Obioban's 2005 IR/IR Coupe

[Malloy]

Yes. My brother has the 0% in his car, and it is perfection.

Thanks again. I talked to Ronald the other day and I'm sold. He pushed me twd a 20% reduction so I need to decide. Either way, I can't wait to get his parts :-)

[D-O]

Would that be the Ultra kit or the Autocross kit?

Jesse

[Obioban]

Good deal. thanks. I need to get rid of my UUC (too notchy) and the 0% Auto Solutions sounds like a good option...

Yes. My brother has the 0% in his car, and it is perfection.

[Malloy]

I currently have a 20% auto solutions kit. Next time I have the trans out, I will swap it for a 0% auto solutions kit.

Stock knob (and will be staying that way).

Good deal. thanks. I need to get rid of my UUC (too notchy) and the 0% Auto Solutions sounds like a good option...

[Obioban]

Hey Ian, what shifter do you run?

I currently have a 20% auto solutions kit. Next time I have the trans out, I will swap it for a 0% auto solutions kit.

Stock knob (and will be staying that way).

[Malloy]

Hey Ian, what shifter do you run?

[Obioban]

Hey Obiodan, those ohlins are the regular R&T? Well the AW does 'look' like it's rolling over more than your car.

They're flat ride converted, stock valving. Stock R&T is 400/628. Those are
375 350
700 628

... though with a GC race front sway set to full stiff, which is doing way more for roll stiffness than the springs are :P
(sway bar is 69% of roll stiffness for that setup)

[enjoy_m3]

Hey Obiodan, those ohlins are the regular R&T? Well the AW does 'look' like it's rolling over more than your car.

[Obioban]

Why would the white car be lower in its stroke before that corner?

I'm not sure what you're asking here.

Tarmac doesn't look undulated. Are you saying the bumps were large enough to cause visible packing, but small enough they can't be seen on the tarmac in the photos?

Yes.

The size of the bump doesn’t matter— the question is if the spring is strong enough to overpower the cornering load + shock rebound + bump input. The world is full of tiny bumps.

I'm writing this because you've told all and sundry, for years, that this type of stuff was all in their head. But you get to post 2 pics (where you can barely even tell any difference [between 2 different cars, no less]), and come to conclusions?

Very anti-science of you.

I see where you're coming from, with the two photo thing. I just meant them as an example-- specifically because the white car is running the exact setup my car was on last year (as in, the parts I took off my car), as well as most of the other mods I have done, on the same corner, at a similar pace. It's about as good of a comparison as you could hope for.

That said, my real observation was when I opened the photo album-- it was immediately apparent to me that my car was notably less rolled over in every photo compared to every previous setup I've run. I posted the 2 picture comparison to the white car because it was an easy visualization of it, not as proof of anything.

[K-Dawg]

[Tbonem3]

Why would the white car be lower in its stroke before that corner? Tarmac doesn't look undulated. Are you saying the bumps were large enough to cause visible packing, but small enough they can't be seen on the tarmac in the photos?

I'm writing this because you've told all and sundry, for years, that this type of stuff was all in their head. But you get to post 2 pics (where you can barely even tell any difference [between 2 different cars, no less]), and come to conclusions?

Very anti-science of you.

[Obioban]

I can confirm when I get home, but I believe my compression and rebound damping are roughly 1:1.

[IamFODI]

Maybe you have more compression dampening.

One FCM signature is less "rebound bias", a.k.a. a much higher ratio of compression damping to rebound damping (vs. other dampers). At the same time, Shaikh has said he likes to run minimum necessary damping, so a higher compression:rebound damping ratio doesn't necessarily mean more absolute compression damping.

Either way, I agree that this isn't slam-dunk proof of less "jacking down", though it's certainly consistent with that hypothesis.

[Obioban]

The car looks great!

I don't think you've commented much on how the FCM dampers behave around town, as far as comfort and civility go.

Agreed that flat ride is huge. Now, when people say that their non-flat ride suspension rides/handles nicely, I tend to stop listening.

As for the AC, you might try just getting a proper vacuum and refill on the system and doing what you can to clean the condenser. Although at that point, changing the condenser is probably not much more work.

$87 for an OEM (Mahle) condenser, so I feel like it's probably worth swapping it if I'm going through the effort of cleaning it and already draining/filling it. With 160,000 miles on it (bending the fins, gumming up), it's probably hurting the rads performance, too.

That said, short term I'm going to do nothing. While we're building our house, I don't have any good place to do car work-- so projects are limited to either being superficial (trackconnect module) or necessary... or... pay someone to do it 😲. Trying to avoid the last.

On nicely paved to fine backroads, the FCMs are magic. As in, I didn't know it was possible for a car to be this good.

On large potholes, they are not as good as the flat ride converted Ohlins were.

In terms of ride quality, they're firm but not harsh. Ride quality is pretty similar to my Dinan springs (which are flat ride)/Koni M3 (wagon). Small/medium bump ride quality is better than the Ohlins were, large bump/potholes are worse than the Ohlins were. At highway speeds (+), they're always pretty great.

[K-Dawg]

The car looks great!

I don't think you've commented much on how the FCM dampers behave around town, as far as comfort and civility go.

Agreed that flat ride is huge. Now, when people say that their non-flat ride suspension rides/handles nicely, I tend to stop listening.

As for the AC, you might try just getting a proper vacuum and refill on the system and doing what you can to clean the condenser. Although at that point, changing the condenser is probably not much more work.