Urgent help needed: GT3 sways - Settings???

Put my GT3 bars on today and I am not sure on the setting. I did a search not much came up. I have them currently setup at the stock GT3 positions. front = middle (notch 3) Rear = 2 from the end of sway SRL? Do you have any feedback? Anyone else as well? I have a weekend road trip tomorrow and would like to have some nice simple settings to start from. Suggestions please!! Chad

What's the rest of your suspension setup? I can get a baseline for you.

H&R Sports with Biltstein sports. GT3 adjustable sways...fill me in. C.

Sorry Chad, just saw this so you might already be gone. Your baseline setup sounds fine. That's a relatively balanced setup on the street in my car. Remember, though, I have the H&R coilovers. I'm instructing at Willow Springs next weekend and it'll be the first time this setup sees the track. I'll probably try a few different setups, starting with 1 hole per side stiffer front and rear. Whatever you do, I hope you brought the tools for adjusting the bars with you! 10 bucks says you did.....

Thanks pal. It worked well. I like the feel of the car now. It seems WAY more predictable. I think I may go the H&R route myself. I like the results... thanks... C.

So, you went with that setting? Make any in-trip adjustments? Also, did you mod the drop links the way I showed you in the other thread? Answers, man!!! BTW, I'll let you know how the setup does at Willow next weekend.

The Answers: Yep, got them modified by a local machine shop. The appear to be working great. The handled great out of the box with the settings I had in place. So no, I did not adjust mid run. However, I did notice some push. Makes me want to make a switch to coilovers very soon. You are running H&R's right? What spring rates are the max for those? If I want to increase spring rates to dial in the suspension, can I do this with that setup? Answers man!!! Chad

Chad, H&R says the rates are progressive - 170-210 front, 230-260 rear. They say they don't have alternate rates available but I'd be willing to bet my guy could figure something out, possibly using some of their race springs. To be honest, I'm pretty happy with the rates as they stand for a street driven/occasional track car. I'm content to adjust balance with bars and tire pressures. Let me do Willow this weekend and I'll let you know what I found out.

Conact me if you indeed go that route. I'll take the springs and shocks you have now off your hands.

Will do Nick. I'll know after my 1st event this year. Chad

OK, went to Willow Springs last weekend to instruct for BMW CCA. Here are my H&R coilover/GT3 sway bars impressions: The car corners much, much flatter than before, and is very well controlled. Gone is the Cadillac-like ride of the US-spec suspension. I think the H&R coilover spring rates are perfect, as the car didn't pogo forward and back over bumps, and had no issues putting the power down. The shock damping, although not adjustable, is a great compromise for street/track. My current settings of mid-stiffness on the front and rear bars had an ever-so-slight understeering tendency at the limit. I didn't make any adjustments, but figure that stiffening the rear bar one hole on one side only, then maybe both sides to check, would make the car completely neutral. I just didn't feel like lying on the ground to make the changes. I'll do it before the next track day. I could also probably neutralize it through tire pressures as well, it's that minimal. If this was a track-only car, I wouldn't use the H&R coilovers, because of their necessary compromises. I would probably go with something like Moton's Club Sport coilover, or maybe even one of their race setups. But for occasional track use, the H&R setup is hard to beat, especially for the $1,200 I paid for it (used, from another Rennlist member!). Oh, one final thing. The car currently has 17mm spacers on the front, 15mm on the rear. I've read a lot about the potential increase in bump steer from doing this, and am happy to report I didn't notice any bump steer AT ALL on track, nor has there been any increase during street use. Also, the Bridgestone Potenza SO-2A is a very, very nice tire for track use. Very predictable and it held up to hard use extremely well. I dropped pressures for the trip home, and enjoyed the ride back on Angeles Crest Hwy....

Excellent write-up. Thanks!! Chad

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this a big no-no? Making one side of the bar stiffer than the other would make the car tighter in one direction versus the other would it not?

No, the bar slides in it's mounts. It doesn't know the difference. You can be one hole off side to side to get the interim stiffness and still be ok. It doesn't affect how the bar bends to control roll.