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Took a shot at adjusting the rear Koni shocks on car yesterday. It's a narrow window, and you're flying blind with a 2mm allen wrench, but once you get oriented on where the adjustment window is, it's doable.
You can see the reflection of the adjustment window circled in the mirror, as well as the allen wrench. There isn't much resistance, so it's easy to adjust.
Took a shot at adjusting the rear Koni shocks on car yesterday. It's a narrow window, and you're flying blind with a 2mm allen wrench, but once you get oriented on where the adjustment window is, it's doable.
You can see the reflection of the adjustment window circled in the mirror, as well as the allen wrench. There isn't much resistance, so it's easy to adjust.
I'm now 2 sweeps stiffer than before
Wow, what an awful design. But thanks for checking it out. At least we know it is possible now.
Wow, what an awful design. But thanks for checking it out. At least we know it is possible now.
I'm not that up on coilover designs. What would be the ideal on-car adjustment technique?
It's really not as bad as it looks. The time consuming part is getting your car up on jack stands. At least it's the rear, so it's easy enough to just jack the car up from the rear differential and slide jack stands under it.
How often would you anticipate adjusting the dampers?
Front's are easy. I dialed in one rotation from full soft to go along with the two sweeps I did yesterday.
Yes kw autocorrect is a pain. 1 vs 3 is entry vs more adjustment. If you're after basic ride control and no to maybe a few autocross events get the 1 else 3. Their warranty is so much easier than bilsteins
Best design for adjustment has the adjuster(s) at the bottom of the shock for ease of access. This isn't feasible for upside-down dampers, so adjuster(s) are at top. This is no problem for the front dampers since the fender usually has a hole the adjuster can poke through. The rear is the problem. Some dampers have a cable to snake down behind the seats or through the package tray to reach the adjuster. Tein offers small electric motors to do the same thing.
I'm not that up on coilover designs. What would be the ideal on-car adjustment technique?
It's really not as bad as it looks. The time consuming part is getting your car up on jack stands. At least it's the rear, so it's easy enough to just jack the car up from the rear differential and slide jack stands under it.
How often would you anticipate adjusting the dampers?
Front's are easy. I dialed in one rotation from full soft to go along with the two sweeps I did yesterday.
I would adjust them for every track day and then again at the end of the track day. It's not the end of the world, just inconvenient. Although, you do make it sound pretty easy and I would already have the car in the air to swap brake pads, so no biggie. I knew there had to be at least one disadvantage to having the shocks bolt to the underside of the wheel well instead of inside the car. Oh well. The ideal set up is coilovers that have the adjusters on the bottom of the shock like the Bilsteins.
Originally Posted by Surfnazi
Yes kw autocorrect is a pain. 1 vs 3 is entry vs more adjustment. If you're after basic ride control and no to maybe a few autocross events get the 1 else 3. Their warranty is so much easier than bilsteins
Autocross is not really my thing, but I would go with the KW 3 just for the ability to adjust rebound and bump. I would really only need the variant 2, but they don't make it for our cars.
Speaking of that, KW, Bilstein, Koni, Tein, etc. really only make suspensions for the G coupe or 370Z so it will still be a bit of a compromise.
I called up Tirerack to ask them some questions about the Bilstein B16 (PSS10) suspension they have listed for the G sedan. The guy knew absolutely nothing about the suspension and said they don't test the suspension there or have anyone working there who was very knowledgeable about the suspensions. Weird since they are pretty sharp when it comes to wheels. He did tell me that it was a really hard race suspension and not really for the street. I thought that was odd as it is listed on their site under "Premium, Performance Street."
So then I called up Bilstein and they knew a bit more about the suspension (thankfully), but said they did not have a B16 kit for the sedan listed so I would have no warranty. Sure enough, Tirerack has the same part number listed for the sedan as they do for a 370Z coupe. He said just the opposite about the ride quality and that it was their street kit so it should ride decent on the road and ok for track use. It blows my mind that the people working at these companies want you to fork out $1,600 for a suspension and literally have no idea how it rides.
FWIW here's my rear coilover adjuster, just a **** just below the upper mount, real easy to adjust, just jack one side and you can easily reach up to turn it, then repeat for the other side. Too bad some of the higher end setups don't make it that easy
I am working on getting a used set of KW V3 coilovers. The guy selling them says they ride better than stock on the new roads that the seams are raised and most cars bounce on when they hit them. Can anyone else with this suspension on a sedan vouch for that or tell me if it is possible to reach the rear upper adjusters with the rear of the car raised up? Thanks!
06-20-2018, 11:51 PM
