Good Shocks, Bad Shocks
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Lead Lap
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 581
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From: texas
Good Shocks, Bad Shocks
Hello,
I came upon this article which my friend linked to me when I asked about suspension.
http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html
He talks about what a good shock is, and what a bad shock is. Also hits on a few things such as shock adjustability, natural frequency on his suspension page. He even talks about how hypercoils are the best.
"While we're on the topic of "picking springs", I am of the opinion that there is only one spring provider worth a damn - Hypercoil."
Generally JDM shocks = horrible according to him.
Is he credible? Are his findings valid and accurate? Are people invariably sucked into the JDM hype and will stick with teins, hks, megan's regardless of how bad the shocks really are?
Personally this echoes of the Gixxer Drew setup.
Comments? Counterpoints? Flame?
Hopefully somone who does dyno shocks will answer.
I came upon this article which my friend linked to me when I asked about suspension.
http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html
He talks about what a good shock is, and what a bad shock is. Also hits on a few things such as shock adjustability, natural frequency on his suspension page. He even talks about how hypercoils are the best.
"While we're on the topic of "picking springs", I am of the opinion that there is only one spring provider worth a damn - Hypercoil."
Generally JDM shocks = horrible according to him.
Is he credible? Are his findings valid and accurate? Are people invariably sucked into the JDM hype and will stick with teins, hks, megan's regardless of how bad the shocks really are?
Personally this echoes of the Gixxer Drew setup.
Comments? Counterpoints? Flame?
Hopefully somone who does dyno shocks will answer.
Last edited by lemmiewink; Aug 26, 2009 at 03:50 PM.
Pole Position
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 319
Likes: 2
From: CA
That write up is really old and I read it years ago. He is right for the most part, japanese stuff is just copies of copies that all pretty much suck. Real good shocks cost more then what our cars are worth and require rebuilds so its not even an option to go with triple adjustable high end stuff.
Maybe I should put it this way since I play with alot of suspension stuff. Think of it like tuning your motor. If your building a race only car and you have the money, your going to buy a top of the line ecu like a motec or something. If you not that serious but still want performance, then you end up with say an AEM. If you dont have much of a budget and like to have your car worked on more then driving then you would get a Megasquirt. All of them work and all of them can be tuned, but are still only as good as the person doing the tuning.
Think of your suspension the same way, Top of the line would be like 3 way adjustable Ohlins and Battle Version built arms. (notice how I threw that in there). Somewhat good parts are rare in suspension stuff, probably like Zeils or other still tuneable coil overs. Bottom of the line would be your megans or teins or any of the lower suspension off the shelf made stuff. It doesnt matter what parts you put, you still need to have it tuned. Most shops have no idea what they are doing when it comes to suspension setup and most people automaticly think stiffer is better.
Maybe I should put it this way since I play with alot of suspension stuff. Think of it like tuning your motor. If your building a race only car and you have the money, your going to buy a top of the line ecu like a motec or something. If you not that serious but still want performance, then you end up with say an AEM. If you dont have much of a budget and like to have your car worked on more then driving then you would get a Megasquirt. All of them work and all of them can be tuned, but are still only as good as the person doing the tuning.
Think of your suspension the same way, Top of the line would be like 3 way adjustable Ohlins and Battle Version built arms. (notice how I threw that in there). Somewhat good parts are rare in suspension stuff, probably like Zeils or other still tuneable coil overs. Bottom of the line would be your megans or teins or any of the lower suspension off the shelf made stuff. It doesnt matter what parts you put, you still need to have it tuned. Most shops have no idea what they are doing when it comes to suspension setup and most people automaticly think stiffer is better.
Thread Starter
Lead Lap
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 581
Likes: 0
From: texas
That write up is really old and I read it years ago. He is right for the most part, japanese stuff is just copies of copies that all pretty much suck. Real good shocks cost more then what our cars are worth and require rebuilds so its not even an option to go with triple adjustable high end stuff.
Maybe I should put it this way since I play with alot of suspension stuff. Think of it like tuning your motor. If your building a race only car and you have the money, your going to buy a top of the line ecu like a motec or something. If you not that serious but still want performance, then you end up with say an AEM. If you dont have much of a budget and like to have your car worked on more then driving then you would get a Megasquirt. All of them work and all of them can be tuned, but are still only as good as the person doing the tuning.
Think of your suspension the same way, Top of the line would be like 3 way adjustable Ohlins and Battle Version built arms. (notice how I threw that in there). Somewhat good parts are rare in suspension stuff, probably like Zeils or other still tuneable coil overs. Bottom of the line would be your megans or teins or any of the lower suspension off the shelf made stuff. It doesnt matter what parts you put, you still need to have it tuned. Most shops have no idea what they are doing when it comes to suspension setup and most people automaticly think stiffer is better.
Maybe I should put it this way since I play with alot of suspension stuff. Think of it like tuning your motor. If your building a race only car and you have the money, your going to buy a top of the line ecu like a motec or something. If you not that serious but still want performance, then you end up with say an AEM. If you dont have much of a budget and like to have your car worked on more then driving then you would get a Megasquirt. All of them work and all of them can be tuned, but are still only as good as the person doing the tuning.
Think of your suspension the same way, Top of the line would be like 3 way adjustable Ohlins and Battle Version built arms. (notice how I threw that in there). Somewhat good parts are rare in suspension stuff, probably like Zeils or other still tuneable coil overs. Bottom of the line would be your megans or teins or any of the lower suspension off the shelf made stuff. It doesnt matter what parts you put, you still need to have it tuned. Most shops have no idea what they are doing when it comes to suspension setup and most people automaticly think stiffer is better.
Why is it that people buy Tein, hks, Megans with "adjustable" Rebound/Compression? Even though, and you agree, that they are pretty much "Crap".
Also, another point. It matters because wouldn't you want your shocks to have matching valving off the shelf as advertised so that we, the masses who are not necessarily into road racing, do not have to dyno and tune them? Or when you adjust shocks the forces in each will be equal to all the other shocks at the same setting?
This guy actually took the time and effort to dyno multiple shocks to see what off the shelf shocks were like? He quantified the characteristics and concluded that JDM shocks are subpar. Yet still some people say stiffer is better, JDM coilovers is better etc etc.
He did the research so that others won't have to. (although I should say in all fairness that we should still verify his work if we really cared) I, personally, do care enough to at least try out what he is saying to a certain point.
"the best shock and springs combo do not even come close to the crappiest coilover" - freind at a car meet said that. To me, that seems to be the general consensus.
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