Row M030-my commnts(long)

Hi there and good day to all!!! I like to post some of my comments on the ROW M030 suspension that was installed last Thursday by Custom Alignment. First of all, Custom alignment is first rate IMO-very professional and handled me with courtesy and install went without any hidges. It took about a day for the install of which I picked up the next early morning which was noted beforehand they needed the time to make things all good. I had my settings for camber set at -1.2(rear) and -1(front) as recommended by Viken. Joe Silva of Custom Aligmnent ask me quite a few questions with regards to how I'm going to use the car(do you track the car/how many times tracked per year/my weight which they needed to know to add the weight factor with the suspension for the driver/caster/toe etc) and after answering them he offered recommendations with settings and I said you know what you are doing so came back next day to pick it up. I picked up my car and got this detailed report of all the settings which I thought was great so in case I needed to modify settings I have a baseline. In terms of how the ROW felt on the street definitely felt firmer but not to the point it's harsh(I was expecting that which in a good way won't kill you on the street since it's a daily driver). You definitely feel more the grain of the road and with the thicker swaybars there's alot less roll while turning. In terms of lowering stance it's very subtle but it's there but any lower I would have problems with scraping so I'm happy it wasn't lowered more then that. Now here's the fun part. I partipated in a DE at Thunderhill this Saturday(talking about trying out the ROW soon and breaking it in : )!!!) and I'm just amazed what a difference it made versus the stock. What's kinda funny is that while prepping my car for the track I checked oil/coolant/tire pressures/ remove all loose items and spare tire my friend(e36 M3) asked me did you check your tire wear bar. I said WHAT? He told me tires have wear bars in the middle of the tire and I didn't know that. All I did is looked at the sides but upon looking for the wear bar it was flush with the tire so I was running with pretty bald tires(talk about making my small version of a race slick). So I'm there and what can you do-I go track it and see how it does. With pretty bald tires with the ROW I noticed I still could go faster into/outo of the turns then when it was stock(would been nice if I had a fresh set). It was very responsive to my controls whether I wanted to apex early or apex late and felt I was never in trouble(talk about confidence builder). Very tight thru the turns and lot less roll. I taped all my track sessions at Thunderhill(quite amateurous) so having before/after ROW videos it shows I'm going much faster thru the track. If I had fresh tires like Dot R/Race slicks or even street tires I probably scare myself : ). Loren if you want a copy of the videos I'll send it off- maybe you can edit and post to the board because I'm a download/upload idiot. Sorry for the long post folks but ROW is the best blend for the street/track. Regards. Mike

Thanks alot for your comments. I'm glad the post was long, since it allows us to get an in-depth review of your reaction to the new suspension, which is very helpful for individuals like myself that are trying to decide whether or not to take the plunge. I like the fact that the ride is not tremendously stiffer, given that I -- like you -- spend a fair amount of time using the car as a daily driver. It would be uncomfortable if there was tremendous suspension sensitivity given that Chicago has more than its fair share of bad roads. I'm not a tracker, but your thoughts were informative nontheless. Regards.

I live in San Francisco and its pothole/streetcar rails/uneven roads galore so with the ROW it's not bad at all cept try to avoid the pothole thing(not one yet). I also forgot to mention at Thunderhill temperatures were running 100-102 degrees(hot as hell!!!). When I was returning home after a whole day of tracking my car engine wasn't sounding right like idling was irregular and it was surging while at constant highway speed(75 mph) so I said **** something's wrong. So when I got back home and was checking for leaks(nothing) I was exhausted but couldn't get my mind off why my car's engine was erratic. Darn I won't be sleeping tonite so lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling and bingo!! When I went to the track and refueled with octane 100 and clicked on my 2 map switch(Unichip) to use on the track I totally forgot to switchback to octane 91 switch when I refueled with octane 91 on the way back. So this morning switched it to 91 and it's running back to normal. Extreme heat can cause memory relapses so if you track in hot weather-DRINK ALOT OF FLUIDS!!!