road use suspension setup

[dale]

hi guys,

I'm now the proud owner of a sonic 7, which i love. The car at the minute has all the suspension setup up on all its softest settings, I'm after some advice on what people are finding is the best setup for fast road use. Any points would be much appreciated.

cheers Dale

[Stiggy]

Compliance is the key here, the car will not suffer from too much body roll in road use even with the shock absorber settings at the lowest. Tyre choice is important of course and although many tend to go for the look of a rubber band effect on a large fairly heavy rim the best approach is a light weight smaller wheel (say 15") with some height to the tyre. The flexing of the side walls is an important factor when considering compliance. In terms of ride height you should set the lower wishbones to be parallel to the ground when loaded, i.e occupants in.
Tracking should be set at zero as a start point for the front and rear. Slight front toe out and slight toe in at the rear maybe where you finalise your settings. But adjust/test/adjust/test is the way to fine tune to your personal requirements.
Camber should be only a half to one degree negative as a start point front and rear (negative means leaning in at top. Bear in mind that accurate suspension settings go out of the window when you allow for bushes flexing under loads. A corner weight check can help but it is also thrown out when you add a passenger.
4 wheel laser alignement is a waste of money in my opinion, you can be fairly accurate with your tracking by using a builders line pulled tight across the face of the tyres.
Below are the settings used by Ariel on the Atom which is a similarly balanced car to Rocket/Sonic7

Ariel Atom Suspension:

Standard:

Front
Camber -30
Toe 1mm toe OUT each side

Rear
Camber -45
Toe 1.5mm toe IN each side


Intermediate/Racer

Front
Camber -1

Rear
Camber -1.25