Motons installed - wheel hop / ride height info

[ILLSMOQ]

So I installed a set of club sports with 500lb front 750lb rear eibachs.

Dropped the car 1.25 inches all around. Doesn't sound like much but it is almost too low, on big bumps the top of the tires rub the fender liner in the rear. Measurements are 3.5" at the bottom of the front jack point, 4" at the bottom of the rear jack point.

At the recomended settings of 2 compression 3 rebound, the car rides better than stock. Still a little bouncy but better. Wheel hop is just as bad as ever.

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Today I called Archer Racing to get some tips.

First they said it's too low. It looks cool and you can run it that low but it will scrape and rub if you run on rougher roads or go through dips in the road at high speed. So I'll bring it up a half inch all around.

As for the wheel hop they recomended more rebound. So I clicked the rebound settings up to max (6 from 0) and tried it out.

Conditions today were: dry - temp in the low 60's. Tires(run flats) warm from 45 minute drive home. Test road was nice and flat

I can now go to WOT in first gear at any rpm and it will stick....Before it would hop like crazy. The 1-2 shift still hops with a power shift. If I granny shift I can immediatly go to WOT and it will stick(before it would hop), although it is quite improved.....I still don't like it.


So I guess I'll run around with the rear rebound settings at 6 untill I buy some different wheels and tires......

 

[Vipera Russelli]

It's my understanding from talking to Mark at Woodhouse that you really don't want to run the Motons (or any adjustable shock) at the extreme settings as it is too much work for the valves. Also, you want the springs and the shocks to share the load pretty equally, so if you're setting the shocks at a very high or very low setting, you'll probably want stiffer or softer springs to match, depending on which way you go. Finally, Mark suggested to me that with 500/700 lb springs, which is what I have, the starting point for Moton settings would be 3 all the way around on both bump and rebound. He added that, for the reasons stated above, he wouldn't want to adjust the Motons more than two clicks in either direction on any of the settings, unless I used different springs.

As for spring rates, Archer recommended 500 and 700 pound springs to me for track use, which is what I bought, although I've yet to have them installed. Mark at Woodhouse says they recommend 500/800 lb springs for a track and street combination. The guy that will be installing my Motons/Eibachs, Ivan Aroza of IMA Motorsports (a superb Porsche tuner in my area with a spring dyno) told me that he would have recommended 600/800, but that there certainly would be no harm in starting with the 500/700 lb combination (he expects that I will want to go stiffer within six months of track driving). Clearly expert opinions very a bit on spring rates--I think they are probably all correct. I'll start with the 500/700 combination and will change the springs depending on the bump and rebound adjustments I make over time after I get to know the shocks. I've just gotten to the point where I can tell the difference in the car's track performance depending upon whether or not I have a passenger, so I still have a long way to go in making SOTP determinations. I'll get there.

I don't think anyone recommends lowering the car more than one inch because of the tire rub, although I'm sure your set up looks awesome! Which reminds me, hehe:



I found Mark Jorgensen at Woodhouse (800-889-1893) very helpful and very happy to talk about Motons and set up. Russ at Archer no doubt knows his stuff too, although I have only dealt with him through JonB. Either way, the resources are there.

Congratulations on your new mod and on effectively addressing wheel hop. That is good and very welcome information! Thanks for posting.

 

[Kai SRT10]

Remember, the gas pressure in the Motons is also adjustable. If you are running your Motons on the highest setting, increase the canister gas pressure, and you can click them down a bit.

 

[Kenny]

ILLSMOQ, was this with the stock runcraps? If so then you should probably be good with some real tires.

 

[ILLSMOQ]

Kenny - This is on the stock runflats.

Kai - The paper work that came with the shocks list the dampers with 22mm piston rods at 185 psi...I'm assuming Nitrogen. Any idea what safe pressure ranges would be? At any rate, I don't think I'll mess with the pressures at this point.

Vipera - I'm thinking I probably should have gone with 100-200 lbs more on the springs, but I do plan to swap the runflats for new wheels and tires so maybe that will finally do the trick. When the rain stops I will try and back the rebound down a click and re-test. I need to buy a new digi-cam....I'll get some pics up, before I raise the ride height back up.

thanks for the tips

 

[Viper X]

ILLSMOQ,

1 - I'd recommend you change the tires first. Get rid of the run flats. Almost anything is better.

2 - I think the pressure range in the Motons is 100 to 300, so as Kai says, you can vary this a bit. Check their web site for more info.

3 - I have found while lowering my SRT that 1 inch is about the max if you plan to drive the car on the street. Some negative camber will help with the tires hitting the rear fender well lips. Get a street / track alignment if you haven't already. This will help with wheel hop too.

4 - Spring rates, a good question and really a matter of personal preference. I currently have 650 F / 750 R and am going down to 550 Front. Just too stiff in the front for the street for me. I have 500 / 750 in my GTS and it works pretty well. The local Viper guys who occaisionally track their cars here seem to be running 500 to 600 front and 700 to 800 rear. Again, I'd change the tires first as the run flats are fairly stiff in the sidewalls.

Good luck, Dan

 

[ILLSMOQ]

I took the car in today to get aligned, corner balanced and decided to raise it up another .25 inches ...I like it low.

Also I didn't think about this when I installed the shocks. It's a good idea to loosen up all the bushings and then re-torque them at the new ride height. Otherwise they would be under some tension from the original ride height settings.

 

[Vipera Russelli]

Very, very nice!!! Congrats!

 

[Dimitrios]

NICE!

 

[Viper X]

Looks good!

 

[SRTRICKY]

looking real good....next mod for me will defenetly be Motons or K&W

 

[JonB]

Lighter wheels are, in effect, the 'same' as adding stiffer springs.

Why? Imagine using Copperhead or Forgeline wheels, saving 35+ lbs of wheel weight. Then, your existing springs and shocks (whatever they may be) wont have to deal with as much bouncing and rotating mass... they get a vacation of sorts.... The steering rack takes a breather, too, and the steering feels lighter and more nimble. DONT RE-SPRING til you add the lighter wheels we talked about!

 

[Austin]

Looks sweet! Its amazing how lowering the SRT can make it look.

 

[Nader]

The change from the stock rims and runflats to after market (for me HRE) is dramitic improvement from stock.

 

[ILLSMOQ]

COOOL....

I'm not re-springing anytime soon.....alignment,balancing and ride height adjustments came to 600 bucks lol.

next will be the wheels.....just need to figure out the ones I want.