Hey I'm just fitting dampening adjustable coilovers to the mk5 but never owning a set of dampening adjustables I dont have a clue what to run them on? So how hard or soft do you run yours? Whats the benfit of eaither and how do you know when its right? Cheers Craig
ive not had adjustables until i got the mk2 at xmas. id thought about it a lot before as id always wanted a set. imo it is easier to detect under-damping, so i went from super soft and went from there, hardening it up until body movements were controled how i liked it, but went backwards when i felt it getting harsh
You want to keep them as soft as possible...it depends on where you are using them. I run then full soft on smooth circuits, then wind them up a little to avoid bouncing over bumps. Dont get damping confused with stiffness though...dampers dont control the amount the suspension moves, they just control the rate at which they get to the maximum movement point.
ahh cheers at the moment the car is bouncing everywhere, It will only be used on the road no track days in mind for the mk5 yet
what coilovers do you have? i think you shuld start with soft and firm it up from there. when you say bounce, is that an underdamped (magic carpet like) or over damped (just harsh over small bumped) type ride? i bet adjustable dampers are a mare when you dont know where to start with the ride
on front wheel drive i've read it's better to have the rear harder than front, which is how i had my mk2
you need to read up about primary and secondary damping just to get an understanding of the basics. primary is slow/low frequency movements, ie a dip on the motorway. the car sinks down. an underdamped car springs up and down a couple times before settling. with the right damping the car settles again almost instantly the secondary damping. this is fast movements, ie crap tarmac or rumble strips. lots of movements for the dampers to control. not enough compression damping and the ride can be crashy because it cant control the movement of the car/wheel. its all voodoo, hence why id love a set to play with and tune till they are right. id say start soft, front and back, and then go test the primary damping and wind it harder until the movement of the car is controlled properly. maybe for reference, go to full hard to see what the other extreme is like gonna be a lot of playing i expect
I'll try the same drive tomow, but when I drove along the road I do every day to work It was so bouncy I was laughing like a girl
I have been faffing about with it for a few days now but its still very bouncy or a harsh ride The FK kit I had on the lupo was hard but at least it was useable
doesnt sound good. luckily mine is on the racecar so only has the handle well not be a comfy ride. not driven the car since they've been on though so dont know yet.
Have to agree on the start off soft and get to the harder settings. I've got Avos on my Mk1 track car and on a circuit like Combe have the fronts set to just over half and the rears to half and that is well stiff enough. On the road I have the fronts at 1/4 and the rears at 1/4 so you can see how a little adjustment goes a long way. You may have to experiment with 1/4 turns of the adjuster as opposed to 1s and 2s
Sorry mate, but you are going to have to be a bit more descriptive than that! With my FK's if i have them on fully soft they bounce and take a while to settle over bumps. Particularly noticeable over motorway undulations. Which meant they were underdamped, half a turn or so and the bouncing was curred. Set halfway they should not be underdamped. Is the thump not just due to the stiffer springs and ride?
