It is spring 2023 the flowers are blooming and we are back at the racetrack. As many of you know, we’re currently in the live beta phase of our new app: Trackside by 057. We’ve been excited by the results and these are generally best heard directly. Recently we did a trial run with a client and this is what he had to say:

Having completed a full season of Gridlife in 2022, I spent the winter sharpening skills and updating equipment for the 2023 Gridlife season.  My relationship with 057 Motorsports was a significant factor in hitting the 2023 season at full speed which included locking down a win at the Gridlife season opener at Carolina Motorsports Park.

Prior to working with 057 Motorsport my suspension tuning regiment involved educated guesswork. I had years of experience in sport bike suspension set-up, however the transition from two wheels to four introduced many new factors for consideration.  It didn’t take long to recognize that my background in sport bike racing had not prepared me for the complexities of four wheel motorsport suspension tuning.  This is where 057 Motorsport excels.

For 2023 I swapped out my KW set-up for JRZ RS-Pros.  Once installed, I was able to work with 057 on a baseline set-up thru the use of the 057-Trackside app.  It takes a bit of time to populate the required information in the Trackside application, but the results have been well worth the investment in time.  The App provides one location for base set-ups, track specific set-ups, and a session log where you provide turn-by-turn feedback for 057 analysis.  What amazed me about the process is how quickly I was able to up to speed at my first event on a completely new set-up.  With-in 2 to 3 sessions feedback and recommended adjustments from 057 Motorsports transformed the car on track.  057Trackside took the guesswork out of the process and provided a balanced platform that allowed me to focus on going fast.

Brandon Hodge
Gridlife Street GT#89

 

Making it easy to go fast and have fun is the entire goal of Trackside. If you are interested, register below:

Register

Part # 2b – Starting From Scratch

In Part 2a– We went over setting up your new set with some recommended settings. Sometimes a set of clicks isn’t available; you’re trying a new valving, running a solo effort, or dealing with a brand new car. Maybe you pissed off your shock engineer and you’re on your own this time. Whatever the reason, sometimes we start with a blank sheet of paper. No worries, it may take a few sessions longer, but it is a straightforward process.

Firstly, we are again starting off under the assumption that you’ve gotten Part #1 out of the way. Essentially, your car is pretty sorted otherwise and we can focus on the damper setup. A few words of caution here, in some starting from scratch scenarios the possibility for the car to handle like it wants you dead is higher than normal. More care should be given to warm up and easing into speed. There are enough surprises out there on the tarmac, control what you can.

Before we get into it, I will preface this section with the fact that this is not something I came up with. Jan Zuijdijk, founder of JRZ, presented this to me some years ago. It was already published in Carroll Smith’s book “Tune to Win” in 1978, with credit to Jan. Numerous variants have been put out into the world. There’s nothing new under this sun. Most importantly, this is a very effective basic approach for getting a handle on things, so it is to be written once more.

The process:

1. Set your dampers a couple clicks off soft, let’s say two. Get out on track and warm up, get to speed, and come back in for tire pressure & temps. Record your feedback, download your data & video, suppress your urge to start making unplanned changes.
2. Increase front & rear compression damping two clicks. If using 3 ways, leave the low speed in the middle. If running a 50 DA JRZ set up, send me an email because who knows what I did with that and we might need to adjust the plan a little. Anyway, repeat step 1.
3. Do this until the car feels a little stiff and does not ride the bumps well.
4. Turn the compression adjustments back one click.
5. Now we will perform this process with the rebound adjustments. When you turn your compression adjustment back one, increase your rebound two. Keep doing this until the car doesn’t transfer weight well and you start to lose grip on transitions.
6. Come in, turn the rebound down one click.

Congratulations, you have a baseline!

Now, we have a few things to do before moving forward:

1. Sit down and thoroughly review your information. Watch the video, look at your logged data, review the notes you took. Sometimes things come out at you. This is a great opportunity to learn.
2. Double check that all the clicks are even. I have had a lot of clients hustle through this process to end up with an uneven setup. This will head off a lot of “I tried this and it didn’t work” conversations.
3. If something seems inconsistent, reach out. While this is a simple process, the car, driver, and tire combination certainly aren’t. Another great opportunity to learn & improve.

