02081 (508) 668-8080. You'll probably get more out of an in-person conversation with Jake than you will here on the forum. You'll almost certainly learn something new. It's just a thought.