I guess I'm still a little confused on how a shock is set up (stiff/soft, bound/rebound) with a specific spring rate. I've read a little bit about revalving and how that would be beneficial if you're running a different spring rate but how would you set it up? What are the effectives of the soft/stiff rebound/bound, etc?

 

I'm not very good at tuning my suspension yet, but from my experience you pretty much have to try a bunch of different settings and feel the difference it makes. I dont think there is (or ever could be) a universal reference of what shock settings match the best with what spring rates because there are just too many variables. The basic idea is that when you run a stiffer spring you increase the rebound resistance and decrease the compression resistance. So I kinda keep that in mind when I change my setup, since I run stiffer springs in front my shock settings have to match (so they are different front/rear). When I tune mine I set the shocks to the neutral middle setting first (front and rear) and then experiment with changing them (either front or rear at a time or both at the same time). Then I take the car out for some hard cornering and see how it feels. Changing the compression/rebound affects the weight transfer of the car, as well as its understeer/oversteer characteristics (from my experience anyway). For racing I really like a neutral car, but for drifting I set the car up to oversteer all the time. Depends on what your goal is. Best bet is to get the setup with the most adjustability possible, set yourself a neutral baseline, then experiement as much as possible. If you wanted to get really serious about it you could keep a log on how each setting feels, then after you try all possible combinations you can decide which one you want. Also remember that as soon as you change something else in the setup (for example, run different size/type of tires) you effectively reset all your tuning. So decide on what you're gonna be running and stick with the same setup while experimenting with the settings.

 

hrmmm... Thanks for the input. That helps.

So I'd really need to be able to get ahold of some adjustable struts/shocks before I could figure anything else out.... Damn, I recently bought bilstein HDs.

Do the adjustable shock/struts on the market really offer a wide rage of adjustability?

How is this all measured anyways?

 

If you wanted to perfectly match your shock/strut settings with your springs, then yes. I see two ways of doing it, either you're gonna go with a common off the shelf part with minimal adjustability and it will probably be an alright match for street driving, or you're gonna go with the more race oriented parts requiring more specifics for your application, and you have the ability to better tune the car to your driving. There is a large selection of struts/shocks for our cars, some offer more adjustability than others. Best bet is to read each manufacturers websites and see what they make. I'm running Koni Reds (Specials not Sports) on my 91Z28 and they are 3 way adjustable. I'm finishing up on installing Tokiko Illuminas on my 89IROCZ and they are 5 way adjustable. Both of these cars are running specific rate linear springs front and rear. This isn't really much adjustability when it comes down to it, but it does have some. The struts/shocks with the widest range of adjustability is the QA1's, they even have double adjustable dampeners. It all depends on what you need. As far as measurement, there is no universal agreement between manufacturers, so it will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer (example setting 3 on Konis probably wont match setting 3 on the Tokikos).