What does it mean to tune your suspension?
04-14-2011, 01:40 PM
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What does it mean to tune your suspension?
I have heard this term alot lately between different people and it made me curious. I know what tuning your car or an engine is when you go turbo but what exactly is tuning your suspension?
04-14-2011, 08:16 PM
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another trick Ive heard of is using a ziptie (or something similar). Put it around the shaft of the strut tight enough that it stays where you put it and go nuts turning. See where the zip tie ends up. If it is alllll the way up... your bottoming out and sitting to low.
06-10-2011, 03:36 PM
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tuning a suspension means controlling how much the strut dampens the bounce from the spring, also adjusting ride height to balance the total weight of the car on all 4 tires either equally, or more weight on the front, or more weight on the rear, or for example NASCAR stock cars want more weight on the left side, so they can turn left. weight balancing is dependent on what the car is used for, every day driving? track only use? drag strip only? dampening is dependent as well on the use of the vehicle, bumpy roads ? softer springs, soft dampening. nice flat race track ? harder springs, strong dampening. tune a suspension based on necessity. i love when i saw 1500 dollar coilovers on a daily driver (at my old shop), and its set to race track settings ! lol.
07-20-2011, 08:14 AM
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Tuning in the sense of balancing:
Usually helps keeping good braking distances and low and even wear on parts (tires especially). I consider this REGULAR maintenance and it sort of begins with checking your tire pressure and balancing your wheels with small weights (I have my tires changed twice a year (winter/summer) with new sets of tires every other year) and ends with adjusting the suspension on a special hydraulic(lifting) platform. Though I must admit the latter was only ever really needed once after slipping on a patch of ice and hitting a curb (vintage alloys ruined
)
To keep your suspension in good shape replace wearing parts. The most obvious being tires. But tie rod ends wear as well. Usually after 100,000km you will notice wear on more resilient parts like bushings and shock-absorbers. This may happen earlier or later ... but all RDs are at least 10 years old now, which means that virtually all replacement parts of the suspension are "old" and thus worn if the car was used as intended. It is a good investment to replace shock absorbers, though aftermarket "tuning" parts may be cheaper than original. Of course aftermarket replacement parts are usually cheapest and generally advisable if you just want to drive and you are happy just the way it was when the car was new.
Tuning in the sense of modding:
Exchanging stock to tuned aftermarket parts improves braking distance, cornering and comfort(I can provide empiric evidence if needed). I guess what loneshark meant was that you alter the weight distribution under load i.e. when accelerating/decelerating
Many people go for looks and just exchange the springs or worse just cut or modify their stock springs. The latter two are just plain dangerous. Eibach provides good quality springs.
Shock absorbers will stiffen the suspension and usually lower the car. Coilovers are fancy, but are either for show or real racing. An exception to that being sets that can be adjusted from the inside. But a modification this expensive should be done together with other equally effective/expensive mods on the suspension. Just adding coilovers seems pointless with regard to their potential.
In the case of your Tiburon a Cup-Kit suspension from H&R is a good starter (spring and shock absorber sold together) with moderate effects in all aspects.
Strut tower bars are usually placed first in the tuning scene. It is easy to do and looks nice when you pop the hood. Like stabilizers, which are placed at bottom of the suspension, these decrease roll and chassis twisting when cornering. Bear in mind that an unbalanced modification of front and rear influences steering towards under- or oversteer.
A Roll Cage improves safety and further stiffens the chassis.
Instead of a hydraulic suspension with springs you could go for a pneumatic suspension. Besides the lowrider potential these are usually found in upper class cars or french cars. There are kits available. It is expensive and either for show or really bad country roads (France). A modern air suspension in combination with a relatively long wheel base like the Tiburon's make VERY good long distance cruisers.
Usually helps keeping good braking distances and low and even wear on parts (tires especially). I consider this REGULAR maintenance and it sort of begins with checking your tire pressure and balancing your wheels with small weights (I have my tires changed twice a year (winter/summer) with new sets of tires every other year) and ends with adjusting the suspension on a special hydraulic(lifting) platform. Though I must admit the latter was only ever really needed once after slipping on a patch of ice and hitting a curb (vintage alloys ruined
)To keep your suspension in good shape replace wearing parts. The most obvious being tires. But tie rod ends wear as well. Usually after 100,000km you will notice wear on more resilient parts like bushings and shock-absorbers. This may happen earlier or later ... but all RDs are at least 10 years old now, which means that virtually all replacement parts of the suspension are "old" and thus worn if the car was used as intended. It is a good investment to replace shock absorbers, though aftermarket "tuning" parts may be cheaper than original. Of course aftermarket replacement parts are usually cheapest and generally advisable if you just want to drive and you are happy just the way it was when the car was new.
