bgoetz

Yes this is my exact issue and where I lived before it wasn't noticeable because I didn't have the wavy back roads that tossed the car everywhere! All I had to worry about was the crash on the street, so I could go full soft or close to it and be done. I can't stand that unsettled feel and am looking for something stiff and planted, but compliant.

On smooth roads the yellows feel amazing when dialed right, it is just anything less than perfectly smooth

I guess I figured handing an expert in the indusrty my shocks, some $, and a bit of vague direction and they would be good enough to translate that into an awesome setup.

Apex1.0

Well if you work with the right people, you should be able to make it better. You have identified the one real shortfall of these shocks. The lack of bump damping needed to keep them high in the stroke to continue having travel to handle recurring impacts. At lower rebound settings it's fine but the chassis becomes floaty. At higher rebound settings too much travel is used over rough pavement. It packs down and crashes.

Another crazy idea you may want to try is to utilize what the konis have which is plenty of rebound control, use stiffer springs to mask to low bump damping. I am thinking 600/550. Use the same damping setting and you may actually come out with better ride and grip.

bgoetz

Well I will try to call TC Klein and Koni tomorrow and get some cost/perspective. I will update then.

Still not sure on the sphericals, those ESI need greased bad, but damn it sucks having to remove them to do it. It would really make me feel better if I was doing it to toss on something better

bgoetz

Ok, talked with the builder this a.m. and I can get out the door at between $600-700, so financially I will save $700-800 over going Ohlins and selling my setup. Talking with the guy he seemed very certain that he can make my setup much better and seemed to think that a lot of my issues were due to running on the upper end of the spring rates for OTS yellows. He said their build would be based around what I am looking for in the car, the spring rates and would come with shock dynos. He also said that if I had dynos that I could provide he could replicate that, although given my knowledge level this seems risky.

So I think that is the route that I am going, I will remove the shocks this winter and go from there. The ticky part will be putting what I am looking for into words that help him translate that into a good shock. Some of the things Apex is posting makes it real apparent I lack knowledge in suspension world

With regards to the bushings, I think I may try to install grease zerks and grease the existing bushings, save the $ for other expenses/seat time.

Bullwings

This.

Or, sell yours, and buy his. Hardened rubber will save you from all of the squeaks and will be slightly better than OEM without all of the negative characteristics of urethane. If not this, then sphericals.

For a mixed street/track use, it seems that sticking with rubber better for compliance and ease of maintenance. If you're going to deal with all of the re-greasing BS of a urethane setup, it seems like you might as well go all the way and get sphericals.

Also sent you a PM. Goodluck.

bgoetz

Thanks for the PM! What about sticking with the ESI and installing grease zerks? I think I can do it without removing anything and I think others have done it, I want to say RobRob did. I am not crazy about making holes in suspension components that are not meant to have holes though, even if they are small!!

Apex1.0

I think you are on the right track. The more I think about it the Konis do have pretty good sensitivity in rebound, so there is no reason they cannot have them in compression. The factory tune just is not quite aggressive enough. Bottom line, the hardware and design are there to make a pretty damn good shock. It just needs to be dialed in.

It might help to start with a dyno sheet of your factory shocks to get an idea of what you want to change. Off the top of my head, this is what i would do to my Konis.

1) More bump damping, with a fast ramp rate. Then aggressive digression (blow off). The question is what shaft speed do you want the digression (knee in graph)? Maybe 1.5" per second, depending on the force ramp up rate.
2) One the rebound side, just move it up a notch or two. You should shoot for one turn out with your planned spring rate. Also curve for more digressive blowing off around 1.5" per second.

Again, this would depend on what the OEM shock dyno looks like.

Apex1.0

Double