Keep the thread going.
 

Fred,

I have enjoyed what you are saying. I like that you are willing to consider ideas like the solid shock. Please continue until you have gone completely through how you tune your car. This is one of the few threads where someone is interested in teaching what he thinks is correct.


Do me a favor. If you dont like something. Post your reason nicely 1 time. After that post a link to a new thread where you are going to go and argue.
Then we dont stop something that is helping many of us. And we all know that there are other points of view on a subject.

I and many others would appreciate if this thread continues without going down hill.

Is there a general rule of thumb of weight balance front to rear for

2wd buggy

2wd Short course

4wd Short course


Is each going to be different or do the same ratios apply to them all ? I am on vacation next week and am going to take some time to start this process.

Fred, is it worth your time to edit the first post to contain your tuning procedure beginning to end? We would appreciate it, but your the one out the time on it. Thanks either way.

i Agree guys, sorry im done with it, moving on. so where exactly are we at now?

Did we cover rebound?

smooth vs. rough track

I know I run my scte with zero rebound for high bite indoor clay. What are some of the thoughts on setting and running rebound?

I didn't start the thread so I can't edit the first post.

I have a general rule but can't say if others agree. I can't even give you a perfect technical reason for it. You don't want 50/50 off road but you also don't want 90/10. For a 2wd buggy a general rule is 35/65 f/r however if you have a rear motor and a mid motor car and both are 35/65, you can quickly tell that it's not only where the center of gravity is but also where the weight is located. I have always been a rear motor person but now have a new mid motor car. I have ideas but I haven't gotten all that far into tuning it yet. I will say I disagree with many of the tuning procedures that many people use on them but then again many people can't seem to tune them well off road so maybe I'm onto something.

Keep in mind that a 4wd can get away with a more even f/r weight balance than a 2wd. Even a mid motor 2wd. We don't need to shift as much weight onto the rear wheels for traction because all wheels drive. I still personally wouldn't want 50/50 though. I honestly can't give you a number to aim for. The best thing you can do is try to leave it alone at first and mostly make sure the car is even left to right at the front and rear. We aren't getting into the whole corner weight thing again though.

My bad... It just feels like its your thread. :p

rebound is something im interested in also. what are the pro's and cons

Rebound is the ability for the tires to stay in contact with the ground post obstacle. there are other side effects to rebound that also benefit us at the same time. Quite simply the more the tires are on the ground the quicker and faster the car is. If you are hammering down the straight and hear your motor surging and your roost is chopped up your rebound is off. Im not going to go into a selling pitch but quicker rebound is necessary to get optimum performance. Up until now we have had to either build the shock with rebound (which is just a bandaid) but we really dont know where your at and it very difficult to get the shocks the same. Or just make a compromise between "pack" and whatever rebound you end up with. If you were to tune your shocks for rebound only the chassis would slap even going down the straight because you would lose your pack!
Another benefit of rebound is the ability to transition better and quicker on all four corners as in you get quicker weight transfer to the F/R and L/R resulting in a more agile car. Say you took a hard left turn, well the inside F and R would "rise" quicker resulting in quicker steering response. Your car will also jump higher and farther because immediately after you hit the face of the jump the car will spring up quicker resulting in effortless jumping! If you can accurately control your rebound it will keep us from having to compromise on other aspects of tuning too! you can eliminate front toe out to get turn in, Sway bar setting can be different, Spring selection can be softer and the list goes on.

Ok i am almost ready to start but i have one more question. I get th spring balancing with out the oil buy what happens with the oil? Does the rebound change to the rear being slower or are you still lookong for both ends to be equal ?

you want them to still rise at the same time, which means your going to have to sacrifice on one end. Unless you have 2 stage pistons:lol:

Cool thanks for all the info !

It would seem to me that the best way to corner balance the car, would be in two stages:

1. Solid shocks on all 4 corners, and solid wheels (no foams or tires).
2. Get your corner balance on the chassis as close as you can.
3. Put your race tires and freshly built shocks back on the car.
4. Put your car on a tweak board and de-tweak both ends of the chassis

At this point, the tweak station will tell/show any inconsistencies in the spring rates of your springs, left to right. As long as your shocks are identical in length, any differences in spring rates will be seen in the shock collars. This way you get a balanced chassis, and balanced shocks. Put altogether, you will have a very balanced car. I don't think there is any reason to go any farther then that.

That sounds logical to me.