 

Next up: Part #4 – After a Baseline

Never miss an article! Sign up for our newsletter here. Have a  topic request? Reach out here.

Part # 2a – Get a Feel For It

In Part 1 – We went over hitting the basics on your chassis to begin setting up a new set of shocks. We’ll start here assuming you have that sorted out to a level that allows us to move forward. So in summary:

1. Your tire pressures, cold and hot, are close to where they need to be
2. Alignment & chassis setup is set, square, and repeatable
3. Damper gas pressures are within recommended range and filled properly
4. Your chosen spring rates are in the window
5. The rest of the car isn’t going to interfere with getting a read on the shocks

There are two approaches to this process, which are quite similar. When writing, each started get long enough to get their own part, so they did. The difference is the starting point. In the first case, we’ll assume you got starting settings from someone reliable, this is what we will cover in this article. Following that, we’ll go over how to start from scratch.

We’re fired up, we’ve had coffee, the car is warmed up, and it’s time to get out there and figure this thing out.

First are foremost: setting up and practicing is not always about the lap time! The stopwatch (or beacon) is the most powerful and brutally honest tool we have in this game. That does not mean that it needs to be used all of the time. Squeezing seconds out of something that isn’t setup the best it can be is for qualifying and the last few laps. Don’t be out there winning practice.  Practice done right, prepares you for the former situations and allows you to maximize the machinery you have, instead of the size of your ego. Work on problems, don’t try to drive around them.

Recommended settings

An often expedient way to get to a good setup is to start with recommended settings. These may come from your car builder, crew chief, damper/shock supplier, or (hopefully not) internet forum expert.  Often, these are a combination of experience and adjustment for your personal needs. For example, we may say that a good baseline RS Pro setup on a Cayman might be C8R7 in the front and C11R15 in the back. However, we know you went with a softer spring and drive at bumpy tracks where you prioritize compliance. So we may start you at C6R5 and C8R12. Someone else may be above that baseline because there is a lot of added power or aerodynamic parts, etc. The takeaway is to understand why the recommendations were made and keep them in mind as you go through this process.

Now it is time to see what we’ve got. Assuming we are starting out on a track, we’re going to warm up. Get tire pressures and temps up slowly. Not only is this needed to get a good read of the setup, you are on a brand new one. That means that the way the tires come in may change and you could end up confusing suspension setup for tire issues. As you get into the tire start finding confidence. Push a little harder and see what the car gives you. Once you’ve built up to a solid lap, come in hot for tire pressure and temp readings. If necessary, go back out for a cool down lap and during that time debrief yourself.  In your time around the circuit, think about the area holding you back from going faster. Was it putting the power down? Can’t get off the brakes early enough to roll speed? Understeer? Oversteer? The list goes on.

At this point hopefully you’ve found some solid gains and are going faster on your new setup. You also have a few ideas of what can get even better. This is a critical point at which many people find themselves stuck in a circle. There is always trade off in conventional setup, unless you have one chance to make a decision before the race, forget about trade offs. Concentrate on the most important area, the biggest thing holding you back. Whatever that is, get it right first. Even if there is some give with the take, the overall improvement will keep you moving in the right direction.

This does not mean you forget about the rest of the picture, no doubt keep it in mind and keep it in your notes. One of the main challenges with setup is how interdependent everything is. On top of that, we have human drivers and rubber tires. None of this is a recipe for a formulaic approach. I have always been wary of those tables that tell you exactly what change to make in a given situation (e.g. understeer into the corner – take out rear rebound). My only rule of thumb is that there are no rules of thumb. However, those charts can be good tools to give you something to try, just keep in mind that the rules are not absolute. The cheapest, most effective tool we have besides the stopwatch is paper (or our electronic equivalents). As you work on your critical point and try changes, record the effects.

