Suspension tuning books
 

After playing with parts like coilovers, camber stuff, preload settings, and mca traction brackets, I've decided I suck at on-road suspension tuning and I'm tired of guessing everything. All of my limited experience in suspension tuning comes from offroad cars, trucks, and bikes. I ordered a copy of race car vehicle dynamics already. Are there any other books I should add to my reading list?

Youtube

On the real though. What makes you say you suck at suspension tuning? Are you looking for a particular outcome with your setup?

Go read a physics/mechanical engineering textbook or Wikipedia article. I'm serious. Or How to Make Your Car Handle by Fred Puhn is a good one too.

Did you buy the Ohlins from the known repeatable seller that posts here?
If so he is very helpful and may answer your questions and help you setup the car the way you want.
Waiting for your review when you finish... :)

RCVD is good but a little heavy.

How to make your car handle is good and approachable, but old.

There are some internet resources that are good, but a lot that are not good. I do like the OptimumG tech articles that are posted online, but they get deep into things that aren't relevant for our cars.

- Andrew

Do you have a tire temp probe? Going out and actually measuring will tell you a lot more about your alignment and suspension setup.

But as far as books go, RCVD does a pretty good job of covering it all. Gillespie's Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics is basically that but shortened and cut down to the handling specific sections.

For more basic info on setup and adjustment instead of the math and theory, try Carroll Smith's tune to win and maybe how to make your car handle by fred puhn (although this one is going on 40 years old).

Thanks for that book folks. I don't want to harrass someone about setups and waste their time. I'm not racing and I don't know enough about on road stuff to properly describe exactly whats going on. I feel like everytime I'm making one thing better, I make something else worse. I'm sure theres some happy medium out there that I haven't found yet. The suspension tuning knowledge is just something I think will be good to know. Whats the point of all my sweet adjustable stuff if I can't figure out exactly what I'm doing. For all I know, all of my problems are just driver error and I won't know what I'm doing wrong until I attend some driving classes.

Do tire probes work on wet tires? Most of my driving is in the rain. I'm not really going to pick up with suspension tuning again till spring. I like how the car handles now on ice and snow but was not a fan of my current settings on non slippery roads with my other tires.

Yes, but I didn't realize you weren't ever driving on tracks, which is where it is most useful. Ideal alignment is going to vary greatly depending on the roads you're driving on and the conditions. May help with pressures and handling balance but trying to drive fast on public roads especially when it's slippery is generally not going to turn out well.

It will be a while before a good review. On non-slick surfaces, I feel like stock struts and springs handled better. The largest improvements to me were front camber and zero toe. The toe was the biggest improvement, it felt like the the car kinda rotated around me while cornering...Not like drifting or anything, I just felt more confident cornering. The car rides nicer but I lost that sweet spot of cornering feel and it understeers. I blame my tuning, not the shocks....hence the quest for knowledge.

These are the ones with 4k/3k springs?

If so, I'd recommend stiffer rear springs, maybe 5k. 3k is softer than stock while your new front springs are stiffer. Tuning and adjustment can't make up for this fundamental imbalance.

RCVD is pretty much the go to bible, but like mentioned above, it's pretty technical.

Along with RCVD, I have these:
Engineer to Win - Carroll Smith
Chassis Engineering - Herb Adams
Inside Racing Technology - Paul Haney and Jeff Braun
The Racing and High Performance Tire - Paul Haney

Gleaned some working with Bob Riley too, and have his book but it is less technical, and more historical, but very good. "The Art of Race Car Design" - Bob Riley and Jonathon Ingram. If you don't know who Bob is, look up Riley and Scott, and Riley Technologies.

Also anything you can find online, youtube, and podcast wise, from Jeff Braun is going to be good. I think Rick Mayer has some stuff out there too (luckily he doesn't swear in his interviews, like he does in real life, LOL)

It is 5k front and rear.