Quote:
Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91
...Unless you have something high-end, like a Penske, and you've taken the time to clock the adjuster window on the shock dyno, the knobs on your shocks cannot be trusted to work. Most shocks of the same model DO NOT match each other on the same adjuster setting, and each click DOES NOT make the same change in force.
|
A great article indeed.
That is the problem with relying on shocks to tune overall force. This is why it's just as important on choosing the right spring setup over anything else. The damper for all intensive purposes should be doing as little work as possible. With cheap coilovers that use both inaccurately gauged dampers as well as inaccurately matched springs usually ends up with poor ride quality over time, if not immediately. Even if you have an poorly adapted damper, you still should be able to get reasonable control if you have the right spring setup and have the damper adjusted to the least intrusive rate.
One of the biggest points on the article is about gas pressure. So many rules of thought still floating around saying its not as important as it is or should be used in other ways other than valve attenuation, when in reality it can make or break your handling, certainly over time. It's also another reason why i'd never suggest anyone use a twin tube shock.
Quote:
|
Happy Fun Fact: Formula One cars use non-adjustable shocks. They get away with this by running the car on a seven-post shaker rig that plays back suspension movements recorded previously on that track, using the data the collect on the rig to tune the shocks, and once the shocks are tuned, those are the shock forces they use at the race. Once they're right, they're right
|
Fun fact- This is vague an slightly inaccurate. But that is an entirely different argument. Fact of the matter, F1 cars generally remove the aid of adjusters because it increases weight and bulk. Teams have entire garage zones dedicated to re-tooling or simply replacing dampers and spring rates at race events. Its never one and done.
Secondly most of the bump and rebound is controlled by the tire, not the damper. The dampers and "roll eliminators" primarily serve to control yaw, roll and pitch. Where as on our road cars the dampers have to control this plus bump and rebound as well as squat and dive independently. So adjusters are still valuable, as they are on anything short of an LMP1 or gp2 car.
2 cents.
D2 coilovers? I would actually like to know how they handle. compared to more expensive kits.