Tell me about shock dyos, I just ordered a set of BC Racing's BR series coilovers for my Gen II R/10, do I need to take them to someone with a shock dyno to set them up? I told him what my parameters were, street use not track basically, I received an immediate receipt and notice that they had been shipped yesterday, I have to wonder how they could ship so soon and set them up as well? That's great to be getting them so soon but I have to wonder, my suspension guy recommended Penskes and taking the car 100 miles away, but seems to be overkill for a car that isn't going to be tracked.
Shock dynos
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cubican
Enthusiast
The bc are great out of the box,, for the money they not be beat.
A shock dyno would only really tell you what the damping curve is, not necessarily what it needs to be based on your car. I'm thinking they probably have a large reference sheet at BC for the shock valving that they use to assemble a shock for any given request. If they have done a similar car before it would be a pretty quick and easy setup to ship out I would think.
Off the top of my head from my engineering background I'd say it's essentially based on vehicle weight and spring rates at the most basic level. It can get really complicated when you start looking at chassis stiffness and trying to maximize corner forces to obtain maximum grip, but that's more something you that would have to do with data acquisition at a track. Some of it just comes down to trial and error and user feel and preference.
Off the top of my head from my engineering background I'd say it's essentially based on vehicle weight and spring rates at the most basic level. It can get really complicated when you start looking at chassis stiffness and trying to maximize corner forces to obtain maximum grip, but that's more something you that would have to do with data acquisition at a track. Some of it just comes down to trial and error and user feel and preference.
AZTVR
Enthusiast
Just as an FYI for folks, the factory design for the Gen II suspension set-up, per the service manual, is for a rake of 1/2 inch, the front height being set lower than the rear. I don't know whether that specific value is special. I have seen posts mentioning adjusting rake as a suspension alignment parameter that affects handling.
I posed the question to BC Racing and here is the answer I got:
Dick, a shock dyno is only needed to test shocks after they have been serviced or revalved. All BC shocks are dyno tested at the factory as part of the quality control procedure. A chassis dyno may be used by a manufacturer or very well-funded race team to test the performance of the shocks on the vehicle but this is a very specialized piece of equipment and is not widely used. The only adjustments that may need to be made on our suspension kit for the Viper is to adjust the ride height and damping. These adjustments will depend upon your vehicle setup, local road conditions, and your personal taste so we cannot pre-set these things to a specific setting. You may adjust the damping by simply turning the adjustment knob on each shock and ride height is adjusted by screwing the shock body up or down in the lower mount.
Thanks,
Scott Clifford
Dick, a shock dyno is only needed to test shocks after they have been serviced or revalved. All BC shocks are dyno tested at the factory as part of the quality control procedure. A chassis dyno may be used by a manufacturer or very well-funded race team to test the performance of the shocks on the vehicle but this is a very specialized piece of equipment and is not widely used. The only adjustments that may need to be made on our suspension kit for the Viper is to adjust the ride height and damping. These adjustments will depend upon your vehicle setup, local road conditions, and your personal taste so we cannot pre-set these things to a specific setting. You may adjust the damping by simply turning the adjustment knob on each shock and ride height is adjusted by screwing the shock body up or down in the lower mount.
Thanks,
Scott Clifford
