Video

Yep, works so well for so little money.

You'd have to ask a specialist in that car.

Computer modelling of aerodynamics

The increase in spring rate on one-wheel bumps from stiffer sway bars is heavily emphasised in my book.

Not sure what you mean by reducing the frontal area? None of the patents reduce the projected frontal area, which is the multiplier for Cd to give total drag.

No e-book is available. Hard copy - www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Aerodynamics-Modification-Development-alternative/dp/B0C87VYVL8 or Amazon in your country

Roll stiffness at each end depends on both swaybar and spring stiffness, so that's certainly possible. That's why the car was different with the stiffer springs as well.

For many, deleting a front bar is too radical a move for a road car - there will be a *lot* of throttle-off oversteer. (Also, the car doesn't rotate on a kingpin axis; just the steering does.)

I got mine from Signature Swaybars.

Thank you.

Thanks - and the book's even better!

@@JulianEdgar Will there be any option to buy it outside Amazon? In Sweden if that matters. Both this and the new aerodynamics book has been high on my wishlist for a while, but haven't been able to justify it as it's sadly a lot of money for a student and also just really don't like supporting Amazon and their practices.

You can buy direct from me but it will be even more expensive because of freight.

2 inches is a lot. It won't be much good cornering hard on bumpy roads with a load on board. OK if you don't ever do anything like that.

​@@JulianEdgarI certainly don't plan to do any hard cornering on bumpy roads with a lot of load in the car. In fact, I adjust my driving style according to the conditions, as most should. The car still has 5.5 inches of ground clearance so it's at a good place now. I agree 2 inches on a sports car would indeed be a lot.

That's OK then. I expect my modified cars to do everything they could do normally. (And it's not ground clearance that's the issue, it's suspension bump travel.)

@@JulianEdgar right. By the way I've been enjoying your videos. Do you ever touch on adjustable sway bar end links?

Not much to say? They need to be stiff and as vertical as possible.

These days many cars need to have the entire ABS module unplugged to disable Stability, this also disables brake-vector assists which may be more detrimental to performance.

That can still be a valid approach if in fact you do intend to change nearly everything. But as the video discusses, on many late model cars that's just not needed.

I am surprised how many people are nominating wheel alignment as a big fix. Sure, do it, but it won't do much in the context of the changes being described in this video.

​@@JulianEdgar I imagine people are talking about aftermarket alignment parts that take the alignment closer to no-toe more caster/camber for track focused vehicles. I'd like to hear your opinion on this as well, specifically thinking about track cars, there's a lot of contradictory info out there in everyone's setups.

Really? What is the contradictory information? More neg camber = more cornering grip, but less braking and acceleration grip. Toe-out the wheels you want to slide outwards. Toe-in for stability. More castor = more cornering camber. That's basically it?

The former I think. But they seldom lower cars much, which tells you something.

​@@JulianEdgarYup! For example 2017 Camaro SS1LE, this car is universally accepted as great handling. The base V8 model (SS) vs to the track model (1LE) had a OEM ride drop of just ~10mm

Yes, stiffer springs need different damping - another reason to go for sway bar changes rather than spring changes. Re 9:00 - you mean, less aero drag from a lowered car? Not many places inthe world where top speed is important for road cars.

@@JulianEdgar I guess, it improves fuel economy too - but wouldn't a lower cog have a significant effect if the roll center is adjusted accordingly?

Yes you can lower the car and adjust the roll centre height (if such a modification is available), but how low can you go on a road car without running out of bump travel when cornering hard on real roads? Not much. (Let alone doing that while carrying a load.)

@@JulianEdgar Very true. But you'd also be reducing lift and drag on the tires from lowering the car. I find 20-25mm the most, as you mention you do, before I run into scraping on undulations or ramps cornering. However, with stiffer springs and dampers, I'm sure you can get away with much lower. I've found Japanese road tuning enthusiasts love very stiff springs, but their cars perform well, so I'm almost conflicted.

Yeah, I hate stiff springs and dampers on road cars. It's a long time since I drove any heavily modified Japanese cars but all that I did drive (and yes, they had very stiff springs and dampers) were awful on real roads. Just couldn't cope with bumps.

Because it has disadvantages as well as advantages, and those disadvantages are too great for high-speed, wide-tyre modern cars.

It changes the *bias* (I describe it in the video as the ratio) of front/rear weight transfer - that's the whole point.

you are right. He mentions this in comments also.

Altering sway bars changes lateral weight transfer differently at the front and the back. That's why I say 'change the front/rear lateral weight transfer ratio'. If I ever drop 'front/rear' or 'ratio' it's just a shorthand.

Those books I have written that have been published through Amazon and not Veloce (ie all my recent books), I can buy author copies more cheaply than retail. So, if you buy direct from me, I can do bundles, etc, at lower than retail prices. However, depending on where you live, postage can be expensive.

I can't see how coilovers cause understeer. It's the spring rates on the coilovers that most likely will be doing that. (Or, as someone has pointed out, it's on the bump stops.)

@@JulianEdgar yeah the springs are very stiff and they aren't a typical motorsport spring size so I can't only change them

@@tturi2 I had coilovers on a skyline, made it much worse, especially in the rain, oh and yes as you mentioned they are a lot heavier, I thought that when installing them. Coilovers for road cars are a scam. New stock dampers which can be pretty expensive still, will make a world of difference. Also new bushes. Just new stuff, because normally everything is old

Have a look at Whiteline now... (And I don't think that Whiteline has ever sold softer springs, have they?)

@@JulianEdgar The whiteline ads I see are pretty bad lol

For a relatively trivial change in handling, yes. (And, usually it would be the other way around.)

@@JulianEdgar Second cheapest tuning of them all is to change camber alignment, if tyre pressure doesn't help. Only after that it is worth to think about springs and swaybars.

I don't think you realise the power of changing f/r roll stiffness. What you're talking about - tyre pressures and camber - are quite trivial in their effects compared to what I am referring to.

@@inam7904 Aftermarket suspension with camber plates aren't cheap

@@JulianEdgar It depends from the car. I have many interesting cars, e.g. sti spec c, evo 9, bmw 1m. I have driven and tuned many cars like 911, bmw M, audi RS etc. They all don't need any of that, there is enough with camber settings and tyre pressures.

In the video.

@@JulianEdgar apologies, I missed it the first time

@@JulianEdgarMust've missed that too then

Used to own an old sports car that was super low from factory. Call me a pansy but they aren't even fun to drive in modern times. Being sandwiched between tractor trailers on the highway sitting 3 inches off the ground starts to feel really freaky really fast. Have to watch it parallel parking because passenger will hit their door on the curb. Pain in the ass to jack it up on uneven driveways because anything but the lowest profile jack will be too high. Scraping the oil pain just by starting up a steep hill. Unfortunately that's how the car sat stock, I can't imagine modding a car to intentionally subject yourself to that

My favourite one is the ricers slamming their econoshitbox to the ground and think it basically handles like a race car lol.

Some people are more concerned with appearance than function.

@@michaelblacktree Some? Vast majority in the hobby sadly