But WHEN the time comes on the street isn't it nice to know you have an extra margin of safety & capability? And there are places where it is safe to push it a little...we all do it I think.
Well, I was probably overshooting a lot on my "90%" (and almost expected to be called out on it, actually) that probably lands more around "99%" time-wise, and "95%" miles-wise that it'll never come close to being used in my case, but the real trouble is, a road-course built suspension, while it'll turn on a dime at ridiculous speeds, generally does transfer more road noise to the interior, as well as tending to be a bit of a stiffer ride, rather than the nice, gentle, soft BMW or Benz floating along. It really all boils down to what point strikes the balance that pleases a particular driver, in their particular case. Note, I'm almost arguing against my own position above, though the 'balance' that would suit me doesn't depend on a 'gentle' ride by any measure.
Don't kid yourself tho, you need to have experience in knowing why you're modding stuff. And that's where the driving at the limit is crucial. If you don't know what is lacking, you don't know where to put the $. I know the Internet has all sorts of info on where this suspension design is lacking, and most of that has been track proven. But that does not mean everyone needs that.
That's what's held me back even more than the $ on it, simply not knowing with certainty that it'll have the specific benefits I want to see. In the end, I think I'd actually have to sit down in the car with someone who knows more (a
lot more, and that wouldn't really take all that much) about suspensions than I do and demonstrate the points at which I 'feel' issues, address whatever they point to as the cause (which is very probably myself in most situations, not the car).
Going fast and carving corners is the coolest feeling in the world. And you know 100% when you're in the groove, you run a turn so fast your ass cheeks pucker because you're a split second from dodging prairie dogs at 90mph if you loose it. You have to have 100% trust in your car that you can commit to that turn. But I get that rush from the track, I won't even attempt it on the street. I guess that's kinds why I feel the way I do, the stock suspension has more than enough grip for everyday driving.
I just take a more broad view of 'everyday driving' that involves, I suspect, somewhere about halfway (assuming a lot more of myself than I should) between normal everyday and your canyon runs from years past. There's not just a pucker effect, there's also a hollow stomach drop if I'm silly enough to take that brief instant on the way into the curve to ask myself if I really do think it'll hold on the way through and out the other side. I also cannot imagine my car making it close to 90mph through any of the fun curves in the mountains out here, at least without assuming that to be the last curve she and I will ever see. I've yet to see, aside from wet roads, the limits of the car as she is in any curve I've come to, but I also still don't trust the car enough to risk pushing her up to that limit, since I still expect something other than simply traction to fail catastrophically long before I simply spin around a couple times from misjudging a curve.