"Milano Squat" Under Power;

[junglejustice]

- Still &%*#$@ with ride-height, so I'll probably find out the answer for myself soon enough... Curious to know though;

Will the upgraded springs and shocks in the rear cure the Milano Squat (rear rocks down and nose bobs up) under power...

Is there a different cure for this?

This effect must eat power...?

[Pscalfa3]

stiffer shocks? Limit straps from Alfa heaven? Maybe those will work.

[AlfaRacer75]

Yep, the only thing that will cure the squat during acceleration is stiffer rear springs.

Limit straps wont do anything.

[BigSwede]

Actually, the only thing that really cures squatting is changing the geomery of the rear susp. Stiffer springs only cure the symptoms.
Don't ask me how though, I don't know that much about chassie stuff (yet).

[jess]

but what's wrong with that, the didion keeps wheels perpenticular to the ground no matter how much weight is shifted to the rear under heavy acceleration, helping keeping tires planted hard on the ground and gives you best acceleration.

stiff rear springs helps the sympton, but causes inbalance to the suspention, unless you prefer a car that's tail snap happier...

If you want to turn well under heavy acceleration... that's another story....

Is there a 147 GTA 4 wheel dr?



Jess

[junglejustice]

I'm not talking about a squatting of the wheels (negative camber-like) like a mid-eighties Z, I am talking about the rear dropping down under power like a mid-eighties Z....

The problem is three-fold;

1) The rear dropping down like it does, sucks up some of the initial power without it being transferred to the wheels

2) Its irritating

3) It looks stupid

The great news is that all of the suspension mods that we have done took care of 90% of it!

[75evo]

You can lower the rear rollcenter of the car. Just mount the middle watts linkage mount lower. Though this may not decrease squatting.

The 75 with no rear camber doesn't seem to like springs which are too stiff. It oversteers too easily. Unless you start tinkering with rollbars and roll centers...

Your 90% solution is probably good enough.

Just drive the car and enjoy it.

[BigSwede]

Lowering the roll center won't do it, that only matters when accelerating in side/side direction i.e. turning.
Probably could fix it by mounting the front of the de-Dion higher. Lowering the car makes the behaviour worse.

[nizam]

Let's go back to basics here. I have some stiffer springs from Beninca Motors (Australia) and judging from the pictures I have of my car trackside at previous events, the 'squat' you mention is still there, although not as pronounced as when it was equipped with stock springs.

You can't avoid weight transfer. The goal that you seem to have is to quicken the transfer of energy to the ground rather than compressing the spring, which is a noble goal. Guess what, you will still expend the same amount of energy compressing whatever spring you have back there, soft or stiff. The amount of squat will differ due to the spring rates but you'll still "waste" some energy compressing them.

Can't be helped, my friend .

Now - going to your point #3, which is to reduce the "silliness" in the way the car looks at full acceleration ... adding said stiffer springs will help that in a Milano. But here is where you run into the aesthetics of the car. Ever seen a Porsche 993 or 996 at full throttle? Yes, the rear end squats but it doesn't look bad.

Now take a 1985 Toyota Cressida (with the 6 cylinder for more oomph) and launch that sucker with a brake stand. The front end lifts so high up it looks positively startled! The Milano, under acceleration, while not bad-looking as a Cressida, is not bad-azz looking like the Porsche. I personally don't have a problem with it as long as I get ahead of that E30 M3 next to me.

When you've OWNED him, he ain't gonna come back to you and say "dude, your car looks ridiculous as it blew my doors off." Trust me

[junglejustice]

And that's my date's head bobbing back and forth like the bobbing-head Chihuahua in the back window of that Cressida that you mentioned....

I hate it and the shocks/springs/bushings took care of 90% of it. I am happy now. Life is good; the natural order of things have been restored...

Except that during the 7 weeks that my car sat inside (with the battery disconnected) the alternator mysteriously fried itself...?

[BigSwede]

Nizam: very true!

junglejustice: Well, if your date doesn't like agressive driveing maybe you should drive more softly?


While you can't remove weight transfer without lowering the CG you can add antisquat to the rear suspension as I mentioned above.
Lowering the car lowers the CG but at the same time you add squat so thats no good.

[JoeCab]

Alfa Heaven has a kit which reduces front end squat under braking. It's a rod that bolts through the trunk floor and physically limits how high the rear of the car can raise when weight is transferred to the front. It's adjustable and does allow some up and down movement. It does work but is clunky and noisy for street use, and takes up trunk space.

A similar system, with the limit bumper on the other side (bottom) of the trunk floor, could work to eliminate rear end squat under accleration.