GaryC17

Hi, Got a question for all.... I am currently on stock 195/60/R15 tires. I have Neuspeed Race with Konis. The thing is the ride is bumpy over certain road surfaces. Am running on Bridgestone Potenza RE88 which are the factory given tires. I am suspecting that the bouncy ride could be caused by the soft side walls of the tires as I have already set my konis to maximum stiffness. The bounciness is not that of a firm and stiff ride, but that of a soft and bouncy(low frequency kind) ride over some road surfaces. This is most prominent in the front. Should I change my tires to semi-slicks like Falken Azenis or some other tires which have stiffer sidewalls to get the stiff(high frequency kind of bounce) ride I desire ? Thanks.

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

If its a harsher ride that your desiring then yes, getting shorter stiffer sidewall tire will give you that over a stock tire. I read that the Neuspeed Race springs are on the stiff side already, and if your Koni's a at max and you add a stiffer tire, your gonna ride harsher then ever.

GaryC17

That is exactly what I want. The harsher the better ! So it would be normal to bounce with this setup and it's not the konis that are blown ?

GaryC17

That is exactly what I want. The harsher the better ! So it would be normal to bounce with this setup and it's not the konis that are blown ? I have compressed the konis with my hands during the spring install and they retract back upwards when I remove my hands. Does this mean the konis are okay or is this not a good way to judge the condition ?

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

If you push on the konis they should settle immediately. If they bounce a little more then they are blown. A good way to tell is to see if there is fluid leaking out of them. Remember the bounce on the stock suspension? Is it the same as that? You will get bouncing even if you upgrade your suspension. I have 500lb rear springs and my car still bounces, just differently.

1) Check to see if they bounce by pushing on them
2) check for fluid
3) Make sure they are properly installed.
4) turn the front dampening down!

Zzyzx

You may have the Konis set too stiff. If you have then too stiff the car will Skip over bumps and hop durring hard cornering.

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

Personally I think its your springs that are to stiff, perhaps even for Konis to dampen. If you compressed your Konis by hand they rebounded fully, then theyre fine. If they didnt rebound, theyre blown.

Remember that to stiff of a ride is hard on the suspension and can be dangerous...

Zzyzx

Neuspeed race springs arnt heavlily sprung enough to over power a set of konis. From the autocross scene, a stock set of Koni yellows can handle a 500 LB/in spring just fine.

What tire pressures are you using? and I still think you have your Konis set too stiff, I autocross with an 89 SI with Konis and have them set to 2 higher then Full soft. any more and the car skipps over bumps and through the corners...

GaryC17

Thanks everyone for the feedback. The thing is when I turn the front konis down from full firm, the front end becomes like stock. It will feel soft and rolls alot in turns. Could it be due to the fact that I leave my rears at full firm and only change the front settings ? Should I reduce the firmness in the rears as well ? When I press on the car body, the car body goes down by a minimal amount and when I look at the tires, the side walls flex by almost the same amount as the deflection of the car body. Can I deduce that a harder side walled tire will give me a better ride(firmer) ? By the way, we all know that konis are rebound damping adjustable only and not bound adjustable. But can I say that by increasing the firmness which increases the rebound damping, I am reducing bound damping ??

Zzyzx

controling body roll is the job of the springs and anti-roll bars, not the shocks.... So Yes I'd say that a big part of your problem is having your shocks set to high. an example of this, as I've stated before, is the 98 SI I autocross with. we have the konis in that thing set to full soft in the front and 2 clicks past full soft in the rear. any more and the car handles like crap, it bounces over bumps and skips in the corners.

taken from Konis site

Tuning Tips
If the car rolls on the rear outside suspension during corner exit, increase rebound damping force at the front inside. The front inside suspension affects the car mostly on corner exit. By adding rebound damping you will loosen the car up on corner exit.

If the car rolls on the front outside during corner entry, increase rebound damping on the rear inside suspension.

By adding rebound damping to the front on both sides equally, it will tighten the car some.
By adding rebound damping to the rear on both sides equally, it will loosen the car up some.

Note that the shock absorbers do not change the amount of weight transfer, only the time it takes to transfer this weight.

Only adjust enough rebound into each shock absorber to eliminate the undesirable characteristic. Adjusting too much rebound may mask a handling problem of another sort and may even be make things worse and dangerous.

so by having your shocks at full hard you may be causing most of your handling/ride quality problems.


Also From Konis site...

Q: What is the best adjustment setting for my shocks?

A: There is no single best adjustment setting for your KONIs because every driver has different preferences for comfort, performance, performance modifications and roads to drive on. For most vehicles, we suggest that new KONIs be installed in the full soft position. (the standard setting right out of the box) to take advantage of the balance of ride comfort and handling designed by the KONI ride development engineers. If the car has performance upgrades (springs, wheel/tire packages, etc.) or the driver wants the car a bit more aggressive, most people find the optimum setting in the 1/2 to one full turn from the full soft range. Over the extended life of the damper or if the driver wants a specific firm handling characteristic, the dampers can be adjusted up higher. Very rarely will KONI ever need to be adjusted to the full firm setting.