T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Graham,
Many thanks, I've never had suspension choices before and not done any form of Motorsport for over 30+ years. So assumed softer springs but not certain of effects of Dampener setting, spring compression or spring rates !!!

Jay,

I am really, really pleased with the setup on Track Handling it's aswesome BTW at castle coombe I used 11/9 in the Dry and 9/6 wet. Unfortunately no full days yet I really need one ot two so I can Try different settings to feel the effect for adjustments gains or loses.

As you say, normally I'd have the car 6/4 for enthusiastic road use, but an unexpected oppertunity arose whilst was on 4/2 setting, must get some motorised adjusters fitted

I was told once ARB's are best set at softest and work up to hard rather than the other way

Robocop,

My normal setting but lower it to 4/2 for the wife, she is a Clock, "Ticks" all the time especially over 20mph and every bump

Regards

Tony

911

Dead right about the roll bars.

It's good fun isn't it?
Graham

DuncanG

Sounds familiar.

Obviously underdamped for the damper piston velocity that was generated by the undulations. Try turning the damping up by all means, it might help. My experience with the ASTs was that unfortunately it did not help but just made the ride less comfortable. The adjuster on these affects primarily the low-speed damping which is good for tuning the body control for handling on a track but doesnt have much effect on the bump-control.

911

Hence 3 ways.

I think you can get an acceptable ride, but it is all a compromise.

the 3 ways are totally different, but harder to get it right for road and track, but i think i've found a compromise that suits both for me.

you need a lot of time to mess about on public roads, and that is not easy as everywhere is so busy.

Graham

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Duncan, I've pretty much given up with trying to get a good setting with the AST's on the road. I now just wind it to completely soft, where it seems happiest. Its quite comfy there any copes with sirited driving too. If I need to wind it up then I'm going too fast for public roads anyway.

I wind it up for track, 12/11, and it works OK then.

F

Powerstation

I think most of Duncan's problems stem from the fact he had AST dampers designed for an Impreza fitted to a Legacy. The Legacy has longer struts and is also much heavier which would cause the car to be under damped.

Rich

DuncanG

Rich, you were fully aware of the application when I ordered them and were happy to supply.

The gen-2 legacy uses the same length of strut as the GC8 impreza. Before and after the ASTs I used KYB AGX impreza struts with no issues. Currently I'm using, and am very happy with, Ohlins GC8 impreza struts. The front end of my legacy, which was most susceptable to bottoming, is about 5% heavier than a 'classic' impreza and much lighter than a new-age. Overall my legacy wagon is marginally lighter than a new-age impreza 4-door.

T5NYW has a Type 20 not a legacy but it would appear he has found similar underdamped on undulating roads performance that I (and a few others) experienced.

At the end of the day its all about compromises. IMHO the AST sportline-1 compromise is biased towards (fairly) flat surfaces, ie it has reduced high-speed damping to improve comfort on speed restricted roads, or to absorb small bumps on fast smooth tracks. That compromise probably suits a lot of people, especially down-south with congested and heavily camera'd roads. The downside is that they don't cope so well with lumpy undulating roads driven at speed. I didn't buy the ASTs to slow me down but that was their effect.

Some of us need a different compromise and perhaps you should recognise that rather than belittle any criticism of your product.

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Graham,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I'll try a few different setting on "that" road.
I'm not going to change springs to lose the otherwise faultless handling

Your absolutely right

Tony

911

Indeed. tuning suspension on public roads is hard, but for hillclimbing (really a low speed sport in saloon cars, ie max 90 mph) i think you can get there.

May be just me and my senses but I really found the 'simple' AST's very confidence inspiring and i gained this on a hill climb result time after time. The 3 ways took me further still. My nerve is the issue now. Probably need a wizz kid like Fuzz to drive it!

I do fully agree with Floyd that if the car gets away a little on the road then you are going too fast or treating it like a race track; not good.

I am sure if I blasted down a poor country lane in my car now it would be a bit loose, but the settings are not changed from road to race, and that is because a hill climb is little more than a smooth but undulating/pitching country lane where you know nobody is coming the other way! (and there is a paramedic/marshal to dig you out...)

Selecting spring rates is key too. I think I'm a bit stiff with the 60/50 I selected at Powerstation, and that 50/40 are very nice with a road bias perhaps.
Rich and Curtis thought 50/40 would be a good starting point and they were spot-on. You need to experiment though!

Sorry to go on, but this topic is far more interesting than bhp/turbos as without a chassis the car will be slow, even in drag racing.

Graham.

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

30 miles in any direction from where I live the roads are "Quite" good but ours are absolutely shocking but I have only experienced the "Bouncing" on this one Particular road but handling is much better on all others.

It must be the undulations match the sping "frequency"!! The wheels at some pionts wern't touching the deck, unable to get enough drive and speed to go past it!! I slowed up to be kinder to the Drive and engine and regain stabilty for impending corner. I'm going to set the damping to Hard but assume it will be worse but as said I'm very inexperienced in Car setup as I've allways had "RWYB" I remember once having a chioce of tyres

Tony

DuncanG

Indeed, but with adequate damping thats not a problem. Once the speed is high enough to push the undulation frequency above the resonant frequency (of the sprung mass of the car) the the ride would smooth out and 'float'. With softer standard spring rates you would be well past resonance at the same speed. When underdamped the suspension cant settle soon enough after one bump before the next comes along - as you've found out. Also with underdamped suspension the front and back need to be tuned to different frequencies to reduce 'hobby-horsing'. Thats dictated by the sprung weights and spring rates.

Your braver than me I backed off before it got that bad.

Could it be worse?
You might find a better compromise between harshness and control with a firmer setting. However as I said before the adjuster primarily affects the low-speed damping that makes it feel stiff or not when cornering, but has much less effect for reaction to fast bumps/undulations.

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Thank for the explanation, a little clearer now

I have to be carefull comparing it with my MY02StiPPP, in the T20, I'm now carrying 20+mph through the corners and much more Torque, so much faster along the straights I'm a Gear higher on most corners and straights.

Tony

LitchfieldImports

Tony, its worth turning the dampers up a bit, especially the rear, as its possible to have them to soft or to hard thats the point

Duncan, the damping rates of the AST's a few years ago will be different to thoughs now. Powerstation are about to introduce a new change after the new Type-25 development. It might suit you Tony

Iain

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Iain

Thanks, i'll try that I had them on ultra soft as transporting wifey and had an unexpected blat I could do with motorized adjusters, I think Tien do them!!

Dam, I when will I ever get money in my wallet I coming over end of Aug(have to book it yet) for a service.

any clues before I get there and do I need to extend my CC limit LOL

Tony

fourdegrees

Is anyone else running 50/30 on a new age blob eye? That's what was shipped to me here in the States. It sounds like a lot of people are running 50/40 on the new age for road biased setups.