How to get tighter handling like my friend's BMW 3-series?

[jlee]

I didn't reccomend S Drives I just said they make a huge difference... I am running S drives but that doesn't mean he should. I got them because I could get them for a better price than other tires...

You mentioning that with star-specs will be better even with a lesser suspension just proves my point that tires make a huge difference 🙂

I am just trying to answer his OP where he wants to be like his friends BMW....

Ah ok, I see what you're saying - I'm not trying to argue that tires don't matter, so it appears we agree. 🙂

 

[soccerballtux]

He doesn't need coilovers.


I'm not a big fan of S Drives. I do love my Star Specs. As for springs, the Pro-Kits and Konis on my MR2 do quite well - certainly good enough for me, and it doesn't knock your fillings out when you hit a pothole either.

what about how my car is FWD and thus I shouldn't put a front sway bar on it? I'm thinking the diving isn't going to go away with these mildly stiffer Prokits. The rear has definitely stabilized after the TRD swaybar on sport setting..want to get the front sway-stable like the back is now.

I am just trying to answer his OP where he wants to be like his friends BMW....

If I can kill the roll in the front like I have in the back, I think I'll be a happy driver.

 

[soccerballtux]

Tires make a huge difference. The best suspension in the world is useless without good tires. They can transform a car.

Also, if you were starting to slip with street tires, you'd hear it loud and clear 😉

Until my car is slipping to the side (lateral vector from the tire's POV), I don't need tires, no?

 

[Arkaign]

Until my car is slipping to the side (lateral vector from the tire's POV), I don't need tires, no?

Sorta, but you can re-learn to drive your car if you get a significant upgrade in tires. After a while you inherently/intuitively 'know' how hard you can turn your wheel at a particular speed to get the best handling, and if you exceed that you understeer or slide. With better tires, you usually get a few extra degrees of turn at the same speed without losing grip, if that makes any sense. So you can either hold the exact same line at a higher speed, or hold a tighter line at the same speed. This assumes your suspension doesn't cause you problems, but is generally a good rule of thumb.

 

[JCH13]

Until my car is slipping to the side (lateral vector from the tire's POV), I don't need tires, no?

Not necessarily. A better tire can provide you with a sharper steering feel, respond faster to changes, have a stiffer sidewall to get rid of any 'squirmy' behavior, etc. Which (I think) and many of the attributes you're looking for. It's not all about ultimate grip 😉

 

[soccerballtux]

?

these don't look progressive
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/651/img20110811183102.jpg/

I guess the front does:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/img20110811183548.jpg/

 

[HAL9000]

What car has the OP got?

 

[soccerballtux]

06 scion tc

 

[Arkaign]

What car has the OP got?

It's a Scion TC, which is based on the Avensis platform :

^^ Avensis

http://www.edmunds.com/scion/tc/2009/

^^ TC

 

[soccerballtux]

"bro"

 

[HAL9000]

06 scion tc

Just googled it, never seen one before but it looks quite nice :thumbsup:

 

[soccerballtux]

It's a Scion TC, which is based on the Avensis platform :

^^ Avensis

http://www.edmunds.com/scion/tc/2009/

^^ TC

common it doesn't look nearly that lame,,,, 😀

 

[Arkaign]

common it doesn't look nearly that lame,,,,

I agree, I think they did a nice job designing a coupe variant on the chassis at hand. It doesn't look near as ungainly as many afterthought jobs such as the CTS Coupe, IS Vert, etc.

It's still interesting to know the ultimate source of the car's platform though.

 

[soccerballtux]

I agree, I think they did a nice job designing a coupe variant on the chassis at hand. It doesn't look near as ungainly as many afterthought jobs such as the CTS Coupe, IS Vert, etc.

It's still interesting to know the ultimate source of the car's platform though.

Which cts coupe are you referring to? The '11s look pretty cool imo

 

[JackBurton]

Which cts coupe are you referring to? The '11s look pretty cool imo

Yep. I prefer the CTS coupe to the sedan.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

You will not be disappointed with the Eibach / Koni Yellow set up. Its exacly what I have on my MK1 MR2 and its an awesome ride. You can adjust the shock stiffness to fine tune your cars cornering ability.
Couple that with a set of new tires and maybe some lightweight rims and you will be smiling.
I just put on some Falken Azeni's on the back of my car today (I have Dunlop Dirrezza's up front but my shop couldnt get a set till 14 days from now). These buggers stick like glue. With that set up you should be able to pull a 35mph 90degree corner and not squeek a tire.

 

[Arkaign]

The CTS Coupe is a mess that is weirdly admirable in some ways, but as a design you can always tell when a car is poorly or cheaply made into a coupe as an afterthought.

Examples : IS Convertible, ugh. G6 Coupe.

Notice the above cars all suffer from the driver door being unnaturally stretched, but it still starts way close to the front and ends waaaaay before the rear wheelwell.

Examples of doing it right : BMW 3-series, S5 (from S4), G35/G37 Coupes, Altima Coupe (even if overpriced), etc.

