Neon Body Roll
Neon Body Roll
(OP)
Now, where was I?
Thanks to NicB, and Evelrod for engine advice. I wanted to post in this forum since it's a suspension question.
I got an '02 Neon, and immediately began thinking about the usual wheels-springs-exhaust-intake dance routine.
A friend of mine, upon hearing the words "aftermarket springs", immediately says: "Eibach". So, I went to Eibach's website, and got a part number.
Okay... Great. But I read a compact car magazine that said the Neon has a shorter than normal suspension travel, and lowering it at all just makes it slap against the bump stops. The method that was used by the magazine's garage staff was to mount ultra-hard springs (600 lb front and 700 lb rear! The car only puts 675-some pounds at each wheel!) on it. I'm sure it corners like crazy, but I'm sure you also feel it through the seat every time you go over crosswalk lines!
Is there a middle ground between the bump stops and the truck suspension? I would be happy just reducing body roll, if that's possible. Does anybody know?
Thanks,
EMc
Thanks to NicB, and Evelrod for engine advice. I wanted to post in this forum since it's a suspension question.
I got an '02 Neon, and immediately began thinking about the usual wheels-springs-exhaust-intake dance routine.
A friend of mine, upon hearing the words "aftermarket springs", immediately says: "Eibach". So, I went to Eibach's website, and got a part number.
Okay... Great. But I read a compact car magazine that said the Neon has a shorter than normal suspension travel, and lowering it at all just makes it slap against the bump stops. The method that was used by the magazine's garage staff was to mount ultra-hard springs (600 lb front and 700 lb rear! The car only puts 675-some pounds at each wheel!) on it. I'm sure it corners like crazy, but I'm sure you also feel it through the seat every time you go over crosswalk lines!
Is there a middle ground between the bump stops and the truck suspension? I would be happy just reducing body roll, if that's possible. Does anybody know?
Thanks,
EMc
RE: Neon Body Roll
Note that this will REDUCE your ultimate cornering ability on real road surfaces.
One catch when messing about with suspensions is that people ignore the velocity ratio, that is the ratio of motion at the contact patch, to that at the spring, or shock, or its inverse (I've seen both used). If your VR is say 1.3 then every time you talk about a 650 rate spring then you are 'really' talking about a 500 spring, as far as the contact patch is concerned.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: Neon Body Roll
Use the shocks to help fine tune your transient response. This will be difficult without take-aparts. And those (if available) are $$$. Best bet would be to find a manufacture that has off-the-shelf hi-perf shocks.
Another fine tuning tool is to adjust the camber a little bit. Some vehicles have adjustable thrust plates at the top of the shock/spring tower, sometimes rivited into select pre drilled holes. I'm not familiar with the Neon, so I don't know if it does.
Kevin
RE: Neon Body Roll
RE: Neon Body Roll
Blackbirdblue
"A Honda Blackbird - in Blue - is my company car."
RE: Neon Body Roll
If you want to get rid of the body roll, try connecting the two strut towers with a sway bar. You should be able to find one on Ebay or just fabricate one yourself. Or, if you have more $$$ to spend, replace the lower swaybar, change your bushings.
RE: Neon Body Roll
Kevin