holycow

It appears to me that setting droop can actually adjust ride height. I have my droop screws all the way out, and I have the car performing basically how I like it. Somebody set my droop for me, then my rear end became all loose...

Took the screws back out.. back to driving well.

Can somebody explain how this works?

(sorry for the post, but a search provides thousands of results)

vtl1180ny

You are going to always have a certain amount of droop, it's just a measurement... When they set your drrop for you, did they set all 4 arms to a measured amount? Or did they just turn the screws in till they touched the chassis? Basically now, your shock length is dictating the amount of droop you have instead of the screws... Do you have access to a droop guage? What car are you running? If it aint broke, don't fix it...

seriousre

If your droop was just set and it made the front or rear suspension too tight then make sure you dont have any preload spacers on the shocks.

I usally only set the rear droop to factory settings, on my TC3 there is not a droop screw hole in the front A-arms

seriousre

Oh yeah and if your running the car on the street your better off just running with 0 droop anyway so you have extra ground clearance "unless you drive on nice smooth blacktop all the time" .

holycow

As in my sig... a schumacher mission carbon.

I can set my ride height exactly where i want it, using my springs. It seems that all the droop screws do, is force the arm up, reducing ride height on that arm. Since you never want your control arms all the way either up or down under full weight (you want travel in BOTH directions), I don't see how setting droop screws can help you, unless for some reason your car just sits too dang high, and you are forced to use them to bring the car down.

rwjso

For the front if you turn the droop screw so you have less downtravel the car will steer into turn more, have a little less steering middle and out of the turn, helps with traction rolls, and worse in bumps. More down travel will take away steering going into turn but give more mid-exit, traction roll easier, better on bumps. For the rear more downtravel will be better in bumps, more traction/less steering, more stable, less downtravel will make the car steer more/less traction, worse in bumps and not as stable or easy to drive consistently. Other than tires of course I feel droop is the most important part of your car to have adjusted right to the track conditions or personal preference.

seriousre

If you want to run stiffer springs it will make your car sit higher, you can use the droop screws to bring it back down.

The maximum height a "tc3" for example can sit at is around 1", I dont think you will see anyone runing a car that high on the track at any time.

icon

ride height should only be changed via the shock collar, whether you have threaded shocks or you are using shock spacers.

i may be reiterating, but the following info is from RC Touring Fall 2003:

The droop (downstops) limit how far arms would extend. On a a bumpy track, you may want more shock travel to allow a higher ride height to conform to track variation. high bite tracks require less suspension travel. There should also be upstops that you can set to limit upper travel as well.

akrcracer

All droop does in limit your down throw on shocks. Which really means adjusting length of shocks. Rock your chassis side to side with no droop. I'll get the full throw of shocks. Now put some droop in it! Your chassis roll is now limited. You have to have the correct amount of dampening to run a droop setting. Easiest way explain, Going down a staight at 20 mph with 9 lbs of car. Turn right , all weight shifts forward to left front suspension. If dampening isn't right, left front suspension quickly bottoms out, car looses traction. Now put more droop in same picture. The effect is greater... Suspension Tuning 101. Tires are the first thing to tune for traction, then suspension..

sosidge

No, no, no.

First rule - droop screws are NOT for adjusting ride height.

Droop is a totally different setting, and should be set after the ride height. You should always have at least 1mm of droop, unless you LIKE a car with nervous handling and limited grip.

Ride height should only be set with shock spacers.

Larger amounts of droop will increase grip, especially on a bumpy surface and in the middle of a corner.

Less droop will decrease grip, but increase responsiveness - useful on grippy, smooth surfaces.

When your car goes into a corner at a certain speed, it wants to transfer a certain amount of weight to the outer wheels. Thus it wants to pivot around its roll centre, and compress the outer springs a certain amount. With limited droop, the car can actually end up lifting an inside wheel from the ground momentarily, decreasing grip (as there's less rubber on the ground), slowing down, and therefore rolling less and putting the wheel back down on the ground. Lots of droop stops this wheel "lifting", increasing grip.

Droop is a surprisingly important setting and shouldn't be overlooked - a lot of the people at my club who complain about having handling difficulties have got their suspension jacked up right to the droop limits.

Cole Trickle

I'll second sosidge on this.

Droop (or downtravel) have a huge effect on handling.

Here you can read more (scroll down to "2.6 suspension travel)

Suspension travel

and here (scroll down to "Internal travel limiters / Droop / Downtravel")

The complete guide:

holycow

Thanks for all the tips guys! I think I got it... I will have to play with it this weekend at the track!

popsracer

This is totally wrong. You should NEVER use the Droop screws in away that effect ride height.

Ride Height is adusted with the Shock Spring pre-load Clips or Collars.

Guys;

For a simpler more accurate way of setting Droop. Use a Ride Height Gauge in this manner:

1) Set Ride Height at both ends of the Car with the Gauge.

2) Now slide the Gauge under the exact center of one end of the Car until the Tires clear the set-up Board (I use a finger to lightly turn the Wheel).

3) The difference between Ride Height and when the Tire left the Board is your exact Droop setting. Then just adjust it in your normal manner.

holycow

pops,

I am a little confused here. I am having trouble picturing what you are describing... might you elaborate?

lee82gx

iTrader: (1)

Pops:right on
Sosidge is correct also!!

holycow:
i hope by now u should know that u shouldn't use the droop screws to set ride height.
that's first and foremost
this is what pops meant:
to measure droop on either end of the car,use something thin on and place it in the middle of your car.
SLOWLY lift it up until either/both wheels clear the ground(setup board).
the distance(upward,vertically) that u lifted is the droop travel of that end.
You will notice(usually) that one of the wheels(left or right) would clear the board 1st.that means u have imbalance.set the screw on either end to negate this(u can limit the overdrooped side or u can increase the underdrooped side)