This is what breaks many of our clients out of the circle of setup problems. Once you have a good handle on the primary issue, you can go back to the secondary stuff with a good understanding of  what to do. Stay away from the changes that set back your primary focus and work with the ones that were neutral. Great race engineers can perform this process across a great deal of elements quickly, but if you are not one of them yet, keep it one at a time. As you learn more about the combination you have, this process gets faster. Just keep in mind, first things first.

 

Next up: Part #2b – Starting from Scratch

Never miss an article! Sign up for our newsletter here. Have a  topic request? Reach out here.

You’ve done your research, talked to the right people. American Express can verify you’ve bought the set of shocks you think will make the difference. The local delivery truck has put it in the hands of the person putting it on the car. Everything is aligned, balanced, fueled, clicked, and pressurized. Sitting track side with everything ready to go, you think to yourself; now what?

People refer to suspension setup and tuning as a “black art.” It is more that we do a lot of work with limited information. Fortunately, I see this phrase being used less frequently as time goes on. More and more people are starting to understand the mechanics. Over the years a lot of people have written and disseminated a lot of great technical information on the topic. We won’t rehash those details here, we’ll figure out how to use them. I don’t purport to be as smart as those authors anyway. Keep it basic and keep making steps, the right direction will show itself to you.

In this series we’ll go through the basic process of setting up a new set of shocks. This can be applied to a brand new out of the box set, a “new-to-you” set, or as a refresh of a current car. Here are the steps that will be covered:

1. Hit the basics – build from a solid foundation
2. Get a feel for it / Starting from scratch – testing and development isn’t about the absolute lap
3. Moving from the baseline  – take a step, see if it is the right direction
4. Repeat – Keep moving using steps 1-3 with intelligent choices
5. Get some help – If you are in a loop, get a detached perspective to break out

---

Part 1 – Hit the basics

 

Tire pressure

Nothing is more basic when it comes to handling and performance yet I do see it overlooked with a disturbing frequency. Here is what matters; hot pressure. That means be diligent about knowing what to fill the tires with (nitrogen unless you’re getting fleeced at the dealership), setting the correct cold pressure (varies with outside conditions), bringing them up correctly (no 1st lap heroics, but work them), and bringing them in hot. You won’t get a good read with long cool down laps. If this is off everything else is effected negatively and this has been the source of many an erroneous finger point. You cannot be too specific about tire pressure.

 

 

 

 

Alignment and chassis setup

When the tire pressures are square, we move on to the chassis. A solid setup with strings or a motorsport grade set of fixtures makes a world of difference. The level of accuracy you get there makes a discernible difference at speed and load.  Like investing in a good mattress, get your chassis squared by an expert. This also applies to the spring and sway bar setups. Fortunately I have been around some very talented and well trained people who have shown me the right way to do things. When the springs and perches are properly set with even heights left to right, and the sway bar neutralized, the difference is night and day. I have personally chased so many problems on corner exit due this.

 

 

Damper gas pressure

Generally, this should be set before alignment, but it is not as important, so I put it after. Anyway, if your dampers have adjustable gas pressure then you want to set them in the proper way. This should always be done at full extension, meaning the car is up in the air. Having the suspension at full extension ensures that there is the most consistent gas volume in the dampers left to right. Just like the chassis setup, if the gas pressures start out off, you can feel it. Note that dampers get hot out there, making the pressure rise. Anything off when they are cold, gets even more off when they are hot.

 

 

 

 

Spring choices

I’ve long said for most levels of racing (even in the pros at times) spring rate choices are kind of like ice cream. Everyone has their flavor and there is no absolute “right” answer. What works for you may not work for others. Certainly drivers have been in cars at the top of the charts battling it out in the same base chassis with completely different spring rates. The mathematical purists out there may go on about the “optimal” rate but I also don’t see them with an “optimal” trophy shelf. Essentially, start out with a spring rate choice in the practical range and if you know enough about your driving style, adjust by some percentage. For example, if the “go to” rates are 500 front and 700 rear, but you like to feel chassis roll, take out 15% and start with 425 front and 600 rear. After all, springs are the cheapest part of the suspension and relatively easy to change.

