Help- Best setting for QA1's with Hotchkiss?
 

Have on my truck the following:

Hotchkiss lowering kit with sway bars.
QA1's w/heim kit (via Ruslow)

Now, I've been playing around with the settings, but need some guidance on the most common setting for just going around town. Should I set it around 5/5? (front/back)

Thanks for your input. Tim Skelton, can you chime in? Read your site, but wanted to know what your your final setup was.

Thanks.

I run a stagger of +2 to the front. Start with a 7/5 and go from there. The Hotchkis front springs are soft so I ran them @8 and raced on 10. I run 1100lb custom coils now.

Re: Help- Best setting for QA1's with Hotchkiss?
 

Really depends. With the stock 18's on the street I run 7F/5R or thereabouts, which seems a little too stiff in the rear. At the track, I usually run 10-11F/8-9R. I think I need to experiment with lower relative settings in the rear.

With my 20's on the street, I run 9F/7R. The 20's weigh about the same as the 18's, but for some reason they feel a little more bouncy on the highway. I have never been able to get the wheels perfectly balanced, so I think that the vibrations may allow the 20s to more easily go into oscillation, so more shock is needed. Or something. But I do know that the ride is really jiggly with the 20's at lower settings.

Here is my advice to you: Set all 4 to "0." Drive around. Set all 4 to "12." Drive around. Notice the differences and start moving towards the center.

I am not convinced that I really know how to set shocks. And I must confess that I have not been completely happy with the QA1s. The suspension still feels a little bouncy at all settings. I love the adjustability, but I think that double-adjustable shocks are needed for the best handling. But this is the first aftermarket suspension I have ever messed with, so maybe I am just not yet experienced enough to fully appreciate handling changes.

And the bump steer is always distracting.

As I get to be a better driver and the track feels more natural to me, I suspect that I will be able to pay more attention to the suspension setup. I'm still at the white-knuckle phase. :bandito:

With the Ruslow coils, do you still run a +2 stagger?

What do you run in the front?

How do you like the 1100 lb coils with the Hotchkis rear springs?

Re: Re: Help- Best setting for QA1's with Hotchkiss?
 

Since you went there ....

Hotchkis and QA1's in the front I'm happy with.

It's the rear hotchkis leafs and QA1's that I can't get dialed into my liking. It just seems to squirrly and bouncy which I really don't like. Since my hitch is gone, and rollpan is going on soon the backend is going to be even lighter and I'm sure thats gonna make it worse.


Currently I'm running 7f/6r.

Also make sure you use the rubber O-rings on the shafts to check out how much your shocks are compressing, it will help dial in everything. Just experiment.

The rear leafs are too stiff for good road racing control. I am just too lazy to change them out. I think Roush has a better rate for the rears. More spring # requires more shock dampening. I run 9/6-7 settings on the street. I up the front to 10 on smooth high speed tracks and try to leave the rear down around 7 so I have some compliance and reduce oversteer tendencies. I love the 1100's they are a touch stiff on the streets. They balance out the rears a lot better than the Hotchkis coils could.

I'm wondering how the new Hotchkis leafs are. They are supposed to be 280lb as apposed to the 300lb that most of use have.

I had one of the first sets of 300's out back in March of 01. I thought the yrode like crap and were dangerously stiff from day one. If someone says the new ones are a good bit different I will buy a set.

THANKS!:rocker:

Funny -- my Hotchkis suspension won't oversteer under any circumstances. In fact, I have too much understeer (which is fine now given my novice racer status).