I just installed the 4 way ajustable in the front and 3 in the rear Hotchkis swaybars. I have them set at the one before stiff in the front and medium in the back. I feel a difference at decent high speeds (60 - 90 mph) and it gives the car a whole new feel. What I want to know is why people say it is undrivable if the whole setting is on stiff.... Can anyone tell me please and if you have this setting (stiff front and rear), please give me some info on how it drives and if it is safe enough to put it on that setting. I definitly do not want to go off the road because my suspension was too tight. Any info would be nice. Thanks!

 

When you set the swaybars too stiff, you lose side to side suspension independence, which can do several things: 1) Make the ride a lot harsher, 2) force the inside wheels to lift on hard cornering, 3) Increase the forces on the suspension components and start breaking stuff like end links. Also, you ultimately can reduce cornerning traction at the limit. At the limit with a very stiff car, the tires become the most important factor, and in lower traction situations (worn tires, colder weather, rain, etc.) you are at higher risk of losing grip and sliding off. But this takes some experimentation to see what works fr your driving.

 

+1, this becomes especially prevelant on the street because roads are never completely smooth like on the track. Hitting a bump midturn on the street with full stiff can easily put you into a slide because of the wheel lift.

 

For our cars, is it better to have it stiffer in the front? My last car was front wheel drive and I had the rear setting stiffer.

 

^if u want understeer at the limit stiff in the front is the way to go. I have tried medium/medium on my hotchkis and it was too much understeer for my taste. At Stiff rear and medium front is the way to go for my style of driving.

 

Yes the FM platform is unconventional in many ways, and responds better/more neutral with a stiffer front setting. This is against most suspension theory, but its what works in real world conditions and has been tested.

 

This on stock or modded suspension?

 

Maybe you should talk to gsedan35, the local suspension expert. Your setup is prone to understeer now, the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

 

I think your statement is true only if he exceeds a certain point. Up to that point, he's right.

 

Im not sure how this setup goes with stock springs and shocks. But that setting combined with s-techs and z-shocks I have zero understeer. Infact when i go make a right turn and enter the corner too fast without giving any gas back can step out from time to time. Also It starts oversteering when i lift of on the corner while above 5k rpm. Right now there is zero understeer on this car. The steering is much more direct also.

 

Well after a long discussion with gsedan35 over on my350z.com, I was convinced by him that I should never had the rear stiffer than the front settings with the hotchkis bars. Just look at the OEM sport tuned suspension. The front swaybar was stiffened while the rear was left the same. Why would infiniti engineers make the sport tuned suspension more prone to understeer if that was the case?

 

Which S-techs are you running?

 

coupe s-techs, same rates as the sedan it, just 0.1 lower in the rear but 0.1 higher in the front compare to the sedan s-techs.

 

I have every reason to believe that almost every car maker engineers in either a neutral or understeer into their OEM suspensions. Most of the time, you have to make the rear a bit stiffer to get the car to go neutral IMHO

 

Because majority of infiniti's costumers are going to be average daily drivers who can care less if the car under steers or not. It is a common misconception that under steering is safer than over steering.