Anyone else have a horrible street ride with Flex's?

I have the 9/6 springs. I'm running 12.5"F/12.75"R ride height with no preload on the springs. I have an FM front bar, no rear bar. Front bar has FM adjustable endlinks. I have not yet adjusted the preload out of the bar, but it isn't off by much.

Anyway, I just brought the car to my alignment shop to get aligned (Lanny alignment). The suspension has been installed for some time now, but not really driven hard on an unaligned car, and even though I have the shocks set to 12F/14R (from full stiff), the car had an unusual characteristic going up an overpass on my way back. The road was segmented cement sections, and I felt like I was riding on a rocking horse on my way up the overpass. My father was driving behind me and commented that the back of my car was bouncing about 6" up and down and looked like an old car riding on bad shocks. I was being thrown around like ragdoll inside the passenger compartment.

I realize I have stiff springs for street use, but is this behavior considered normal? On smooth roads, everything is fine. I realize the shocks/springs are likely not yet broken in all the way.

 

What top hats are you using on the rear. I was using the standard NA top hats for the first two years, and I was getting bounced around on rough roads. I have recently installed Apexi top hats and have a lot more travel before the bumpstops hit, much for comfortable ride. If you are using NA top hats you may need to raise the rear height to gain some more travel?

J

 

how did you adjust the shock length? if the spring was not there, would the wheel go up into the fender so far the tire would *almost* rub?

do the zip tie test for travel and see if you're on the bumpstops.

 

Try turning down the rebound damping. start at full soft and adjust up.

I'm running 12.5/8 on AFCOs and I'm am on the very soft side of the rebound and it rides better than my daily driver.

 

i have flex and a superb ride on the street with 580/410 springs. I think you need at least some pre-load on the spring. PM johnwag because sets up a few tein set-ups per week.

 

With no preload whatsoever, you have more droop then compression travel, no?

Maybe you are just getting into the bumpstops all over town.

My flex are @ around 12.25" in the rear, and the car definitely does not bounce around like you are describing.

I also have no rear sway, and the rears on full soft, fronts 2 clicks from full soft.

 

how much preload do you have set in the rear?

 

Enough to keep the springs from rattling, plus a turn or two, don't remember exactly.

Not much.

 

hmm......that's exactly what I did.

 

can i turn this into another "dont measure preload" thread? set shock length for max bump travel then set ride height with spring collars.