For optimal performance You SHOULD be running as soft of a spring that you can get away with. What you can run generally is determined by what tires you run. Really stiff springs are only helpful when you run say an R-compund tire. Otherwise you end up increasing your Suspension frequency for no reason and you decrease the acutal traction your car can make...
When I speak I speak of acutal people who drive their cars to the limit on the track. When we discuss driving on the street, were talking about "feel" rather than acutal tuning. FOr example the Chassi bracing thread. For the average street driver this is a waste cause you will never know if it is better or not.
Any way, As long as you are happy with your selection thats all that matters.
Valving, stiffer valving means that wight will transfer faster. Faster transfer means that the car WILL respond quicker. Thats why the average street driver equates stiffer to better handling. Faster response does not mean better handling.
Ok with that said, why will a real person tuning thier car be happier to be able to adjust how load gets transfered front vs rear rather than just stiffer? Beacuase that allows you to determine which end of the car gets loaded first, which helps you for corner entry and exit. As I have said Weight being transfered=less traction as we all know how a tire makes traction, given this this allows you to adjust oversteer/understeer of your car.
"In the whole, why would some one want a single adjustible damper to only adjust Rebound rather then Bump and rebound at the same time... well, that deals more with ride quality and how the car reacts to rough surfaces and impacts (FIA curbs any one?). See, bump valving has a much bigger influence on how the car reacts to impacts then rebound... It could be said that stiffer bump valving sort of Fakes a higher spring rate (One reason why alot of Stock Autocross drivers run double adjsutible dampers). The problem with that is, since they have the side effect of "faking" a stiffer spring, you are also "faking" a higher suspension frequency.... meaning the car will have less traction over bumps and rough surfaces. so, with a damper that adjusts bump and rebound at the same time, you end up running in to an issue of "I need stiffer valving to get the car to handle and respond the way I want, but I cant run to high of a bump valving with out making the car unstable in turns that arnt perfectly smooth". Alternatly, and this is why I say single adjustible dampers that adjust both bump and rebound are great for the street, is that because you can influence ride quality a lot more with bump valving the rebound, you can tune the car to ride much softer, then if you had a damper that only adjusted rebound. In the grand scheme of things, I'd personally much rather have a double adjustible damper then a single adjustible where both bump and rebound adjusted, but in the single adjustible damper world, performance wise your probably better off with a damper that only adjusts rebound vs one that adjusts bump and rebound." A ZZ quote
Roll Resistance is determined by these basic items......
1. TIRES...any rubber that grips will require stiffer suspension, as compared to someone who is running a stock tire cause then you can run a softer spring, and still maintain adequate levels of body roll.
2. CAMBER...The degree of camber you run is dependent on how much body roll you can accept. I run close to -2 daily, I can accept more body roll than someone with a stock alignment and 0 degrees of camber. This also means I can run a softer suspension.
3. Ride height...This is more complicated, and why we suggest not to go toooo low. Lower means a stiffer ride as to reduce bottoming out, but also if you go too low as the suspension compresses you can lose -camber. Lower car means more roll resistance than one that is higher..
No matter what doen't beleiev me Read books, Do some testing and autox;s, and track days and make your own conclusion...But basically run as soft a suspension as you can without allowing the negatives of a soft suspension to come forward.
