trance34

I have been Auotcrossing an RSX this year and it seems the RSX owners are divided on how to keep the power on the ground in the most effective manner.

here is one users take

My $.02 regarding LSD's and Front anti-roll bars....

Yes, LSD's can reduce inside wheel spin and help corner exits.. HOWEVER, this is in trade of an increase in throttle on Understeer. So even a car with an LSD would benifit from the increase in front end traction of having a smaller front bar.

why? Because anti-roll bars in their effort to resist chassis roll artificially increase the amount of weight being transfered on the end of the car they are on. And weight transfer = A reduction in overall traction on that end of the car.... So, in a car with out an LSD you end up Spinning the inside front tire more easily (with a big bar) or Reducing inside wheel spin (with a small/no bar) and on a Car WITH an LSD you end up Having More throttle on understeer (with a big bar) or you reduce throttle on understeer (with a small/no front bar).

Thoughts?

__________________
2000 Sentra SE-T
2005 Pathfinder SE
FS 2004 Jetta GLI

 

maxQ

LSD = Good.

Lots of front roll stiffness (whether it's from bar or spring) = Good.

Set up the rest of the car around those two.

__________________
Andy
'91 SE-R
'04 AWD OMG WTF LOL STi L8R

trance34

Yes I am aware of this.

Basically what I am asking is that would you run stiffer springs up front and a smaller sway bar, or a larger sway bar and a normal race spring.

So lets look at this in SE-R terms. 400 is a pretty stiff front rate. Lets say you run that and a bigger front bar. Or would you rather run a 600 front spring and a smaller then stock, or no front bar?

Rockwood

Depends.

Looking for easy oversteer? No front bar.

Looking for balance and more traction? Run a front bar.

It's all about balance. With 400F rates, I would run 350R rates with a 1" rear bar and the stock front bar. LSDs actually reduce understeer by balancing the power between the two front wheels, as long as the breakaway isn't too bad.

__________________
Steve Rockwood
98 200SX SE-R - Ginormous Turbo - 12.23 @ 129.8mph (street tires)
2002 F150 - 5.4L of towing powah!
92 G20 - PTD #73

iMagnusX

Uh i thought weight transfer would increase the end of the car that is having weight transferred to it. More force is being applied towards the ground, the normal force increases, and thus the limit of the frictional force is increased.
However, you lose friction where the weight transfers away from by the same idea.

maxQ

If the front roll stiffness is the same between the two and the swaybar doesn't bind, what's the difference?

The only thing that makes a difference is whether you have shocks that can handle the high(er) spring rate and if you want to reduce dive and squat (for which you want high spring rates and a smaller bar).