Battle of the $1200 coilover!
07-17-2015, 07:53 PM
#71
Interesting. I never picked up on those couple of guys.
David, I'm sure you've noticed this in FA's shock dyno plots: every single one of them crosses over at 1 in/sec. I'm assuming they are using shaft bleed and by extension, because of their modular design, I'm also assuming that every shaft has the same size bleed hole. I haven't seen any third party dyno charts for FA dampers to disprove the 1 in/sec knee point.
Dennis Grant says that making the knee point around 3 in/sec is usually pretty good. OptimumG, using physics theory, state that the ride frequency*sqrt(2) is the ideal knee point velocity, which for most stiffly sprung street cars will end up around 2.5-3 in/sec.
My point is if there is any benefit to moving the knee up, why don't they? Are they just not that specialized? Or will nobody notice? I also wonder if FA would (or could) actually work with you to custom valve a damper to this point, or can they only make them stiffer or softer for less savvy users?
David, I'm sure you've noticed this in FA's shock dyno plots: every single one of them crosses over at 1 in/sec. I'm assuming they are using shaft bleed and by extension, because of their modular design, I'm also assuming that every shaft has the same size bleed hole. I haven't seen any third party dyno charts for FA dampers to disprove the 1 in/sec knee point.
Dennis Grant says that making the knee point around 3 in/sec is usually pretty good. OptimumG, using physics theory, state that the ride frequency*sqrt(2) is the ideal knee point velocity, which for most stiffly sprung street cars will end up around 2.5-3 in/sec.
My point is if there is any benefit to moving the knee up, why don't they? Are they just not that specialized? Or will nobody notice? I also wonder if FA would (or could) actually work with you to custom valve a damper to this point, or can they only make them stiffer or softer for less savvy users?
The knee will depend on the bleed and the preload (assuming a digressive piston). For autocross and especially for the Street class with their soft springs, it looks like low speed bleed is low enough and preload is high enough that that at least the compression knee and probably the rebound knee is in the 0.5-1.0 in/sec range. But really big numbers. Random 1 who converted Penske 8100s and revalved them said that when his car went on a lift it took a while for his wheels to droop down. Those are stiff shocks!
07-25-2015, 01:14 AM
#72
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 313
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Stay away from the BC racing coilovers, or keep them in the no buy list. I bought the BR types a few years back with the swift spring upgrades and was not impressed at all.
I recently have sold my kw v3's because i thought i was going to sell the car and will be purchasing a set of FA 500 series coilovers this september. From many months of research, I think the FA 500s would be the way to go.
I recently have sold my kw v3's because i thought i was going to sell the car and will be purchasing a set of FA 500 series coilovers this september. From many months of research, I think the FA 500s would be the way to go.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post