I was just curious to see what people thought about the SRT4 as far as overall handling and corner prowess goes.
If i had an SRT4 and got the Fender Braces / Swaybars / STBs Front and Rear and Lowering Springs, do you think this thing would handle? Im just curious because ive had people tell me that yes the SRT4s are fast in a straight line but they handle like shit, also a buddy of mine has an STi, i know the cars limits being a FWD, but it would be pretty nice to be able to stay somewhat close to him through some crazy on / offramps every once in awile
Definitely more important than the other pieces. Probably cheaper too.
You can try and stiffen up the chassis all you want, but without rubber to use it you're just improving something you can't take advantage of.
it comes down to a few things. The numbers say it handles well, but the feel isn't as precise as other cars. It takes a little different driving style because of the weight bias and the power delivery of the motor. When you modify it you can get a car that handles extremely well and you can overcome some of the limitations. Some cars are set up and designed that almost anyone can go out and get 90% of the handling capabilities out of the car and others (like the srt) make people give up at about 70% because they think that's all the car has.
And wider and stickier tires will certainly help the numbers aspect of things.
Definitely more important than the other pieces. Probably cheaper too.
You can try and stiffen up the chassis all you want, but without rubber to use it you're just improving something you can't take advantage of.
Definitley what he said, with getting new suspension upgrades you are trying to control the weight transfer of the vehicle ultimately to the wheels and tires which are in contact with the road. Get a wider, lighter wheel maybe 17x8 with +35mm offset and some ultra highperformance summer tires in like maybe 235/40/17 or even 245/40/17. Before getting anything, though, I would check a couple of threads of what other people have just so that if you decide to get something at least you know it worked on someone elses car. Than after the wheels I would start looking at the suspension.
It handles decent stock. However, I wasn't fond of the rear end kicking out in tight corners, so I upgraded the suspension. If you want the car to handle well, all you really need is a good set of coil overs. Thicker sways are nice, but not completely necessary. Also i'm still riding around on the narrow stock rims and i have no issues with aggressive cornering.
Last edited by A-Town SRT : 10-12-2009 at 11:29 AM.
See thats exactly what i dont want, oversteer scares the shit out of me, my old vehicle was RWD and it used to do that crap all the time and i was scared to death to go around any corner even somewhat fast because the ass would always try and kick out, ide much much much rather have it understeer
i put a set of hotchkiss sways on my car with stock suspension and it was seriously a million times better......like night and day i currently have stage 3 coils ,sways,strut bars...17x8 wheels with good tires and i wanna say the car handles pretty fin good imo
See thats exactly what i dont want, oversteer scares the shit out of me, my old vehicle was RWD and it used to do that crap all the time and i was scared to death to go around any corner even somewhat fast because the ass would always try and kick out, ide much much much rather have it understeer
Based on this comment I'd recommend driver mod before anything else. Then tires & rims should be your next option followed by other suspension goodies. You can check out SCCA Sports Car Club of America or your local forums to see if there are any auto-x near you. Learn to drive the car before you make it capable of more speed
true. alot of the SRTs handling characteristics come from a different style for driving. If you wish to do some performance driving; you brake early, turn and throttle while turning. if you lift throttle, the weight will shift forward and send the rear into an oversteer.
Oh. and coilovers, sway bars, strut tower braces and all polyurethane bushings and your good to go. different spring rates and sway bar stiffness will judge how much oversteer/understeer you desire.
true. alot of the SRTs handling characteristics come from a different style for driving. If you wish to do some performance driving; you brake early, turn and throttle while turning. if you lift throttle, the weight will shift forward and send the rear into an oversteer.
Oh. and coilovers, sway bars, strut tower braces and all polyurethane bushings and your good to go. different spring rates and sway bar stiffness will judge how much oversteer/understeer you desire.
i was under the impression that lift was bad not due to shifting weight but lifting also creates drag via clutch and engine decel lifting will have similar effects to hitting the brakes on the front wheels only...causing the rear wheels to walk around....possibly creating a spin effect or powerslide...
compression braking (what you're describing) isn't a major thing that the slowing of the front wheels causes the problems, it is very much the weight shift caused by the overall deceleration, compression and hydraulic brakes. You can get the same problem with a rwd vehicle if you lift throttle in mid corner and you are already near the limits of rear grip. Driving a FWD vehicle quickly is usually a balance of kicking the back end out on purpose to get the car to rotate toward the apex and then getting on the power to pull through and out of the corner whereas with rwd you can trailbrake into the corner but feeding in the power will usually cause the back end to keep going out and then you spin so you have to do a pause then apply when you trailbrake rwd. Pause to get the car settled, then apply the gas to help steer the car through the rest of the corner. AWD is a combination of all things because you can trailbrake in, apply the gas and the front end will pull you toward your steering direction while the rear can help steer as well (if the car is set up that way, at least).
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Handling Abilities of the SRT4?
Linear Mode
