Flat Ride: what the heck is it?
i've been wanting to post about this for a while.
what is Flat Ride?
"Flat Ride" is not a new concept by any means - ZHPs/ZSPs came with it from the factory - and it is a means to a nice, 'harmonized' ride, where the front and rear suspension frequencies work together to cancel out bucking and pitching of the suspension. in our case, these frequencies were determined and selected by BMW; not all manufacturers seem to care about this. this is why stock springs and nice dampers really work well for these cars.
why should you care?
the obvious benefit is a smooth ride, but further benefits are: increased control, and greater comfort - think about how much your body is affected by a poorly-riding/bucking/pitching car - well, you probably haven't thought about it, but hopefully now you will. :) it can affect your mood, too.
why am i being a jerk and posting about this?
for lack of a less clichéd term... i care. i found out about this after researching why my bilstein PSS coilovers were so... weird. the car was bobbing in the front, and i could not figure out why. and my research lead me to shaikh @ FCM (Fat Cat Motorsport), who is the author of the videos i've included below (he cares too). but back to my issue - i found out that the bilstein PSS for my car didn't have flat ride. the rear springs were way too soft. and a lot of aftermarket spring manufacturers (i'm going to pick on H&R here because i'm 99% sure they provided the springs to bilstein for the PSS kits) are creating lowering spring sets without flat ride; no wonder they usually ride like crap! aftermarket coilover manufacturers do the same (i will admit that the MFactory coilovers of recent memory were designed with correct F/R frequencies in mind).
so?
i just wanted to put this out here. hopefully folks use it and benefit from it. i am currently rebuilding my bilstein PSS coilovers into a linear-spring, flat ride setup. i'm pumped to see how they do and i will definitely post here about it.
if you're still reading, awesome. here's more info to nerd out on - bump stop tuning, sway bars, etc:
but first... a funny video from shaikh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKkK2_ptc2w
and now... Flat Ride description, bump stop tuning, etc... total nerdfest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpax2pMDGdw&t=79s
EDIT: more reading... flat ride comments from an S2000 owner:
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost....6&postcount=28
:cheers
Flat Ride: what the heck is it?
When you said stock springs and dampers work well,
I would disagree...
Stock dampers are harsh over bumps.
Your post is interesting and makes a lot of sense however Koni FSDs are far superior when compared to stock dampers on our cars.
Everyone that drives my car with the Koni FSDs agrees. The Koni FSDs transform the ZHP into an amazing ride experience.