captdownshift said:
In reply to Jay_W :
I keep the rear connected for assist with rotation, but the front is long gone from my setup. I know leaving the rear bar connected leaves some articulation on the table, but being so softy sprung I don't worry about it effecting the ability of the front to put power down since the limited slip has gone in.
I stopped being convinced that traditional suspension tuning means anything, on a bumpy loose surface, after doing some experimenting. Granted, this was with an open diff, not a clutch type limited slip or spool.
In a nutshell, I firmly believe now that handling (in the sense of getting the car to do what you want) boils down to weight distribution and grip. A nose heavy car will always handle like a nose heavy car. Grip, basically boils down to don't let the front suspension bottom out or lift off the ground. Rear suspension is not critical except in that it must not upset the front.
That last part is key. If you have a stiff rear suspension "for rotation", and you hit a bump with the inside rear, it will unload the inside front, causing it to lose grip. Furthermore, on a loose surface, getting high weight transfer to the outside on an undriven axle actually increases grip at that end, so under many situations you will be adding cornering grip there, not reducing it, as long as the outside tire is able to maintain contact without stuttering.
The best suspension setup I had in a front driver KEPT the front sway bar, doubled the front spring rates, and lowered the rear slightly with stockish spring rates, and adjustable rear shocks on full-soft. The relatively stiffly sprung front kept body roll down, so the front suspension stayed off the bumpstops without requiring dampers so stiff that it stuttered (the problem with stiff spring/no bar setups). Lowering the rear, a trick I had been doing since I played with an 80s Golf, also cuts down on body roll without having to screw up the suspension, and the softish settings mostly just kept the rear of the car from dragging on the ground, minimizing how much it upset the front end when it hit something rough.
The kicker was when I watched Leon Drake annihilate MF with his Caddy. Many people paid attention to his tires. I noted that his car was the only one in MF that didn't have the back end bouncing all over the place, it stayed low and steady and never upset the front, so he was able to keep putting power to the ground pulling through and out of corners. (Having a well supported drivetrain that didn't flop around causing wheelhop, a nice WIDE powerband - thanks 16v engine - and fast steering helped exploit this too) He had mentioned offhand that he spent a lot of time getting the rear shocks sorted... everyone looked at the tires though. It's nice when you don't need to misdirect people 
