Coilovers and adjustment

[Scott_Higashi@el.nec.com]

>http://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/1009600.phtml

>Seems to make sense, but I tend to think there is
>a middle ground between what he says and what reality is.

>Its worth the read, but in a nut shell, he says Full coilovers
>are not worth it unless you have a full day to set them up, using 4 point
>scale etc... and then re adjust for every track, etc...

>Id like to have feedback from you experts in here. Tell us what
>you think about this.

>Thanks.

>Chris

I say his argument is off...  His point about the importance of
cornerweighting is a good one.  For MAXIMUM performance from a coilover
setup, cornerweighting is critical, however, his example of the stool
teeter-tottering on two instead of four legs is a bad analogy because the
stool doesn't have sprung corners.  As long as the race springs are the
same length within an 1/8" or so and the perches are at the same height
left to right, you'll have a pretty good starting point for crossweight %.
At least as good as the stock crossweight %.  The notion that it'll ride
and handle WORSE than stock is a bit far-fetched.  Only if you have the
perches adjusted way off will this happen (or have whacked F/R spring rate
bias or overly high/low rates).

His argument for good aftermarket springs is also WAY off, IMHO.  Do you
think that Eibach, Intrax, or Sprint actually design their springs to NAIL
a crossweight on a car?  Think about it, at least with the coilovers you
have the opportunity to tune crossweights.  On the aftermarket springs, you
put them in, and where they land they land.  Also, if "tuner worth his
salt" "tuned" the springs to work on a car with A/C, 5-speed, leather,
sunroof, big stereo, and a skinny guy driving, but your car is stripped, no
A/C, no sunroof, and you weigh a bit over 250# and you'll be carrying a
passenger, do you think they also make a spring set for you?  Nah, but if
you had the coilovers you could make a setup that works.  On the
aftermarket springs, if you want to cornerweight, you have to put spacers
in the spring perches to adjust...  To have aftermarket springs that have a
hope of getting the crossweights right, they'd have to specify LF, RF, LR,
RR.  They don't.  They just get close.  The coilovers get you AS CLOSE to
start, then you can only get closer!

Another argument against aftermarket springs is that they're all WAY too
soft for a good handling B13.  Consider that most are only about 150% (if
that) than of stock.  It's been shown that a good starting point for a dual
purpose SE-R is 300/200, and that's nearly 300% stock rates up front.
Especially if you want to be off of your bumpstops under any kind of roll
or bump situation.  Valley Spring/SuperSecret Manufacturer high rate
replacement springs?  Yeah, they'll probably work okay, but the crossweight
DISADVANTAGE still exists.  You can't tune at all without going through a
lot of work and fabrication (spacers and whatnot).

The argument for adjustable endlink swaybars is excellent however.  Always
set them up with no preload after setting up your suspension.  Ideally,
have someone your size sit in the car with all the wheels on equal height
ramps on a level surface.  Loosen all of the endlinks and let the bar
unload.  Then shim the endlinks if possible so that there is no cross load
under static conditions.  Of course adjustable links like on the N-Tech bar
make this a lot easier.

In general though, I think that the FACOS system is a critical first step
(on our cars at least) towards an excellent handling car.  Do it right and
use your head and you won't necessarily need the scales to get close.  Then
go cornerweight it to get closer.  Can't go wrong in my mind.

Good luck!

-Scott