Ordered a full set of Konis for the car and they should arrive on tuesday the 28th. I am autocrossing onSunday April 2nd. My question: would it be advisable to install them and then use them to autocross a day or so later or should I wait till after I autocross? Right now I have old OEM shocks and struts so I am expected a big difference.

Thanks

 

run with the old stuff then chage it out so you have a comparison/justification for the money you spent.

87951

 

you sure you are going to get the job done in time. why pressure yourself. you have a bit of work to get the fronts done.

 

Just make sure you alot time to get a wheel alignment done afterwards. If you work at a decent pace you can swap everything in one afternoon.

 

*Hijack*

I've recently installed koni sport rears and waiting to do the fronts. My rear ride height has increased dramaticly, it has been lowered by eccentrics from before. I can put my fist vertically in between the tire and fender and it's been sitting for a week.

They are set one turn from soft.

What's up with that?

Thanks

Sorry Dan, it is on topic of the thread.

 

Your rear ride height should not have changed with the installation of just the shocks. The car might not sag as much as it used to with the old shocks on however. Have you driven the car yet? It takes time for the suspension to settle.

I have the Koni yellow shocks on the rear and did the eccentric trick as well...the tire sits flush with the fender gap (i measured it at about one full inch of drop). Before that i had a slight gap between the tire and fender line.

 

I should probably leave enough time to break stuff and fix it (that's usually what happens). If i wait till after the autoX on April 2 there is the track on April 14th.

However, the kid in me wants them on now!! Trying to refrain from doing the rears now so i can feel the difference all at once.

 

No I haven't driven it yet, not until May. By then I should have the fronts on along with 200 Weltmeister Springs.

Thanks, we'll wait and see

 

Dan, personally i would wait. Unless you think you can finish swapping the fronts either tuesday, wednesday or thursday night. Friday is probably the only day you can make an appointment to get a wheel alignment done. You could get it done on a saturday at any local place, but they will likely have no idea how to align the rear. But then again, there is no reason to align the rear if all your changing are the shocks.

eohrnberger, i can never remember the ride height of my car, but i will measure it later tonight after classes. I think stock ride height on mine was about 14inches from the fender to the center of the wheel..using the camber eccentric trick i got it down to 13-inches on the rear. I have the front set to match at 13-inches (might go down slightly lower when i change the control arms) with adjustable spring perches.

The ride height on the back should really depend just how low you want to go in the front..and remember to low (some say more than an inch) in the front and you should address the control arm / balljoint issue. I would set the front and rear heights to within atleast .5 inches (ideally the closer the better i guess)..i ran mine one inch lower in the front for most of the autocross season last year and it had a very 'light' almost feathery feeling from the rear end on high speed sweeping turns (i did this because i was to lazy to lower the rear). After lowering the rear and the front to fairly even..i dont get that anymore.

I have never done the torsion bars, but i would think setting it to within .25 or .5 inches of where you want it in the front, you can use the eccentric bolt trick to fine tune the height.

 

I am not planning in aligning the rear and actually Chuck from Paragon was telling me that I can align the fronts myself. He said for autocross I could use a lot of negative camber so I can install the shocks and set the camber all the way negative and tighten up the suspension. he said then after the autoX can bring it in for a better alignment for the mix of street and autoX.

I was also thinking about how much time I would need to get used to the difference before I used them in the autox? Is it something that I can feel comfortable using right away or do I need some seat time to get used to it?

 

It all depends on if you really want to do the autocross or not. The odds on you making it to the next event are inversly proportionally to how simple you think the job will be.

Of course there's always Murphy's law

Steinbeck said it well. "The best laid plans of mice and men....." You know the rest.

 

No he didn't but I woould think that I could get away with a bit of negative camber on the street. He said therace tires I am running (Kuhmo Escta V710) like a lot of negative camber. SO much that I can't get that with the stock setup. He said all i needed to do is align the fronts all the way negative and I can track/autocross like that.

 

By chance did he say what the settings would be best for a mix of street and autoX?

 

i put my rears right in the middle and played with the fronts. the car was most neutral with both set in the middle. i stiffened the fronts for an autox and it was the wrong thing. the car bounced all the way.

problem is the rears have to be removed to adjust. thats why i started in the middle. this was on my red S2. YMMV