Suspension Setup Help

[iamadirtdude]

So i got my coilovers installed and i know how suspension works and how adjustments affect the setup but, can someone point me in the direction for setting up my coils for drift? They are 32 way adjustable but im not sure where to start

[whiterps13]

What suspension mods do you have?

Other than tuning of sway-bars there not really much that goes into a drift setup. The majority of pros will tell you their setups differ so slightly from a proper grip setup that its virtually unnoticable.

Id say learn how to drive, and tune the car based on its characteristics.

[WI_S14_Goldie]

there really isn't a "drift" set-up. Its all about knowing how your car responds and the feedback you get when goin out and tryin to drift. U already got coilovers which is an awesome step! When drifting u usaully want to aim for a Stiff Susupension setup...

[iamadirtdude]

got that ddown i just didnt know if there was a way to get me close to a good setup and then adjust after that way im not working from nothing and adjusting....i dont know if that makes sense but i gotcha.... im just gunna have to drive and play.... i think i was just trying to get a good idea of where to start with bump and rebound setup .... like lighter bump rates and high rebound or maybe something a little different from the front setup for the rear......

hope that doesnt lose ya but oh well i cant get out what i want to ask so ill figure it out

[whiterps13]

Like I said before, theres no natural setup for drifting. Its all about figuring out the tendencies of your car, deciding what you want the car to do differantly, and tuning from there. If you have any specific questions let us know, but its mainly up to your specfic tastes.

A good place to start is the coilovers on full hard (assuming your on the track) and reducing the dampeners from there. Experiment, try differant setups, and see what you like. Also, if you have adjustable swaybars, tune the rear to full stiff and the front to full soft to help induce oversteer.

Let us know if you have any specific questions though.

[AmoebAssassin]

A good place to start is the coilovers on full hard (assuming your on the track) and reducing the dampeners from there. Experiment, try differant setups, and see what you like. Also, if you have adjustable swaybars, tune the rear to full stiff and the front to full soft to help induce oversteer.

This is wrong, and this is a mistake I see everyone making. There is no advantage from setting your "coilovers" on full stiff and assuming that harder is better.

When people say "adjust their coilovers," they mean adjust the dampers. Having hard dampers does not mean that your spring rates increase, but it means that resistance to suspension motion increases.

A car suspension is an vibrating system, and will respond to inputs (road irregularities, cornering displacements, etc.) by moving up and down, obviously enough. The entire goal of the damper is to manage that oscillation, and eliminate it vehicle use allows for it. Every virbrating system has a variable called "damping ratio," which quantifies the strength of the damper in relation to the springs and both the sprung and unsprung masses.

If your damping ratio is between 0 and 1, the system is called underdamped, which means that for a given disturbance, the wheel will keep oscillating for a short period of time before returning to its neutral position. Cars that are underdamped feel "bouncy," and are unpredictable and floaty in corners.

If your damping ratio is exactly one, the system is called critically damped. This means that in response to a given disturbance, the suspension will compress once, and then return to it's neutral position as quickly as possible WITHOUT vibrating. This is what you want to achieve for a race car. You want your damping ratio to be as close to 1 as possible, and your suspension's natural frequency to be around 1Hz or 2Hz. Cars that are critically damped feel stable over a wide range of road surface qualities and in most cornering conditions.

If your damping ratio is greater than one, the system is called overdamped. This means that the resistance to motion of the suspension is excessive, and that for a given disturbance, the suspension will compress once, and then return to it's original position without vibrating, but this process will take longer for an overdamped system than a critically damped system. Cars that are overdamped feel as though they skip over road imperfections, and change pitch and yaw unpredictably in response to road conditions.

By assuming that setting your dampers to full stiff is the best thing to do and then softening the dampers accordingly, you automatically make your car overdamped, and cannot tell when your car is reaching a critically damped state.

The way I'd adjust my dampers is to set them to full soft, and then gradually increase damper strength until the car JUST stops bouncing over road gaps, and bouncing on turn-in or turn-out. This ensures that you've reached the point where your suspension is critically damped, or underdamped to critically damped. This is where suspension function is the best.

[whiterps13]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I wasnt aware of some of the points you presented at all.

The reason I suggested that was because I was assuming he would be tuning his drift setup for the track. Most tracks are smooth without many bumps and chances for the suspension to bounce over rough objects, so I figured starting full hard and detuning from there would be a good starting point. After your post, I understand where I was wrong.

If youre tuning for the street (which you shouldnt be drifting on period) you should have yopur dampers at full soft anyways to increase their life. Riding on the street with anything but full soft is going to rattle your teeth out anyways.

[LooseSlide]

Just remember u just spent that money on a stiff setup, make sure it isnt wasted by having stock size tires, get some larger/wider wheels and lower profile/stiffer/wider side walled tires to compliment the coilovers.

[iamadirtdude]

that was exactly what i was looking for for an answer......thanks alot!

[iamadirtdude]

i'd love to hear more about the ratio stuff i understand what yopur saying about doing the adjustments and so forth but the ratio's is a little more technical. a little more info if you can? maybe how to find ratio's if possible and how manufactures use ratios..... i dunno just want to learn and considering suspension is the key to alot, it'd be cool to know

[ddgsxr504]

IMO if you want to set up your coilovers here is where you need to start.

Adjust the coilovers to ride height you want to achieve, the left and right setups should be no longer/shorter than 1/8 of an inch to each other.

Adjust the spring perches to where you have no preload or gap of the springs. (you want the spring to sit snug up against the upper perch and against the bottom of the lower lock perch.)

Put the dampening settings on the dead middle. (for 32 way adjustable you want the setting's to be at 16.) Obvioulsy the front of the car is a little heavier than the front so you might want to go 18-20 in the front.

Take the car out to the track and whilst drifting and taking corners try to observe body roll, turn in feedback, understeer/oversteer, and bump steer ect. From there you will want to make the adjustments so that your car has a neutral handling and a predictable tossability.

I am not a guru by any means and I am sure a few of the other guys here are much more knowledgeable with adjustments but this should get you started.

[AmoebAssassin]

^ That's good advice, but start with the damping on the low end of the spectrum, and if you're serious, set the ride heights so that you have close to 50/50 corner weighting.

[ddgsxr504]

if you're serious, set the ride heights so that you have close to 50/50 corner weighting.

I wish there was a way to do this at home.

I need to take mine in and have it done.
Modified by ddgsxr504 at 7:29 PM 5/15/2007

[LooseSlide]

if you search arround the net there are technicle articles on how to use home bathroom scales and wood planks to perform the task of corner balancing the car.

[iamadirtdude]

i got a friend who has some scales for their indy pro series car

[URAS]

i got a friend who has some scales for their indy pro series car

who hoo sweet im on my way.....

ps how far from melbourne australia are you?

[iamadirtdude]

only about 5 billion miles hah