AVO shocks help/advice?

[minghis]

Chaps,

Just fitted nice new AVO's all (1990 S2) round and been out for a drive to see what the difference was and it's 100% better, but I need some advice:

The adjusters have 22 clicks so I've set them all round at 11 clicks - half way. The ride is a bit too 'bumpy' for my liking, anyone tried a different setting that suits?

The ride height still seems a bit high, I've only wound them up about 2" and it looks too high, can anyone tell me the measurement from floor to the top of the arches on theirs - and should they be different front to rear? I would imagine the back should be a bit lower than the front.

Thanks in advance!

PS Got them from Peninsula and of course they're not there for advice 'till Tuesday and you know what it's like - time over the next couple of days to do it and can't wait 'till Tuesday...

Minghis.

[tvrmark]

Can't help with ride height, but as for being too bumpy they will take a few hundred miles to settle down from new then you may find 11 clicks are too soft.

Mark

[gemini]

theres a thresad not long ago - try a seacrh
people talking 10 front a 7 rear etc

[GreenV8S]

I don't think 'bed in' as such - on day one they're as good as they're ever going to be. Until they wear out and the damping effect fades away. The only reliable way to check ride height is at the chassis - ideally by measuring the length of the dampers at the center of the bolts top and bottom. I can't remember the standard dimensions off the top of my head but I can look them out if you're interested. When I ran AVOs I struggled to find a good setting somewhere between 5 and 7. Tough to find a good balance since they're quite harsh dampers. Small changes to the spring seat height make a big difference to the ride height (1" on the front spring changes the front ride height by 1.4", 1" on the rear spring changes the rear ride height by 1.7"). Generally the rear should be higher than the front. You need to ensure the dampers ht the bump stops before the car hits the ground or the tyres hit the wheel arch. The original dampers would have had long progressive bump stops but it seems common for the aftermarket dampers to come with very short solid bump stops.

[thegamekeeper]

How did you decide on 11 clicks and 2" ride height adjustments. What do you think the 10 clicks below the adjustment you have chosen are for. Start at the begining rather than half way to the end. If AVO had thought that only 10 clicks were enough they would not have bothered with the first 12 clicks

[minghis]

thegamekeeper said: How did you decide on 11 clicks and 2" ride height adjustments. What do you think the 10 clicks below the adjustment you have chosen are for. Start at the begining rather than half way to the end. If AVO had thought that only 10 clicks were enough they would not have bothered with the first 12 clicks

Err, 'cos Peninsula said so and I had no reason to doubt them.

I'll drop the ride height today and change the bump adjusters. It would be ideal to do all the setting up of these things in one go whilst the car is on stands but I guess that's not the way it happens..

I would be really keen to know what the ride height should be - if anyone has got any measurements it would give me a starting point. Currently it looks too high at the back - it looks naff! Front 'looks' OK.

Minghis.

[Gadgit]

I have the AVOs on mine. you will find that people with these on tend to have the back slightly higher than the front. It could be that the factories set them up like this. As a simple guide, the front tyres are about 2 inches below the top of the wheel arch. On all the pictures in the magazines you will see that most are the same at the back end. Nearly all the cars you see with a higher back are fitted with new ones.

The advantage of slightly higher at the back is mostly for the the old enemy the speed bump. Mine is 2inches higher at the back and has not hit one yet. I have set mine up quite hard and still think it could do with a bit more. This is therefore subjective, so keep going out and till they are to hard and then back them off. Factories set them up about 60% you will need to crank them to about 70 -75% and work back from there, until you are comfortable with them. At least you can alter them buy laying underneath without even removing the wheels!

Good luck.

gadgit.

[thegamekeeper]

Not sure what you mean by "factory". If you mean AVO then they set them at ZERO clicks with the spring platforms set at the very top of the shock absorber. Generally speaking the front should be set slightly harder than the rear because of the weight transfer under braking but the whole point of being adjustable is to allow you to set the car to your liking and driving conditions ie normal road driving, track days, Touring holidays with heavy fuel/luggage loads etc

[Gadgit]

I bought mine from LeeBee and I'm sure he said that he had not made any adjustments from recieving them. Anyway, I agree with you, its is up to the individual to set them up how you like them. slightly harder on the front seems sensible if your comment is right concerning the weight transfer when braking. Anyone else know the perfect click setting for the AVOs ?

gadgit.