DSC Sport Suspension Module for our cars!

[Tw1stedlog1k]

Related:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/176RUXdjA1/

https://www.suspensiondirect.com/shop/sdi-ss-2457001

If this brand's offering is any indicator, I think you boys might be in the ballpark with pricing.

I do prefer the potentially more integrated offering from DSC. What is your experience with how that works? I mean how do you dial in the settings with the controller? I assume it's with a separate app.

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[optronix]

Related:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/176RUXdjA1/

https://www.suspensiondirect.com/shop/sdi-ss-2457001

If this brand's offering is any indicator, I think you boys might be in the ballpark with pricing.

I do prefer the potentially more integrated offering from DSC. What is your experience with how that works? I mean how do you dial in the settings with the controller? I assume it's with a separate app.

Things may have changed, but here's a pretty comprehensive tutorial for the tuning software.



edit- much more recent and to the point:

 

[ashmostro]

Beat me to it

 

[bisquick]

Pricing and performance aside, the differentiator is the approachability of the SDI E-CLIK over the DSC Sport offering. Many people tune their vehicles with Hondata yet never open FlashPro Manager on their computer. I imagine the same with these modules, but if you have an intuitive interface in front of you then you might be compelled to tweak your settings.

I’m very curious how these perform in comparison to multiway adjustable coilovers or in conjunction with a set of active-dampening coilovers.

 

[ashmostro]

I would think someone willing to buy something this advanced wont be averse to turning their laptop on and uploading tune files (or tweaking their own settings).

It's no more difficult to learn than any other tuning interface, based on my prior experience with the C7 platform DSC controller.

 

[bullitt]

Currently for Mustangs Steeda sells custom DCS's tuned to go with their suspension kits. Perhaps others will as well on other platforms to cut down on the need to tune and be a more "install and go" system like many engine tunes are now. Sure you can maybe get a BIT more out of a custom tune, but unless a hard core track rat it may not be worth it.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Currently for Mustangs Steeda sells custom DCS's tuned to go with their suspension kits. Perhaps others will as well on other platforms to cut down on the need to tune and be a more "install and go" system like many engine tunes are now. Sure you can maybe get a BIT more out of a custom tune, but unless a hard core track rat it may not be worth it.

If you're changing ride height and/or spring rate, custom tuning becomes crucial.

When you lower a car, you change the suspension dynamics, and typically on a mcstrut car you need A LOT more spring and A LOT more front bar to compensate. On stock struts, it's crucial to cut bump stops as well to keep your suspension travel range appropriate.

This is where systems like DSC become crucial for best performance because you've change the travel path and distance the strut covers and the level sensors will "start in a compressed state" and end "beyond standard compression range".

DSC did some testing on the VW platform and found that most aftermarket electronic coil and strut systems (including higher end bilstein and kw) were actually one way adjustable while the oem system was two way. This means oem is actually far better, and that also explains why oem are not cheap.

After I went to a custom coil setup, I tried the DSC setup on my gti, but I had a lot of issues with the level sensors. I suspect on that platform the issue was the more advanced headlights that auto adjusted level and lateral movement based on body position, which fed back to the canbus where I was throwing gateway errors. This car has "dumb" headlights, so I suspect it wouldn't have similar issues.

 

[bullitt]

If you're changing ride height and/or spring rate, custom tuning becomes crucial.

When you lower a car, you change the suspension dynamics, and typically on a mcstrut car you need A LOT more spring and A LOT more front bar to compensate. On stock struts, it's crucial to cut bump stops as well to keep your suspension travel range appropriate.

This is where systems like DSC become crucial for best performance because you've change the travel path and distance the strut covers and the level sensors will "start in a compressed state" and end "beyond standard compression range".

Yeah but when a company like Steeda makes the struts, springs, rollbars, everything and set what specs they should be aligned to, it makes it a lot easier for them to also make a pretuned DSC. They literally know all the suspension setup and have put in tons of tack time on them.

Similarly if Honda dropped a full strut/spring racing set they could also include a flash for the car that updates the OEM control unit to account for that setup. Ford Performance does this now. You can buy a spring/bar set from them and it includes a flasher to adjust the OEM Magneride controller for those parts after hundreds of hours of track time.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Yeah but when a company like Steeda makes the struts, springs, rollbars, everything and set what specs they should be aligned to, it makes it a lot easier for them to also make a pretuned DSC. They literally know all the suspension setup and have put in tons of tack time on them.

