Suspension tuning advice

[MurrayPeterson]

I have my new sway bar and shocks on the car, and the some "spirited" driving around slippery corners show the Miata's suspension is much more neutral than I could ever obtain with the S2000.  This brings up some questions about tuning my sway bar and shocks.

Do I set the sway bar stiffness for neutral balance in mid corner and use the shocks to dial in desired understeer/oversteer on corner entry?

If yes to the above, what do I aim for with shock stiffness?  i.e. Do I aim for the stiffest shock settings possible that remain compliant with the venue's surface?  Or do I go for the softest, most compliant shock settings while still maintaining the desired balance?

I am worried that if I go too stiff with rebound, the car will "jack" down onto the bump stops and stay there for the entire run.  Or is that a good thing, because the bump stops give me a very high effective spring rate?

[Terry Johns]

Have you have gone with the conventional wisdom of fitting the big front bar ?

[MurrayPeterson]

Have you have gone with the conventional wisdom of fitting the big front bar ?

Yes.  It is needed in the front to keep the inside rear tire planted, and thus allow the LSD to function properly.

Edit: Also, the car oversteers in OEM trim, so the front sway also tames that.  I would think a bigger rear sway bar would do very bad things to the driving balance of this car.

[Terry Johns]

Then I guess they must have made some big improvements over the NC. I tried the big front bar and the car was close to undrivable, Reijo thought the same when he drove it. I contacted a guy in the US Chris Harvey who is a past US National winner in an NC, he was the one that advised that the big front bar on the NC wasn't the way to go. All I can say is for my driving style which probably isn't that good the rear bar makes the car feel much more drive able.

I run my koni's full hard on the front less 1/4 and 3/4 hard on the rear. Tyres RE71-R, 215x45 F 26 - R 28 on hot day.

It might not work for the ND but Im having fun. 

[Terry Johns]

What rims did you go with? I bought another set of stock ones, 1/2 price from Mazda in Boston

[MurrayPeterson]

I bought 2 sets of TRS FF10 wheels from Tirerack.  They are about 6 pounds lighter than the OEM wheels.

[Terry Johns]

Nice