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Thread: Is having compression and rebound tied to one adjustment a good or bad thing?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    New England
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    996
    My Cars
    E36 M, E32 740i/6, 997 S

    Is having compression and rebound tied to one adjustment a good or bad thing?

    I see that there are some options like TRM that have the compression and rebound tied to one adjustment knob. I don't understand how this could be a good thing. The way I understand it is that compression is more a function of the car itself (unspring weight etc.) where the rebound is how you tailor the setup to the specific spring rates you have. Is this correct?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    826
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    79 323i, 94 325is, 13 M3
    I have single-adjust compression/rebound dampers on the front end of my E36 track car, and single adjustable rebounds on the rear. I don't know if the front adjustments are better than rebound-only, but they aren't screwing anything up. If I bought high-end coilovers I would definitely get separate adjustments for compression because I run on some smooth tracks and also some really rough ones at times. Also it's nice to be able to adjust dive balance from both ends of the car, instead of just the opposite end.
    If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
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    ATL
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    164
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    '91 325i
    Piston design and ratios of valve stiffness dictate how much "cross talk" a damper may have. If the adjusting knob changes compression too much, there is a fundamental design error with the damper. In high end single adjustable mono tube shocks, the entire adjustment range of rebound will have about the same change on compression as one click does on rebound. Penske has versions with extra one way valving that eliminates this altogether.
    Twin tube design has no cross talk and at the price you are looking at, I think the KW V2 are fantastic.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Charleston, SC
    Posts
    660
    My Cars
    2000 M5, 2018 Macan Turb

    Is having compression and rebound tied to one adjustment a good or bad thing?

    This is a good question.

    In my opinion Koni gets it right with single adjustable shocks by only adjusting rebound. This is why you can match them with relatively stiff springs. When both rebound and compression go up compression can become too stiff (exactly what was alluded to above).

    A dual adjustable shock is more desirable, also a lot more expensive.

    I’ve used single adjustable monotubes in the past that adjust both at same time, for the spring rates they were designed for they work great (PSS9 etc). It’s when you want to tweak the spring rates up, then a single knob adjusting both can be an issue as you can’t independently adjust bounce.

    Edit to add KW V2’s are excellent coil overs!
    Last edited by bostonaudi; 01-26-2018 at 07:24 AM.
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