coolhandluke wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2017 4:37 pm
Xian wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2017 1:37 pm
Dang! The site's been up for less than 48 hours and I've already been called out.
I'll plan to pull together some general information Wednesday (my work from home day). Figure we can start off with some general setup ideas and generic "off the shelf" setups as well as talk about different ways to achieve the balance you're looking for.
Awesome, I look forward to reading!
Sooooo... I'm slow.
I don't really know where to start... front stiff vs rear stiff? Springs vs bars? It seems like we've beaten it all up on the old forums, HT, or the Sandbox. Here's some general stuff to maybe get the conversation going:
Koni Sport "Yellows" - awesome OTS solution for most applications. Not a load of compression, decent rebound, and can handle rates up toe ~500#. It's a solid street shock that you can also use on track or for autox. Be careful with bump travel if you're lowering the car much at all. Consider getting extended upper mounts or their "Race" shocks if you want to go low.
Koni Race - this is a version of the Yellows that has more rebound damping and shortened bodies/shafts. You'll end up with more suspension travel at low ride heights with these than the regular Yellows. They're also valved to handle rates up to around 1000-1200. Probably a little stiff for street use but liveable if your roads aren't horrible.
Bilstein - After having a set of these, I'm a fan. They're rebuildable and revalveable. Plenty of paths to upgrade them but you'll need to get friendly with someone who can do the work.
Whitener Race Suspension - David Whitener is a well known fast guy in National Autox circles who started making his own shocks from Bilstein parts. If you're ok have non-adjustable shocks, these are the ones to get. The curves are remarkably similar to those that you'll find on any of the high end monotubes from Moton but at a fraction of the price.
I don't know a ton about the mid-range stuff (Feal, Fortune, PIC, D2, etc.). What I've been told is that many of these shocks are made with the same internal components and then valved to their specs... dunno if this is accurate or out of date. I'm sure others can (and will) chime in with personal experiences.
MCS/JRZ/AST/Moton - aka Pimp Shocks. All these are going to be pretty similar if I'm honest. The "J" from JRZ went to Moton that was bought by AST right after "J" started MCS. As a result they're all sorta inter-related. I prefer MCS because they're heavily involved in autox/wheel to wheel and are located in ATL (I'm in FL). Any other the others should be good to work with as they can all do the same stuff WRT revalving and rebuilding. MCS has always taken care of me and I've seen them perform "free" fixes on failed components when they really didn't have to. The way they stand behind their product is what keeps bringing me back to them.
Shock adjustments - keep in mind that nothing on the car works in a vacuum; meaning, if you change something at one end of the car, it won't just effect that end of the car... it'll impact the whole thing. Generally speaking, adding rebound to one end of the car will make it looser/easier to rotate by transferring load more quickly. Adding compression aids in grip by helping to keep the tire tracking the surface until you have too much and then it decreases grip. If folks have questions, post them up and we can discuss. High end Monotubes/Pimp Shocks will have a much larger range than the entry level twin tube stuff from Koni mentioned above.
Bars - FWD cars typically like a large rear bar. It transfers weight laterally and, in the process of turning the car, the load transfers diagonally as well. Going to an extreme of too much bar can actually cause a pushy/loose situation where the car has a push right at turn in that transitions to being too loose. The ASR stuff is my go to for a rear bar though you can fab your own with Speedway Engineering parts. Look for Andy Hollis' posts on the topic (believe he has them on FB under his OneLap CRX page) or post here and I can dig up other links. If you dig out any of the rate calculators for sway bars, make sure that you're not looking at single wheel "bump" and that the answer is the correct doubled amount that you get in roll.
Springs - Dedicated track cars can live better with a "stiff rear" bias that would make an autox or street car almost undriveable or unbearable. Remember that, as you increase rear spring rate, the suspension moves less so your rear bar contributes less to total roll stiffness. As a result, if you just up the spring rate, you've made the rear bar correspondingly less effective. For anything less than a dedicated wheel to wheel car, I prefer a front stiff setup. Front rates in the 650-1100 range (depending on application and street tires vs R-comps) and rear rates in 500-650 range (again, depending on the details). This gives you a turn-in that won't kill you and some compliance over bumps/curbs while, when coupled with a big bar, the balance that you want to get the car turned.