suspension setting question

Highlandor

LOL

Great arguement (I'll give you that) - fatally flawed though....'cos:

My theory works!!!

Click to expand...

That whooshing noise you heard a moment ago. That was the sound of you gloriously missing the point. Never mind though.

Funny you should choose the above wording. I had a look at you theory the other day. And found it to be fundamentally flawed. That, or you've made some glaring omissions.

Firstly, you make no mention of damper compression. Do you match compression to extension?? Please try to provide as much information as you can, don't leave things out or make assumptions, you'll only look like an arse.

Secondly, how does your theory factor in increases to power, decreases to weight and tyre choice?? I'm sure your theory works for stock cars and those that require no power upgrades or weight reductions, such as the ones you've talked about, the HPA below and some GT Petronas thing earlier on. But what about my Honda Accord Euro-R that I've stripped several KGs out of, added a bucket load of power to and swapped tyres on. How does your theory work then??

Thirdly, your theory only serves to balance spring rates in relation to weight distribution. It does little to cope with weight transfer, particularly high powered RWD cars. I've seen countless cases of such cars having massive spring rates in the rear (where there's little weight) and fairly normal rates up front (where there's loads of weight).

If you want people to take you seriously and engage in sensible conversation, then write everything down for people to examine and try. Don't gob off, people will just think you're a dick. It's also worth remembering, your theory is just as good as the next guy's, you're no better than anyone else on here, and you can quote that as a fact

{Cy}

Highlandor

HPA Audi TT (the one I use for my race series - rules are 585pp - racing hard tyres - no power limiter or ballast allowed)

648bhp - 1338kgs - 585 pp - racing hard tyres (aero 5 fr - 5 rr)

Weight distribution = 59% front - 41% rear (not great is it?)

So (with FULL custom suspension added):

Front springs:

Min = 5.1 & Max = 15.5

So the spring travels - 10.4

59% of 10.4 = 6.136

The add minimum setting (5.1) = 11.236

That's your stock spring rate, but I prefer stiffened springs, so:

10% stiffer = 12.3596
20% stiffer = 13.4832

I tend to round up or down at 0.5 being the cut off:

So my front springs would be:

13.5

Rear - do the same

Min = 4.1
Max = 15.5

15.5-4.1 = 11.4 (travel)

41% of 'travel' = 4.674

+ min (4.1) = 8.774 (stock spring)

10% stiffer = 9.6514
20% stiffer = 10.5288

So my rear spring is:

10.52

So I've got:

Front = 13.5
Rear = 10.5

These are numerical values, but it's the % of 'strength' which is now important.

The front are over 3/4's strength, but not maximum, the rears are just over half. So match your damper extension to this (front 8 and rear 6), then reverse your roll bars to this (front approx 1/4 = 2 and rear just under 1/2 = 3).

So the basic starting point setup would be:

Front
13.5 - springs
8 - damper extension
2 - roll bar

Rear
10.5 - springs
6 - damper extension
3 - roll bar

This is the starting point for your setup, but you will now have to tweak to personal driving style and equiptment setting.

Click to expand...