[Taskmaster]

Help me here:

Daily driving, but I want to autocross. I don't care much for damping, and once I get the ride height I want, I probably won't change it ever.

My fears with coilovers: Reliablity - failure prone adjustments, leaking struts, longevity. There is also the factor of cost. I'm paying close to $2000 for a full blow "track" suspension which I'll never use to it's fullest.

But for spring and strut combos: Not agressive enough?, no height adjustment (corner balancing?) and pick my own damping/spring rates?

Help me here!

[cvc 22349a]

Ground Control suspensions seem to be very durable. Depends if you want or need adjustability. Their struts are shorter than Koni Sports I think, so that'll allow for better lowering than lowering springs and standard struts. If you go w/a coilover with stiff springs, you'll need firmer rear subframe bushings or inserts, and a firmer bushing in your front tension link.

[Taskmaster]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

Ground Control suspensions seem to be very durable. Depends if you want or need adjustability. Their struts are shorter than Koni Sports I think, so that'll allow for better lowering than lowering springs and standard struts. If you go w/a coilover with stiff springs, you'll need firmer rear subframe bushings or inserts, and a firmer bushing in your front tension link.

I like the GC package because it includes the camber plates (a good alignment is important) but at $1700, it's pretty costly. BC seems to make a good kit, but I'm a little scared of the damping and quality of the shocks.

If I did a Spring/Shock kit, I'd probably buy the Bilstien revalved shock and spring combo, with street camber plates. Bushing would be upgraded after for sure.

[JamesAC83]

you should probably care about damping...

[cvc 22349a]

Originally Posted by JamesAC83

you should probably care about damping...

+1

[Taskmaster]

Should have read 'adjustable damping'

[idrift4wd]

Originally Posted by TheAxiom

Should have read 'adjustable damping'

Thats what most people meant. you should probably want adjustable dampening. Most people wont touch it after setting it up after install, but if you autocross, stiffening your setup should help.

longevity also depends on how you drive. Though usually with a much lower ride height it puts a lot of stress on the coilover. Try to look for ones that are rebuildable if you want something with longevity in the case if one does blow.

[mlifxs]

I read somewhere on the forum that stronger damping = better transition control . If this is true, then I would think adjusting rebound to "stronger than street levels" might be helpful for autocross (which I intend to participate in).

Axiom, have you thought about Koni yellows (only)?.
With standard Koni yellows, you could adjust dampening in the front, with struts on the car, rears off the car for around $600. Or, pay more for rears from TCK that adjust on the car (about $300 more).
I'm thinking of this setup for me, but it's not time to toss my current setup yet. Maybe next year or so.

[Taskmaster]

Originally Posted by mlifxs

I read somewhere on the forum that stronger damping = better transition control . If this is true, then I would think adjusting rebound to "stronger than street levels" might be helpful for autocross (which I intend to participate in).

Axiom, have you thought about Koni yellows (only)?.
With standard Koni yellows, you could adjust dampening in the front, with struts on the car, rears off the car for around $600. Or, pay more for rears from TCK that adjust on the car (about $300 more).
I'm thinking of this setup for me, but it's not time to toss my current setup yet. Maybe next year or so.

I've just never delt with adjustable shocks/damping before. My understanding (and I may be wrong) that the shocks have a specific range they are tuned for, and when you adjust the damping rebound/compression, you are essentially tuning it out of that range.

I'm more of a set it once and forget it guy. I would tolerate a more firm ride 90% of the time if it meant I didn't have to twist knobs to guess what was proper damping for my springs.

[Taskmaster]

Bump on this, any other opinion.

[justpete]

Not sure if this if of any help - http://www.racecartuner.com/03/Suspe...eatSheetV2.htm

And a couple of papers, one way too detailed but there're some helpful concepts buried in there.

Race Car Dampers Pt1.pdf

Damper_tuning.pdf

[Taskmaster]

Looks like I have some reading to do...geeze, thanks for the homework Pete.