Is there such a thing as being TOO wide?
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,837
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From: Floating around the AUDM
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
I don't want to do my assignment, so:
So all these numbers are nice, but what does it all mean?
The roll moment arm is the lever that is created by the centre of gravity pivoting around the roll center. The roll moment arm is about 15% longer than stock to begin with, and the wheel travel has been reduced from say 5+ inches down to about 1.7 inches.
So the allowed wheel travel has reduced to about 33% of stock but the force that wants the body to roll has increased by 15%!!!1 From the get go, you're going to need springs that are at least 340% harder than stock JUST TO PREVENT THE CAR FROM BOTTOMING OUT AND SPINNING OFF THE ROAD. Let me repeat: you need stupidly stiff springs, just to have the same amount of ocean liner lean that a stock car has. You get all of the shitty ride with none of the handling. The reality is that it's probably got stoopid 'hellatyte' 10 kg/mm coilovers with dampers that may as well be welded solid.
Additionally, and in case somebody says 'but roll center adjusters', no. The roll center is now going to be very unstable vertically and laterally. It will jump all over the place under acceleration and braking. Even if the springs weren't ludicrously stiff, mid corner bumps would send the geometry out of this solar system and you'd never be able to catch the unpredictable results of this mess. That's not even mentioning roll steer, bump steer, pitch centers, and the whole f*ckery that is steering geometry.
Looks like about a third of the width of those fancy looking tyres is being wasted because stretch/camber.
Reverse google image search leads me to believe that this car is from guam, so it's not a silvia, so that tacky eBay badge can f*ck right off too.
In short, it'd probably get pasted, left for dust, beaten, ruined, out-smarted, out-handled, and outdragged by a stock 240sx in every way. Track or street. Unless impressing little boys in flat brimmed caps is your thing, in which case this car would be okay apart from the stock exhaust.
So all these numbers are nice, but what does it all mean?
The roll moment arm is the lever that is created by the centre of gravity pivoting around the roll center. The roll moment arm is about 15% longer than stock to begin with, and the wheel travel has been reduced from say 5+ inches down to about 1.7 inches.
So the allowed wheel travel has reduced to about 33% of stock but the force that wants the body to roll has increased by 15%!!!1 From the get go, you're going to need springs that are at least 340% harder than stock JUST TO PREVENT THE CAR FROM BOTTOMING OUT AND SPINNING OFF THE ROAD. Let me repeat: you need stupidly stiff springs, just to have the same amount of ocean liner lean that a stock car has. You get all of the shitty ride with none of the handling. The reality is that it's probably got stoopid 'hellatyte' 10 kg/mm coilovers with dampers that may as well be welded solid.
Additionally, and in case somebody says 'but roll center adjusters', no. The roll center is now going to be very unstable vertically and laterally. It will jump all over the place under acceleration and braking. Even if the springs weren't ludicrously stiff, mid corner bumps would send the geometry out of this solar system and you'd never be able to catch the unpredictable results of this mess. That's not even mentioning roll steer, bump steer, pitch centers, and the whole f*ckery that is steering geometry.
Looks like about a third of the width of those fancy looking tyres is being wasted because stretch/camber.
Reverse google image search leads me to believe that this car is from guam, so it's not a silvia, so that tacky eBay badge can f*ck right off too.
In short, it'd probably get pasted, left for dust, beaten, ruined, out-smarted, out-handled, and outdragged by a stock 240sx in every way. Track or street. Unless impressing little boys in flat brimmed caps is your thing, in which case this car would be okay apart from the stock exhaust.
