Saturday, April 30, 2011

TRIVIA

Did you know that, on the 2004 spec Focus I drove, the anti-roll bars (or ARB's) were harder on the rear compared to the front for gravel driving? 

I thought it was interesting because I had always believed that ARB's were supposed to be harder on the front, because of weight distribution, weight transfer under braking etc. 

In fact the ARB's ranged from 25x3 (hardest to softest) to 25x2.5 ; 25x2 ; 25x1.5 ; 22x2.5 ; 22x2...

I liked to run soft ARB's 25x1.5 on the front, to improve the turning in and with a hard 25x3 ARB on the rear to try and keep what I called the "pudding effect" that this car had, on the rear, under control.  The car had this habit of sitting down too much on the rear during corner.  The only way I could deal with it was with the ARB's.  Adjusting the shocks and the springs did not help counteract this effect, as far as I was concerned.  I believe that this was one of the key aspects that Citroën had mastered at the time, thanks to their "Kinetic" system, which was a big reason for their continued superiority.




       

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