Similarly if Honda dropped a full strut/spring racing set they could also include a flash for the car that updates the OEM control unit to account for that setup. Ford Performance does this now. You can buy a spring/bar set from them and it includes a flasher to adjust the OEM Magneride controller for those parts after hundreds of hours of track time.

100% agreed!

Would be nice if there was a properly tested drop in kit for this platform, but I kind of doubt that will ever happen. It's a dead platform now supposedly, and with the mcstrut front end/multi rear spring rates would have to go pretty high to keep performance up and lower the car. Most people probably wouldn't tolerate that on the street. Double wish cars are much more comfy at even higher spring rates.

 

[optronix]

Another thing that is pushing me towards coilovers is the camber. Now having -3.5 degrees in the front for a full autocross season there's no way I'm going back... but I'd love to be able to easily set the camber back to a reasonable setting for the street/winter without removing/reinstalling the ball joints. As far as I'm aware, I'll need to get a set of coilovers with adjustable strut mounts to make this easy (if there's a solution that lets me use the OEM struts I'm all ears...). And obviously lose the adaptive capabilties- unless I want to go with a full custom Tractive setup and spend $10k+. If I keep the car long enough I may just do this... but for now I'm thinking more along the lines of Ohlins or if these HRC parts ever see the light of day.

 

[ashmostro]

What about setting your track camber with the alignment pins pulled and top hats pushed to the innermost setting, then pushing the struts back out for the winter? It's not a lot of difference but could be enough to scratch your itch.

 

[ashmostro]

Another option- camber plates that are OEM spring and strut compatible. Looks like these are:

https://balladesports.com/products/ballade-sports-17-civic-type-r-fk8-front-camber-plate-kit

 

[optronix]

What about setting your track camber with the alignment pins pulled and top hats pushed to the innermost setting, then pushing the struts back out for the winter? It's not a lot of difference but could be enough to scratch your itch.

From the data I've extracted from a litany of forum posts, the most I could expect here would be half a degree. Arguably enough to "balance out" the extra camber added in the rear from swapping springs, but not enough for my use case.

Another option- camber plates that are OEM spring and strut compatible. Looks like these are:

https://balladesports.com/products/ballade-sports-17-civic-type-r-fk8-front-camber-plate-kit

This is interesting though, and definitely news to me. I daresay I would have gone this direction over the ball joints if I was aware of it... which I probably would be had I cared to look, since clearly they've been available since the FK8.

I still think I'll do coilovers though, TBH. For all the reasons @Victorofhavoc mentioned. It just seems that too much variance in the suspension geometry is introduced if only the springs are changed- I want the drop but would prefer the entire assembly engineered cohesively like a good set of coilovers would be. I'll chat with the DSC folks (still have yet to make it out there...) before I pull any triggers just to see if they have confidence that they can "tune around it", but I am holding out hope that the HRC units will probably be the best option for my use case as a weekend warrior.

 

[ashmostro]

What springs are you running, out of curiosity? My H&Rs on stock shocks feels better than many coilovers I've run (e.g. AST, JRZ, etc not Fortune Auto haha).

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Another thing that is pushing me towards coilovers is the camber. Now having -3.5 degrees in the front for a full autocross season there's no way I'm going back... but I'd love to be able to easily set the camber back to a reasonable setting for the street/winter without removing/reinstalling the ball joints. As far as I'm aware, I'll need to get a set of coilovers with adjustable strut mounts to make this easy (if there's a solution that lets me use the OEM struts I'm all ears...). And obviously lose the adaptive capabilties- unless I want to go with a full custom Tractive setup and spend $10k+. If I keep the car long enough I may just do this... but for now I'm thinking more along the lines of Ohlins or if these HRC parts ever see the light of day.

Those ball joints should be just two bolts per side to reduce the camber with the the slide in positioner.

Because its a 3 position system, you also know that your toe won't be super out of whack from adjusting back and forth. If you set it up with some toe out (as you should for performance use up front), when you flip the positioner around, you'll lose roughly a degree of camber and have slight toe in (which is good in winter).

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