Thanks Clif.
Also there has been some good discussion on solsticeforum as well about this product. I wanted to repost this for your reading pleasure as they bring up some good points to concider.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ex-Miata Man
I would like to make some statements based upon basic physics and over 58k of seat time in my Solstice. Every vehicle has body flex to some degree. The old Mustangs were known to have so much that the owners did everything they could to stiffen their cars. There are still sub-frame kits that look like they are frames for tanks that are made for Mustangs. They all seem to work well on the Mustangs but they do so because the Mustangs are known for extreme body/chassis flex. Our car on the other hand is smaller, and much stiffer than a Mustang. The suspension members and suspension supports on our car could easily have been put on a platform much larger than ours and still have performed quite well. Our car was designed from the ground up as a performance vehicle and was not a morphing of design from previous models which were just thrown together. Not all body/chassis flex is bad. When you go around a sharp bend the suspension is the first to "make up" the centrifical force placed upon the car and the chassis is the second. If the two work together you can push the car beyond the actual limits of what the suspension can do on its own. If you have no chassis flex the suspension does it's job, reaches it's limit and then you start to loose grip on your rear tires very quickly. The end result is you hang out the rear end or your "drift." For my style of driving in western PA, I prefer to have my car have some chassis flex. I have pushed my car a couple of times on winding roads and suddenly found out that the road didn't do what I thought it was going to do. The result was I pushed the suspension to it's limit and it was the flexing of the chassis that kept all four of my tires planted well enough on the pavement to keep me on the pavement. Now don't get me wrong. The idea of a stiffener for the Solstice sounds like a great idea as long as you understand what it is going to do. It will stiffen the rear end but when the rear end decides it's had enough it will no longer be forgiving, it's going to break loose very quickly. For the autocrosser or for the person who drives on roads that have less hills and sharp turns the stiffer rear end will be a dream. Even for the less aggressive driver this will be a great addition to you car's handling. Just be careful if you are an aggressive driver who depends upon your car's chassis flex to "help" you get that little bit of extra speed or performance while driving the twistie back roads. Stiffer may not be better for you. Some of you may have a totally different take on this issue and thats fine. We all have our own opinions. The purpose of my comments aren't to keep anyone from ordering a stiffener for their car, but instead to educate any potential buyers on what to watch for after they have installed it so they don't get themselves into trouble. Impromptu drifting at high speed is not where most of us want to go. JMHO  |
Hi, Cade Wilson here from Kappasphere, Brandon asked me to chime in on this. My background is primarily with tracking the Lotus Elise, though I have also had a lot of seat time in Miatas, Mustangs, Jeeps, and old Fiats.
Ex-Miata man's point is very accurate to one thing... if you are not comfortable with a car with a very neutral handling dynamic, the reBAR is not for you. The standard chassis is designed with quite a bit of flex, which does allow the suspension points to move. The chassis and structural engineers used this to advantage to put in a lot of understeer to keep the car safe for the average driver. The reBar will take a lot of that understeer out.
I would differ on the technicalities of a couple things, though. In most performance environments, the stiffer you can get the chassis, the better, as it's one more thing that you no longer have to worry about as much in the equation for handling. You can focus all your handling improvements on suspension and alignment adjustments. Keep in mind that once you've installed the reBAR, you can still adjust the chassis to be more or less forgiving by using the proper alignment, suspension, tire choice and tire pressure.
The only other technicality that I would gig you on is centrifugal force. According to your physics textbook, it really doesn't exist. The force that creates what most people see as 'centrifugal' is actually centripetal force, and it operates in a different direction than 'centrifugal' force would suggest.
But that's just semantics, I know what you meant.
Again, as to the primary point of the thread, you are RIGHT ON, and I thank you. If you do purchase a bar such as ours, be aware of the changes it makes in your suspension geometry, and take it easy for a while until you're familiar with the differences it makes in your handling. And get out on track/autocross with an instructor and have fun!!!
Cheers,
Cade Wilson