Hey everyone, I have decided that I want to upgrade my suspension and I need a little help.

I plan on getting the Lakewood or any other company Watts Link suspension and most of you probably know what it is. If not click here.

This will always make my rear end centered if my understanding is correct and from this I assume I would not need the adjustable lower control arms, just the non-adjustable. (side note, is there a difference between lower control arms and lower trailing arms?).

I also want to get an upper control arm but should I get the adjustable or non adjustable type?

For the front suspension I want to get the K-member brace with torque limiters but I have no idea what else to get except for maybe a sway bar? I want to get springs and shocks but I cannot lower my car and that would mean I would probably have to get a set of coil overs and I just don't have the money for that right now.

So basically what I am trying to do is get the best of both worlds, drag racing and cornering. I do not care as much about the dragging as I like powering through curves. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

No one?

 

Perhaps "F1Fan" will respond, he mostly responds in the "Handling" section, or you could PM him. He either has installed a Watts link, has driven one or at the very least knows a whole bunch about them. I'd venture that most of us are not very qualified to answer your questions because very few have any experience with them. For example - I can tell you upgrading the front sway on a car with a normal rear end is usually not a good idea (unless its an adjustable sway and you know what you are doing) but on a car with a Watts rear end...I have no idea.

 

post in 'Handling' Norm or F1Fan or Sam usually comment

 

It's very rough when someone basically tells me they want it all. Drag racing and most everything else are pretty opposite in they way you setup a car. All you need to do is look at a car meant to drag race, and a car meant to do anything else. Even race cars, Pro Stock cars let alone dragsters don't really look like any other kind of competition car meant to go around corners. Simply put the real world isn't just 1/4 mile straight lines with 1/4 mile more shutdown area past that.

I can help here, I do it all day long. And there are some things that will help traction and not completely screw the handling. And there are some handling things that work wreck the car's ability to launch. How much of either isa call I can't make without talking with you. I'm big on that because I can't read minds, and even if I could I have no idea what you may or may not know about how the suspensions work.

I'd ask you think about a few things so I can best help you:

1. Think about what you want to change about the way the car drives. We change parts to fix things and I'm not going to just sell you parts because you heard you should have ____.

2. Think about where and how you drive the car the most. While everyone wants a killer straight line car, and we can definitely help the launching, it's not what the majority of the cars do.

3. Ask yourself why you should run certain parts, and be critical. Askquestions. Ianswer questions, and assome here can attest I explain my reasons. For instance,nothing wrong with a Watts link, but do you need one, and what are the downsides? You hear the positives because that's what makes folks buy parts. I've been racing PHB equipped cars for years and they aren't bad. Very simple and light too. The longer the PHB (and the S197's isreally long), the less arc the PHB travels through. And when you lower these cars, you don't have massive amounts of wheel travel left that would let you have much lateral change. I really don't think changing from a PHB to a Watts is something that should be super high on anyone's list, certainly not before the big stuff like Dampers, springs, bars, etc.

4. Realize that the suspension is the hardest working part of the car. The suspension is what's asked to deal with every situation. Launching, speed-bumps, potholes, stability, response, ride, braking are all things that the suspension effects. While the engine has to run, and the brakes have to work, they only are used some times. Even if you aren't corner-carving, the suspension is at work, and it has to be well rounded or you'll hate it.