Wie das richtige Dämpfersetup finden? Grundlagen Fahrwerk und Einstelltipps

[the bruce]

Warum man ein Gewinde nicht tiefer oder höher einstellen darf als es vom Hersteller
vorgegeben ist:

Warum man nicht tiefer drehen darf sollte klar sein. Der Einfederweg wird dramatisch
reduziert. Wenn statt wie bei Serie 110 mm nur noch 20 mm zur Verfügung stehen,
dann kann einfach nichts mehr federn. Da hilft auch das beste Fahrwerk nichts.

Aber auch beim höher drehen gibt es Grenzen. Höher als vom Hersteller in Anleitung und
Gutachten erlaubt sollte man ein Gewinde niemals drehen.

Die beiden Gründe:

- irgendwann gehen die Federn auf Block (noch bevor die PU-Begrenzer wirksam werden)
- der Ausfederweg wird geringer

Letzteres ist noch vglw. harmlos. Man hebt halt öfter mal ab und hat Traktionsverluste.
Der Gesamtfederweg bleibt ja immer der Gleiche. Man ändert durch das Drehen am Feder-
teller ja nur den Anteil von Einfeder- zu Ausfederweg. Was man ein Einfederweg gewinnt,
das fehlt dann eben an Ausfederweg (exotische Lösungen á la D2, K-Sport, ISR mal außen
vor - die haben andere Nachteile).

Viel Schlimmer ist es aber, wenn die Feder metallisch hart auf Block geht, noch bevor der
übliche PU-Schaum-Anschlag das "weich" auffangen kann. Dann sind Schäden an Dämpfer,
Achsteilen oder womöglich sogar Karosserie vorprogrammiert. Passiert das in einer mit
Tempo genommenen Kurve, dann wird auch der Reifen gequetscht, verliert seinen Grip und
man erlebt einen Abflug.

Also ganz und gar nicht harmlos.


Sehr kluge Worte:

Zitat:High spring rates can obviously degrade ride, my point was keep ride height stockish
and with the right damping the higher rate springs will provide fantastic handling. With correctly
calibrated damping, high rate springs are not that bad, try riding in a car with AST or Moton
dampers and higher rate springs - magic. However, my point wasn't to go out and get 500 lb
springs for a street ride, but if after a good auto-x or track day car, keep near factory ride
height, and with stiffer springs and stock height car will be on rails.

VW/Audi does know a thing or two about suspensions, the tweaks they made to the TT prove it,
unfortunately VW neutered the GTI with a roll center that needs to have the suspension sitting
at stock height to maintain best grip, hence my advise to keep height near stock. They also
wanted a certain amount of under steer in these cars as a safety net for the masses.

Koni Yellows with stock springs work great, running this combo now. There aren't issues with high
or low speed compression damping, but it does require setting them soft on rebound for good
street ride.

The reason you feel less jiggliness with DG springs is the fronts are softer than stock and the
factory shocks actually control them a little better. Mk5 fronts are quite sensitive to spring rate
changes. I just think the change from stock springs to DG to be subtle enough as to make the
expense of swapping them at all debatable. For pure esthetics the early USA Mk5's with silly high
factory height surely do benefit, the 08's and up are lowered from factory.

I have tested many different coilovers, companies providing them all have their own takes on rates
and damping, I've no evidence they get things any more right, however many use (or have used)
Koni's as the damper, so you tend to end up with something that works. Many coilovers on the
market are junk, and the Farnorth articles correctly point that out. I used to sell KW as a retailer,
they generally make excellent kits, the ST is great bang for buck setup. However the right set of
springs on Bilstein or Koni dampers makes just as fine a suspension as any coilover setup, and I
would say a better setup - install and forget. Coilovers are wasted on 99.9% of those who install
them, and generally result in poorer max grip as the temptation to lower proves too much. Almost
no one takes advantage of what coilovers offer - corner balancing, and for street cars its wasted
effort. The typical coilover setup isn't compensating for the trashed roll center from lowering with
stiff enough springs to keep the car from rolling even worse. If you want grip and lowering, you
then need additional static camber and higher rate springs, or fix the roll center with H2sport or
TT spindles. I had one of the few pairs of Mk5 spindles H2sport has ever made on my car, the
improvement in grip was unreal, and tendency to lean greatly reduced.

Sways are less necessary for cars at near stock height with tall springs because the car still has
its roll center intact. On a lowered car with a compromised roll center, additional roll control then
becomes necessary to prevent more loss of dynamic camber - milder springs with sway bars
generally ride better than a car with the spring rates required to keep it from wanting to roll more.
When I had the sport spindles installed, even with up to a 50mm drop and modest springs, the car
rolled very little. I would elevate sway bars to a higher level than "last resort", its a lot easier to
adjust a bar than to change springs. Mk5's also highly benefit from both front and rear bars.

My ideal street setup is stock springs (or the DG's for a mild drop), Koni Yellows, and a pair of sway
bars, and that's what I run now. Another nice improvement is knocking off some unsprung weight
through lighter wheels, or converting front spindles and control arms to alloy.