Damper Settings

The regular question "I have adjustable dampers in my Elise, what settings should I use ?" comes up, and here is the answer;

IT DEPENDS

Yes really there is no magic answer as it changes with principle stuff like Damper type, valving, Spring Rates, Tyre types, Downforce, Wet/Dry conditions, weight of the car, your driving style ....

Your on a personal voyage of discovery, and since most one way adjustable dampers have 24 settings, plan 4 sessions and start on full soft (usual for road) and stiffen by 6 steps each outing and compare results. If you CBA just set them in the middle (-12) and be done with it, and if you dont notice a difference your just not cornering hard enough !

Once you have found your natural position you can start tuning front to back, generally in steps of 2 clicks e.g.

Front damper harder (than optimum) = more understeer (cure oversteer)

Rear damper harder (than optimum) = more oversteer (cure understeer)

For Wet settings you generally need to soften dry settings (many run full soft) to allow the body to roll rather than breaking tyre traction.

For Damper settings we usually start at full hard (+) with valves closed and back off a number of steps (-) so settings are giving as "steps from full hard".

A road & track Elise with standard Nitron 1 way adjustables on 400/475 springs A048/R888 tyres and dry track I have seen great driving from -6 to -18 and I'm sure some people run full hard or full soft. Whatever.

See Also

Ohlins Settings