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Improving Cornering

TI3VOM

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Oh and that strut brace comment is crap, after I got my swaybars done I put a strut brace on and it helps sharpen turn in response.
 

TinSnips

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Oh and that strut brace comment is crap, after I got my swaybars done I put a strut brace on and it helps sharpen turn in response.

Strut braces are worth it on older commies, but have much less of an impact on a VE largely due to the new chassis
 

soop

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Strut braces are crap. The do bugger all.
Got one, if I take it off it does nothing.

Bit Like the Two hole mod....
 

Troy711

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Taken from my ride thread:


Latest update: Nolathane bushes went in during the last week. I got...

44019 Front strut mounts (I've been told the factory ones eventually compress themselves on lowered VE/WMs
44019.jpg


45560 Front control arm - front lower inner (radius arm to chassis)
45560.jpg


45561 Front control arm - rear lower inner
45561.jpg



45572 - Front control arm - caster lock washers
45572.jpg


46263 - Rear control arm - upper inner rear
46263.jpg


49169 - Rear crossmember - mount insert bushing
49169.jpg


19.jpg

20.jpg


For more info go to the Nolathane website :)

The car handles like a dream now. It was starting to feel really sloppy and it didn't respond to any input (especially on the mountain roads to down the coast) so I decided that it was upgrade time. The ride isn't a great deal harsher but you can feel a lot more of what is going on on the road. It's kinda hard to explain. The good part is that now when you point it into a corner it goes there without flopping all over the place. I've also noticed that now that the steering is stiffer and has a more direct feel you need to actually keep the car pointed straight on certain roads. I'd say it's because of the road camber.. but you can really feel a difference.
 

Reaper

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Hi all

I have a 3.0 International and thanks to advice from this forum have had King super lows and Monroe struts installed. I am very happy with the change, particularly highway cruising.

There is your issue in 1 sentence. Monroe struts are better than flogged out OEM but pretty much bottom of the food chain compared to just about everything else on the market.

I am now looking at improving cornering a little more and am really confused with the advice I have received. I only want a bit of improvement and want to spend sub $500.

My thoughts - Rear sway bar.

Cousin - Leave sway bars, change swaybar bushes to urethane.

Pedders guy - Change swaybar bushes and cradle bushes. (No doubt will upsell me as I go).

Advance Suspension guy - Changing just swaybar bushes waste of time. Changing cradle bushes will only help straight line. Leave rear as is. Change front sway bar and front strut braces. (getting expensive)

What to do ....

How many km has your car done (and what type of km for that matter)? Renew any bushes etc that are flogged out. VE's also respond exceptionally well to a good 4 wheel alignment done by somebody who knows what they are doing.

If you fit a strut brace on a VE and you notice a difference then immediately sell your car as it's stuffed. It's not OEM equipment on my HSV (and it handles superbly compared to any other large 4 door sedan) nor even the W427 that is little more than a out & out race car with a nice interior.

Nolethane bushes will stiffen up the ride somewhat but you can't get away from the basics of a well balanced spring, shock, swaybar combo. Overall, is the car understeering or oversteering or nicely balanced? If it's balanced then don't mess with the bars - you'll make it worse.

Reaper
 

UFO

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what about it?

for normal road use, putting any more camber on your tyres will only wear them out unevenly and give you less traction in a straight line.

i agree with most comments above.... bushes and sway bars should be the next to be changed. on a VE a strut brace is a waste of money until you start doing serious mods on your suspension. the VE chassis is remarkably stiff already (as most newer body shapes are) due to advances in design and tech, and the benefit of a strut brace will be next to nothing due to the amount of movement in the rest of the suspesion setup anyway. bang for buck definitely sway bars and bushes first. if money is tight, just do the rear bar and leave the front. stock VE setup promotes understeer (as most passenger cars do due to more predictive behaviour if you lose control), so there is always room to get more performance out of the stock components by aiming for a neutral oversteer setup by giving the rear end a little more stiffness. just dont go too big/stiff otherwise the car will be too tailhappy. an adjustable rear bar would suit nicely in this scenario, because then if you want to get a front installed later you can crank up the rear stiffness to suit.
 

loku16

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So from all of your experiences, what would the setting be for front and rear? Say for normal driving (not serious or regular track driving). I'm still looking to do my suspension and most likely bilstein and H&R progressive rate springs (or eibach) but would like your opinions on which sway bars to get also

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Arj
 

TinSnips

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So from all of your experiences, what would the setting be for front and rear? Say for normal driving (not serious or regular track driving). I'm still looking to do my suspension and most likely bilstein and H&R progressive rate springs (or eibach) but would like your opinions on which sway bars to get also

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Arj

If it were me, I'd opt for adjustable sways, so you have a bit of an option as to how pointy your car is vs how it's balanced (ie to oversteer or understeer). If you get fixed sways, you're stuck with just the one setting. The utes have a 24mm front sway bar standard, sedans have 23mm. Rear bars are both stock at 18mm, I believe. Unsure to wagons though, so would be a good idea to confirm it - from memory though, they're set up the same as the utes. A ute I would have at 26 hard at the front and 22 mid rear - however oversteer could be an issue there in the wet, so a 20mm rear bar set to hard may suffice. With your wagon, I'd say you'd be pretty safe going for adjustable 22mm rears and having a bit of a play with the settings.
 

CSP

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nolathane bushes definitely!

Also, add some negative camber to the front wheels. ALL road cars are inherently prone to understeer (mostly for safety). Adding a bit of extra negative camber makes turn in and corner grip a WHOLE lot better.
 
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