As descartesfool said, I run the Ohlins coilovers, and wouldn't trade them for the world, they perform well on and off the track. That being said, I recently bought a new set of Eibach srpings for them. I had originally been using the set of springs that they had came with, and was very happy with the way they drove on the street, but was disapointed with them on the track...Any ways, need less to say, I sent them out, thinking they needed to be rebuilt, as I did buy them used, and it seemed they weren't performing as I had expected. I sent them of to Rob at AMF motorsports, who, if you want to talk about knowing a lot about racing suspension, I think he told me more than I ever really wanted to know.

Any way, after having the struts dynoed, I was happy to find out, that it wasn't the struts at all, in fact it was the springs, that over time had lost spring rate, and were now un-even. I talked to him for a good deal of time regarding different possible setups that I could run. After a long discussion about sway bars and rear springs, I ended up buying a set of 700lb rear springs, and a set of 550lb front springs for the street. I was actually considering a Mugen 26mm rear sway bar, mainly due to the fact that out of all the race teams that I've seen run, all run either that, or someting custom made that was a bit larger, for example, real time runs an 1.5 inch hollow sway bar, that they actually had to cut parts of the tire well to run. Any way, to make a long story short, he explained that the rear sway bar was basically a large elongated srping that hepled the rear springs maintain proper allignment as well as allow the car to use both rear springs while the car would tend to load up to one side. In otherwords, it tries to distribute some of the shock to the other side as well. Thus keeping the car a little more level, hence why it's called a sway bar. Any ways, he made a good point, he asked me where I drove the car most, the street or the track, in this case obviously, I said the street, and he suggested rather than running very high spring rates and a very thick sway bar all the time, that I should just have two sets of springs, one for the track and one for the street, he said this would accomplish two things, first, give me a drivable car for the street. In addition, when I was at the track and using the stiffer spring rates, if it started to rain, I could switch back to the spring rates that I was using for the street, this way the car didn't rotate as much on turn in, therefor giving me better control in the rain, especially since once it starts raining, I go from Toyo RA1 that are shaved to falken Azenis, which for all intensive purposes are street tires. He said that continuing to run a very stiff suspension setup in the rain would actually take away from my times, as I would have to slow down enough to avoid spinning out. I guess sometimes a little give in suspension can be a good thing. In defense of the Tiens with a higher spring rate in the front, they make a great setup for the rain, becuase you want as much distributed weight toward the front as you can, so this way,it tends to be more point and shoot in the rain, rather than having to worry about the back coming out on you too much.

On the same hand, he also explained that if you corner weight your car at an event, more than likely you can accomplish shifting the weight in your car no matter what spring rates that you use. It just so happens, with the group of guys I go out with, we all pitched in for a set of longacre scales. I acutally looked into getting an SPA dyno, but then found out how much they cost....hahahaahah.....starting at $9995, I thought there was an extra number there so I called, well, we never got the dyno....ahhahahha.

One thing after all this that I figured out on my own. I drive a street car 98% of the time, and although I would love my car to perform as well on the track as it does the street. I can't push my car that hard on the street. When I was a tad younger I saw off ramps as opportunities, and sharp turns as lots of fun. now after spending a couple years on the track, and at least one full set of rims and control arms on the street. All I see on the street any more when I see turns are curbs and trees....Not to say that I dont still drive hard on the street, but not quite the maniac I used to be. Any way, as I was saying, moral of the story, make your street car a street car, and understand that the setup that you run will not work for the track, and vice versa, unless you are willing to make some very serious sacrifices on either comfort or handling...

On a side note, Rob over at AMF motorsports, does all the work for the team that I used to travel with, he does excellent work and realy knows his stuff. If anyone ever needs anything rebuilt or modified, they stock replacement parts for everything from Ohlins to Fox, and use all SPA dynos and goodies.

Point of this really long story, though everyone wants their street car to be a track car, and vice versa, you really are better off keeping your options open, and especially with how easy it is to change springs, you should seriously consider having another set...

Just my opinion....

Later,
Aj