Guys who put zip ties on your front springs, how did you do it? Did you do it with the car on the ground? I can't think of any other way to do it other than jacking the LCA up to compress the suspension while the car is actually still in the air, but then I still run into the same problem: I can't get my hand in there! Or at least I can't get enough movement in there to really manipulate anything. When i try to artificially compress the front suspension by using a ratcheting nylon strap, instead of bringing the LCA up, I instead start pulling the top of the spring DOWN and out of the upper spring perch/mount.

 

Get UBER long zip ties, while the car is in the air, tie them loosely and then when it's on the ground, pull them tight and cut.

 

not familiar with this technique...are you trying to lower your car here or reduce wheel hop or both...

 

Neither. It's to reduce weight transfer to the rear.

 

although im not familiar with any of these techniques and only found out about this yesterday, you can try and get them ramps they sell at autoparts store and drove ur car up it, maybe u can have good access from there?

 

I've got uber long 36" ties (and there are up to 5' ties available) and I tried this but the problem is that after I were to put them on the springs when the car is in the air, there isn't enough room for me to get my arms and hands in there to pull them taut.

The ramp idea would work, but I don't THINK I'll be able to get my car on a ramp with my stillen front lip on it. It'll probably scrape severely but I can try.

For the guys who asked I'm doing this to reduce weight transfer off the front tires so that I can launch harder at the track, like they said.

 

well you can always put wood on the part that the ramp goes up. so u can get a smaller angle and not allow your lip to scrape, kinda like how tow truck people do, they put wood on the end of the ramp so that the car wont scrape the front.

 

yep I could but the more complicated it becomes to get the car on the ramps, the more crap I have to lug with me to the track. It's worth a try though and thankyou for the suggestion.

 

jack the car up and then place the ramps under the wheels while its in the air. then lower it down onto the ramps. do your thing. raise the car. take the ramps out. lower back down to the ground.

 

we have a winnAr! That'll work I think, as long as I can get the tires high enough to put the ramps under them which I'd assume won't be a problem. hell otherwise i can just lower it onto some blocks of wood or something to compress the suspension. Actually this may all be a moot discussion now since I just bought some Ksports, will have to see how much the front end wants to lift up with stiffer springs than my S-techs in the rear.

 

You can't get a hand in there with it on the ground if you turn the wheels full lock to the left/right?

 

Spring blocks in the rear??? My brother got turned on to this and has had good results. He dosen't have a Max and I've never tryed it. But I suspect it would work for you. Just unload the rear springs take the wheel off and pop a couple in.

 

i have blown struts but zip ties and rubber blocks gives me mid 1.8 60's

 

Neal you need to jack the car up, remove the wheel and then lower the car onto a wooden block or another jack onto the control arm so that the car will lower itself to its normal height sans the tire. Put the ties on then jack up the car are replace the wheel.

 

ofcourse these would be them uber ties the police uses right?

 

I've already got blocks for the rear. It needs more help than those provided.

 

I used 36" ties and was able to wrap them around twice with the car on the ground. I have eibach springs and I was able to squeeze my hands in there when it's jacked up slightly with the tires on the ground. Then, I used pliers to pull them tight while the car is all the way lowered.

I used about 4 or 5 ties on each side. Each tie was wrapped around twice. I've had them on my car for over a year now and they are still on there without any of them snapping.

 

So this is somthing you could do and then drive to and from the track?

 

Oh yeah. I have been driving on the street this way for over a year now.

 

I will take a pic tomorrow of what I use for the front. I broke a few of the plastic ties so I am now using a 1/8" aircraft cable. Much easier to see in a pic vs trying to describe.

 

Won't that really affect the way the car handles in the corners?

 

So somthing like this? Its okay to drive on the streets.

As far as handeling goes I dont cut corners hard anyways because of the MT ET Street Radials. Its more of a Drag Launch modification.

 

Yeap, just like that. Instead I couldn't wrap it around 4 coils like that. My coils are spaced much farther apart. So I could only wrap it around 2 coils, twice.

AFAIK, I doesn't effect my handling. I have taken turns kinda hard. Maybe it decreases body rolls and maybe I lose traction more in a turn than I should. But I don't know enough about handling, nor do I race my car on the road course enough to know any better.

I only know and care about straight line stuff.... at the present atleast.

 

The way my mind percieves this is that the zip ties serve to prevent or reduce rear squat during acceleration? If so, can any be installed in the rear to have the same effect on dive in the front while braking?

 

Well If you do that to the rear, there will be less weight transfer to the front while braking, and I think that the weight transfer causes your front tires to grip better during braking, if you remove this weight transfer i think if you brake ur car will not have any weight to transfer and cause for your tires to loose traction and slam into the car in front.

 

I am guessing you are going to swap the higher springrates in the rear? (IIRC from the F/S thread) When I had D2's installed a I could launch a good bit harder or should I say, it was more forgiving. With the S-Tech's I find myself having to concentrate on staying above bogging and below losing traction. The changes in particular surfaces are MUCH more apparent.

I would dare say that you would only need to zip-tie the fronts as the rears are pretty firm, but then again our cars have VERY different weight transfer.

Is there any data on 60 foot times that shows the result of ZT vs. without?

 

No. There are WAYYYYYYYY too many variables involved to give such an estimate.

The only reason people zip tie their front springs is to prevent the front from rising on the launch. The more the front rises, the less weight will be over your drive tires, which means less traction.

As for the rear, you want to prevent the rear from dropping. If the rear drops, the front gets lighter, which means less traction.

So, you simply put rubber spacers or blocks in your coils to keep the rear spring from compressing as much.

Or you could just get awesome adjustable coilovers and adjust accordingly.

For more detailed information search the org or visit the DSM forums in the FWD section.