good insight. so... there is no point to the flex or JIC flt2's that allow you to adjust the height and compression independently??

btw, what type of suspension would a FD need to drive as stiff as a 01/02 Viper GTS? I saw a guy driving on the tollway in one and his head was bobbing all over the place...

give me an example for reference.

 

There is. Adjusting ride height with a threaded spring perch means you lose piston travel of the shock because you are in effect just lowering the piston into the shock body. By adjusting the ride height at the opposite end like the JIC, you can lower the car without losing piston travel.

 

another dense question.. how big of a problem is that? I understand for an offroad vehicle, but a street car with a stiff suspension?

 

I am not certain myself. Seems to me that the piston just needs to have enough travel for the suspension to hit the bump stops, after that anything left will never be used anyway because the car is bottomed out.

 

Constant hitting of the bump stops will not only cause damage to the shock itself, but damage to your car when you run off the road... I watched my friend run his civic off the road 3 times because his rear bumpstops were too long and bottom'ing out, causing the spring rates to go through the roof and it would oversteer instantly (and the fact that he was not a good enough driver to know how to react to such a condition). He didnt realize the problem until after the 3rd time, he wouldn't listen to us.

 

I don't debate that. The question here is that if the piston has enough travel for the suspension to still bottom out, you don't need more.

 

Getting back on track though...

This happened to me on an old set of JIC SA-1's that i used to run on my FC. Anything less than 3 out of 5 in the front and 2 out of 5 in the rear would actually drive worse then those settings. Reason being that the spring rates were too high and the damper was too soft to actually "dampen" the suspension. It was just like riding on a suspension with no shocks. So give it a shot with like 1/3 the way up from minimum, or maybe even 1/2.

Also, how much of the shock piston is threaded through the top mount? Too much can damage the pistons, so can impact guns when installing the tops...

 

as for the original Q,

you know, you can put softer springs on the shocks. They use a standered size springs, prolly 2.25" springs, the other standered size is 2.5"

 

hey brian, i have the tein has too....yeah they sure don't feel like a cadillac i tell ya, a little bumpy but remeber it's a sports car five cliks from the softest setting..... does your front wheel driver side rub on the inside....mine wore a whole thru the liner. maybe you can ride in mine to compare and inretun give me a ride in your single turbo beast....i am not sure what kit i want.