The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

[magnumP5]

I don't mean to be an asshole, but I fail to see what the myth is. I also fail to see why I should stop paying 4 cents more per gallon @ Sunoco vs GE or Shell when I have proven to get between 30 and 50 more miles per tank. 30 to 50 miles for 64 cents a week (per tank) seems worth it to me, unless I'm missing something.

No one's being an asshole (yet )

The myth is gas from any of the major brands being significantly different from one another. Yeah, they all have their own "proprietary" additives but the actual gasoline/ethanol mixture is the same. Another thing I've noticed is that if I expect to get worse fuel economy I do. That is, the perceived "benefit" of using one brand of fuel over a nearly identical competitor is likely a placebo. Do you know if Sunoco has a lesser ethanol content than Shell or GE? That would explain the slightly higher price and better fuel economy if it was. I don't know and there aren't any near me so I can't check.

 

[princess peach]

Don't know about Shell, but I believe GE has 15%, maybe 10%. I'll check Sunoco next time I go, but I don't remember seeing an ethanol % listed.

 

[bigsho]

Torque steer competition!

 

[Lewis7789]

I'm an asshole.

Jon, all I know since I've experienced it first hand in the Milly and P5's that I get worse mileage with Giant Eagle brand gas.

But you're saying they're all the essentially the same and my mileage is a placebo? And we're back to myths and hearsay.

 

[bigsho]

Suspension gurus: i have a question for ya.

I have koni yellows and the hotchkis Front and rear sway bars and the ride is bone rattling the way its set up on our roads. Whats a good rate for the dampning on the konis? Right now, the fronts are a full turn from softest setting and the rears are medium. Rear sway is at the stiffest setting. I dont really want to go back to the stock sway bar in the front due to how much of a pain it is...

 

[princess peach]

don't know about the KONIs, but the BC coils I had on the 3 worked best on the street with the dampening set to half.

 

[aMaff]

Suspension gurus: i have a question for ya.

I have koni yellows and the hotchkis Front and rear sway bars and the ride is bone rattling the way its set up on our roads. Whats a good rate for the dampning on the konis? Right now, the fronts are a full turn from softest setting and the rears are medium. Rear sway is at the stiffest setting. I dont really want to go back to the stock sway bar in the front due to how much of a pain it is...

What springs is it on? That'll have way more effect than the shocks. I'd also look at softening the rear sway. Fortunately it's an easy enough change to make to just experiment and see if it's your culprit. Also, any binding is going to cause more NVH, so if your sway bar bushings weren't well lubed (or need to be re-lubed), it can affect it.

 

[Lewis7789]

Wouldn't you just put them all on full soft and try that first? And IIRC, you don't want that rear sway on the stiffest setting, right Peaches? The rear might get away from you on on-ramps.

ps- thanks again for the flash drive gift, Saturday!

 

[bigsho]

Stock springs. I have no problems with the back end coming around (fsb probably helps with that), and understeer isnt all that bad right now. just dont want to soften the dampening by too much end end up with a terribly handling car

 

[princess peach]

you don't want that rear sway on the stiffest setting, right Peaches? The rear might get away from you on on-ramps.

quiet you!

he has a better balance with both bars being from Hotchkis, I had MazdaSpeed in the front and Hotchkis in the rear (the Hotchkis doesn't fit in the front of the 3)

 

[princess peach]

Stock springs. I have no problems with the back end coming around (fsb probably helps with that), and understeer isnt all that bad right now. just dont want to soften the dampening by too much end end up with a terribly handling car

I had COBB springs on my KONIs, that was a good combo.

 

[bigsho]

Also, the bushings in both front and rear are lubricated well and didnt look damaged, no strange noises aside from the "normal" cold weather stuff these cars are plagued with

ps- thanks again for the flash drive gift, Saturday!

Youre welcome!

 

[THE Phen]

DAMPING!

We aren't watering ******* flowers over here.

 

[princess peach]

Lmao...

 

[bigsho]

Haha! Whoops

 

[Lewis7789]

I was waiting for Phen to swoop in. Haha

Sho, are you considering lowering springs for your Koni's? I wonder if you found some springs that are better matched for the Koni's it would even out the ride, though would still make it stiffer.

 

[WillD]

Have you tried everything on full soft? I'd bet that you wouldn't notice a tremendous difference in handling.

Another thing you could try is cutting down the rear bump stops at the very least. The MS3 sits on the rear bump stops from the factory.

 

[bigsho]

Evan, I want to go with the H&R springs, but i have to move first before i can go lower. The entrance to my driveway is so steep that i have to go up/down at a ridiculous angle to avoid tearing my bumper off. My next door neighbor has a 350z with a mangled front bumper at stock height due to the driveway.

Will, when i bought the car the rears were a half turn from the stiffest setting as well as the front. I softened up the rear to halfway between soft and firm after a month or so and the fronts as well. The rear bump stops were already cut down. I tried getting ahold of the P.O via call/text and letter from info left in the glovebox and google to see what his setup was since the rear.fenders were rolled and im guessing he ran a different wheel/tire, but seeing that the car was reposessed 5.5 years into his purchase and the lack of a return call/letter after 6 months im guessing he may not be around anymore.

Ill have to adjust the rear again when its warm and try the softest setting

 

[WillD]

I liked my H&R springs. From what I've seen they are the largest drop you're going to get from just springs. I'd get rear camber plates when you do get them. I was toasting the inside shoulder of rear tires pretty quickly. IIRC I was at like -2.5 degrees of camber in the rear of the car.

Also, the H&R springs are stiffer than OE springs (they have to be). So it's going to make your ride rougher than it is currently.

And another note about the Koni adjustment... With yellows you can only control the rebound damping which is going to have a very minimal effect on the ride quality anyways, but it's still worth a shot trying them on the softest setting. I ran mine a quarter turn from full soft.

 

[bigsho]

Thanks for the advice! Ill mess around with it once it warms up, or learn to deal with it since ill be going lower eventually