I installed a set of gab adjustable shocks along with some blue lowered springs into my FD. The difference in spring height between stock and these blue things is substantial. Now my car looks sick (read: the bad sick). I set the gab shocks to 1(as in between 1-8 compression/rebound setting) now I assume 1 is the softest as rebound is way too free. Though it is still stiff as all buggery which I assume comes down to the springs and it is too low for my liking. I have a sprint day coming up but I was thinking of putting the stock springs back in but retaining the GAB shocks. I understand the stiffer springs and added negative camber may help the car handle better. I guess what I’m trying to achieve is some sort of comfort for everyday handling but still improve of the stock suspesion

 

Well, what *are* those blue springs? People here run H&R Sports, and Eibach Pro-Kits and stiffen the ride over stock, yet have it compliant enough for daily driving.

 

what could've happened is that you've lowered past the damper's bump stops.

when you lower a car too much on dampers who's ride height is not independent of damper stroke length (ie tein re), you risk bottoming out on your dampers.

any amount of dampening adjustment will not help at this point. the only thing that can help is either 1, replacing the springs with less of a drop, or installing coilover sleeves to raise your car.

 

ok thanks.

it does hit the bump stops. so using the stock springs would be the better option atm? what shoud the dampner setting on the shocks be?

have no idea what the springs are. they are 2nd hand and came with the car

 

i put the stock springs back in and i'm back to the boat supension on the track but atleast i can now clear my driveway.

those with GAB shocks, what have you got the dampner setting on? mine is currently set to 4 for front and rear which seems still too soft with the rebound. i will tighten them up, but was jsut interested what others use

 

here's an example of what i mean. notice the rx8 with stock suspension

(no comments on the line i took :P)

 

That really doesn't look that bad. Get thicker antiroll bars if want less bodyroll.

 

See, never use the blue kind. only the red kind.

 

you are probly better off w the stock springs as far as going fast at the track versus what you had.... the FD should sit at approx 25 inches ride height all 4 corners measured at the top of each wheel well. any lower and you run into camber problems as well as clearance.

it blows me away that so many people install springs to lower their car or gain additional spring rate without knowing the actual rate of the springs they are installing. 25 pounds of spring rate can change the way a car handles big time.

the stock rate is 245 pounds per inch front and 181 rear... it works pretty well.

modded rates that i like are:

for most people... a really nice upgrade that works well at the track and on the street is Eibachs Pro Kit which is a linear 350 front and 255 rear. they transform the car. in addition, the stock shocks, which are excellent work well w these springs. so you run the stock shocks w these springs and have a very good setup for around $200. win win.

i run RS*R coil overs which are 432 fr and 378 rear.
they are actually rebadged Tein HAs... the current Tein HA is 566 fr and 422 rear which is at the outer edge of spring rate but still o k for street. Tein, IMO, is the best built for the money coil over... selling for less than $1000. i believe that the HA is discontinued and they sell it as the Flex. be sure to check the SPRING RATE before you buy Tein coil overs as the RA model has 800 pound rate springs which are waaaay toooo stiff.

stiffer is not necessarily faster. stiffening roll rates thru springs. shocks & bars does NOT change lateral weight transfer. it makes the transfer happen quicker making the car more challenging to drive at the limit. since the FD has negative camber gain (like a real racecar) a bit of body roll doesn't hurt the dynamic camber...

as to your current situation.... set your shocks up about midrange stiffness in front and full soft in the rear intitially. you want soft in the rear. the primary challenge on a front engine rear drive car is trying to get the rear to stick on a road course.

BTW, if you bottomed your shocks w the short springs you may have seriously damaged them. inspect for hydraulic fluid leakage on the outer shock body and monitor their performance.

run 30 psi front 27 rear measured cold on the track.... 30/28 street. suspension settings 1.2 neg camber fr and rear, less than 1/8th toe in fr and rear and zero rear thrust angle. keep bleeding air out of your tires at the track.

good luck,

howard coleman

 

That's nothing This is on race tires with stock springs, a stiffer FARB and Konis:





My car routinely pulls 1.3 g even with this amount of roll. You can't fix roll with just a bar as the roll centers of the car determine what jacking forces are present and they contribute much of the roll. If you try to take all your roll out with only stiffer bars or springs you'll find you have less roll along with less grip overall because you're just not letting the car work well.

Shocks do not help roll at all; the car will roll the same amount in a corner regardless of the shocks. Roll is a function of cg height, roll center, springs and bars.

 

My stock FD suspension, with 245/45/16's sits at 27" in the back, and about 1/2" lower in the front. I think its the rarely spoken of "FD3-SUV" model

 

DamonB, do you listen to the radio while autocrossing? Perhaps a self-help tape to help you visualize the win?

 

My 10 year old 3 disc Alpine in dash changer has some buttons that do not like high g manuevers apparently; it now turns itself on sometimes I have to remove the face plate now so that I don't all the sudden start hearing strange noises

 

i put the stock springs back in and kept with the gab shocks front and rear set to 4. though i will try softening the rear, thanks for the suggestion howard. recently on the track she behaved well. did a little searching on anti-roll bars, and came up with the conclusion body roll isn't as bad as i had always been led to believe


nice work Damon! it seems even the SP model came out with boat suspension (see attachment)