Tuning in the sense of modding:
Exchanging stock to tuned aftermarket parts improves braking distance, cornering and comfort(I can provide empiric evidence if needed). I guess what loneshark meant was that you alter the weight distribution under load i.e. when accelerating/decelerating
Many people go for looks and just exchange the springs or worse just cut or modify their stock springs. The latter two are just plain dangerous. Eibach provides good quality springs.
Shock absorbers will stiffen the suspension and usually lower the car. Coilovers are fancy, but are either for show or real racing. An exception to that being sets that can be adjusted from the inside. But a modification this expensive should be done together with other equally effective/expensive mods on the suspension. Just adding coilovers seems pointless with regard to their potential.
In the case of your Tiburon a Cup-Kit suspension from H&R is a good starter (spring and shock absorber sold together) with moderate effects in all aspects.
Strut tower bars are usually placed first in the tuning scene. It is easy to do and looks nice when you pop the hood. Like stabilizers, which are placed at bottom of the suspension, these decrease roll and chassis twisting when cornering. Bear in mind that an unbalanced modification of front and rear influences steering towards under- or oversteer.
A Roll Cage improves safety and further stiffens the chassis.
Instead of a hydraulic suspension with springs you could go for a pneumatic suspension. Besides the lowrider potential these are usually found in upper class cars or french cars. There are kits available. It is expensive and either for show or really bad country roads (France). A modern air suspension in combination with a relatively long wheel base like the Tiburon's make VERY good long distance cruisers.
07-20-2011, 01:34 PM
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Hey Tomte, very nice explanation, i just wanted to clarify one thing, when you said
shock absorbers do not determine ride height. Springs determine right height. In the case of coil-overs, the adjustability is determined by a sleeve that is placed on the shock absorber, this sleeve has thread on it and rings that screw onto these threads and the spring sit on the rings. as your lower the rings, you lower your ride height, and vice/versa.
shock absorbers will stiffen the suspension and usually lower the car
shock absorbers do not determine ride height. Springs determine right height. In the case of coil-overs, the adjustability is determined by a sleeve that is placed on the shock absorber, this sleeve has thread on it and rings that screw onto these threads and the spring sit on the rings. as your lower the rings, you lower your ride height, and vice/versa.
07-20-2011, 05:42 PM
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Mine are full race,non dampening adjustable,just height adj....Wicked in turns and dragstip,a lil annoying when cruising with a coffee....
07-21-2011, 03:22 AM
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Loneshark being sharp as ever 
pointed out that the shocks do not lower the car. That is true and a lapse on my part 
. The prereqisite for lowering your car using shockabsorbers are adjustments in the spring range. I must admit that I assumed that if someone spent the money on aftermarket tuning shockabsorbers they would have changed the springs already(that is why I put springs before shocks).
I looked at my mighty tuning catalogue again today
Found out one more thing you should look out for:
Shockabsorbers come at a specific length for the car. As stated above the ride height is determined by spring range. Thus the length of the "rebound" which is dampened by the shock absorber is variable. When buying shocks after you bought springs either look for matching spring/shock absorber combinations or for shocks allowing for adaptation of the rebound (usually 50mm range).
pointed out that the shocks do not lower the car. That is true and a lapse on my part . The prereqisite for lowering your car using shockabsorbers are adjustments in the spring range. I must admit that I assumed that if someone spent the money on aftermarket tuning shockabsorbers they would have changed the springs already(that is why I put springs before shocks).I looked at my mighty tuning catalogue again today
Found out one more thing you should look out for:Shockabsorbers come at a specific length for the car. As stated above the ride height is determined by spring range. Thus the length of the "rebound" which is dampened by the shock absorber is variable. When buying shocks after you bought springs either look for matching spring/shock absorber combinations or for shocks allowing for adaptation of the rebound (usually 50mm range).