Well I thought I would add the suspension update on to my build thread just due to it leading on to others things.
Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to Zach from DDMworks for helping answer my questions regarding the topic and I understand I am a bit noob at this and sorry for all the questions.
For anyone just tuning in, I am running Fortune Auto Coil overs that I have been running for the last year and half. I have been finding them pretty unsuitable for long drives due to the harshness over large bumps and undulations in the road. I am talking about throwing driver and passengers around sort of thing and having to run on full soft, all day every day. On the track though they have been pretty much faultless.
I am running 8K fronts and 6K rears if anyone is interested
With the advice of Zach I was to measure the suspension at full droop and also while compressed. These two measurements would then be subtracted to create the shock travel area. From this total take away the size of the bump stop, and you have your total amount.
This amount should then be roughly halved for both droop and compression, so say it was 8cm, you should try to have 4cm of droop and 4cm of compression.
I adjusted the rear and had instant improvement in ride quality, the fronts on the other hand have been an up and down struggle for me. (Again sorry to Zach for getting soo many messages from me hahahah)
When first attempting to change the front settings, I got carried away and did not take the correct measurements. I raised the lower springs perch up roughly 1.5cm and the base height adjuster down to try balance out the ride height, and noticed that the car was immediately better over small continuous bumps on the road, but gained a bit of wheel spin and tiny bit of wheel hop around corners at full throttle.
So after a week I decided to take the correct measurements and from the calculations had roughly 1.5cm of droop compared to 8cm of compression. So I went on to adjust the lower spring perch up some more to balance it out and I was getting close to the mark and the spring perch became super stiff to turn and started making binding noises. Not knowing what it was, I stopped thinking I was braking something. ( Could have been the spring?)
Took it for a drive and did notice it was better over road undulations but was terrible over speed bumps. I would get an explosive downward force and loud clunk from the suspension after passing the peak of the bump. It was funny but I thought s*** was breaking, I was also getting a lot more wheel spin around corners and felt like the inside tire was lifting off the ground, causing the spin.
So I decided to remove the sway bar links and try give it a run. Immediately the explosion over bumps was gone and it had much reduced wheel spin and nearly no lifting of the inside wheel. I was also three wheeling around round abouts, with weight transferring to the front loaded wheel.
I was thinking that maybe by moving the spring perch that I placed more tension onto the sway bar causing it to behave that way. I was considering removing it all together to see if I like it, but placed it back on due to local laws.
I did not mind how the car handled without the front sway bar, but this is all new territory for me and my test run was on public roads which did mean caution was taken, so I cannot test it out fully. I am finding that the changes are making small improvements in some areas, but cause other issues to arise.
So we are up to date with where I currently am. I am super confused as to what step to take now, as I think removing the sway bar that was factory fitment maybe illegal here. (Yes strict rules) and I was hoping to have my set up ready for a track day and autox weekend I got coming up.
I also got some longarce toe plates to adjust stuff at home. That was fun converting imperial to metric. I had trouble loosening the bolt holding the tie rod in place as I needed another 21mm spanner to hold the rod and loosen the nut at the same time, so had to keep it as is. Which was about .3mm out from back to front. I don’t know how you people do alignments on the ground. I could barely reach anything without contorting uncomfortably.
Anyway here are some random pics from the last few months
Here is the front coil over which still looks pretty much brand new as i have been running coil over bags since they were installed. I cannot recommend these enough to protect the coilovers. Basically neoprene with Velcro and zip ties
Put the Team Dynamics back on and have been driving on them for ages now
Random pic i liked
Thanks for reading sorry for the long essay