Wow, thanks for all the information guys! I guess I shouldn't have said that I'm not hitting the bumpstops, because I do not know that for sure. I will take some measurements soon.

 

Mine is 26" in front and slightly higher in back. Looks and drives great, aligned and corner balancing is needed if you adjust these things too much.

Mine bounced when the front was at 5 then moved it to 4 and made a huge diff. Should try 3 next time at the track. My back is at 4 as well. Also check you have proper air pressure in tires.

 

I think most have covered it...but don't go too low, especially in the fronts and don't set the dampers to be too soft.

Also, I had the rears set 2 clicks firmer than the fronts if I remember correctly.

 

u sure its not the tires?

what are u running?

Hankooks V12s have some odd behavior, especially in the turns.

 

I am on PSS10's and GT2 height. No issues. I have a friend on PSS9's GT2 height no issues. Maybe you need to re-valve? Tired shocks? My stock suspension was floaty, my PSS10's are spot on. I have them set 2 clicks from middle towards hard-front, dead on middle at the rear (I prefer understeering car on the street). PSS's are great upgrade and should not have any issues apart from stabilisers which rub - easily resolved with some washers.

 

My car is on the bump stops at or below gt2 height with pss10s. I know mikelly had his at gt2 height with no problems, but they weren't standard pss10s, they were revalved by the company he bought them from (i Think it was fvd or something)

 

I have PSS9's that were set to 25 1/2" in the front and slightly lower in the rear. I also had the unsettling feeling when hitting bumps in a corner. After reading this post I took the car in to raise the ride height and perform a four wheel corner balance. Ride height now is 26" in the front and 25 7/8" in the rear. Handling is night and day. No more wallowing feeling in corners even when hitting significant bumps. Rides better too! It's amazing how important it is to get the ride height correct with the PSS9s. I'm using setting 3 front and rear. Feels like a new car.

 

Yep, 26" to the fender is pretty close to the sweet spot for the PSS9/10s. It amazes me how many people or installers don't pay any attention to what is written in the Bilstein mounting instructions as far setting the proper ride height. Most people go too low and then wonder why the car handles like crap....

 

Okay, I can't stand this anymore; it's driving me crazy. I'm going to be taking my car to a shop in the very near future to have it raised a half-inch and corner balanced. Hopefully this will sort things out. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations on a skilled suspension tuner around Washington DC.

 

Go for 26" with slight rake and corner balanced and you should be set. Amazing how small things throw he whole handling off- my car was rocking from side to side when driving this afternoon. Turns out the air-pressure was low on my back wheel due to a nail in the tire!! Will get it plugged then back up to 44psi and back in good graces with the pss9 setup.

Good luck and keep us posted-

 

Ivan at IMA Motorsport has been working on my car. As I posted in another thread, we thought that the front passenger side strut may have been bad. After taking the corner apart, IMA found that the bumpstop was crushed/split/mangled. They removed it from the car and now they are going to pull apart the front driver's side, too, to see what that bumpstop looks like. Regardless, they're going to remove that bumpstop, as well, for the sake of symmetry.

So I guess you guys were right: I'm most likely riding on and/or bouncing off the bumpstops. Eventually I'm going to replace all four corners with a better suspension setup, but I have to find some sort of temporary "fix" before going to the track on Friday (in 3 days). I'm definitely going to be setting the struts to full hard before I go to the track, but I think that I'm also going to have to raise the car up a bit, too. It just seems so much higher than other people's cars, with their tires tucked underneath the fenders.

Anyways, here are a few pics of the mangled bumpstop...

 

My car was nice and tucked and looked great, but drove like crappy since it was on the bumpstops. I think I am at 26.5" all around (from ground to highest part of fender lip) and that is as low as I can go for the street and autocross. I don't know if I'd bottom out with the added forces of the track.

I still can't imagine bilstein can be proud of this product that was obvious a product not developed for our car and is most likely a standard strut that just has its valving and spring rates changed to fit on multiple cars.

 

Sorry to see the carnage, but at least Ivan's got you on the right track now.

PS I ran into your Dad at the Fairfax C&C. Nice guy, and his R8 is gorgeous. Hope you get back on the road soon!

-Henry

 

I just hope it's safe for Friday.

Yeah, he mentioned that he met you. Small world.

 

Just checked mine and have some 25.35 inches in front and 25.75 in rear??? If I run on a fast track with less turns and pretty smooth surface I can not tell that there is a problem with 8 fr and 10 rear hard on pss10's.

If on my home track which is much slower and more technical and a few turns have washboard bumps and others more sloping spread out bumps like 1-3 ft wide the car would bounce all over the place(front end).

Recently tried 3 ft and 4 rear and it felt like it absorbed better except when on the brakes and I could feel the front wheels hopping up/down and abs kicking in. Sounds like I am also on the bump stops or bouncing off them.