Body Roll

[HamaTime™]

So my never ending quest to make my car 'better' has brought, me to a rather annoying fact about older commodores. Body Roll

My VS is the povvo S pack. So it has live axle, apart from the obvious power shortage coming from LPG, and the lack of down low torque in the ECOTEC and a silly two pedal (auto) gearbox, it suffers from alot of body roll, and I'm really not comfortable with the way it corners, accellerating or not...

So, my question is, what things can I do to improve the cornering? It already has:

Super Lows (all round)
FE2 Shocks (hopefully replace shocks with KYB or Monroe GT sport shocks soon)

what else can help?

Explanations rather than just listing stuff will be helpful also

cheers

[DLFHUB666]

strut brace helps handling by increaseing front end rigidity . keeps more of the tyre in contact with the road while cornering

[88GreenVN]

Change the front shocks if the front dips when you turn into a corner

[old mate]

all cars need a degree of body roll on them to corner well but i guess you think its excessive. i would be going after some good quality shocks as the fe2 (were they the standard shocks) can be improved on. im in the process of working out shocks for my vs ute and im after either koni yellows or kyb agx. adjustable so you can have the car how you want to a degree.

i would be looking at stiffer (thicker) anti roll bars to get rid of that body roll too.

how does the balance of the car feel? oversteery, understeery, fairly neutral? whats it do on corner entry?

[HamaTime™]

Very understeery. I accellerate into a corner and it just feels like it can't steer quick enough or handle turning a sweeping corner fast. It just doesn't feel balanced when cornering....

[old mate]

what tyres and pressures are you running? what size tyres? thats a huge thing with handling.

you'll want slight understeer for street usage just to be safe, but considering you'll be running stock anti roll bars i would go stiffer on the rear for a start.

that should reduce the understeer a bit.

but if you're really having a go you should be trail braking to around the apex to keep the suspension settled and more weight shifting to the front end to get it to grip a bit better.

[Snoz]

Very understeery. I accellerate into a corner....

There is your problem. It is not the car it is the way you drive!
No amount of sway bar changes are going to alter the fact that you should not accelerate into a corner, you should only accelerate after the corner.

[HamaTime™]

Not a corner corner. A big sweeping turn should I say....a corner that should not warrant getting off the accelerator. It's complete basic driving knowledge to know that you don't accelerate in a corner, nor d'you brake....

Make the rear end stiffer you say? Panhard rod and new shocks? wheel alignment

[old mate]

dont worry about panhard rod. oh wait, are you only using the standard one with super lows?? hmm.

and yes you accelerate and brake in a corner. your complete basic driving knowledge needs updating haha.

its not making the whole rear end stiffer, its only the anti roll bar. start with that. you do understand what the anti roll bar does?

[Calaber]

The standard VS suspension is extremely crude and there is a lot of scope for improvement. The usual route involves firmer springs, lower suspension settings, firmer shocks, heavier sway bars, wider tyres and better wheels. Sometimes, a suspension tower brace is added.

All these can add up to a huge improvement in the car's dynamics, but if you overlook some of the basics, that should be in top condition, before spending bulk bucks on the stuff listed above, you could be wasting your money.

The first thing would be to ensure that all rubber bushes and ball joints are spot on. If your car still has the original VP parts from new, they will all be ready to replace. Just renewing all these parts, which are pretty cheap, can tighten up the suspension a lot. But, after doing that, you will want more.

You say you have super-lows fitted When you lower the car, it's easy to go too far. Ultra lows generally mean lousy ground clearance, harsh ride and loss of compliance over bad surfaces. Lower the car with quality springs but keep the drop within 50mm below stock height. The balance of the car will be improved without destroying the ride. Match the new springs with quality shocks - you should be able to retain stock length shocks if the drop is no more than 50mm, but get quality shocks to ensure consistency, performance and durability. With a live rear axle on the VS lowering the car will cause the rear axle to shift to one side because of the panhard rod. You might have to get an adjustable rod, or have yours shortened. (I don't know if a 50mm drop will need this, any greater probably would, and shortening might not be legal in some states).

Sway bars need to be matched for the best performance. If the rear bar is stiffer than the front, oversteer will increase. As the VS is a natural understeerer, you can put a stiffer rear bar in without changing the front and this will reduce the understeer a little bit but the front will still want to run wide on corners. Matching new front and rear bars will balance out the cornering, reduce the understeer and make the car more pleasant and safer to drive.

Wheels and tyres are the final piece of the puzzle (apart from the suspension brace, but that's really not necessary on a lower powered streeter). On a VS, I believe that 18s or 19's would be as far as you should go, and they might not be legal in some states. Don't make the mistake of getting too much wheel and leaving yourself with tyres with only about 50mm of sidewall.

Hope this helps, and I'll bet a few others will come back with completely different advice. Just pick the advice/assistance that best suits your preference and wallet and good luck.