Hi, I'm rebuilding the rear axle on my car so have removed the rear coils and understand they need to be adjusted off the car... so what sort of damping adjustment should I be aiming for front and rear? The car will be approx -25 to -30mm from stock and I am looking for setting that will be forgiving on country lanes where most of the driving of this car will happen. Bushes are all standard rubber. Do I just set it in the middle and be done with it or go for the softest damping setting and hope I get some compliance. Is there anything more to it like firmer up front vs rear etc etc. Compliance is the most important aspect for me. The coilovers are just damping and heigh adjustable. No spring rate adjustment. They came on the car but have been recently rebuilt so am loathed to change them out for a shock and spring combo like the b4/eibach that probably would suit my needs perfectly. Thanks Matt
It’s up to your style of driving, what you find comfortable and time spent in your car. Takes lots of fine tuning
Cheers, yeah I thought this might be the case and I was hoping not to have to take the rears in and out to adjust. I don't drive particularly hard and prefer it to be compliant - don't want it jiggling about - I think I will put them down the softest setting and hope it's not softer than stock. What I dont understand is fully soft the same or similar to a stock damper and might bottom out if the car is lower or is it similar to a fixed damper and lowering spring combo, short of driving on super smooth roads/track why would you want it as firm as possible? Wouldn't that equal less grip on cambered and bumpy roads? Don't know just thinking out aloud. If there are any good articles etc on setting up a car link it here as that would be interesting to read to find out about it all.
I had my Koni coilovers on full soft for the B roads, all personally preference really. Ended up height wise going horizontal wishbones/ track control arms on my Mk2 and that seemed to handle the best.
Thank you Keith. Im going to go full soft as well. I understand the fronts can be adjusted on the car- do you just undo the nut on the rubber top mount and use the koni adjust tool to dial it back? The rears i think need to be off car, which incidentally they are as refurbing rear beam - assume i just use the tool to twist the damper or do you need to remove the spring?
Theoretically the damping won’t have any effect on bottoming out. The car is held up by the spring, and the spring rate will have the biggest impact on that. What the damping does is control the speed at which the the wheel moves up and down. Based on your description setting them to soft should be fine for your driving style. maximum damping is generally more problematic on rally cars where the road is so bumpy that the spring is compressed again and again before it has time to fully extend again. This can cause the suspension to pack up and bottom out over particularly rough terrain. This is much less likely to occur on road use, so just use the damping adjust to determine the comfort of you ride. I’d also suggest you play around with it until you are happy. You will be surprised what some subtle changes can do.
Mine are top adjustable Front and Rear with the white adjuster wheel. I don't recall undoing the nut for the top mount, it should adjust without touching that (you can feel it click).
