Double-digressive refers to the two "knees" on compression and rebound (the changes in slope, and the direction of those slopes, on the shock dynos), not the fact that both compression and rebound are digressive.

 

As CBRD stated it boils down to setup particulars and personal preference. I bought Dallas J's old AST5100s and I couldnt' get my car to handle like I wanted with his settings even though we had similar sway bars, etc. I am, however, only on street tires right now while he used to race them on R-comps. You really need to keep a log book of settings with notes on course size/elements while learning how the settings affect handling.

kaj - sorry your deal fell through, those were a pretty good price.

 

That's what I figured.

 

Hey Kevin, PM on what your car is doing and we'll see if we cant working through what's going on. Theres also a bit of driving style to understand about the evo too we can chat about.

I go back and forth on good street tires and hoosiers and the setup has worked for both directions so its weird if its not working on your car.

 

Chad,

The manual recommends 10 clicks open from full stiff front and rear. Based on that, what would your normal starting point be in comparison?

 

It's really easy to adjust the dampers, so I'd second Chad's recommendations to explore both ends of the settings (full soft, full stiff) to get a feel for what the limits are like. Then you might start with the recommend settings (10 clicks) and either adjust toward the soft end if you want it to feel slightly closer to what you recall full soft feeling like, or slightly closer to full stiff if you need to nudge it toward how you remember the full stiff setting.

But also keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all setting. The fastest setting depends on the course, track conditions for the day, your tires, tire pressures, and perhaps most importantly, driver preference. The fastest settings for one driver won't be the best settings for another driver.

So your best bet really is to try full stiff, full soft, and then go back to the recommended settings and tweak from there.

 

as mentioned try full open and closed-

if you havent-

i like a VERY stiff car- with alot of control of the spring- (we actually use bumper rubber and packer stacks here on our cars but dont for customers)--

you normally run a little more valving at the front-

too much rear will make it nervous-

what I find alot- is people feel the car being nervous when it transfers weight- so the try to tie it down more with damping- and what it really needs is the ability to move-

me on the other hand (again) I like a car I can flick on entry- so the stiffer setups work well-

cb

 

i like "loose " suspension. Easier to feel the weight transfer, there for it is easier to set up the car for a next turn. But that is me.

The reason i put it here right under Chad post is:
Not two cars are a same by any-means, neither the driver. So eventually you have to find your own set up for your own car and driving style. So what you see here is guide lines or suggestions only.

The suspension tuning is way more harder and interesting then the engine in my mind. The Ohlins is that much better because there are real differences between clicks...

Needs a lots of time to nail it down the set up , but it will well worth it. If you learn to work with a weight transfer you will learn a lot about our cars.

What i mean , last race i was running on sand springs and set up on my car ( had no time to change set up for tarmac), and still managed finish out of 67 cars the 6th place on 225's tires in a hill climb. why? because finally i am start getting my car behavior. So i think every one should learn the car first in a soft set up, and start from there in a first time. Then there will be a point where you start feeling less connection or more nervous car. That would be your temporary cut off point, until you will feel comfortable again. Then watch the times you run after you start clicking again either way. Some times you feel you did slow, and in the reality actually you did run faster....
Make sure you will have a little suspension book. So you have a tire type - size / spring rates - type/ and the clicks - hight written down. This way you will always have a reference point.
But of course this is my opinion only.

PS: to understand how soft my car was, here is one picture:

 

booya-

good info-

I have stated before also (in accordance to a post above) the reason we feel Ohlins makes such good production car dampers- is because they understand long travel shock/spring control- not just a 1-1.5" range like some of the other mentioned brands-

We have relationships with Dynamic (2nd at 24 hours of Daytona on these), Penske (won alms championship on these), Koni (won alms championship on these, and Star Mazda development), etc etc-

We choose ohlins for 80% probably of our track clients- our new GTR build (track and street) is going on Ohlins-

cb

 

What are you doing for sway bars, on tarmac?

 

Stock front and rear.
On off tarmac is no front sway bar.
I like when a car works together with a tires and alive . Not just laying flat on the tires, and the tires has to do 90% of the job.
For me this is the most communicative way or if you wish connection with a car to work together. Not just with a tires. I think the evo is amazing car and i let it shine the engineering behind it. I dont fully relying on tires.

Side note. Since i am not a pro, i dont get any money to doing this. For me this is the best and most entertaining way to drive around. I did drive and sometimes i still drove stiff cars around.

 

Gotcha. I'm also still on stock sway bars. And no pro here, as well. I work two jobs to support my habit. LOL
My car handles pretty well...but I'd like it a bit more loose on entry instead having to steer out with the throttle.

 

Which Ohlins setup are you using for your track clients? And for the track/street GTR?

Also, do you have any insight into what is different about the Ohlins damping or construction that lends itself so well to working through a longer travel?

I was actually slightly hesitant to go with the Ohlins R&T because they have less travel than the AST 5x00 series. The Ohlins aren't anywhere as bad as cheaper coilovers in terms of travel, but I still lift a wheel every time I go into or out of my driveway or pull in to the office.

For track and autocross, though, there's plenty of travel to go around. And honestly, I probably wouldn't want the additional droop for motorsports use anyway.

 

as stated- I dont have concrete comparisons- its just something I feel lends to their superior damping feel- as car as controlling the spring/chassis-

almost every other damper on the market tends to porpoise on a street/track car- acceptable on track if not severe- not fun on the street-

I have said before- For a car that blends STREET and TRACK- I think they are the best solution- for a track dedicated car (where the is some compromise) we do have some other options-

CB

 

I agree with Chad. Everything in life is a compromise. In the case of suspension this is no different.

In my case my car is still predominantly my daily driver. While I dont mind giving up some comfort for better performance if I was driving around on some higher end systems from JRZ Moton Penske etc. it wouldnt make financial sense whatsoever as they need to be rebuilt that much more often.

Im hoping my Ohlins will hold up to the test of time. What I can say is thus far they have been great. They ride very similar to my previous MR Bilstein strut setup which should mean a lot considering my current rates are more than twice what I had prior.