Another suspension topic - The deal with droop

[NoHachi]

Wow, few points:

* Your suspension/shock does not typically top out over a pothole. If it does the wheel simply becomes airborne. Full droop is usually reserved for the inside wheels during cornering.

* 20mm of negative preload (spring to short) is not a good thing. NOTHING is controlling the wheel in that part of its stroke, it can accelerate at will to great speed, the spring can rattle, get dislodged etc. Its not a good place to be.

* More droop will not usually cure your comfort problem. The shock needs to allow the wheel to make use of the droop, not something that happens with many of the hugely rebound biased shocks.

* Rebound biased shocks like these typically have a bump travel problem. Don't ask why, but as you hit bad asphalt the car lowers itself and this creates reduced bump clearance. You hit a pothole and its the upstroke that upsets the car as you hit the bumpstop.

* What you want is stroke and as much of it as you can get. That means measuring a few things: how much stroke does the shock have at between full bump and droop?
How much does the spring compress from fully extended to when the car rests on it (no preload)
What is the coilbind height of the spring (in a pinch number of coils x diameter will do.
The trick is getting the car to use the full range of travel and have it resting in the middle of the travel.

* helper springs are a good idea if you need them. Longer, weaker springs are better in your case.

* Doing all of the above usually means raising the car a few cm's, even on shortstroke setups.

* Strongly consider going to a milder tire setup. Going to a 14inch wheel, with 65 series tires (165-70 165-65, those kinds of sizes) on a not to wide rim (max 6.5J) will do wonders for potholed roads. Nothing you do to the suspension will ever come close. Run them at 1.6-1.7 bar. I quite like the feel it gives the car too, very progressive and toss-able.