Stiffer coil springs to improve handling? Or Hellwig rear sway bar?

[Fast-n-Furious]

First hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday.

I came across this performance coil package for JL 392: https://www.claytonoffroad.com/product/jeep-wrangler-392-performance-coil-package and wanted to get more insights for my 2022 392 XR.

Haven’t done any off-road yet and will probably try some easy or moderate trails down the down. So it’s my daily driver since March. I’ve put over 7k miles and the highway driving has been fine. Just the body rolls/shakes at speed bumps even at very low speed annoys me and the passengers. Especially when only one front wheel rolls over the speed bump. It feels very similar to my old Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit with air suspension. The video in that page mentioned I’ll get maybe 1/2” taller at front and 1/4” gain at rear, which I think is great too without installing a new lift kit.



Another question is I thought about getting the Hellwig rear sway bar link to improve the handling on road. Would I still need that if I go with the performance coil spring package? I’d assume the performance gain from the Hellwig sway bar will be not as much? And one thing I read about the Hellwig sway bar is they limit the flex during off-roading. In my case, I mainly daily drive so on-road handling is my goal.

Any insights is appreciated!

Sorry that I posted the same in the Suspension, Steering, Chassis sub forum https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/stiffer-coil-springs-to-improve-handling.104784/

It seems I can't delete the duplicate post. But there are some insightful comments as well.

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[GATORB8]

From your complaint, I'd say you'd want to go softer. Stiffer will help maintain flatness in cornering, but will transfer more "bumps" to the cabin.

First thing I'd check would be how much bump clearance you have in front. Bump stops are in the coils and you have an extended one compared to non-XRs. Some have minimal uptravel and are hitting bump stops way early. Some additional spring/spacer ride height would be a fix for that.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

From your complaint, I'd say you'd want to go softer. Stiffer will help maintain flatness in cornering, but will transfer more "bumps" to the cabin.

First thing I'd check would be how much bump clearance you have in front. Bump stops are in the coils and you have an extended one compared to non-XRs. Some have minimal uptravel and are hitting bump stops way early. Some additional spring/spacer ride height would be a fix for that.

Thanks. I definitely want the flatness in highway especially during corning. The bump/shake issue is annoying but minor.

I looked at the front bump stop and it’s really not much. Do you think this minimal uptravel really causing the shake at speed bump?

 

[Rubi64L]

These Jeeps do '"shudder" quite a bit. Not anywhere as bad as older Wranglers, but they still get unsettled over potholes and rough sections of pavement. Personally, I think it's just the nature of the beast and I'm not going to mess with it.

Handling offroad is very confidence inspiring - the suspension is great for that. But, on-road, it's definitely not a performance vehicle. I live in a very twisty canyon, and driving just a little too fast makes me feel like the thing is going to lean to the point where it tips. I did a cruise with my car club a couple of weeks ago on a very twisty road, and it was downright terrifying. So, I just keep the speeds down and try to avoid the potholes that make it shudder so much that eventually I'm going to hear a bunch of squeaks.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

These Jeeps do '"shudder" quite a bit. Not anywhere as bad as older Wranglers, but they still get unsettled over potholes and rough sections of pavement. Personally, I think it's just the nature of the beast and I'm not going to mess with it.

Handling offroad is very confidence inspiring - the suspension is great for that. But, on-road, it's definitely not a performance vehicle. I live in a very twisty canyon, and driving just a little too fast makes me feel like the thing is going to lean to the point where it tips. I did a cruise with my car club a couple of weeks ago on a very twisty road, and it was downright terrifying. So, I just keep the speeds down and try to avoid the potholes that make it shudder so much that eventually I'm going to hear a bunch of squeaks.

Thanks for the perspective! I normally drive with caution (slowly) on twisty or hilly roads. On highway, anywhere from 75-95 mph has been fine if the road is mainly straight and not windy that day.

 

[GATORB8]

Thanks. I definitely want the flatness in highway especially during corning. The bump/shake issue is annoying but minor.

I looked at the front bump stop and it’s really not much. Do you think this minimal uptravel really causing the shake at speed bump?

May be worth driving over a couple speed bumps knowing that you're feeling for a bottom out. The yellow jounce doesn't have much resistance and once it's compressed you will have no suspension until it unloads.

I don't think I've seen the extended length on the XR 392 shocks, the 3.6 XR is 24.38'. I'd normally say I'd lift it to try to get at least 4" of uptravel, but you may only be playing with 6.5" of stroke (your bump is around 17.75" at compression).

What are you sitting at right now when you measure shock eye to eye in front?

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

May be worth driving over a couple speed bumps knowing that you're feeling for a bottom out. The yellow jounce doesn't have much resistance and once it's compressed you will have no suspension until it unloads.

I don't think I've seen the extended length on the XR 392 shocks, the 3.6 XR is 24.38'. I'd normally say I'd lift it to try to get at least 4" of uptravel, but you may only be playing with 6.5" of stroke (your bump is around 17.75" at compression).

What are you sitting at right now when you measure shock eye to eye in front?

It was parked in my garage when I took the pic, relatively flat surface. The distance between the yellow/orange jounce and the bottom landing pad is less than 2" with a rough measure. The bump tower is pretty tall...

 

[GATORB8]

It was parked in my garage when I took the pic, relatively flat surface. The distance between the yellow/orange jounce and the bottom landing pad is less than 2" with a rough measure. The bump tower is pretty tall...

Sorry, meant the measurement between the shock eyes. Will help tell what travel you have left to work with.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

Sorry, meant the measurement between the shock eyes. Will help tell what travel you have left to work with.

Oh sorry, my bad. I didn't read your question carefully. It's 21" between the eyes of front shock.

 

[m3reno]

I installed the Hellwig sway bar and now my Jeep stays planted when cornering.

 

[GATORB8]

Oh sorry, my bad. I didn't read your question carefully. It's 21" between the eyes of front shock.

You aren’t as bad as some that have posted.

Make sure you confirm you are hitting bump stop, but if that’s the case, you may have actually found a pretty good set if they give you the advertised lift.

An increase of 1/2” of uptravel coupled with an increase in the impact force required to use it up should be helpful in this case. Should corner a little more stable but you’ll feel the smaller bumps a little harsher than you do now.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

I installed the Hellwig sway bar and now my Jeep stays planted when cornering.

Thanks, great to know.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

Just to copy what @AccuTunedJL commented in the duplicate post since I can't delete that one, to make the discussion more informative: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...ings-to-improve-handling.104784/#post-2175500

We had a 392 here a while back, added a lot of weight with stock suspension. It was very soft, squishy with similar body roll as you mentioned. Springs are mainly holding up the weight of the vehicle and shocks keep everything under control. I wouldn't expect new springs to fix all of your issues. Sway bar would help, but the stock sway bar should be plenty stiff. I would wait to see what others have to say, but I would lean more towards a better shock package. We added new shocks to the 392 that was here and it rode much nicer. Handled corners much better also.

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