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1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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, Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:18:48
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If you have a '96 chances are it may have 19mm bars anyway. Mine did. And I don't notice a whole lot of difference between that and the 18mm bars on my daughter's '95 CS.
Poly bushings on the bars (I had them F & R on the old suspension) will crisp things up a bit, and are nice. I had stock rubber bushes in the control arms, still do. Do the job fine.
If I were you, I'd do the shocks and struts to get the mush out of the ride. My rear shocks were shot and I was going to do the fronts at the same time just to balance the car better. When I priced it out with Bilstein Touring shocks/struts and new strut bearings, it wasn't much more (at the time) to do the Sport Chassis kit, so it made sense to do that. That's no longer the case, if you can even find the kit as they are getting scarce and are pricey (about a grand).
Then once your car is firmed up, do the SAS bars if you want the added roll stiffness. I think the stock CS/CSE springs are actually fine, and with some good Bilstein or Konis AND the SAS bars you'd have a very good handling, good riding car. The Aero springs to me were sort of a bonus.
IMHO, good shocks/struts and stiffer sway bars make for a great street suspension. A big part of handling is front to rear balance and how well the tires work in a corner. You can't avoid weight transfer when cornering, so the idea is to spread the load over the tires so they can all work as well as possible in a corner. The stock bars on a 9K simply don't do this very well for hard driving. Bigger bars help manage the weight transfer better and IMHO provide much more neutral handling. I've upgraded sway bars on other cars and have always been pleased with the result.
As for springs, lowering a car is good, but you have to be careful with regards to ride quality, and that's not just a comfort issue. Some lower, stiffer springs, even with excellent shocks, lack the compliance over bumps that you want for great handling on a road car. This is less important in places where the roads are smooth and there are no potholes or frost heaves. But I prefer and all-weather, all-road kind of car. There are cars that can certainly corner lots better, but I want overall ride and handling performance. For example, a friend has a Mini as his daily driver that he takes to track days a lot. He has modified the suspension for that. He's great on the track, but he really gets bounced around when he follows me down a bumpy, twisty New Hampshire road because his suspension is so firm it lacks the compliance mine has. He went too much the other way.
A good handling 9K is a real treat to drive and there are several ways to get there. You can get lots more input here as many have tweaked their suspensions to make a great car better.
, Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:18:14, Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:07:21, Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:18:48, Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:26:44, Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:07:49, Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:42:59
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