Shock Springs

[GuyIII]

I put the Atom through the paces on Saturday on a great road on the North Carolina, Tennessee border. No not the Dragon but a similar road called the "Snake". In my opinion it was more fun, less crowded and faster than the Dragon. This road is Hwy 421 out of Boone NC but starts to get fun after leaving Mountain City Tenn. I put 450 miles on the Atom, by far the most in one day. To be honest I was ready to get out of it. Unfortunately 4 of the 7 hours were on the interstate...boring!
Here is my question, my Atom 2 is equipped with the Koni 312 shocks. When I have my 200 lbs friend on board the Atom is great it feels planted and very smooth. When it is just me (185 lbs) alone in the car I am getting bounced around quite a bit. I have softened the rebound and the compression to about midway. I tried it in the softest setting but the car "hobby horsed" pretty bad. I have the double spring set up and was wondering if a softer spring is available and would help. This is not a track car it is driven only on the street.
Thanks
Guy

[silver]

I put the Atom through the paces on Saturday on a great road on the North Carolina, Tennessee border. No not the Dragon but a similar road called the "Snake". In my opinion it was more fun, less crowded and faster than the Dragon. This road is Hwy 421 out of Boone NC but starts to get fun after leaving Mountain City Tenn. I put 450 miles on the Atom, by far the most in one day. To be honest I was ready to get out of it. Unfortunately 4 of the 7 hours were on the interstate...boring!
Here is my question, my Atom 2 is equipped with the Koni 312 shocks. When I have my 200 lbs friend on board the Atom is great it feels planted and very smooth. When it is just me (185 lbs) alone in the car I am getting bounced around quite a bit. I have softened the rebound and the compression to about midway. I tried it in the softest setting but the car "hobby horsed" pretty bad. I have the double spring set up and was wondering if a softer spring is available and would help. This is not a track car it is driven only on the street.
Thanks
Guy

take the helper springs out, they are the same exact rating as the regular springs therefore they are kind of useless, and also add a binding point as there's no bushing in between. there are several things that kind of need to be done to the suspension to make the ride more enjoyable

1: put nylon washers between the end of the shock and the roller rockers...reason: the roller rockers will cut into the shock and eventually gouge a chunk out of it and I'm sure at some point it will cause a failure
2: removing helper springs as stated above, then re-adjust your height, take measurements before / after
3: put bearings between the top of the spring and the hat and the bottom of the spring and the adjustment nuts, this prevents binding, and elminates the loud clunk often heard when you accelerate or brake.

I also felt my car was much more well planted with a passenger and I think this probably lends more to the lack of corner weighting being done on the car OR just the addition of extra weight. I'm not an expert on corner weighting so I don't know if adding a passenger makes it more balanced thusly making it easier to drive, but that's my theory.

[GuyIII]

Thanks for the info Silver. What type and size of bearings are you talking about? Are you referring to a sealed bearing, do you have any photos??
Guy

[silver]

Thanks for the info Silver. What type and size of bearings are you talking about? Are you referring to a sealed bearing, do you have any photos??
Guy

can't remember which forum it's on but they were vorshlag bearings

I did a search it's on the other forum

http://arielatomchat.com/forums/thread342.html#post3218


it looks like they may no longer be made

this is a thread showing exactly what they are, you may need to find another source

Where to buy 60mm ID thrust bearings?

[jeff8407]

Have you checked Amazon for Thrust bearings? That is where I got mine. I am not using the nice sealed bearings, but they do stock the unsealed type.

[RyanD]

I have Koni 2812 shocks on my Atom 2. FWIW, my car didn't feel right until I changed to the stiffer "race" springs and set the shocks soft.