There's such a thing as going too stiff and I definitely went in that direction with Kay. I've been complaining all year about how it's been difficult to control her and get power down because she's felt too "nervous". This was caused by the overly stiff 600/700lb springs I decided to start off with on the MCS 2WNR.
 |
| Hypercoil 300/450lb 2.25"ID 6" Springs |
After doing more research on different setups, I realized that these spring rates are great...for dedicated track use. For a mix of street driving and autocross in potentially wavy lots, it's too much. It makes the car slower simply because you lose mechanical grip as it skips around. I looked at what the KWV3 coilovers came with and those are around 250/400lb springs so I settled with something just a bit stiffer at 300/450lb. Reminder: The stock PASM springs are 174/297lb so this is a decent bump without going crazy.
 |
| Hypercoil 300/450lb 2.25"ID 6" Springs |
I dropped the car off with
Speedsport Tuning again so they could work on it this week. They were able to slot me in and I picked her up this morning. I had them install the new springs, set the ride height to about what they were previously and corner balance and realign back to our starting point when the suspension was
first installed.
 |
| Picking up Kay at SpeedSport Tuning - 6-5-2019 |
I had been softening my dampers to try and make the car softer before but now that it's back on softer springs I was able to crank the dampers back up a little bit. I'm starting off with these settings:
Front:
Compression: 8
Rebound: 8
Rear:
Compression: 8
Rebound: 9
I'm obviously going to tweak it at the next event once I get a better feel for the new balance. This is also the first time she's been on scales in full STU trim. It's interesting comparing the two weights. Both images below were done with a 175lb ballast. The main changes were the new wheels, lightweight battery and less fuel.
 |
| Corner weights on 2-9-2019 |
 |
| Corner weights on 6-6-2019 |
The car improvement is night and day! I no longer have to cringe before every bump or dip in the road. She feels planted yet compliant like a proper German sports car should feel like. I'm able to stay on the throttle with ease in spots where I'd normally lift to avoid any sketchiness and my confidence in her handling has been boosted significantly. I can't wait to see how she does at the next event.
The shop also told me my front brakes are getting pretty worn. I've been waiting for that. Now I can finally put some good pads on and switch from drilled to slotted rotors...but that's for another post.
