Suspension Tuning

melicha8

Member
Hey guys I want to tune my suspension in the future and need some advice. Here it goes.

I bought the GC Coilovers which have a greater spring rate than the stock P5 how would the following combinations affect the performance of the car

Hard Shocks + Hard Springs
Soft Shocks + Hard Springs
Hard Shocks + Soft Springs
Soft Shocks + Soft Springs

Any ideas would be nice. It seems to me that Hard shocks and soft springs would be a big no no but I couls be wrong so help me out
 
what you need is a spring and shock that compliment one another and are designed to work TOGETHER....if not....one or the other will be over worked and prematurely wear out...
 
OK, the thing to understand here is what shock and springs do for your suspension and handling. Shocks/struts are on your car to control the motion of your springs after traveling over bumps/dips. Springs are there to maintain the tire's contact with the road when encountering bumps and dips in the road. The also help the car resist body roll in turns. Ever watch the movie Uncle Buck? There is a car without shock absorbers, just springs. The thing just never quits rocking and bouncing around. Shocks basically have rebound(downward movement) and bump(upward movement) that is controlled hydraulically, with the use of oil, or pneumatically which are your air/gas shocks.

I assume you are looking for the best setup for high performance driving and not necessarily the most comfortable ride.

On springs you want them as stiff as you can without the car bouncing off of bumps. If they are too "soft" the coils will slam into each other causing too much body roll, slow steering response and, when they fully comprress, the front will start to push or you will lose control. If the springs are too hard the tire will not be able to comply with the bumps and dips in the road and will the car will bounce off of the road causing a loss in traction.

For shocks you want the shock to be stiff enough to keep the oscillation of the spring(bouncing up and down) to just one cycle. If the shock is too "soft" the car will bounce around and be move a lot during braking, accelrating and cornering. This also messes up weight transfer and causes you to lose traction. If the bump is too "hard" it will keep the spring from doing it's job of absorbing the bumps and if rebound is too stiff the tire will not fill a dip in the road. Too stiff of a shock and the car will be very hard to control over bumpy surfaces. So it would be a good thing to have adjustable shocks where you could adjust both rebound and bump(Koni makes good ones).

Your GC coilovers are also designed to provide you with the ability to change the static weight distribution of the car. You are able to put more weight on a wheel by lowering the adjuster for the spring on that side or by raising it on the opposing side(diagonally). You use them to not only lower the center of gravity of your car but then you can manipulate it to give you a very balanced response, as far as how weight transfers, in your car.

Other things you can do to tune a suspension would be the addition or subtraction of anti-roll bars(minimize body roll, keep tires on the ground during cornering), changing tire pressures(keeping the most contact patch on the ground), adjusting camber(maximizing grip during cornering by making a flat contact patch), and adjusting caster or toe(helps to increase steering response or stabilize the car in a straight line).

Basically, it takes a lot of playing around to get it just right and it does depend on how you drive and where you drive.

Also, a little caution here, adjusting these things I mentioned above beyond what is stock can do things to make a car more unstable in certain situations(such as increasing toe out makes the car more unstable in a straight line) and can lead to increased or uneven wear in you tires. If you're not sure, what will happpen, read some more about it or talk to a professional.
 
Jr. thats a good explanation of what to shoot for in a suspension setup, but dont forget the importance of unsprung weight. Thats the one important thing I didnt see mentioned, and Im a big believer in reducing unsprung weight.

Spring rates are pretty much a function of vehicle weight or load, while compression and rebound damping are a functions of the unsprung corner weight to corner load ratio. The lighter the unsprung weight, the more likely the wheel assembly is to move when bumped, than the body. And thats a good thing. But reducing the unsprung weight, like changing to a much lighter wheel for example, will cause the same suspension to behave differently. The set up could be overdamped in compression and under damped in rebound. So ideally, the strut or shock should have adjustable compression and rebound dampening to compensate, and dial in the desired ride quality. But, for most people just a rebound adjustment is usually enough for street use. Its also important to note, that what one person thinks is a perfect setup for their driving style and terrain, may suck big time for someone else.

Another thing, some people think that all coil overs have an adjustable spring rate, when in fact they dont. They mainly just allow for corner ride height adjustment. A spring preload adjuster on some better setups will only change the amount of soft spring force already used in compression, and thus only the point in the rate at static conditions. Its not as simple to tune a suspension as just going hard or soft. Hope that helps, but it is best like Jr. said, to study a bit more.

Also see my post about Mazdaspeed struts, if you want to talk about a screwy setup.
 
Zues is on point! I just didn't know where to stop. We've probably got enough here to get you very confused at least! The point Zues makes about coilovers not offering adjustable spring rate is an important one and should be realized as I see many posts that seem to indicate that is the case. Although I think many people buy coilovers as a showy thing more than a "suspension tuning" tool. If you merely want to "dump" your ride for looks and want to be able to raise it or lower it as your mood changes, you're better off getting some kind of air bag suspension. Still just as showy and easier to raise and lower. But don't take your car to the race track and expect to keep up with me and my stock MP3 suspension!
I think I've said it before that it's important to have a very good handle on a particular problem you have with your handling(i.e. too much understeer) and make changes to the suspension to solve the problem. Don't just make changes to make changes. It takes a lot of driving to develop a feel for what is going on with a suspension from the driver's seat. I know I'm not even close to where I want to be in understanding it all.
 

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