Still playing around with my KW3s and I'm still trying to get my head round what does what.

I know bump and rebound adjustment will affect how a car reacts to bumps and holes so I guess this overall affects the ride.

Does these settings also have an effect on the roll?

Ride height affect roll by lowering or raising centre of gravity I guess and has no affect of ride unless, you have the dampers set so soft that it basically jsut sits on the springs.

Now if this all makes sense as I want to keep a modicum of ride compliancy I will raisse the ride height but this will affect the roll control. So I guess I'm going to need thicer roll bar to contain roll.

Are my assumptions/deductions/ correct (-ish)?

TIA

Adrian.

ish

ish

I understand that it's a "little more" than what I have said.

Any pointers/suggestions or can someone direct me to a suitable place for more information.

Ta.

"Competition Car Suspension - design, construction, tuning" - Allan Staniforth. ISBN 1-85960-644-X

Get it from the library, or ask me nicely and I'll lend you my copy.

Next suspension related question: what advantage does bump n rebound adjustment have over just standard rebound adjustment? KW2 V KW3

You can tune it to the individual characteristics of how *you* drive. For example, for road use, I like it fairly soft so can reduce the bump setting. I can leave the rebound setting alone or reduce it but not by the same amount as the bump, giving me the ride and handling I want rather than what the suspension engineer has decided I'd like.

It is also useful to be able to tweek them individually for handling purposes. For example, for killing understeer. If you have excessive roll at the front, increase the bump, if the roll isn't excessive but you still need to kill the mid corner understeer, increase the rebound.

"Competition Car Suspension - design' date=' construction, tuning" - Allan Staniforth. ISBN 1-85960-644-X

Get it from the library, or ask me nicely and I'll lend you my copy.

[/quote']

Thanks Obi Wan.

Book now arrived...courtsey of Amazon...time for some light reading.

You can tune it to the individual characteristics of how *you* drive. For example' date=' for road use, I like it fairly soft so can reduce the bump setting. I can leave the rebound setting alone or reduce it but not by the same amount as the bump, giving me the ride and handling I want rather than what the suspension engineer has decided I'd like.

[/quote']

Does this mean that I could set the road ride to be nice and compliant?

Steve

You could try but ride and handling are inextricably linked - if you go for a nice ride (i.e. your fillings don't fall out on a bumpy road), then the handling will worsen because the wheels effectively spend less time properly in contact with the road - so you don't have consistency of vertical load on the tyres and you get inconsistent 'feel' in the handling department. That said there is a region where you get reasonable ride and reasonable handling (although most manufacturers tend towards ride rather than handling), and you can tune within this region with the dampers. The other thing to remember is that the dampers only have an effect on the handling when the wheels are moving relative to the body - they control corner entry and exit, not the bit in between: that's what the springs and anti-roll bar are for. Anyway, below is from the Koni manual for how to adjust dampers. It's a bit Motorsport oriented, but it's the best way to go about things when you don't have decent datalogging to damper speed histograms.

ADJUSTING THE BUMP DAMPING CONTROL

Bump damping controls the unsprung weight of the vehicle (wheels,

axles, etc.). It controls the upward movement of the suspension as when

hitting a bump in the track. It should not be used to control the downward

movement of the vehicle when it encounters dips. Also, it should not be

used to control roll or bottoming.

Depending on the vehicle, the ideal bump setting can occur at any point

within the adjustment range. This setting will be reached when