???How-to Calculate Strut Valving rates

[BlackParis]

Well... I did some more work to my Integra today... I'm to the point of were I need to Buy Springs and Shocks... :tongue: Photos will come in the form of a journal once I finish...

So Anyways.. I have a few books I am using to design the suspension, I used them to do what I have soo far with certain spring rates/ride height in mind...

My question is How would I determine the shock rates I would need? None of my books go into specific detail of what the rates are or how to calculate the shock you need... :machinegunleft: They say to just use the "Critical Dampening" rate lol... WTF! :angryfinger: *******s...


Cool Cool.. Well anyways these are the shocks I had in mind, Since they are *cough* CHEAP...

Bilstien 5150 with 11.94in travel in the rear and Bilstien 6100 10inch travel Coilovers... I am just stuck on what valving rates to get...

O and yes the Acura really does have 10+ inches travel designed into the new suspensions ;) Unlike the stock front torsion bar that had only max of 6inches This should be really nasty on dirt ;)

BTW: I am not really in a hurry for these, I just need to learn, I probably wont be buying anything till I sell Paris...

[BlackParis]

Should I just buy the stiffest ones?

LoL, I don't want to be ridiculously over dampened!

[UP2MTNS]

the Bilstein guys sent me an email with the valving specs for the PSS9's, I can't seem to find it though, which is pissing me off.

valving, iirc, is measured in mm/second, I think....something like that....how fast will it compress/rebound.

PM Barrett from all wheels driven.....what's his screen name, 22-brighton? He knows quite a bit about it.

[UP2MTNS]

ha! found it.

from Bret Norgaard at Bilstein HQ:

All force velocities are measured in Newton ’s (N) but we generally specify this information to the public in deca newtons (daN). The values represent rebound over compression. Velocity is measured in meters per second (m/s).

The following are the forces at full soft and full hard settings.

Front:
Low speed_open- 24/15, Low speed_closed- 41/39
High speed_open- 139/75, High speed_closed- 246/114


Rear:
Low speed_open- 31/18 , Low speed_closed- 75/75
High speed_open- 143/114, Low speed_closed- 231/212

[BlackParis]

Yeah.. Tried searching google with a few different terms.. It just comes up with forums of what (Struts/shocks) people used on their car... Nothing about designing a Rally Suspension, and/or determining the "Critical Dampening" rate...

I figure it has to do something with Sprung and Unsprung weights + spring force, and travel...

Just looking for a formula to help deteremine, tis all...

[BlackParis]

http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

Woot! Big time help right here!