 

 

Don’t overthink a shitbox

I have seen too many owners throw money at poor preparation and skimped efforts. The job of the adjustable damper is not to cover up for a half-assed effort at the chassis shop. In this article we cover basics from a setup perspective, but don’t forget the rest of the forest. If your car doesn’t have the rest of the basics sorted, don’t spend your money on “quick fixes” like adjustable dampers. Turning a knob is accessible, easy, and gives instant change. For that reason it is often a misused tool.

 

Next up: Part #2a – Get a Feel for It – Recommended Settings

Never miss an article! Sign up for our newsletter here. Have a  topic request? Reach out here.

Something that we run in to a lot in both damper design & development and in working with our clients is: how many clicks should we do?

When it comes to setting the amount of clicks you design in or adjust, there are three main considerations:

1. Can the car and driver combination detect and react to the change?
2. What is the mechanical range of the assembly?
3. How much adjustment is necessary for the range of springs & applications?

We’ll take a review of these and give some useful tips for making better decisions.

First and most importantly, does it work? If you are track side and looking to help your hero behind the wheel make time, you need to know if you’re going in the right direction. In this case, knowing your application is very important. This is where communication from the folks who provided your dampers and/or educating yourself on what you have comes in. Having a damper setup with a lot of available clicks is not inherently better or worse. What matters is that you know the adjustment is going to do something. For some dampers that can be six clicks, others one, and with others one can be too many. Even worse, sometimes there aren’t enough clicks to do the job, you’re out of range (full stiff or full soft) and looking for more. Following that, we need the adjustments to have some level of consistency. For example, if you do 3 clicks and that’s the right way, you do 3 more. If the first 3 did say, 50lb of change, then the second do 100, you are probably in for a rude report from the driver on the radio next time by.

TIP: Talk to your damper supplier, builder, team engineer, etc and get up on what you have and what to expect. Get a good average number of clicks that will be something you can “feel.” After that, ask about the end of the range. Does this thing adjust into outer space as you get to full stiff? Do the first couple clicks not have much authority? Both of those situations are very common with bleed adjustments. Especially on digressive valve configurations.

Second; what is the mechanical range of the assembly? As we alluded to, bleed adjustments that bypass digressive valving can have much different sensitivities at the ends of the range. Conversely, blow off adjustments are largely very consistent through their range. Linear bleed adjustments can be very consistent but do also fall victim to extreme ends at the range. That latter part is very build specific. If the past few sentences sounded like a mash-up of technical jargon, worry not, here’s the point:

TIP: Get a full range graph from damper supplier, builder, team engineer, etc and check out the step sizes for each click. If they are even looking the whole way through, this is generally what you should be looking for. If not, it isn’t the end of the world but make sure you have recourse if you get to the fringes.

Finally, how much range do you need? Many times, a damper’s range is dictated by the forces of economics rather than those of physics. It costs a lot of time and money to develop a one off or application specific valving. You’ll come across people that can get it right quickly but know that their experience & knowledge most likely did not come quickly or for cheap. Another side of this is that if one averages the weights, motion ratios, grip capabilities, aero loads, etc over the years: the amount of force a typical damper assembly needs to produce has not exceeded the generic mechanical ranges offered in the last 30 or 40 years. Surely, refinements in the damping curve, consistency, responsiveness, etc have been made, but 300lbs is still 300lbs. Where does this leave us?

TIP: Get a starting curve from this same damper supplier, builder, team engineer, etc and then go compare it! Talk to some other people with similar applications as you and see if you can get some baselines. See where this curve puts you in your range, and if the adjustments can give you a couple predictable changes. In each direction.

All of this boils down to making sure whatever you get is made for your application or at least quite close. If the adjustments are a little outside the middle where they make you happy, that is not really a problem. Also, if doing double duty and the adjustments put you close to the bottom on the street and close to the top at the track, perfect! One of the things we do for each of our clients are these exact steps. We make it easy to get what you need and have adjustments that are easy and make sense. Contact us to see how we can help you!

