Need some rebound adjusting tips
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 3,699
Likes: 168
From: Wilmington, DE
Need some rebound adjusting tips So my car sat with extremely little drivetime. I decided to start driving again, but before doing so, pissed away alot of money in an effort to make the car more durable, and corner/feel/handle close to a porsche.
The durable part was a mwc fab 9 with full rear suspension and their long arm,
The handling was worked with front umi strano coilovers, and the rears are koni yellow and stranos. Wanted to save a few bucks plus figured id be happy with the ride height in the back with the fab 9, and i was right. I have stock sway bars, and lcas in the second to lowest hole. Car lowered about 3/4 of an inch.
Now, i remember in my opinion in stock form the car felt decent enough to push corners a little bit. So after all these upgrades, the car almost feels the same as before. This could be due to not driving it in awhile and i forget what it feels like. I have the fronts at 20 clicks which is halfway, and the rear konis at 3/4 turn from full soft.
My question is, if i make revound adjustments, how do i know if i need more in the front, rear, or both? How do i test my adjustments without pushing the car hard? Not talking about ride quality, just handling and planted feel. And yes i know i could get bars, but from what i read, good shocks can go pretty far for most people.
The durable part was a mwc fab 9 with full rear suspension and their long arm,
The handling was worked with front umi strano coilovers, and the rears are koni yellow and stranos. Wanted to save a few bucks plus figured id be happy with the ride height in the back with the fab 9, and i was right. I have stock sway bars, and lcas in the second to lowest hole. Car lowered about 3/4 of an inch.
Now, i remember in my opinion in stock form the car felt decent enough to push corners a little bit. So after all these upgrades, the car almost feels the same as before. This could be due to not driving it in awhile and i forget what it feels like. I have the fronts at 20 clicks which is halfway, and the rear konis at 3/4 turn from full soft.
My question is, if i make revound adjustments, how do i know if i need more in the front, rear, or both? How do i test my adjustments without pushing the car hard? Not talking about ride quality, just handling and planted feel. And yes i know i could get bars, but from what i read, good shocks can go pretty far for most people.
Depends a lot on how you drive. I drive pretty aggressive and like a lot of oversteer so I have my rears pretty stiff and my fronts soft. There is no "right" setting just experiment with different setups until you find one you like.
Don't overlook sway bars, they really limit body roll and make the car feel like a car and not a boat.
Don't overlook sway bars, they really limit body roll and make the car feel like a car and not a boat.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,798
Likes: 16
From: St.Charles MO
So my car sat with extremely little drivetime. I decided to start driving again, but before doing so, pissed away alot of money in an effort to make the car more durable, and corner/feel/handle close to a porsche.
The durable part was a mwc fab 9 with full rear suspension and their long arm,
The handling was worked with front umi strano coilovers, and the rears are koni yellow and stranos. Wanted to save a few bucks plus figured id be happy with the ride height in the back with the fab 9, and i was right. I have stock sway bars, and lcas in the second to lowest hole. Car lowered about 3/4 of an inch.
Now, i remember in my opinion in stock form the car felt decent enough to push corners a little bit. So after all these upgrades, the car almost feels the same as before. This could be due to not driving it in awhile and i forget what it feels like. I have the fronts at 20 clicks which is halfway, and the rear konis at 3/4 turn from full soft.
My question is, if i make revound adjustments, how do i know if i need more in the front, rear, or both? How do i test my adjustments without pushing the car hard? Not talking about ride quality, just handling and planted feel. And yes i know i could get bars, but from what i read, good shocks can go pretty far for most people.
The durable part was a mwc fab 9 with full rear suspension and their long arm,
The handling was worked with front umi strano coilovers, and the rears are koni yellow and stranos. Wanted to save a few bucks plus figured id be happy with the ride height in the back with the fab 9, and i was right. I have stock sway bars, and lcas in the second to lowest hole. Car lowered about 3/4 of an inch.
Now, i remember in my opinion in stock form the car felt decent enough to push corners a little bit. So after all these upgrades, the car almost feels the same as before. This could be due to not driving it in awhile and i forget what it feels like. I have the fronts at 20 clicks which is halfway, and the rear konis at 3/4 turn from full soft.
My question is, if i make revound adjustments, how do i know if i need more in the front, rear, or both? How do i test my adjustments without pushing the car hard? Not talking about ride quality, just handling and planted feel. And yes i know i could get bars, but from what i read, good shocks can go pretty far for most people.
When going by feel its personal preference and when it comes to racing that will be trail and error to find what is fasted for you. You should notice a significant difference in the way the car feels and behaves compared to the lower/middle/higher settings. If you don't think you like it now try higher settings and see if that feels better. If there are 40 total clicks and you are at 20 now, try 25 or 30 and see if you like that better. Same idea with the rear, try softest and go up and see if you like it better, rear will probably remain around the softer settings rather than the higher ones for the Konis.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,798
Likes: 16
From: St.Charles MO
Depends a lot on how you drive. I drive pretty aggressive and like a lot of oversteer so I have my rears pretty stiff and my fronts soft. There is no "right" setting just experiment with different setups until you find one you like.
Don't overlook sway bars, they really limit body roll and make the car feel like a car and not a boat.
Don't overlook sway bars, they really limit body roll and make the car feel like a car and not a boat.
Off topic but have you tried your rears on full soft/near full soft? You mentioning them being on the stiffer side made me remember you said the rear rides stiff for you and that may be why.
On that same note have you tried the fronts on higher settings? From what Ive personally found to like is having the fronts higher (for great feedback, steering feel and quick response) and having the rear on softer settings(rear axle seems to be very "busy" on higher settings), then using the adjustable roll center of the watts link to dial in oversteer if needed, as you said you like the car to oversteer more.
Off topic but have you tried your rears on full soft/near full soft? You mentioning them being on the stiffer side made me remember you said the rear rides stiff for you and that may be why.
On that same note have you tried the fronts on higher settings? From what Ive personally found to like is having the fronts higher (for great feedback, steering feel and quick response) and having the rear on softer settings(rear axle seems to be very "busy" on higher settings), then using the adjustable roll center of the watts link to dial in oversteer if needed, as you said you like the car to oversteer more.
On that same note have you tried the fronts on higher settings? From what Ive personally found to like is having the fronts higher (for great feedback, steering feel and quick response) and having the rear on softer settings(rear axle seems to be very "busy" on higher settings), then using the adjustable roll center of the watts link to dial in oversteer if needed, as you said you like the car to oversteer more.
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TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,798
Likes: 16
From: St.Charles MO
You should be able to feel a difference without even knowing what to feel for when making a large adjustment, like going from full soft to full hard, you should probably try that for reference to see what the min/max feels like for difference.
Just driving normally on the street you should be able to feel a difference in stability, how "taut" the car is,how quickly it rolls, how quickly it responds to steering inputs and how it behaves and overall feels in corners and on bumps/dips/imperfections etc.
Start somewhere like full soft for example and take a drive on a curvy backroad and push the car a little, be safe about it though. Now turn around and pull over and make an adjustment, say like going from full soft 0% to 50% middle. Drive the same road the same way and see how it feels,mental note what you like and don't like. Try it at full stiff and do it again, mental note on what you like and don't. Then you can either back it down some until you find what you think feels best or try the starting point you were recommended and see how that compares to what you just did with the other 3 settings. Keep playing around with it, have fun with it and see what works for you and your driving style. Take it home, maybe write down some notes if you want and then another day take it out on a different road and experiment with it.
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