RCE had adjusted the compression
and rebound to the spring rates I had for street. They were real close
to my ideal ride. I will probably adjust the rebound a tad slower to my
liking. The first thing I noticed was that
I was no longer driving a bucking bronco. There is no harshness on the
rebound anymore like my stock struts had. The Tarmac 2's soaked up the
bumps of the poorly maintained L.A. roads easily. I drove on streets I
always used and could already feel the difference between my old spring
and stock strut setup to coilovers. The occasional "squish" sound would occur from the rear
coilovers in the cabin which was not annoying at all. Quick flicks of
the steering wheel showed little body roll.
Test Drive - Streets of Willow, Monday
I had a track day on the
following Monday at Streets of Willow. I was not going to drive hard
like I usually do at this track (so no lap timing). This was a new
suspension setup for me and I did not get a full alignment with corner
balancing yet. The compression and rebound settings were left unchanged
(out of the box) to see how they handled on the track.
The first half
of the day it rained hard. Since this was my second wet track day, I
took it easy. I left my street Bridgestone S0-3 tires on the car.
Cornering was definitely more flat. There was not much rolling compared
to my old setup. Turn in was sharp.
The sun came out in the afternoon
and dried the track up by the lunch break. I decided to install my Nitto
NT-01 R compound tires. The grip was excellent on the track. No more
floating sensation after hitting the undulations in the track. It felt
more planted. I hit the red and white berms at speed to see if it upset
the car. The car just floated over them. In the bowl, a positive camber
right turn, the car felt neutral when under full throttle. There was
little dive during hard braking. There is so much more potential I can
get out of these coilovers once I get them corner balanced, realigned to
better specs, and adjust the compression and rebound to track.
The
Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers in 350/300 is a great setup for
the car that does mostly daily commuting (and takes passengers) and the
once a month track day. You can have a sport luxury car ride when you commute
and then adjust the rebound and compression for track.
