How to Configure Struts
- 1). Lower the car front and rear as far as you can while maintaining adequate ground clearance and without causing the suspension to go out of alignment. Set the front struts on a front-wheel-drive car slightly lower than the front to reduce weight transfer off of the front wheels during acceleration and enhance rear weight distribution under cornering. Set all of the shocks to 10 percent softer than their neutral setting.
- 2). Set up a baseline tune for your car by optimizing both the front-rear balance to fit your car's drive type. For a front-wheel-drive car, set your front suspension bound and rebound about 25 percent stiffer in the front than in the rear. For a rear-drive car, set the rear dampers about 10 percent stiffer than the front. Set the front dampers about 10 percent stiffer in the front if you have an all-wheel-drive car.
- 3). Adjust the front-rear balance for weight distribution. One good rule of thumb is to subtract the difference in percentage between the front and rear axle weights, divide by two and then increase the damper bound and rebound on the heavy axle by that amount. For example, if a car has a 60/40 front/rear weight distribution, subtract 40 from 60 (which equals 20) and divide by two to get 10 percent. Add that 10 percent greater stiffness to the front axle's strut bound and rebound.
- 4). Decrease front suspension rebound and rear suspension bound stiffness by about five percent to enhance weight distribution and traction while launching a rear-wheel-drive car. For a front-wheel-driver, increase rear bound stiffness to keep the rear end from squatting under launch and taking weight off of the front tires.
- 5). Universally increase or decrease suspension bound/rebound front and rear by the same amount to either stiffen the suspension for better handling or reduce stiffness of a better ride quality. This step needs to come after the rest, since the dampers' adjustment limits during the "balancing" phase (steps one through four) dictate how soft or stiff you can make the suspension as a whole without throwing the car out of balance.
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