This is just driving me nuts! I finally decide on CC 18x9 saleens and still dont know what tires..LOL

And my next purchase is my Lowering kit. Im looking for the right set up. Want to lower the car for handling and I am reading too many threads on what to buy and what not to buy.

So, with 18x9's and 255.40.18's, what is the best spring kit? If I just do springs, is a pan handle bar a must? I was looking at the FRPP handling pack, but people chimed in sayin, if you aint racing, you dont need the handling pack.

So what do I really need to do? I need to do the right thing for the car, whatever that may be.

Any suggestions? I just want to do this right

 

Doing the right thing for the car depends on what you want to do with the car, i.e road course track days, auto-x, corner carving on the street or 1/4 mile.

The more details you provide on how you want to use the car the better the advise you should receive.

 

I like to do an occasional drag for fun, but I do have a local SCCA group that uses one of our Navy Airfields once a month. I sure would like to run the car on that course. I think It would be fun.

Other than that, its a weekend driver.

Now I wonder if I should have gotten the staggered wheel set up! LOL

 

If you are going w/ a 9" wide rim I would go w/ wider then 255 since it can take a much wider tire then that. As far as the panhard bar goes once you get into lowering your car and adding a wider tire then stock you'll need a panhard to recenter the axle. Finally if you are considering only springs for handling you are doing yourself a diservice since springs w/o shocks/struts is not going to produce the results you will like long term.

 

I agree about the tire sizes. I run 275/40/18's on 18x9 rims.

 

If the local SCCA event is an Autocross event or a road course then you might want to consider what class you want to run in. I am not familiar with the SCCA rules but if you do care about the class then this will affect what changes you can make.

Getting the car out on any Autocross or road course is a lot of fun and can be highly addictive.

As the optimal suspension set up for drag racing is different than for corner carving you might want to do your mods based on the SCCA event type and this will also help at the 1/4 mile but not be optimum for there.

For road course and autox a non staggered wheel setup has the advantage of being able to rotate the tires front to back as they wear.

 

I know this is a confusing subject - there is an overwhelming amount of information on lowering the car, improving the handling, etc. There are also a ton of opinions. This tells me there is no right or wrong answer. There is no: do x, y and z and you will find nirvana checklist. The bottom line is - cars are different, parts are different and people's goals, desires, tolerance for ride, perception of good vs bad, etc are different.

Many of the guys who hang out in this section are corner carvers. Thus we (speaking of myself and the other corner carvers) are more concerned with handling than we are with drag strip, burnouts, ride quality, noise, vibration, trameling, harshness, etc.

Given the above, from my perspective do the following:
- Sticky tires - number one handling mod
- lowering springs and high quality dampers - #2 handling mod
- PHB to make sure the rear is aligned.

So, if your goals are like, try those three - and see what you think. You may find nirvana...you may not. Good luck.

Edit - BUT.....like Sleeper mentioned. AX has classes. If you attend some autocross events and decide you actually want to compete in the series (i.e. get serious about it) you have to be very cautious and read the rules as to which mods are allowed. Without spending buckets of money, the only class this car is competitive in is F-Stock and its mods list is very short (no lowering springs for example). On the other hand, if you are just in it for fun, put all the mods you want on, you will be bumped up one or more classes and be un-competitive, but who cares, its just for fun.

 

I'll reiterate that you need to know if you want to be competitive in AutoX. F-Stock is the only one you have a chance in. If you are curious in what to do to be competitive in F-Stock, call Sam Strano, he's a forum sponsor, posts regularly, is very helpful, and just happens to be SCCA F-Stock National champion (5x) and ProSolo Champion (4x). The best AX advice you're going to get from anyone on these forums will come from him. I will say, though, that the 18x9 rims already bump you out of F-Stock, lol.

I do AX, but I don't care about being competitive. It's a blast, but since every mod I have bumps me out of F-Stock, I get slaughtered. Oh, well, it's still a blast, I love driving my car on the road, and I love it on a road course, which is what I'm setting it up for.

 

I am running the H&R coilover kit and am extremely happy. You can adjust the ride height to whatever you want although this was not the reason I bought them but it is a nice feature if you are unsure of what you want to do. Plus by the time you pay for lowering springs and the tokicos or whatever you are close to the cost of these.

Anyway like everyone says need to plan on what you want to use your car for... I am running AX and am happily in the SM class. Dont think I would enjoy driving an F-Stock but am sure somone like Sam Strano would whoop my butt in an F-Stock shelby.

 

As you can see the above folks have amplified on my words.

In my case the goal was to build a car to be used for lapping days on road courses. There are no classes and it is very much run what you bring and have a great time. One of the main rules on lappping days is you are only allowed past when the other car waves you past and only on designated straight sections,i.e. this is not wheel to wheel racing.

One of my primary objectives was not to get out dragged down the straights by some "person" after I'd been sitting on their bumper for the rest of the lap, thus the SC.

The next objective was having a car that was stable and I felt comfortable to drive on the "ragged edge" and this led to the rest of the original mods. After the first season of 6 track days the further mods for this season are FAYSs2 Watt's link, switch to UMI poly/rod LCAs, Stranoparts front sway links and a more agressive front camber setting. In addition a data logger and vieo recording setup will beused.

Lower on my priority list was that the car would be an all season DD and thus my passengers have complained about how "firm" the ride is. My response is that if they are not comfortable there is always the bus.

As you can tell I am one of those that has become "addicted".