Quote:
Originally Posted by perfectgradeF82cs
The car previously had a set of KW V3 coil-overs; the difference is night and day. Additionally, I have converted all the suspension arms over to SPL parts. Between the revised suspension geometry and Nitron system, the car has been completely transformed. I can now feel each wheel independently maintain traction over uneven road surfaces. The way the car settles after hitting a bump is completely different than the KW system I previously had. Rather than bouncing multiple times causing the vehicle to be unstable, the nitrons simply absorb the bump settling the car instantaneously. It was a bizarre feeling as I went from clenching my teeth while going over potholes to being pleasantly surprised by the compliant nature of the vehicle. The car has almost no body roll and handles like a full-on-track car that's surprisingly pleasant to drive on the street. In terms of spring rates, I have not noticed any significant understeer. This could be the result of implementing the full suite of SPL arms coupled with the aggressive track alignment.
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Steady-state handling (i.e., zero damper piston velocity) has nothing to do with the dampers. Look in the track forum for rates used by people that frequent the track regularly or have turned their cars into dedicated track cars and you’ll not find one setup, regardless of damper manufacturer, even remotely close to your setup. You’ll definitely feel the understeer if you’re driving at the limit on a track. The KW V3 is at best a mid-performing street-only twin-tube damper that is popular with the stance crowd. What you’re feeling, actually not feeling, with the Nitron’s is their high-speed blow-off valve with absorbs compressive impacts. The R and C damping ranges probably have a much wider operating range plus you have independent control of LSC, HSC, and rebound. Ride quality will be superior to a V3 by just having control of LSC + superior HS-blow-off valve. It also sounds like you have your dampers setup with damping rates closer to critically damped. I haven’t seen any V3 damping curves but with the lower spring rates it should be able to get close to being critically damped. Furthermore, the V3 has a higher rebound bias (at the same piston velocity, R damping force >> C damping force) which makes it more difficult to find a good R and C settings without making the car overly bouncy even at high damping settings. Until you experience a high-end damper, you don’t realize how far superior they are to common performance street dampers. When I first used a set of Motons back in 2004 on my e46 M3, I was sold on high-end motorsport dampers with remote reservoirs!