On my car I'm really not looking to lower it. Is it possible to just get shocks? Also, about the strut bars and that sort of thing... what are "out there" to get. From reading some of the post there's the front strut bar and the back one. Also the strut tower bar.... Is there anything else?

-tia
Chris

i think we can use a total of 5 bars, 2 front upper, one lower, and one upper rear and lower. there have been sum ideas about a bar that stretches along the back seat, but no manufacturing of that type of bar for our car.

as for struts, they will definately eliminate a certain amount of body roll... im not sure about runnin them on stock shox...

tia

I have shocks (adjustable KYB AGX) on stock springs, and my handling is far better than stock when I turn them up.

Every DSM shop that sells AGXs always reccomend against them, and lament their lack of travel compared to stock shocks or Tokicos, but if you aren't lowered (or only lowered an inch or less) you'll be fine. If you read the instructions on the AGXs it says NOT reccomended for cars lowered more than about an inch, they know ther is less tave, they built all of the stock shocks on all eclipse models so they should know.

But, wheter you get Tokicos, AGXs, or whatever, aftermarket shocks on stock springs are a good combination, in my opinion.

Here are some other things you can do. You can get strut tower braces (I know front and rear upper braces, and I think lower braces for the rear at least, maybe the front too) to stiffen up the chassis (a stiff chassis is a better chassis for handling), and larger diameter/stiffer sway bars (front and rear) to help prevent body roll in the corners.

Of course, don't forget LIGHT rims and good tires. I'd say it's better to get WIDE rims than HUGE rims. I'd take a lighter 16 by 8 over an 18 by 7.5 any day of the week. A wide rim will support the tire better, and lead to better handling. For tires, some people run 245 and such, but I think (for an autocross) 225s are fine. I think the setup I have now, for auocross use 225/50s on 16 by 8 very light mazda RX-7 rims is an ideal setup. For drag racing, that's a different story :)

Lower/stiffer springs can be a big help in handling, but there are several things to consider when lowering your car, which most people overlook. This is why you see so many hondas which are lowered and ride so poorly. They just lower the car and expect miracles to happen, when they don't understand the basics of how an independent suspension works.

Stiffer springs NEED stiffer shocks. You might be able to get away with stock shocks for some time, but eventually your luck will run out and the stock shocks will not be able to take the higher spring rates.

Lower springs require you to re-align the car. Think about it, your car is alighed at a certain ride height. As an independent suspension car goes through bump and droop (lower and higher ride heights as the car moves up and down) the alignment on the car changes (the toe in changes, the camber and caster changes, ect...) so if you make your car ride lower, these alignments will be different, and you'll need to re-align the suspension for this new ride height.

And, whe you lower your car you need stiffer anti sway bars. The reason why is (the basic explanation, as I don't remember all the details myself) the there is more force acting on the suspension or outer wheel, or something like that, when you lower your car and stiffer sway bars are needed to compensate for it. I'll try and remember to find out what the reason is tomorrow for stiffer sway bars on a lowered car.

I don't think stiffer suspension bushings are a good idea on "regular" shocks, as the suspension is designed to have some play in the bushings and the shocks could get damages without some give inthe bushings. Actually, I think I remember reading (I think it was on the talon digest archives) about some shop destroying the shocks on their cars when they used stiff suspension bushings. There was no play in the bushings, so the shock rod to piston connection became the part of the suspension with the most give. The shock rod kept moving side to side in the piston, and caused the seal between them to go.

Besides, the way our suspension is designed, we can get away with softer bushings, just read page 230 in the "DSM 2G technical manual" we have online (http://2gnt.technologic.org/), it explains it there. Page 226 to 235 describes in details the suspension on a 2G, I suggest it for some good light reading on suspension dynamics (and I am not kidding, I do mean LIGHT reading! That really isn't a very involved discussion for a suspension setup)