Multipurpose and multi-surface suspension
 

Looking for personal experiences of people who are running their cars in multiple forms of racing.

I am looking at rallyX, autoX, road racing, hill climb, and possibly a stage rally or two.

Leaning towards Ohlin or Bilsteins.

Anyone have experience in this situation, what were your pros/cons? What would you change?

Insight from @CSG Mike or any other suspension nerds. ;)

You want one suspension to do all of those? You would want something you could adjust to have stock-like shock travel for rally-x. Stage rally it would really depend on the rally, street/track shocks aren't really meant for a stage rally with large bumps, jumps, etc.

You might be better off just using the stock suspension for that since it's cheap to replace, or use the bilstein/koni rebuildable struts.

If you don't mind changing suspension for different activities, TRD makes rally suspension that's a little taller and softer.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57564

I'm not sure you'll find a "one size fits all" that will work right for all those events. Something that works adequate for all might be possible. As much adjustable as you can get/afford would be the key, so you can tune for all the different conditions, without too many tuning options, so that you're always chasing the setup.

I understand all of the differences.

And I don't expect a setup that will be a champion of all. My intent is for my own driver skill increases, without buying 2-3 suspension setups to play on different surfaces.

I know I can't be the first, and I know I can't be the only one who doesn't race ONLY one form or skillset.

RallyX/rally and autox/roadrace are mutually exclusive.

Hill climb will depend on the event.

For light non-competitive and just for fun autox/rallyx/street...just do Bilstein HD shocks, stock springs, and some upgraded bushings. Maybe swap in stiffer sway bars for tarmac events but the focus will be on driving and learning. There isn't a serious one size fits all set-up for all of that.

- Andy

Anyone have Andy's setup?

How do the Bilstein HDs ride?

I had black Bilstein touring shocks and they made my Volvo ride pan hard even on stock springs.

I mean since you suggested ohlins how much are you willing to pay?

I keep wanting to reply to this thread... because it's an important question to be asking. There's just really no good answer.

You have some options (though I can't recommend any of them):
- get coilovers with a wide range of damper adjustment and swap out springs
- get coilovers with progressive rate springs and fiddle with the pre-load
- get adjustable dampers and crank it to 11 when you want a stiffer ride
- get an adjustable sway bar and keep a soft suspension
- make an air ride + damptronic setup
- make a McLaren-style hydraulic system with heave bar Link to Edmunds article:drool:

Or...........…...........

Wait for DougW to finish his Bilstein SmartDamptronic testing and find a way to release it to the public...