Coil Over vs Torsion Bar
It seems to me that everyone considers coil over front suspension an upgrade to the torsion bar setup. ...why?
Is it really superior?
I thought torsion bar suspension was supposed to be one of the big benifits over Ford and Chevy?
Let's discuss
Jeff
As someone with Mopars with each type, for a street/strip car, I'd give the advantage to the torsion bar suspension. Its simple to install, its simple to maintain, and tune. Tuned/built right, a Torsion bar suspension can and will out perform setups in similar car classes.
Now its biggest draw backs happen to be its strengths plus the lack of room for headers and a rack/pinion. This is where the preference for coil overs come into play. BUT and this is a big BUT, one really needs coil overs on all 4 corners if one is gonna do it to get the fullest benefits. Staying with leaf springs on the rear and going coil overs on the front makes little sense to me as it takes away one of the biggest advantages of coil over kits, in my non-professional opinion but to each his/her own.
The aftermarket coil over setups are largely more tunable than MOST Torsion bar setups, including a front to rear, side to side weight balance, which is why I said 4 corner coil overs have a great benefit the torsion bar setup doesn't. The tuning ability combined with the responsiveness of a rack, weight savings and the extra room for headers, makes the coil over setups appetizing in my mind. But that's for a dedicated race car looking for the ability and room to tune for fractions of a second.
For a car on the street that is just wanting some improved handling, there's a LOT of aftermarket stuff out there to improve the handling while keeping the Torsion bar design, IE: larger bars, sway bars, better steering boxes and adjustable A arms all have entered the market in recent years and work GREAT for the street and occasional race machine. My polara will be getting all these upgrades. My Dart, it got the full 4 corner coil over conversion, but it's a road race car.
