goleafsgo143

hey guys, I just ordered Koni Yellows for the front and rear as well as eibach pro-kit for my car. My question is, as a daily driver, what should they be set at since they are adjustable? It is my daily driver for the spring and summer months. Should they be set at the softest setting or middle range? I'd like good handling but I dont want it to be an extremely uncomfortable ride.
Thanks

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Set it softest first, run it a bit and then turn up the stiffness as needed.

Lonnie P

They should be set to whatever works best for you.... there is no correct setting. Don't plan on a Cadillac ride, but I can say it will not bounce over bumps. I am so glad I bought these for mine.

Start near the middle range in front & softest in the rear.
Nail a few turns & see how it reacts.

Car will ride harshly when stiff, but will feel more responsive.
Do not believe stiff is good for handling...

Typically if too stiff, & that end of the car will tend to slide easily.
It will start to turn, then slide & gradually get traction if you throw it hard into a turn. Back off about 1/4 turn (on the front) at a time until it feels OK if this happens.

Get the front sorted out, then try the rear.

The rear may work OK at 1 notch stiffer than full soft, but it depends on the rear bar you have. Be cautious here as oversteer is much harder to control than understeer.

Then repeat/fine tune as necessary.

My 91 WS6 ended up very close to the mid setting on the front (it is within 1/2 turn.. just cannot remember at the moment.) & rear at full soft.

Tried tons of adjustments just to see what I liked best.

Guest

I will secomd what Lonnie writes. I would recommend the rears on "1". Konis specs onm adjustment go- "0,1,2 and 3" so just one click up from softest.

It really does also depend on spring rate and overall speed urange you are driving. At least it did for me.

I ran around town with the fronts dials about 5/8th a turn down from full and the rears on max rebound ("3").

I would autox it (slower speeds) on full front rebound and full rear rebound. I would high speed track the car on "2" rear and full front to reduce rear unsettling on longer braking areas when the nise had time to set for 2 seconds or more (god this car was fun in high speed stuff. I could just throw it in anywhere and it would stick) I actually loves bumpy corner entrances, I would climb all over anyone in front of me and genrally walk out and around them- I love peoples faces when I pass them on the outside...... But I digressed for a moment......LOL oh memories, I miss that car. It was the slowest but most fun car I ever owned

goleafsgo143

ok sounds good I will likely set the rears 1 up from soft and the fronts in the middle.. Thanks for the help

Lonnie P

You missed what I said.... start full soft on the rear & move up as needed. This setting will be a remarkable difference from what you already have. Get used to the car first, before you start cranking up the rear.

If you have the factory performance suspension, the softest rear setting will likely be as far as you want to go unless you have some very sticky tires.

goleafsgo143

Sorry yeah Ill try full soft on the rear to start with because my suspensions is probably about 24 years old lol.. like you said even the softest setting will be a real improvement over its current ride.

Lonnie P

You may find that you like the shocks stiffer, but when you go too far, you tend to make the car slide. Essentially when the rebound is too stiff, upon corner entry, you transfer weight to the outside tires. The shocks on the inside tires do not extend fast enough & the inside tires are starting to lift off the ground. This causes the car to slide. What you are trying to do is slow this reaction enough for the car to evenly transfer weight (which is inevitable), but at the same time, keep traction with the inside tires. It is much better to work up on this slowly, especially if you are not frequently sliding the car through turns. When a car oversteers, it is rather easy to flatten a quarter panel on some immovable object.

These cars typically understeer, so work with the front first to get the best response/grip, then move to the rear.

After you get the rear where you like it, go back to the front & see if your setting needs changed.

What you are trying to achieve is, the best grip possible, but at the same time a balance front to rear. Having the front stick & the back come loose will get you in trouble. The ideal setup will have the car gradually slide all 4 wheels evenly when at the limit. Keep in mind, this varies greatly with fuel load, passengers, pavement type & also tires.

Guest

(just want to add to Lonnies great post)..and vehicle braking speed, vehicle center of gravity.

The higher the speed combined with better braking coifficieant and tire grip will unstettle a chassis much greater. As these factors improve, the problem becomes more noticiable and the car's CG will have to be lowered as not to promote rebound lift of the rear inside tires. There is only so much you can fix with shock vlaving until the car dynamically reaches its movement towards full body pitch and roll. Shock dampering only takes place in transition of body weight movement, once it has fully moved, the shock valving goes basically static again and the chassis will be balanced based on roll couple, spring rate, and swaybar tuning.

Guest

In better laymans terms-

Shock valving really only helps a cars balnce going into a corner and coming off a corner. Shock valing does not really matter when the car is fully set into steady state of mid corner......other than absorbing road imperfections. Its best to think of adjustments on a smooth surface.

Now, once that is set and you get onto a race track that is more bumpy that others, you will loose grip at steady state if the compression is too high on the outside and or rebound is too high on the inside wheels. This will cause the car to skip over bumpos and dips and loose grip in steady state.

Corner entry and exit are most important to focus on first to get balance going in and coming off.

I always start woeking on a cars suspension on a smooth skidpad first to set body ptich and balance with roll couple and spring rates first. I fine tune that with swaybars and keep changing it till things are correct. This can be dione on full soft with the shocks both rebound and compression.

Then, drive the car into a corner and see how it does on entry and exit. This is were you can control weight transition with shock valivng in the dynamic moments of the chassis. when it is braking and rolling into a corner towards full roll, and then vicxa versa as it roll bvack out and strraight under throttle. Entry is compression front and rebound rear, exit is compression rear and rebound front. Body roll is compression outside and rebound inside.

Bumpier tracks will need softrer springs than smoother tracks. Rebound will slightly increase generally with stiffer spring rates becasue it needs to hold back the higher rate wanting to extend back to normal after compressing. AA soft spring compressing too much in a outside corner bump can be increased slightly to see if the shock travel can be controlled better if that whell is hiting the bumpstop, otherwise the spring rate will have to be increased so as not to touch the bumpstop in full set + road bump. A care at full set and then travels further into a bumpstop upon hiting road imperfections can and will cause a car to slide that wheel after the bump and loose traction.

Lonnie P

Your posts are always enjoyable.
I wish you were close enough take my car for a ride.... I'm sure you could easily diagnose a few of my issues.

goleafsgo143

Thanks for the help. I just got the yellows in today. Both of the adjustments on the struts are turned fully clockwise (softest). One thing I notice though is that when I push down on one of the struts it rebounds or pops out a lot quicker than when I push down on the other strut even though they are on the same setting. Is that normal and it will change when its on the car or is something wrong with the setting?

Guest

Once they get onto the car and they cycle- giving a moment for the oil to settle in the orfaces at piston speed- they will balance. You will not be able to feel balance with them off the car. You can no way duplicate the movements needed to simulate shock performance cycling on a car even with very tame driving when trying to push and pull the struts or shocks by hand..

They are fine.

goleafsgo143

Ok sounds good.. Thanks