 

Next up  – I Just Bought a New Set of Shocks, What Do I Do?, Part #1

Never miss an article! Sign up for our newsletter here. Have a  topic request? Reach out here.

Whether it be in road cars, race cars, or some random application a client brought them; JRZ was always good on the bumps. Their core way of making shocks is to hold up the chassis of the car while controlling the wheel & tire (unsprung) mass. When you do this, the results are almost always the same; the feeling of a solid chassis while the bumps are smoothed out. They use a lot of compression blow off force and gas pressure to achieve this. Knowing the right amount of this to apply to get the right results is their most basic competence. Adding too much feels rough and bouncy, not using enough feels sloppy and bouncy. The right amount is uncanny control and smoothness.

It is their belief and mine, that the basics are the most important things. We have applied these successfully over the years to everything we have come across. This is how JRZ developed the AT Pro Line and what makes it special.

For most of its existence, JRZ focused on sportscar racing. A lot of Porsche, BMW, Mustang, Corvette, etc applications graced the factory floor. Every now and then there would be some special requests, but they never really made it to the main show of the product line. This all changed when a friend of a client asked for a system with some very specific demands. This client needed suspensions for the security and military industry. The catch for the security side was that the important people in the back seat needed to have a nice ride while the vehicle also had to be able to make a fast getaway. They had gone through several well-known options and were still looking for something that met their requirements.

 

What happened next was the birth of the AT Pro Line. We didn’t know it at the time, as we were just doing what needed to be done: apply the basics to the situation. The first sets were beefed up versions of JRZ racing applications, with some reinforced mounts. Performance and client feedback were stellar from the start. The folks in the backseat were comfortable and the drivers could do what they needed to without hesitation. This drove a lot more requests for multiple applications and even extended into military vehicles. Special development was done on hydraulic testing rigs to both compress and pull apart the dampers to find the physical limits. Demand eventually got to the point that JRZ decided to move into the aftermarket. With enough experience and proven performance, it was time to get to details.

There were a few things that were apparent during longer period testing. While initial performance was good, heat buildup could become an issue. For applications that serve overseas in much warmer environments and in especially harsh road conditions; this was a major concern. Generally, considering

heat buildup in dampers can be solved with efficiency and volume. It is not very often that actual cooling is needed or even effective in most cases. The changes here were simple: make it bigger. JRZ went with a 30% larger canister and main piston, as well as doubling the spec on the hose size. This extra area and fluid volume meant that the damper had to do less work to make the same force, as well as having more mass to spread the load around to. These changes allowed the damper to perform consistently in their operating arenas. With the confidence to run all day, JRZ moved into making these work out of the box in the aftermarket.

Knowing what to do (R&D) is not the same thing as how to do it (product development). JRZ had always been good at the former. As it matured as a company, it got better at the latter. This is evident in the AT Pro Line coming to market ready to go. Every platform goes through the same process:

1. Figure out lift range and travel
2. Set spring rates and damper valving
3. Install, redesign, reinstall, make brackets until the kit works out of the box
4. Set a competitive price and have them ready to go

 

The best part is the wealth of information collected along the way makes custom applications even easier. JRZ still keeps sharp when it comes to racing and special applications. If you have something out of the box, we are ready to get you taken care of. Send us a message and tell us how we can help.

 

Shop Now!

Learn about the JRZ RS line here.     You can also learn about the JRZ Motorsports line here.

Original JRZ designs and valving strategies have been and remain successful because the basics are what matter the most. Executing on those basics over and over for each team, car, track, and client are what keeps us producing consistent results. Focusing on these allows us to cut through noise and conjecture, and keep the effort where it makes the difference. This is where the RS Line lives and breathes and what makes it so good. Applying the basics over time allow us to highlight specifics and know when and what solution to apply in that case. This is where the motorsport line came in. Naturally, a lot different solutions emerged, and the motorsport line became complicated. So, JRZ went back to basics.

