(Cross posting from the G-Stock forum since it's a ghost town over there and I think the settings should be nearly identical to the H-Stock cars...)

I have acquired a set of the Koni Sports that were converted to double adjustable and revalved to the r53 "Mark Chiles valving" specs. They are going on my 07 R56 MCS with JCW suspension kit.


What is a good place to start with settings for bump and rebound? I have some experience with tuning rebound on double wishbone Hondas. But not on cars with struts, and I have no experience with bump adjustments...


I am trying to figure out what would be a conservative starting point for settings before I install them, since these seem like they will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to adjust once they are on the car.

 

140 views and 0 replies, eh?

I ended up starting with the following:
Front: Bump 1 clicks from full soft, Rebound 3/4 turn from full soft
Rear: Bump 2 clicks from full soft, Rebound 1/2 turn from full soft

It felt pretty good. I ran my first event on the setup and paxed 11th out of 170 drivers, which is above average for me locally.

I was hoping for a little more lift throttle rotation, and a local driver whose opinion I respect suggested adding more bump setting in the rear instead of more rear swaybar. So I will probably try 1 or 2 more clicks on the rear bump valving and leave all else the same for now.

 

Rear goes full stiff bump and go to around 1.5 turns off soft on rebound. For the front, I'm not sure about the valving from the old Chiles days. Do you have the JCW springs and 24mm front swaybar with a big bar in the rear? If so, I'd try more compression up front, maybe go all the way to full stiff and take 1 click out and see how that feels. Then, on rebound, if its a sweeper intensive course, go 1 turn off full soft, if its a transition heavy course, go to 1.5 or 2 turns off full soft. If I remember, Chiles had really soft rebound valving, so, you might want to just go to 1.5-2 turns off full soft to start.... This is all assuming you have the JCW springs.... Will post more later after you do. ;-)

 

Hey Craig - Congrats on the Blytheville tour and pro!

Yes, I have the JCW suspension installed + the Tarrett Engineering rear bar. Finally got the car aligned last Sat and was pleasantly surprised to find -1.0 and -0.9 camber up front.

I should probably point out that I am driving in RTF this season on RS-3s. So no R compounds. I'm not sure what you would recommend, but I was thinking that I should be set a little softer than what I would need if I were on Rs.

The car feels OK on course. But is very bouncy in the back on the street. I think I have the rear underdamped currently. It is very fast and easy to drive on course though. I paxed 11th and 5th at local events so far on the new suspension, which is about 12 to 15 spots better than I had been doing on the stock sport+.

This weekend I plan to disassemble the rear to 1) adjust the rebound on the Koni's higher (how high, I'm not sure) and 2) adjust the rear bar stiffer.

I have the front shocks set very soft currently, but it feels great. It puts down power MUCH better than the stock sport+ suspension and I have no serious complaints about front grip so far. I just want it to rotate a little better without going too far and making it unstable in sweepers.

 

Oh ok, no r-comps, that definitely changes the front setup a bit then. I'd stay softer on the front to start for sure. I'd still go with full stiff on compression in the rear and 1.5 turns off full soft on the rear rebound and then if you have oversteer, set the rear bar on full soft, if it still oversteers, just take a few clicks of compression out. I doubt you will have to do that though.

Then, make some runs with the front set exactly how you had it and see how it goes. After making several runs, try giving the front half of a turn more of rebound and see if you get any significant wheelspin. If not, you might try slightly more rebound. If wheelspin happens, then you back it off a bit. On compression, I am at full stiff on the R-comps and wish I had more, I'll probably get mine revalved or have another set of fronts made in the next week or so....

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that your Mini is performing well with the new setup, I think you will like the extra stiffness on the rear shocks. Good luck at the next event!

 

Thanks for the info and advice! That sounds like a great place to start tuning from. Another local nationally competitive (former) Mini driver was recommending nearly full stiff on both the rear shock settings to me too.

 

I am full stiff on rebound and 10/12 clicks on bump in the back, 3/4 turn from soft on front rebound, 5/12 clicks on front bump. The car is very neutral to slightly loose on the fast stuff, big ol' Hotchkis bar in the back. I'm running A6's though.