Suspension settings?

loz1961

Wrench Pro
Points
11
Location
Australia, Newcastle NSW
Car
1994 Mitsubishi GTO
Hi Guys, does any one know alot about rebound and dampening settings? I have coil overs that are 32 increment adjustable, was wondering what difference hard to soft is going to make, ie. wet to dry conditions
Also different track scenario's
Probably silly question but I cant really feel any difference in the settings
 
Best thing you can do is keep an A4 notebook and log the settings used, track, conditions, tyres used, pressures etc. Then make adjustments and again log the data. Might pay to hook up an in-car camcorder for recording your laps and use the time on the screen to compare as timed laps are not allowed ;)

Trial and error as every car and every driver has their preferred settings and no two are ever the same.
 
As Stamford said!
For first clue you can search for Koni suspension setup guide somewhere on www.
It could give you a point where to start.
 
Thanks Stamford,
have been keeping a log of tyre temps and pressure settings and most of our laps are timed so as you say will have to start recording shock settings.
It is a very time consuming excersize as you dont want to make too many changes at once, then you dont know what worked
 
Sorry was also going to say have just purchased a VIO HD pov camera so will have video in future.
Next meeting is on 29th Jan, its regularity, have to nominate a time from a practice session then stay as close to that time as you can, accumulate points for being slower or quicker, car at end of day with least amount of points is winner.
Should be good day if weather stays fine
 
A friend of mine in Taranto, Italy does regularity events. He did have an Alfa Junior but he's been talking about a Cooper recently so think he may have changed it. I'll find out when I see him next.
 
If you are serious about getting the best settings for track days then you will need to log tyre temps across the tread to see what part of the tyre is hottest and adjust camber etc in an effort to get temps as near as possible the same across the width of the tyre
 
Setting dampers can be a tedious process. With dampers that have bump and rebound adjustment and, say, 30 clicks on the adjuster, 4 dampers give you 810,000 combinations!

Unless you have bought Ohlins or similar, the effect of each position of the adjuster is not likely to be the same on each unit. IE, position 10 on bump on one damper won't necessarily be the same on the other dampers due to variations in the internals. This will have to be taken into account when setting up and notes kept.

Even with identical dampers, each corner of the car will be a different weight so the first thing to do is corner weight the car before venturing onto the track. Make sure you or a person (or sack of potatoes/bag or two of ballast) of similar weight is sitting in the driver's seat during setting up.

Once out testing the golden rule is Only Adjust One Thing At A Time. You can adjust all dampers by the same amount but don't adjust bump and rebound at the same time otherwise you will get into a hell of a mess very quickly.

Wind all adjusters to their hardest setting as this is where you count the clicks from. You can't do it from full soft as this tends to vary from damper to damper. Then wind to the mid point (on your dampers that is approx 16).

If you have cheap springs, don't bother testing until they have taken a set. You can then reset ride height. Mind you, if you are serious enough to want to set your dampers you shouldn't be using cheap springs in the first place :)

I don't think filming the test is of much use apart from, as Stamford says, as a stop watch. You need to drive the same way on each test lap as trying to go faster by taking a corner differently breaks the OAOTAAT rule. Only once the car is set up properly can you look to improve your technique.

With regard to the actual damper settings, start with them on their middle settings, counting from full hard. Then, by halving the gap each time (Middle to full hard is 16 clicks on your dampers, so try 8. If too hard try 12, if still too soft try 4 and so on) you can greatly reduce the number of changes required to get to where you want to be.

Remember, however, OAOTAAT!

As mentioned by others, let the tyres cool down after each test so that their pressures remain constant during testing.
 
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A lot of good advice . I would only add that IMHO that many different settings are only of any use in a fully set up track car. ( and even then I would question you need 32)

A lot of the time suspension companies have that many and use the phrase to reinforce "fully adjustable"
Truth is you wont notice the difference a few clicks either way untill you are on the track with the right tyres, pressures, spring etc etc and thats of course providing you are a proficient driver that can duplicate a decent lap well enough to make the settings important
 
A lot of good advice . I would only add that IMHO that many different settings are only of any use in a fully set up track car. ( and even then I would question you need 32)

A lot of the time suspension companies have that many and use the phrase to reinforce "fully adjustable"
Truth is you wont notice the difference a few clicks either way untill you are on the track with the right tyres, pressures, spring etc etc and thats of course providing you are a proficient driver that can duplicate a decent lap well enough to make the settings important

Agreed. For most drivers dampers with soft, medium and hard settings will be fine :) Too many settings will just confuse most. However, they can be useful in order to fine tune the cheaper dampers so they match.

I think we are back to the 'get driver training first before improving car' mantra :)

I suggest fitting dampers set midway and go out with the track professional. He will be able to suggest which way to adjust the dampers to get you somewhere near so the car handles well. Once you have mastered the car then is the time to fine tune it.
 

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