New suspension: Wallowy!!

[jas_hall]

Hi all. I have just had some Tien SuperSteets fitted and find them a touch "wallowy". It actully made me feel car sick! The car seems to tilt more than it was before. The old shocks were standard BUT knackered so were posibly harder than they were supposed to be. Does that sound posible. If so, can I cure the "wallowy" feel of the SuperStreets by hardening the dampeners? They are set to a standard setting (12?) at the moment.

jason

[trotter]

The old shocks should have been getting wallowy with age. As they get older, the hydraulic fluid tends to leak out resulting in \'softer\' damping. I wouldnt have thought they\'d get harder unless the shock was sticking - but on all four corners, not likely imo.

It sounds like your dampers need tightening up on the superstreets though mate.

EDIT: whats the condition of your anti-roll bars, strut braces, etc?

[GhostWKD]

Possibly a silly q - but have you had a proper geometry alignment done since fitting the coilovers?

[peterwolds]

Jason a lot depends on what you had before.i went from bilsteins which were rock hard to superstreets loved them,try altering settings from memory there are 16 clicks from soft to harder on superstreets only takes 5 minutes to alter

[davehg]

got any pics of how you installed them? sometimes the instuctions can be a little miss leading.

[NurburgRob]

WGT told me to get Mono Flex if I was going down the Tein route as the Superstreets weren\'t any harder than the standard bilsteins on my 96 RS.

[Aubec]

I\'ve got superstreets on mine, fitted new.  They should be too hard compared to the standard set if anything, rather than wallowy!  Even on the softest setting the dampers should be pretty stiff.

Have you set them to the right height by adjusting the collars, and as mentioned above, have you checked the rest of your suspension components and bushings, refitted the strut braces and had your alignment done?

[jas_hall]

O.K. to answer all the above:

Rear bushes were replaced at the same time as the shocks.
Shocks and bushes were replaced by ReWerx.
Had 4 wheel alignment done just before hand ( i know it\'s the wrong way round but ReWerx assured me that they wouldn\'t effect the alignment).
This was all done because of a handling problem (see post: oversteer on deceleration).

I will adjust the dampers and see if that helps. I just wanted to check with everyone that hardening the dampers would make for a firmer ride. (my neighbour seemed to think that i may have to change the springs!)

Should I drive it as it is for a while first? Does it take a while for new shocks to settle in?

Cheers all

jason

[Aubec]

If you were on standard shocks and springs before, at the stock ride-height, then the SuperStreets will have dropped the ride by about 30mm IIRC, which most certainly will affect the suspension geometery.  If you were already lowered then it wouldn\'t necessarily.

Regardless, the geometery would not make the car wallowy I wouldn\'t have thought.  Stiffen them up and see what you think...

[craigr]

My Teins on the RX7 felt fine at the factory 12 setting. I just installed some BC Racing coilovers on my RX8 and on the hardest setting it would react so much to undulations in the road that it could be described as being wallowy - I also felt sick ! I adjusted back to the softest and it transformed the car - still stiffer than stock, but without the wallow.

[probedb]

How far have you driven them since fitting? I\'d give it 100 miles just to let them settle first as well. I\'ve got Super Streets on the standard setting and they\'re not wallowy, not as stiff as the HKSs I took off but definitely not wallowy

[NurburgRob]

Your springs need to match the dampers, ultimately it is the springs that provide the suspension and the shocks that restrict the travel of the springs.  If you\'ve lowered it on standard springs you now need shorter springs.

[jas_hall]

Hi all.
To answer the above: I have only driven a tiny bit on the new shocks so maybe I should drive them in for bit before I get too critical(anal?)!

The springs are whatever came with the Superstreets. And I think they do drop the hight by about an inch. I could raise the car slighty but would it help?

cheers

jason

[Aubec]

No, raising the car wont help.  I think you should set the dampers to 0 clicks and 16 clicks and drive on both extremes to see what you think.

Your alignment will need done at some point as having dropped the height the wheels will now be at more negative camber, but not urgent.

I\'m also thinking we\'re all interpreting wallowy differently!

[ashc]

my monoflex were like this for the first month or two, then bedded in nicely, much better - certainly i regretted the change for the first week, got very carsick - seemed to be an unnatural oscillation on the road but it settle nicely now, and i love them. Just give it a bit of time!