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Taken directly from QA1's
website.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
The following
information is a general discussion regarding shock and
spring selection. It
is intended to offer a technical base from which to design,
redesign or
troubleshoot suspensions. These principles will offer insight for
drag
racing and street performance applications. Valving recommendations
have to
be very generalized and are only intended to provide an approximate
baseline
to start fine-tuning. Every car is different, no matter how much you
think
your car is like your buddy’s car. There will always exist differences in
geometry, weight, torque, horsepower and more. Selecting the best shock
and spring combination is dependent on many variables. In some cases the
recommendations made could be very close, but we are not striving for
mediocrity...we want you to win!
The best place to start any fine-tuning
process is literally by the seat of
your pants. Drivers have to become aware
of what the car is actually going
through, be it on the track or the road.
On the track, one has to know if it is
hooking initially and then spins, or
doesn’t hook at all initially and then hooks.
For street performance, it is
definitely by the seat of the pants. There is no
reason a street car has to
have a bad ride. If the car is uncomfortable, then
something was missed or
overlooked when it was set up originally. In both
situations you should
begin by experimenting with different shock valvings
and spring combinations
until you find a set-up that works for the widest
range of conditions. Once
you have established a good overall baseline for the
set-up, you can adjust
for different conditions whether it is at the track or on
the road.
In
order to make the correct adjustments you first need to consider what the
function is of the shock and spring. The spring is there to insulate the
chassis
from forces applied through the wheel by irregularities in the track
and road
surface. A spring that is too stiff can allow the chassis to accept
too much of
the force. The chassis movements cause unwanted weight movement
and
geometry changes. In drag race applications, springs with too much rate
typically
cause the car to hit the tire and rebound off too quickly. Too
much rate
on street cars results in the ride quality and handling being less
than desirable.
Springs that are too soft allow the cars in both situations
to become lazy,
possibly allowing the cars’ suspension to bottom out,
thereby causing a whole
new set of problems, including safety. Both of the
above examples are typically
worst case scenarios. When the correct range of
spring rate is established,
the spring can then begin its job of controlling
weight transfer. The
spring determines how much weight is transferred to
each wheel. When you
have arrived at the proper baseline spring set-up, you
should then try to finetune
the hit on the tire or the ride quality with
shocks and other adjustments.
Now, let’s move on to the shocks’ role in
chassis tuning. One of the functions
of the shock is to control the kinetic
energy stored in the spring as the spring
compresses and rebounds. That is a
very simple statement, but it is in fact
one of the shocks’ functions. The
other, and most important shock function in
a race car, is controlling when
weight is transferred. The different valve
settings offered in QA1 shocks
allow you to get the seat of the pants
feel you desire. In drag racing, you
can tailor the weight transfer in the front
end and the hit of the rear tire
depending on specific track conditions. In
street use, the shock will allow
the fine-tuning of the ride quality by setting
the valving to what is needed
to control the spring that has been selected for
your application. This
style of valving offered by QA1 for street use is
specific by type of
vehicle. Each will be designed to offer superior control of
the suspension.
QUICK
TIPS
Suspension Clearance
- Always check the clearance on all
suspension arms, shocks and
springs through the entire range of travel.
This includes shock mounting
locations and configurations. The extra
clearance through the entire range
of travel could mean the difference
in being competitive or not, and whether
or not the car handles and
rides correctly. Never use the shock as a
limiter.
Bearing Maintenance - The
shock bearings should operate smoothly
Check them for wear and fit. QA1
Teflon® lined bearings will offer smooth but
firm operation. If
metal-to-metal bearings are used, have penetrating oil
applied and then
worked in by hand for regular maintenance. Wipe the
excess oil from the
bearing when finished so that it does not collect dirt.
Binding - Check the entire suspension without
springs and shocks for
binding. If the suspension binds in the normal
operating range, fix or replace
the problem area. Binding and then freeing
up in the typical suspension travel
range will, in effect, be adding spring
rate at times and not adding it at others
thereby making the chassis
inconsistent. We hope that this information will
get you on your way to
quicker sets and/or a better ride from the start.
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