Coilover damping adjustment advice...

[AdrianK]

After my driver limits day, and some time spent with Tom from TGm in the car, wee came to the conclusion that the back end seemed to be set up too softly and that was part of my light back end handling woes!

I have now had a look at the suspension settings, and basically all 4 struts were set as soft as they can possibly go.

I have adjusted the rears 2 turns stiffer (from a possible max 6 turns) and left the front as they are, as the front end is already much stiffer than the rear even set at minimum damping.

It has changed the handling noticably, but i am hard pressed to really describe how, or if it has actually improved matters, the back end of the car now seems to be a bit more detached from the front, but i dont know if anyone will know what i mean, im not sure i do lol.

Basically what i am hoping for is that someone with more experience / knowledge than me with suspension, can tell me how the handling will be affected by adjusting damping rates at the front and back, and maybe suggest a good setting for road mainy/ track odd use, bearing in mind i have been using the car for a year with both set to mimimum.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Project]

What coilovers are you using at the moment?
The rear should always be set stiffer than the front, im currently trying to find the best damping for the front of my coilovers the rear is perfect at the moment, but my settings will be different to yours as last time I checked i had 26 levels of damping to choose from.
Depending on how close the damping force is to the rear will tell you if your car is more likely to understeer or oversteer (softer the front more likely to understeer) which you dont really want as the front will flexing too much compared to the rear.
hth

 

[AdrianK]

Im running D2 coilovers, has 36 stages of adjustment front and rear from the little pictures on the rear struts!

Fronts are set to 1/36 (Taking 1 to be the softest setting)
Rears are set to 12/36

The front still seems MUCH stiffer than the back, to get the back similar to the front it needed to be adjusted to more like 30/36...

 

[MilanoChris]

I've got my D2's on the softest all round mate, and my back end is fine. Sure it plays a little, but that's due to the Geometry setup.

 

[AdrianK]

I found that on the driver limits day, on the bumpy stuff (much like our roads) the back end got itself bouncing and there was a lot of serious light back end action, resulting in a spin and numerous going wide slides!

Tom and a few others put this down to a too soft damping setup for the spring rate on the rear, thus y i am trying to sort it out.

Its just a twist and guess for me tho atm, as im not 100% about exactly what difference it is making by adjusting it!! I can feel the difference each time after a drive, but without going mad on it (which on the roads i wont) im not sure if its improved or not!

 

[Project]

How long have you had the D2's for?
I cant stand the soft setting on mine as I bought coilovers for a reason, the softer you go the bouncier it will feel, but at the same time if you go too hard and hit a little bump you will fly :lol:
you've just got to continue playing about with settings until you get the one that works for you, ive had mine 2 months and still not found the perfect setting.
Sounds very wierd how your coilovers front and rear seem to be opposites as the rear needs to be on highest setting to match the fronts :?
have you tried raising the front damping force at all?

 

[AdrianK]

The problem with changing the front settings is that with the spoon strut bar on, i cant get the key in to adjust the damping on one of the front struts... without completely removing it which is a total pain.

The coilovers are on concentric (or whatever they are called) top mounts, so the key goes on one side but not te other, i might get the top mounts adjusted so i can get the key in both, would be easier.

So basically no i havent adjusted them as i can only get to 1. but i played about with the one i could get at (without driving of course) and it ranges from minimal movement to no movement from pushing down on it with it adjusted lol! Very technical!

I agree with the coilovers being stiffish, it doesnt bother me if they were a bit stiffer aslong as there will actually be a hnadling benefit from it!

 

[celox performance]

I've got the D2 coilovers and find the car handles better with the fronts on 1/36 and the rears on 3/36 for road use. If I stiffen the fronts up too much then I get a load of understeer, especially in the wet. I've got a track day at Oulton Park tomorrow (Tuesday) so i'll be able to set the suspension up better.

 

[AdrianK]

Do you not find the back end very soft at only 3/36, on the softest setting the back is very soft compared to the fronts, but changing it to maybe 18/36 makes a lot of difference. Im thinking i might need to stiffen the fronts to match, but as i say atm its a lot of effort and i dont have the time!!

 

[celox performance]

I did Oulton park today and for the track I put the rears on the hardest setting 36/36 and the fronts between 1/36 and 4/36 and this helped with the understeer, just got a load more body roll.

 

[AdrianK]

im gonna try 9/36 front, 18/36 rear once i get the fronts so i can adjust them and see how that goes, i think the back is too soft still.