Torsion bars for better handling; your experience?
Very good post and glad to see so many people are interested in suspension and steering upgrades. Most people go with a common setup mostly because of price. Since I was involved somewhat with testing some of these parts years ago, the key is balance. What feels good on a local road at low speed might not work too well at higher freeway speeds or track conditions. It's funny how the most important upgrade is something that most do last or not at all. Tire size and compounds play a large roll in how a car feels and the level of confidence it can inspire. Another common issue is going too light on the torsion bar rate and being too aggressive with rear roll couple. This causes a tail happy situation which rears its head at speed once you have overcome what little grip let's say the common radial ta tire may have. My advice is even if you can only purchase part by part, speak to someone who understands the total package and what each part does. This way your hard earned $$ work the hardest to make you and your machine happy! I've used or installed just about everything there is on my Dart over the past 35 years of ownership, autocrossing, a dozen track events and 2 Optima Batteries Ultimate street car competitions. There are many excellent parts out there now but they need to be chosen wisely.
Very good post and glad to see so many people are interested in suspension and steering upgrades. Most people go with a common setup mostly because of price. Since I was involved somewhat with testing some of these parts years ago, the key is balance. What feels good on a local road at low speed might not work too well at higher freeway speeds or track conditions. It's funny how the most important upgrade is something that most do last or not at all. Tire size and compounds play a large roll in how a car feels and the level of confidence it can inspire. Another common issue is going too light on the torsion bar rate and being too aggressive with rear roll couple. This causes a tail happy situation which rears its head at speed once you have overcome what little grip let's say the common radial ta tire may have. My advice is even if you can only purchase part by part, speak to someone who understands the total package and what each part does. This way your hard earned $$ work the hardest to make you and your machine happy! I've used or installed just about everything there is on my Dart over the past 35 years of ownership, autocrossing, a dozen track events and 2 Optima Batteries Ultimate street car competitions. There are many excellent parts out there now but they need to be chosen wisely.
