JohnCA58

These two links should help you, with your kit came the spanner wrench and dampening tool for adjustments.

http://fealsuspension.com/wp-content...et-REVISED.pdf

http://fealsuspension.com/wp-content...de-REVISED.pdf

Tr4ckD4ys

i checked the links and it doesn’t give detailed advise on where the ***** for the rears are located after they have been installed. If you know, could you give me a hint or location? I know where to find the fronts, just unsure on rear.

JohnCA58

You won't see anything visual, the tool will go the the hollow stem at the top of the coil overs for adjustments, the **** is built into the tool. depending being a coupe or cabriolet, on a cab the rear cover must be removed to gain access, haven't done coupe yet so can't help there.

meirschwartz

you will need to remove the rear shelf carpet (and the subwoofer if you have one).

barbancourt

My car is a C2 coupe without factory subwoofer, so it’s as simple as putting the rear seats in the down position and lifting up the rear shelf carpet. No tools required.

Tr4ckD4ys

I finally got around to adjusting the FEAL coilovers. I just want to thank @barbancourt and the people contributing to the information in this thread. This has been a great learning and extremely helpful insight. That being said, .... WOW!! What a f****** difference! I was originally set at 10, and thought the road was terribly harsh that would send shockwaves through the entire body. So I went to 5 all-around and the car road softer, but, was also bouncing around a lot. I have now started off with setting the coilovers to 20F and 23R and I can only agree with previous posters, holy sh**, this has been a transformation. The ride comfort is much better than before AND the vehicle handles so much better.

I have no idea how this is possible given the language and symbolism on the coilovers of "Stiffness + / -", because going "+" does not "increase" stiffness of the ride, therefore making it harsher. So here is my purely speculative hypothesis, and I'm hoping a suspension expert can chime in: I think the "stiffness +/-" setting is a reference to the springs in the coilovers, not the damping or shock body. And even then it's still counterintuitive, because stiffer springs should yield harsher ride? No. I think stiffer springs in a coilover increases the "travel and energy" the spring has to "expand" and therefore moving along imperfections in the road more smoothly. Just a thought.

Either way, FEAL coilovers are amazing and car rides greater than ever.

barbancourt

@Tr4ckD4ys thats great to hear, and the exact reason I made this thread! I know a lot of people assume that to make the ride more compliant the obvious answer is to lower the stiffness settings. What happens when you do that is that the car becomes under-damped and everything suffers.

dporto

I find it somewhat confusing that FEAL can’t write instructions on how to adjust their coil overs???

barbancourt

They do provide instructions on how to adjust the coilovers. They even have videos on YouTube. What they don’t do is tell you what exactly you should set the dampers at, which I think is probably consistent with most coilover manufacturers/sellers. Different customers may have different needs.

dporto

^^^ Then why all the confusion? ^^^ seems weird…🤔

Tr4ckD4ys

I think the instructions are somewhat okay, although they could be written in more detail and with more picture material. The YouTube videos on the 996 specific coilovers from FEAL aren't super easy to find (as well as the different types, since adjustments change with the type you got).

The main point however is that FEAL does not give enough detail and explanation around how the different settings affect the car behavior and there is a huge gap of giving people more knowledge here, as every coilover reacts slightly differently. For the FEAL, it isn't clear at all that "less stiff" means "more harsh on road" or "more stiff" means "less harsh at high speeds, still harsh at low speeds".

Personally, I find particularly my rear coilovers to be particularly hard to dial in. While the fronts at 20 are marvelous both in city and highway driving, the rear still bangs pretty hard in city driving when set at 23. Going to 15 made it softer in the city but harsher at higher speeds. Going stiffer did the inverse... very tricky. I wish I knew more about what experts are looking for when they dial these things in for example for track use. How do you determine based on the road condition how much to turn the dial? There must be some science behind this.

plpete84

I think the trick is finding the correct ratio between front and rear dampers. I think this is different for our cars because of how the weight is distributed. I'm running Ohlins on my car but what I did was a lot of trial and error. I have a crappy bumpy city road that I used for testing as well as a nice backroad that has a good amount of bumps and undulations. I drove them a number of times and made adjustments accordingly. I have my dampers set on the softer side and I'm quite happy with the set up for daily use. This is all highly subjective but I do agree that there should be some ranges provided. Ohlins kind of does this in their instructions but it still requires some trial and error IMHO. Another thing to keep in mind is that coilovers will most likely always be on the stiffer side - no matter what. It's all about having proper expectations.

barbancourt

The confusion is that people have misconceptions about coilover settings, in general. This is not specific to Feal. I have seen people make the same mistake with other coilovers.

barbancourt

I don’t think this is a fair critique. It is a combination of spring rate, preload, damping, suspension travel, and probably a few other things that affect the ride quality and handling. They can’t just make a blanket statement on how everyone’s car will behave. Not everyone uses the same springs or spring rates. Not everyone sets up their preload the same. I think if there’s any issue, it’s that people have preconceived notions about what is correct. They assume that setting it at 0 will be the softest and most compliant ride, but that goes counter to physics.

wdb

I'm not sure if it relates but I recently put Koni Yellows on my car, which are adjustable. I left them at the softest setting, then later went to "+" (1/2 turn). The wheel control AND ride quality actually got better, just like the experience of the Feal folks here. I recently went up another half turn and, sure enough, ride quality is at least as good and there is less unwanted motion when matters get curvy. In short I'm experiencing a similar ah-ha moment. In fact this thread is what motivated me to crank them up.