Spring rates for drifting

[Jrcanes55]

What about a wider or grippier rear tire?

That's what I'm trying this weekend a the SWD finals. Hopefully I'll see an improvement. Going from 195s in the rear to 205s and if that doesn't do it then I've got a ton of 225s to run.

[Rustyfriend]

^^Bigger tires ftw. That, and lower tire pressure. I used to run 225's at 35psi and I tried a pair of 245's at 30psi...so much more grip!

[Jrcanes55]

^^Bigger tires ftw. That, and lower tire pressure. I used to run 225's at 35psi and I tried a pair of 245's at 30psi...so much more grip!

yeah last event I was running my 195s at 22lbs and I was still roasting and going nowhere. So I'm going to start on the 225s at 35 and work my way down.

[e36blur]

Springs are good and all, but what rear shocks are you guys running with them? I heard something about konis maxing out at 700 in the rear, is that true? I got a set of bilstein pss fronts and im trying to match up a rear setup to them. The car in question is a chevy 5.7l 350 coupe e36, stripped out. Any recommendations a far as springs and shocks for rear? This would be a dedicated drift car, possible weekend car...

[Jrcanes55]

Well at least with BC they send you shocks that are valved for the springs and they say you can go up a few hundred pounds if I'm not mistaken.

[Rover 200vi]

I am sure that every manufacturer would claim that.

[protomor]

Yea I have a feeling no one truly does. Otherwise your orders would take much longer. But who has a shock dyno to verify you know?

[Jrcanes55]

Yea I have a feeling no one truly does. Otherwise your orders would take much longer. But who has a shock dyno to verify you know?

Exactly, I just roll with it. The car rides well and it performs on track. That's all I care about.

[zmpete]

Hi Pete,

Not much Z3 experience myself, but with the shorter wheelbase I would maybe go a kg stiffer in the rear to avoid the car being too snappy in transitions compared to E36/46.

Cheers Sean 👍
you guys use lbs instead of kgs
what in kg would u think for the front and what for rear

Thx again P

- - - Updated - - -

ie 8 front 9 rear or 10 front, 11 rear?

[SantiE36]

i run wutever my beat up pss9's are 6k front 8k rear according to previous owner and use a 215 40 17 front and last event had 245 45 17 rear....... am i doing it right? lol

[Rover 200vi]

Could somebody please update this thread with rake and negative rake and how it effects drifting? I am really interesting what this will do to the handling of my e36...
Whenever I watch Formula D I think i see that most cars have negative rake altough it might just be dynamic negative rake from the car squatting down. and not static....

[protomor]

Also note that on high angles, the front end of the car comes up. Not super sure why but with my SLR kit, the front of my car definitely lifts at full lock.

[Rustyfriend]

I want to say it is caster that lifts the car. It also helps with self steering as the weight of the car is pushing down and wanting to correct the wheel

[Piner]

It's called jacking, Caster Increases the effect but is not the sole cause of it. It is caused by the geometry of the knuckle and pivots. Its one of those things that is actually good to have but wisefab decided it was a problem because they wanted a flat contact patch on the front because that is "Better".

[protomor]

Wouldn't flat contact patch be better? Please explain. Honestly curious.

[Piner]

The easy way to explain it is as you add lock you want the front end to progressively wash out. No matter the angle kit no car can achieve steering angle grater than about 75* due to suspension design. If you are sliding at say 90* to the straight or curve your front tires simply have to give way and slide. If you increase the resistance to the front tires sliding (flat contact patch) the front rear grip balance will make the car more prone to spinning. The more grip on the front of the car moves the cars pivot point towards the front of the car. Finding rear grip at full lock is alot harder than finding front grip. Caster reduces your contact patch as you counter steer allowing the front of the car to wash out so that it doesnt rotate the car from front grip. Jacking shifts weight to the rear of your car helping you gain rear grip when you need it.

[protomor]

Sounds like something I'd hear about on initial D. But makes sense. 4 wheel drift son!

[DavidD123]

Sounds like something I'd hear about on initial D. But makes sense. 4 wheel drift son!

LOL I was thinking the same thing. The episode when they're in the break room of the gas station and Takumi get's laughed at when he talks about four wheel drifting and the manager is the only one to suspect Takumi knows anything about drifting.


Spring rate question. I'm currently running (shitty) Raceland Ultimos that have 8k springs in the front and progressive springs in the rear (I can't seem to find anymore detail about them). I'm running a stock front swaybar that's attached to the control arm (stock e36 control arms) and no rear sway bar (stock m50 power). I've noticed transitions are pretty a little slow and rear body roll is pretty noticeable. What would be an appropriate rear spring for me to resolve this issue? I was thinking 10k as that's what a few friends with similar setups run (Rustyfriend)

[protomor]

Buy a bunch of springs and find what you like IMO. 10 doesn't sound like a bad starting point.

[sdipompo]

I run 10k front, 14k rear. 318is front bar. I love the way my car handles.

[Jrcanes55]

On the lifting subject, E28s run a ton of caster stock. That was the reason when my car was slammed I could still turn. The car would lift so much it would clear the tires with no issue. Now The car really squats at full lock. I ran the 225s this weekend and I was hauling ass. I just need more power.

[protomor]

I run 10k front, 14k rear. 318is front bar. I love the way my car handles.

And there you go. Great starting point. Seen car in action in person. Blew my load within 10 seconds. Though, newbies might want to go a bit stiffer or air up tires or something. looked uber grippy.

[Piner]

Im running 8k front and 12k rears with no sway bars. lol Car has a ton of grip.

[MikeE36]

I run 10k front, 14k rear. 318is front bar. I love the way my car handles.

How much power are you running with those rears?

Im running 8k front and 12k rears with no sway bars. lol Car has a ton of grip.

Nice! Yeah I was expecting lower from Sal in the rear actually given all that 1JZ power, but if it works, it works!

I went from 12/16 to 8/10 and picked up a HUGE amount of forward grip and a bit of roll too. Stock M3 front bar attached to arms, and no rear bar. I absolutely lost what I would call "slalom response" of the chassis and maybe a little lateral grip, but when on throttle and in drift, the car digs HARD and just launches forward, versus lots of wheelspeed and not really going anywhere before.

I would love to try even lower, like 8/8 or something for fun to see what happens.

Mike

[s50b30]

can someone explain why a softer suspension gives more grip?
I honostly cant understand why, If you have a surface without bumps.
other then the car squatting more and gets more camber.