The JRZ Motorsport line used to have a lot of different numbers and damper models. While we personally enjoyed that, it was only because we we helped come up with it and knew what it meant. It turns out that most people had no idea what number went with what and the whole thing was confusing. JRZ simplified this by going with two main product lines, with upgrades & options to suit your needs. Here we will break down what those are and which choices may be best for you.

The line was changed to two main sets – 11 series and 12 series. Each has the same shaft and valving assembly, with different remote canisters. 11 series dampers come with a single, high speed blow off adjustment on the canister. 12 series dampers come with two adjustments; high speed blow off and low speed bypass. While these are feature similar to the RS Line, the difference here is in the details. Fine attention to design allows highly consistent adjustments, ranges, and side to side matching.

The shaft assemblies are where a lot of the recent developments have been. To start, the standard motorsport shaft adds a lot of refinement above the original design.

Originally, shafts were machined from one steel rod, leaving a lot of material inside and forcing most design features to be outside that volume. A two piece design allows for much more accurate adjustments due to machining tolerances and fits between the adjusting parts. A check valve was incorporated to make the adjustment rebound only, so that compression on the piston side could be better controlled. For more info on that feature, check out our post on the development of the FA 3030 piston.

A two piece design also allows for different main  shafts to be used, while retaining the same valving & adjustment assembly. JRZ standard shafts in the motorsport line are 22mm in diameter, in line with their creators vision. Increasing the shaft diameter to 25mm is considered a requirement in most strut applications with heaver cars. Larger diameter makes the shaft much more resistant to bending, reducing operating friction and keeping camber compliance. More importantly, the area of the shaft increases about 30%, making the canisters that much more effective. There is more lifting force from the gas pressure along with more sensitive low speed and a larger range of high speed adjustment.

Alternatively, different adjustment assemblies could be placed in that same shaft housing, allowing further versatility. JRZ designed the 50 DA to fit this bill. While the standard motorsport shaft has an isolated rebound adjustment, the 50 DA has both an isolated rebound and isolated compression adjustment. Upgrading to the 50 DA makes an 11 series a 3 way and 12 series a 4 way.

So, which one is right for you?

Standard configurations:

11 series is when you want a lot of options but can only go 2 way per rules. Choose the 12 series when you want a predictable, easy to use, high performing 3 way option.

Upgrading shaft size:

25mm shafts: Almost always in front strut applications like Porsche, BMW, Mustang, etc. For example, we may recommend upgrading only the front in a 911 GT3, leaving the rear to have more area for the main piston to work. Heavier applications and “safari”/”overland” applications benefit from this as well.

50 DA:

When you want the best, most customizable system. Requires good knowledge of the rest of the chassis setup to get the valving right the first time. Adjustments are more challenging, each click is a smaller increment, so knowing how many to do is more important. Note, we recommend upgrading the 11 series rather than the 12, as in most cases, 3 compression adjustments are extraneous.

Choosing the right package is important and we are here to help, contact us with your specific needs and we’ll put together a turnkey solution.

 

Shop Now!

Learn about the JRZ RS line here.     You can also learn about the JRZ AT Pro line here.

One of the most capable lines in high end dampers is the JRZ RS Line. It really can do it all. From daily driving to lap records, it has the ability baked into the design. We will note that almost every manufacturer says this; the point of this post is to explain why and then break down the options. If you are looking for what JRZ can do for you, then this should help you make some choices.

First, let’s talk about why the JRZ RS Line can do what it does from a physical standpoint. Everything starts with compression damping for JRZ. The founder of JRZ, creator of this damper design, and the underlying damping philosophy – Jan Zuijdijk – started everything from there. His main goal was to settle the vibrations of the unsprung mass (wheel, tire, upright/knuckle/etc) with the shaft displacement. Essentially, this was how twin tube dampers worked at the time of concept, and this is where the remote reservoir concept came in. The remote reservoir added a lot more volume for the gas charge, separated the gas and oil volume, as well as giving more space to incorporate the compression valve. Piston rod diameter was made at 22mm to give sufficient area to give high volumes of flow to the valve enabling it to respond to small movements.

