[A4] suspension theory thoughts, questions, etc - grooved shocks

[Taka Mizutani]

By having adjustable upper and lower perches, you can move the entire
spring physically lower to the ground in order to lower ride height. You
can't
do this with the cheaper coilover setups- compare Tein Basic to Tein Flex
and you'll see what I'm talking about.

With the cheaper setups (like the H&R coilover setup I had on the A4), you
lower ride height by scrunching the lower spring perch up and compressing
the spring to shorten the distance.

Sorry if I'm not using the correct terminology, but if you take a look at
the two
products I mention above, you should be able to see exactly what I'm talking
about.

The advantage as I understand it, is that you do not change the effective
spring rate
if you can move the entire spring body in relation to the shock body rather
than merely
compressing the spring to lower the car.

Taka


On 1/11/07, Grant Lenahan <glenahan at vfemail.net> wrote:
>
> What, precisely is adjustable about the top perch, and how can you
> preload a car spring?
>
> Grant
> On Jan 11, 2007, at 7:16 AM, Taka Mizutani wrote:
>
> > Adjustable lower and upper perches definitely do exist- they're pretty
> > common
> > on the coilover setups for the Japanese cars- I know I'd get that type
> > of setup if
> > I were to go coilover on the STi. Allows you to separately adjust
> > spring preload
> > and ride height, which is really nice. Add two-way adjustable damping
> > and camber
> > plates and you have a really trick setup that's way too adjustable for
> > 90% of people
> > who buy these things. Takes way too much tweaking to get right unless
> > you have
> > a baseline setup already developed for the car.
> >
> > Taka
> >
> >
> > On 1/10/07, Grant Lenahan <glenahan at vfemail.net > wrote:
> >> > in looking at 'real' "coilover" designs [i too have always thought
> >> it
> >> > funny that they're called coilovers when pretty much every
> >> suspension
> >> > i've come across is a shock inside a spring] they do all use the
> >> same
> >> > principal - an adjustable lower perch. with the exception of the
> >> > stasis motorsport coilovers, these look like they have an adjustable
> >> > upper perch as well. and they outta at 4grand.
> >>
> >> I have never seen an adjustable upper perch. What you may have seen is
> >> a camber plate, whcih allows you to adjust CAMBER, but not ride
> >> height.
> >> Its a slotted plate you attach the strut top to.
>
>