 

[alkemyst]

I'm not sold on tires. The improvement from the sway bars is already so good, and when I took this turn the other day going 50 I was sliding out of my seat and thought about the comment of getting race seats. 🙂 I can't tell that mine were "slipping" because I don't think they were, afaict; but I may just not have enough experience yet to be able to notice it.

Tires are the most important part of the whole package. People upgrade their brakes all the time and then wonder why they stop so terribly rolling around on $70 tires.

 

[amish]

Tires are the most important part of the whole package. People upgrade their brakes all the time and then wonder why they stop so terribly rolling around on $70 tires.

Then again not everyone gets interviewed by MIT for mechanical engineering either at 17.

 

[yottabit]

Then again not everyone gets interviewed by MIT for mechanical engineering either at 17.

Is that what he says? That would be the normal age for an interview, I'd think, unless you're 18 early in high school

What year did you start college Alkemyst?

On a side note, I recommended the H&R Sport springs because those worked very well for my car, they tend to be stiffer than comparable Eibachs but I'm not sure for the tC. Tires do make a huge difference in responsiveness and subpar tires won't let even the best suspension shine. If you feel a lot of squirm in hard cornering as well, it could very well be your tires (only other option being subpar suspension bushings)

 

[alkemyst]

Is that what he says? That would be the normal age for an interview, I'd think, unless you're 18 early in high school

What year did you start college Alkemyst?

On a side note, I recommended the H&R Sport springs because those worked very well for my car, they tend to be stiffer than comparable Eibachs but I'm not sure for the tC. Tires do make a huge difference in responsiveness and subpar tires won't let even the best suspension shine. If you feel a lot of squirm in hard cornering as well, it could very well be your tires (only other option being subpar suspension bushings)

Amish is just butthurt I clown on the poor and stupid, I had become part of an internship and at only 16 much of my hvac and sprinkler design was put straight into final design without any correction. I didn't like engineering though, then prior to my AA degree I was accepted into pharmacy college due to crushing the PCAT and already completing all the requirements. I graduated high school in 1989.

I didnt do pharmacy either, with internet everywhere today it would have been better, but it seemed a boring job in retail and paid nothing in research.

I did a comp sci bachelors in a year back in 1999 and have been damn happy since

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

What Alkemyst Says....

Amish is just butthurt I clown on the poor and stupid, I had become part of an internship and at only 16 much of my hvac and sprinkler design was put straight into final design without any correction. I didn't like engineering though, then prior to my AA degree I was accepted into pharmacy college due to crushing the PCAT and already completing all the requirements. I graduated high school in 1989.

I didnt do pharmacy either, with internet everywhere today it would have been better, but it seemed a boring job in retail and paid nothing in research.

I did a comp sci bachelors in a year back in 1999 and have been damn happy since

What most of us read

Amish is just butthurt... me me me me me me me me me myself, me me me, and I, me me me me me me me me me, etc, me.

 

[JCH13]

What Alkemyst Says....

What most of us read

:awe:

 

[amish]

What most of us read

😛 i read his crybaby response as, "whaaaa, someone is being a bigger troll than me. i better use one of my three comebacks (X is butthurt, X isn't as big/strong/smart as me, X is a child). now that that is out of the way, i'm going to spout off with some wonder BS about how i did something "awesome" but not really give the details about how my accolades are just run-of-the-mill actions that people do everyday.

next, i'm going to talk about something else that is totally unrelated, but just as "awesome." but don't question me or my mad skillz yo because my self-defined "large body type" (read: 5 foot, 8 & 3/16th inch, 174 pounds) will stomp you. please see my sig for references.

also, don't mind any of my grammatical errors when i type. me and my superior intellect are just too cool for punctuation. to prove it, i got a 3000 SAT score, passed the LSAT with a 200, GMAT score was 500, and my quarterback rating when i was all-area was 160.

i've been trolling here since 2001 and i've been damn happy ever since."

 

[DivideBYZero]

😛 i read his crybaby response as, "whaaaa, someone is being a bigger troll than me. i better use one of my three comebacks (X is butthurt, X isn't as big/strong/smart as me, X is a child). now that that is out of the way, i'm going to spout off with some wonder BS about how i did something "awesome" but not really give the details about how my accolades are just run-of-the-mill actions that people do everyday.

next, i'm going to talk about something else that is totally unrelated, but just as "awesome." but don't question me or my mad skillz yo because my self-defined "large body type" (read: 5 foot, 8 & 3/16th inch, 174 pounds) will stomp you. please see my sig for references.

also, don't mind any of my grammatical errors when i type. me and my superior intellect are just too cool for punctuation. to prove it, i got a 3000 SAT score, passed the LSAT with a 200, GMAT score was 500, and my quarterback rating when i was all-area was 160.

i've been trolling here since 2001 and i've been damn happy ever since."

All of this, plus some epic bullshit about buying cars he'll never own, but if you own them, they are shit. All while driving a 100hp Nissan.