Compression control was achieved by a simple yet very effective mechanism, the blow off valve. This was – and still is- a really precise washer. Turned on a lathe and then surface ground on the acting side, it is pushed closed by springs whose preload is adjusted with the compression knobs. It will hold a certain amount of pressure dictated by the spring load and then open up, allowing oil to flow freely past, while maintaining the cracking/opening pressure. Practically, this means a lot of low speed control can be built into the damper without it being rough on bumps. Low speed is was controls the chassis and bumps are what unsettles the unsprung mass, jostles the tire, and vibrates the chassis around. JRZs (and many others now) compression valve does an excellent job at controlling low velocity low frequency oil flow (chassis movement) and opening up for the bigger stuff (bumps).

What this means for you is that tuned to the right ratios, the chassis is solid and stable while the bumps are handled without upsetting anything.  To supplement this, Jan designed a free flowing piston (known internally as the 80/60) which is linear in action. The faster the damper moves, the more resistance this piston provides. This allows as much rebound control as necessary to be built in, while adding a little extra compression force at very high speed events where needed. Again, whether you are on the track or street, the bumps are handled while the chassis is set solid. This is almost always a positive outcome. When it isn’t we’re here to make that adjustment for you.

 

Now, which package is the best for you?

Two main groups make up the RS Line: canister and non canister. Deciding between these two starts with budget and rules. Canister/remote reservoir options cost more but work better. Some sanctioning bodies do not allow remote reservoirs (at best a poorly informed method of cost control but I digress) and there we can get creative with motorsport options as well.

Canister/Remote reservoir options are the RS Pro and RS Pro 3. These are the original JRZ Motorsport design. Both designs feature the blow off valve, 80/60 piston, and 22mm shaft. We have a wide library of valvings, settings, spring rates, and configurations available. Either damper can be delivered to your door ready to bolt in and work perfectly for your needs. Their versatile design coupled with our collective knowledge & experience make positive outcomes easy.

The difference between the RS Pro and RS Pro 3 is the introduction of low speed bleed adjustment. By allowing some flow to go around the blow off valve, e can change the velocity of suspension travel that it opens. Primarily, this changes chassis control & balance, which is a major element of tuning for performance and handling. A second, and very relevant effect especially for street cars, is that this bleed allows free movement on the street. Many of the bumps on the street aren’t very tall and can end up energizing only the tire or soaking up compression valve preload. This can create a “wavy” feeling in the suspension. The RS Pro 3 eliminates that. While adding another adjustment may seem daunting remember these can be left in the middle and work perfectly well. Also, we’re always here to help.

 

Your non canister options are the RS One and RS Two. These are a full circle development for JRZ, given that the original designs were meant to improve on twin tube designs. Essentially, the RS Two is a compact RS Pro. From the blow off valve, to the piston design, and ratios of damping offered, performance is very similar. The twin tube design made to achieve this do allow the oil and gas to mix, however. This was a trade off in allowing the performance philosophy of JRZ to shine through, notably compression control, which is largely absent from many (but not all) non-remote reservoir damper designs. What this means practically is that over long runs the gas will dissolve into the oil, softening the effect of the hydraulic resistance. Typically this happens about 15 to 25 min into a track session so for many, a non factor. When it does apply, we recommend increasing adjustments an extra click or two which typically brings performance  back to baseline.

Reducing cost and complexity from the RS Two brings us to the RS One. This is the same exact damper with the blow off valve replaced by a shim stack. By stacking shims in place of the blow off valve, we can do a few important things. First we can get a very accurate blow off force with each damper,  making repeatably easy. Building on that, the shim stack can be easily changed so in situations where compression needs to be adjusted or matched to an adjustable test set, the RS One can get it done. Another benefit of the shim stack is a smooth response, contributing to the RS Ones superior street ride. If you want something solid, fun. and easy, the RS One is a fantastic choice.

Thanks for reading, if you have more questions, please reach out. We are happy to answer. Check back soon as we have more articles being written every week.

 

Shop Now!

Learn about the JRZ Motorsports line here.     You can also learn about the JRZ AT Pro line here.