Adjusting shock damping (rebound)

Our shocks are a one-way shock which adjusts rebound, and this leads to some misunderstanding on adjusting the damping of the shock, so I hope this helps you to understand the science of adjusting your shock.

*This pertains more to our GR series shocks than it does our SR Sport Coilover and ClubSport coilover.

If you are rebounding too fast, especially if you go from stock wheels and tires to something like a Method wheel with Wildpeaks, you'll have a difference in unsprung weight which will pull the suspension down faster (increasing rebound speeds) you have to change the rebound speed setting on the shock (the little blue knob). Soft = open valve/ faster rebound and Hard = closed valve/ slower rebound). That magical blue dial is there for a reason - to control the speed of the shock. It doesn't just allow for flexibility in spring rates, it allows you to compensate for unsprung weight. It's sole purpose is to change the rebound speed of the shock. I know the wording on the knob can be confusing as these are rebound shocks, not compression shocks. Opening (soft) the valve fully, and closing the valve (hard) has only about 40lbs of force difference on the compression side, where it's around 300lbs difference between "hard" and "soft" on resistance force for rebound.

These shocks will not change the stiffness of the ride - they are designed to match 1:1 with the spring rates. 3 clicks clockwise = 225lb spring, and 9 clicks = 250lb, 18 clicks for 350lb, etc. (these are arbitrary numbers for example sake). Tire weights, wheel weights, etc WILL change the way the suspension feels, regardless of the spring. If you have a 225lb spring, shock 3 clicks from full soft and then add a heavy wheel and tire, you will have to adjust to slow the shock down (more clicks towards hard). There's not a "you have this plus this plus this, you need to be at X" - it has to be be done on the car through trial and error. I recommend starting at full "soft". If you experience any bounce...go 5 clicks and drive again. Repeat until it's dialed in.

Anecdotally, our Bronco Sport (lifted 1.5" on GR Plus) is on 200lb front springs/ 250lb rear springs, 17" Method 701 and 245/65/17 Falken Wildpeaks. On the stock wheel and tire setup, it was set on full soft up front and 4 clicks from soft in back. After the wheel and tire swap, I believe damping is set at 15/18. Nothing changed but the wheels/ tires and it now rides exactly like it did on OEM wheels and tires after adjusting rebound force.

Here is a sample dyno plot of a shock showing the two forces (compression up top and rebound on bottom). Red and blue indicate full soft and full hard. If you notice, the red lines have very little spread on compression - because the knob does not change compression force. In layman's terms, it doesn't make the shock stiffer.

Once we use our current knobs we have, I think we're going to change the wording on the knob cap to say "Fast" and "Slow" like this: