Guest Locutus Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 What suspension mods does an Contour SVT offer over a base Contour. I have a Mystique, the Mercury version of the Contour. They are essentially the same car bolt for bolt, except for name plates and interior comforts. The reason I ask, is my Mystique handles decent for a stock vehicle, but it by no means a what I would consider and great handling car. At about 100 miles an hour it seems to be very light on its wheels and it takes more to keep it in a straight line or hang turns on the hiway. I would say my scarab type 350 Z handles far better at speed with no suspension mods to speak(in the process of being converted bought the car that way). BTW what matters more to me than "Stats" on FWD and RWD cars and how they handle is how it feels, and personally, I hate the way a FWD car feels at speed, I feel like I am in less control of the steering than with a RWD car. I like the feel of the car being pushed thru a turn rather than pulled. Just my humble opinion. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 Also, if Zs were FWD I wouldn't have been able to do donuts in snow covered parking lots all weekend! ------------------ Morgan http://z31.com/~morgan/s30 http://carfiche.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Morgan: Also, if Zs were FWD I wouldn't have been able to do donuts in snow covered parking lots all weekend! And the Tire Rack wouldn't love you so much! Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 I guess the argument comes down to taste: apples and oranges--I like RWD because it's much more fun IMO to be able to steer with the back end of the car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 Locutus, go here: http://www.contour.org Lone, Regarding suspension sophistication in the drag racing environemnt: until recently I felt the same way about it as you. But, a lot has happened in the last few years since the drag racers "discovered" high performance shocks. Bernstien, Force, and many others attirbute most of their drops in ET to suspension tuning. Wayne Scarba and Hal Lees wrote an article in National Dragster "Racing Technology - The hook factor: the ups and downs of shock absorbers" (Issue 15, April 30, 1999) that discusses the importance of shocks. A couple quotes: "...A simple truth in making a Stocker work is that shock absorbers are key. The reason for this is simple: If you can control the wheel motion, then you can control the dynamics of the race car. The better the control of the wheel motion, the better the control of the dynamics of the entire car. Interpretation? In the world of the drag racer, this boils down to refined hook. It also means your tuning capabilities are amplified many fold." "...Once the initial fear factor of working with sophisticated shock absorbers passes, you're going to find out one thing very quickly: Shock absorbers can account for more improvements in performance than any other single component in your race car." ------------------ John Coffey johnc@betamotorsports.com [This message has been edited by johnc (edited January 03, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 3, 2001 Share Posted January 3, 2001 John, Yeah I'm sure I over simplified Drag racing in my above post. I was basically speaking from a weight distribution stand point. I can see and do agree that shock and suspension tuning definately can aid times on the track. The same is true whether its a fwd, or rwd 4-link or whatever, its a important part of the equation. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 i have had the pleasure of autocrossing a modified 91 Chevy Cavalier this last year. it isn't high horse power, but if i got on the gas in the corners it would just spin the tires. however, with a huge rear antisay bar(29 mm) and a 25 mm front antisway bar it over steered very easily. while great in the twisties, it just is not heavy duty enough. compact cars just are not designed to reliably pull over .9 Gs in the corners. suspension and steering failures plaqued me too much. this is the main reason why i decided to mod a car that would be able to take these kinds of stresses better. as far as high hp FWD cars are concerned, straightline acceleration is not nearly as good as a RWD car mainly because of weight transfer. a friend of mine is running Yokohoma AVS Intermediate 225/50/16s on the front of his Cavalier, and with only about 350 hp he has zero traction below 40mph. and what is REALLY scary is losing traction at 70 mph when you hit an expansion joint in the highway! this happened to him one time while doing a high boost test run. he came extremely close to a head on colision with a gaurd rail. FWD is great for economy and daiy drivers, but i will never own another one for racing purposes IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 31, 2001 Share Posted January 31, 2001 About the 8 second honda's. If you've ever seen a step by step build up of one of those, their pretty much a totally custom fabricated chassis. The only honda piece on it is the engine. Literally. They just drop the shell on top, and it's a honda drag car. Their 10 years of development was extensively aided by technology. Look at the advances in technology and pc's. The 10 years of development of the honda is comparable to 30 years development of a car pre-80's. It just had better technology to begin with. About FWD vs. rear wheel drive. It all comes down to what you want to use it for. dry tarmac, rally, circuit racing, drag racing etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted January 31, 2001 Share Posted January 31, 2001 My .02 cents worth, Typical Passenger Car Front Engine/Rear Drive.....56/44 Smaller Passenger Car Like the 280Z, Merc.Benz SL Front Engine/Rear Drive.....51/49 or 52/48 Compact or Mid-size Front Engine/Front Drive.....60/40 or 65/35 True Rear Engine Car (911) Rear Engine/Rear Drive......40/60 MR2,NSX Mid-Engine/Rear Driven......42/58 A front heavy car is suppose to understeer: its front wheels will drift toward the outside of a turn. While a rear heavy car will oversteer: its rear wheels will drift to the outside of a turn. A vehicles ability to oversteer/understeer is a product of the tires slip angles & this is affected by weight distribution, suspension design & tire size. At the moment one reaches "Loss of Adhesion" the centrifigal force takes over & the heavier end will skid/spin toward the outside of the turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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