ISC-N1 Coilovers

[hooter]

just looking for confirmation that isc dampning settings are around 6 front and 4 rear so that is the number of clicks from full soft setting correct thanks hooter

 

[Jonson]

FYI, mine are that price all the time can order them in whenever you like. I've sold about 6 sets now. As for correct dampening settings, there is no right or wrong answer. It is set to where you like it. Each car sees too many variables ie tyre choice, height setting, road condition, load condition for anyone to say what dampening adjustment works best.

 

[hooter]

yes im sorry jon but really bought them on the impulse thing [then found out you sold them ] anyway there fitted and f they are low [but im going to go with the 6 off soft setting and 4 off soft for the rears] i hope kenneth is right about the dampning rates

 

[Jonson]

No need to apologise mate. The choice who you buy through is completely yours.

 

[Kenneth]

Let me know how you go with those rates. You can go softer (I ended up at about 4 front and 2 rear cruising around suburbia) but it won't be as stable through tight corners (say a 55kph at 90kph).

I am now on harder damper rates. Since moving rural, my local roads have more dips and irregularities which, combined with speed, mean various parts of the cars plastic bits touch down. With soft rates it was bad, went up to about 10 or 12 front and 8 or so rear, which solved most of it. Downside is that when I travel on the main highways, bad road surfaces can be tiresome. Rural driving is sooo much fun though

I am going to look at seeing if I can hack a Tein EDFC system onto mine so I can adjust the dampening on the run. This would solve the issue of rural -> suburbia transition when I do my weekly commute to the city for work.

Also, a decent seat (in my case a Sparco EVO fixed back bucket) makes the world of difference. Standard Recaro seats feel rubbish after the bucket. I get out of the sparco after a couple of hours (Even with the increased damper rates) and feel like I made a 5 minute trip down the road.

yes im sorry jon but really bought them on the impulse thing [then found out you sold them ] anyway there fitted and f they are low [but im going to go with the 6 off soft setting and 4 off soft for the rears] i hope kenneth is right about the dampning rates

 

[hooter]

might up it to 10 f and 8 rear that may be better thanks kenneth

 

[steveP]

I played around with the dampening when I got mine. Driving around on full hard and full soft for a while. Full hard didn't feel too bad, but full soft felt worst than stock suspension. Far too bouncey and too much body roll. I ended up setting them about 10 clicks from full hard. Anything between full soft and mid way was undriveable for me.

 

[hooter]

wow ok ill have to play with it to get it right then [pulling the rear trim out is a pain though] start at 10 and 8 and go from there thanks guys

 

[hooter]

F now i have the the vibration thing happening guys at workshop reckon its a bent wheel or tyre i dont think so as when driving slowly [gear changes below 2500 rpm] or driving steady at 80kph feels ok but when pushing it the shudder is very noticable i think its the tail shaft or joints F as for the coilovers i now have to slow down for speed humps and ive already scrapped the front bar thing on stupid concrete things in carparks and i still think the coilovers are not set right

 

[tails]

What are the options for raising these guys a little bit?

Had mine installed on the weekend and I wouldn't mind lifting the front up 5 or 10mm to even it up with the rear now that it has sagged a tad. I can't see any thread in the inspection holes at the moment though, I trust Jon enough to assume the thread is just above the inspection hole. So now that base height is wound as high as it can go, are there any other options?

 

[Jonson]

You can def go higher than what it is now Taylor, yours is quite low, although I think the spring rates are whats making it lower than normal. Just get your wheel alignment guys to do it when you get tyres.

 

[TME_Steve]

You'd think the compressed height would be the same, still, you can wind up the spring seat to resolve it, base adjustment just makes it simpler.... Same result in the end

 

[tails]

You'd think the compressed height would be the same, still, you can wind up the spring seat to resolve it, base adjustment just makes it simpler.... Same result in the end

Won't that compress the spring more, throwing out the rebound, potentially making it all bouncy?

 

[rockit]

nope, the spring compresses to exactly the same length regardless of where the spring seat is (assuming you don't move the seat so high that the pre-load is more than the cars weight)..

 

[tails]

Everything I have read/heard (including from ISC) says that once preload is set at the 5mm it's meant to be at, you shouldn't touch it. They specify not to use preload to adjust ride height.

 

[Poita]

What spring rates did you get Taylor?

 

[tails]

8/6

I'm also finding them quite bouncy despite having the dampening set at 32 on all corners. Wouldn't increasing the preload increase the bounciness?

This may all be in my head though as I'm not used to driving on coilovers. Though I have been a passenger in plenty of vehicles with them, and while the ride was always firm, it never gave me the feeling of bobbing up and down in my seat.

 

[Poita]

Ok, thanks! Just ordered some for the Legnum and a bit worried about how stiff they might be.

 

[rockit]

8/6

I'm also finding them quite bouncy despite having the dampening set at 32 on all corners. Wouldn't increasing the preload increase the bounciness?

This may all be in my head though as I'm not used to driving on coilovers. Though I have been a passenger in plenty of vehicles with them, and while the ride was always firm, it never gave me the feeling of bobbing up and down in my seat.

the spring rate should be constant throughout spring travel (for a normal spring anyway, progressive springs change this, but I assume you just have plain springs). so any pre-load wont affect anything other than spring travel (assuming your not bottoming/topping out the springs/dampers).

if you rise ride height by increasing pre-load you potentially lose jounce travel (that's why they say not to do it), but seeing as you have softer springs than intended they may well be sitting lower than they are supposed to anyway so you already have more jounce travel than intended (and potentially less bump than intended)..


but the floating feeling is more related to the dampers more than the springs, if the dampers aren't set high enough you get the bouncing feeling like your on the ocean as it takes longer for the oscillations to settle, if too high you get the harsh choppy jerking feeling as the oscillations stop too abruptly..

 

[steveP]

Everything I have read/heard (including from ISC) says that once preload is set at the 5mm it's meant to be at, you shouldn't touch it. They specify not to use preload to adjust ride height.

Yeah, you shouldn't adjust spring preload once set. And it may not even raise/lower the car. Years ago I played around with the spring preload and it had no impact on ride height. As the spring got more compressed, the shock part of the coilover protruded more, cancelling each other out.

I was able to get ISCs above stock ride height, so the base height adjustability had plenty in it.

The bouncy feel will be 2 things. First, they're new coilovers, they need to be driven on to settle. Give them a week of daily driving. The other thing is the dampening setting being too soft. If you've already maxed out the dampening to the hardest setting, then you've found the limit of the coilovers. You'll need to get stiffer springs if it's too soft.