Doug,
No offense taken. To answer your question about why the dampining rates (I believe it is measure in meters/second dampining) are not simply listed on the box, it is because 99% of people are to stupid to understand and compare the amount of compression and rebound dampining to establish what is best for their vehicle. Even for those that understand , the actual implimination is very difficult. Just a couple of examples:
1) How many rice rockets do you see running around, 3 inch drop springs and stock shocks that are one bump from rocketing off the road because of their lack of shock dampining combined with overly stiff springs? 99% of those cars are slower on the track (if they ever got there) than if they were bone stock with stock tires.
2) Even supposed experts often don't know what they are doing. There was a recent article on a BMW e36 M3 that was called the "Ultimate M3". The moron (and the shop that built it for him) was running coil overs with 1300lb/inch front and 900 lb/inch rear springs. Why is he a moron? When you run an e36 M3 at the track, the starting spring rate is about 700lb front and 500lb rear. I rode in a track M3 with 750 front springs and the guy was getting ready to soften them up because the car would constantly loose traction and start to push when it hit any imperfections. Bottom line is that most people thing stiffer=better.
3) Even when you know what is going on, actually getting the car setup right can take a lot of work. Perfect example is myself with the Koni Adjustables in My wifes 525i. I had them put in and they felt perfect in the full soft rebound. My mechanic (a NASA racer and instructor) drove the car for 10 minutes and told me to move the rebound dampining one click in the front. He was right, the car rebounds more evenly, but it does push worse also (525i's without springs, sway bars and modified camber mounts, push, push more and keep pushing). I am pretty knowledgable, but even then, it took somebody who is very competent only a few minutes to improve on my setup.
One of the reasons I run Bilsteins in the LC is that Bilstein valves their shocks for individual applications (they are proud of this and adverstise this fact). They are a bit stiff on the compression side (I think Koni likes to valve softer compression, more rebound than Bilstein) but the LC is predictable, and with the OME springs I have no floating or bottoming, even with 6 passengers, and the tires always stay on the ground (not overly stiff). I personally think that most suspension products sold are garbage, which is why I stay with Bilstein and Koni.
My 2 cents.
Cary
No offense taken. To answer your question about why the dampining rates (I believe it is measure in meters/second dampining) are not simply listed on the box, it is because 99% of people are to stupid to understand and compare the amount of compression and rebound dampining to establish what is best for their vehicle. Even for those that understand , the actual implimination is very difficult. Just a couple of examples:
1) How many rice rockets do you see running around, 3 inch drop springs and stock shocks that are one bump from rocketing off the road because of their lack of shock dampining combined with overly stiff springs? 99% of those cars are slower on the track (if they ever got there) than if they were bone stock with stock tires.
2) Even supposed experts often don't know what they are doing. There was a recent article on a BMW e36 M3 that was called the "Ultimate M3". The moron (and the shop that built it for him) was running coil overs with 1300lb/inch front and 900 lb/inch rear springs. Why is he a moron? When you run an e36 M3 at the track, the starting spring rate is about 700lb front and 500lb rear. I rode in a track M3 with 750 front springs and the guy was getting ready to soften them up because the car would constantly loose traction and start to push when it hit any imperfections. Bottom line is that most people thing stiffer=better.
3) Even when you know what is going on, actually getting the car setup right can take a lot of work. Perfect example is myself with the Koni Adjustables in My wifes 525i. I had them put in and they felt perfect in the full soft rebound. My mechanic (a NASA racer and instructor) drove the car for 10 minutes and told me to move the rebound dampining one click in the front. He was right, the car rebounds more evenly, but it does push worse also (525i's without springs, sway bars and modified camber mounts, push, push more and keep pushing). I am pretty knowledgable, but even then, it took somebody who is very competent only a few minutes to improve on my setup.
One of the reasons I run Bilsteins in the LC is that Bilstein valves their shocks for individual applications (they are proud of this and adverstise this fact). They are a bit stiff on the compression side (I think Koni likes to valve softer compression, more rebound than Bilstein) but the LC is predictable, and with the OME springs I have no floating or bottoming, even with 6 passengers, and the tires always stay on the ground (not overly stiff). I personally think that most suspension products sold are garbage, which is why I stay with Bilstein and Koni.
My 2 cents.
Cary
