The answer to your question depends to some extent on how far you are willing to go.

AWD cars share many problems with the FWD cars as the problem of unloading the front suspension and subsequent loss of traction is pretty much the same if you have enough power to do it.

If your not spinning the front tires then you can pretty much ignore that issue.


There are two schools of thought on proper suspension setup for an AWD.

Some want it to squat in the back just like a rear wheel drive car. I disagree with this concept. I think it seems to work for some folks for all the wrong reasons. They are basically forcing the fronts to unload and transfere all power to the rear in effect converting the car to a RWD. This I think is putting a lot of stress on the tranny as it shuffles torque front to back, and probably adds unnecessary shock loading to the drive train. Also by unloading the front tires you drastically reduce your roll out as the tire contact patch shrinks as the tire unloads. All that work expended to rock the chassis back on the suspension, and load chassis bushings should have been sent to the ground to accelerate the car.

Most people seem to be getting best tire traction with tire pressures near 35 psi. There will still be some experimenting needed to get the best balance front to rear to get things to work best.

Run the lightest wheel and tire combo you can and still maintain traction.

Treat it like a FWD car.

Stiff rear suspension, high rear tire pressures and stiff springs to limit rear squat.

This keeps weight from transfering which has two benefits. If your spinning the fronts you need to keep weight on them to keep the front open diff from spinning one of the tires.

If you're not spinning the front you still want to limit weight transfer because all the time and work spent transfering weight should be expended moving the car forward.

In the front you want to lower the front if you can -- this lowers your center of gravity, which reduces weight transfer, and improves aerodynamic drag at the top end.

If you can, stiffen the front suspension to a rising motion to assist in delaying weight transfer.

Do not use excessive front camber, ideal is 0 camber for straight line acceleration.

The classic rule of drag racing is to limit all unnecessary motion int he chassis. To do that you might want to look at stiff motor mounts and tranny mounts (ie STI type)


That would be my initial steps.

Larry

 

Larry,

Great thoughts! I always enjoy reading your posts. I'll try and play with tire pressures once my VF30 goes back on the car (being rebuilt as we speak, well waiting on a source for parts - but hopefully will be getting worked on soon! ) to improve my launches.

Thank you!
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