Magown

The 2nd AutoX of our SCCA region is happening this weekend. I have already missed the first one due to my 951 engine swap, which is still out of commission. Matt Ritenour has graciously offered to let me co drive his cream puff '87 944S. I was wondering what kind of settings some of you veteran autoxers recommend for Koni Yellows shocks. We would also appreciate tips on a starting tire pressure. Matt has Yoko ES100's 205/55 & 225/50 on factory 16 x 7 & 8 Manhole covers, the car is stock other then the shocks and a Blazzak chip.

Z-man

Keep the front shocks softer than the rears. Or, if you don't know what setting they are on, just leave them alone, especially if you are used to the way the car handles.

As for pressure: a couple psi over stock is a good place to start. After a run or two, see how much the tire is scuffing on the outer edge: the goal is to get as close to the end of the tread as possible, without rolling the tire.
As with the shock absorber adjustment: if the tires feel good, and you are doing well, then don't adjust them! Changing too many factors can lead to a confused autocrosser, and inconsistent results!

-Z-man.

Bryans951

Not an expert by far...but I turn mine full stiff then a quarter turn back soft. Car handles good that way. Driver still sucks though so take it for what its worth.

BTW, make sure you see my post about the track thing.

Z-man

Going too stiff up front will cause more understeer: that's why I recommend going softer up front.

Bryan: have you ever run with a softer setting up front? Should help plant the nose and make your car rotate around the cones better.

Just my $0.42,
- Z.

Magown

Z-man, what about running more air pressure in the fronts to dial out more understeer?

Bryans951

Z,

Actualy I haven't. I think that I ran my first event full stiff and just started to back it down. Should I run full soft and work up a little?

Z-man

Bryan:
Start around the middle setting. Work your way down to softer and see how your car reacts. If the handling gets too sloppy, you're probably too soft. Allow yourself enough runs and events to get an idea of what the suspension is doing. Suggestion: set it to medium, and run a few events with it there just to get a baseline for yourself. Always adjust in small increments, and only adjust one thing at a time.

BTW, I never adjust my shocks, so there really is no need to go crazy with adjusting them!

Just my $0.42,
-Z.

Fishey

I run my konis about a full out front and half turn rear.

(that is from full hard) some people complain that it only affects the way the car rides I think it makes a diffrence when the car is changing direction quicker.

iloveporsches

Listen to Z-Man...setting the fronts to full stiff will just make the car understeer more. Setting the fronts harder than the rears will make it even worse!

adrial

You cant really say if increasing/decreasing tire pressure will increase/reduce understeer. You want to increase the contact patch to the front, which depending on your current temps across the tread be an increase or decrease in tire pressure.

In general with shocks/struts I think you want to start soft and then go stiffer. What needs to be remembered is that the Koni's are only adjustable for rebound, so the adjustments wont make much of a difference. If the car's not bouncing around, you're probably ok.


I wouldn't mess with everything too much, just get out there and see how it goes. I didn't touch anything at the Zone 1 event and was faster than the guys that are usually faster than me... *caugh*Zoltan*caugh*

I agree with one adjustment at a time.

Bottom line is there's way more that you can better with your driving than you can with small adjustments to the car.

Skip

And so starts the 2004 Smack-Talk season... ahh, the Spring flowers can't be far behind

With 250 springs and street tires I'd be going 1/2 turn from soft to start. Remember, you're adjusting the rebound (power/push) stroke. The speed of the damper isn't as great as it could be, but is still a bit fast. The problem with autocross for most of us is that your first run is a track familiarity run, your second is the setup for the third, the third is the winner and the fourth is the TTOD attempt (maybe it's just me ) It's hard to find the time to tune the suspension - but, if something is grossly out of sorts, you'll know it. Konis really won't "jack" down in a corner during autocross (indicates compression [or valving] problems... only adjustable in dbl-adjust shocks) - so, if you feel the car/corner is skipping over uneven pavement in a medium-speed corner (or during hard braking), try turning up the stiffness (1/2 turn at a time). Really hard to do this with the rears in-between runs - so, run them from 1/3 to 1/2 stiff to start... usually "okay" unless you already know better. Anywho, really hard to tune shocks at autocross - usually, I just walk away with more info to use next event. For those regions who allow test-n-tune days prior to comp AX days, definitely TAKE ADVANTAGE of that - you've got time to tune shocks, sways, tires, alignment, seating position, and everything else you never thought of when you're .3 secs off the lead in class.

Good Luck!

AWolf

I run 34 psi up front and 32 in the rear on 225 50 15's and 205 50 15's Sumitomos(sp). I tried going with less pressure all around and got a lot more understeer from the car. I also tried going up a few lbs with the pressure and It did not seem to make a difference. I would say that these #'s would be a good starting point but it's all about trial and error unitll you get the setup you like.

-Andrew

Tom R.

I had the rears in the middle and when I put the front at stiff the car overreacted to irregularities in the road surface. So i ended up leaving the fronts in the middle.

I was using old street tires, and sas going to run the H rated goodyear fronts at about 40 to compensate for my over steering (too much input) into turns, and the V rated michelin rears at about 30 to help reduce the oversteer i got from overpowering out of the slaloms.

Never did get to test that setup though.

Z-man

NOTE: The following post is strickly smack talk. There is absolutely NO good autox setup advice given here. Hey, I gotta put Adrial in his place! Also: Adrial and I are good friends, and we mean no harm, but don't try this at home, kids!
Well, it's about TIME you got around me! For the uninformed, at the Zone 1 autox, I ran in the STOCK P09 class, while Adrial ran in the MODIFIED M03 class, where basically it's anything goes. And speaking of coughing, do you remember that I was fighting a cold and laryngitis during the Zone 1 event?

Adrial also fails to mention the other 2003 autocrosses where we met: April 27, May 31st, July 13th, and September 6th: I was faster than him at ALL of these! I was running in stock class, while he was running in the modified class.

Zone 1 was at Tobay beach, Adrial's home turf, so he did have the home field advantage. (I haven't learned to autocross in sand yet!)

Looks like 2004's gonna be a fun season! Bring it on, Ariel! (Please note deliberate misspelling of the name!) I'm calling you out, Mr. "Fancy Pants" Adrial. Will your car be put together by the April 18th autox at Meadowlands? BRING IT ON, boy!

So, who's givin' who the smackdown, eh?
-Z-man.

PS: Can you feel the love? Hehe...

Z-man

BTW, here's a quick chart to help you determine if what you adjust will be helpful or not in terms of handling.

Generally speaking, for autocross, UNDERSTEER = BAD, OVERSTEER = GOOD.