FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys n gals!
Just wondering what settings people are using for their coilovers? particularly damper settings. I'm finding it hard to adjust my tein HA's to a comfortable setting. It's too rough on the hardest setting and my car just bobs up and down on the softest setting.

Also will the ride height affect the performance of the coilovers? Will my ride be more confortable if I raise my fto?

any help appreciated guys...

yes and yes...

I have adjust. koni shockers only...now read the manual carefully as the adjustment will only work well if they have been setup correctly at install.

My hard-to-soft is good...not too hard and not too soft...atm I have mine of full soft to get an idea of the ride.

If you adjust the height your gonna get a better ride...the shocker has more travel and hence more dampening...obviously you need to play with both settings to find a good one you like. If you make the dampening hard and life the ride then its like 1-1=0...not much change

Tyres also are key. If you got R40s then don't expect a great ride no matter what you do...atm my setup is only restricted by the quality of my sh*tty tyres - yes Kev the Unicoils or wotever are offically sh*t lol.

devil2004 wrote:It's too rough on the hardest setting and my car just bobs up and down on the softest setting.

if it bobs up and down overly fast on bumps thats just a high spring rate.. nothing to do with shocks/dampers because theyre basically off..

dont know what would be a comfortable setting if u can only adjust damper stiffness....
taxis would have something like a slow reacting large spring with high damper/shock settings for best results over bumps i reckon

What kind of ride do you want first? Able to handle corners well? Or do you want a comfortable ride? Do you want your car to be able to clear speed humps?

Need more info...........

umm.. I just want comfort at the moment. I can always readjust the settings if I take my car to the track.

Also I haven't had my tyres aligned yet. getting that done on Weds. You guys think that will help?

I've currently got the height of my car back to standard. Just need to do the damper setting.

How many damper adjustments do teins have?

On my teins it can click like 22 times but in the manual it says not to go past 16 as it may damage the shocks

I haven't put them on full hard yet but on full soft the car does float around a bit

Even though people say ride height changes the actual ride, I don't know if it does. I think at full drop maybe, but so long as you are not hitting bumpstops I don't think it matters. My car is quite low and quite comfortable, but I have the super streets which are softer than HA

lowering the car has to make a difference. The shockers simply dont have enough travel to absorb over larger bumbs etc...if you on flat, smooth roads you wont care.

however witht he lowered style shockers they are deisgned for being lowered and I noticed mine still give an ok ride...depends on what you classify as "ok" I'm pretty picky. The tyres, size and type also make a big difference to the overall setup and the ride.

But in the end its a comprimise between ride and looks..

Can you adjust the spring rate on those Teins? Coz if you can then you can afford to lower your car a little and then lower the spring rate to still give you a comfy ride. Then if you wanna hammer it around corners and stuff you can increase the spring rate for better handling. The ride height shouldn't really play into that much except for speed humps etc.

in the end of the day its up to what u want...looks or performance?? or somewhere in the middle.

No1 every talks about tyres...your not gonna get (what I call) a good ride with R40s for example...tyres act as a dampening device from the road and are important factor also..

I just had my alignment done at Heasmans Steering in Sydenham and I got to say, my car is feeling heaps better. I got to recommend Heasmans to everyone in Sydney. They are a litttle more expensive than those tyre fitting places but they are so professional in what they do. It took him over an hour to do a 4 wheel alignment but during that hour, he took the car for 4 test drives and he even explained everything that was wrong with the alignment previously. All in all, I gotta say I'm pretty impressed.

spetz wrote:On my teins it can click like 22 times but in the manual it says not to go past 16 as it may damage the shocks

When you say not to go past 16 clicks, is that from the hardest setting or the softest?

Heasmans aye? Yeh your cousin was going to go there but said too expensive. They come very well recommended.

Did you get a copy of your alignment settings? I'd like to see them..

uummm... I didn't actually ask what were the final settings. I am pretty sure it's similar to the sport setting on the whiteline site.

http://whiteline.com.au/YourCar/kits/CK_Mits_FTO.pdf

I know the rear is the same as the sport setting on the whiteline site but not sure about the fronts. Heasmans might be a little bit more expensive but at least you get what you pay for.