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Looks like a great site. I'd be happy to contribute. PM sent.
Adjustment of Ohlins Dampers, Illustrated
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Buried with nonsense eh? You've seen nothing yet!
I've never been more sure that 19" set-in-stone dampers were the best choice for me!
Enjoy your fiddling!!
Polestar 2, Midnight (blue), charcoal interior, non-PP
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Excellent post!
I'd love to set up a "read only" area of the forum where we only have posts like this and only moderators (or a chosen few curators) can move threads into it as a reference. However I'm not super enough to be able to create forum areas...
I'd love to set up a "read only" area of the forum where we only have posts like this and only moderators (or a chosen few curators) can move threads into it as a reference. However I'm not super enough to be able to create forum areas...
Would you like me to have a word with Stephen Polestar? I see him in Aldi sometimes.
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You don't have to push it all the way, just push until it clicks (it goes in about 2mm) - the centre part is then retained in the clip and no chance of losing it.
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Thanks.... I'll edit that.
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I don't want to contradict ProfessorCook's excellent guide, but it really isn't necessary to remove any of the wheels or the rear wheel arch lining. I did one side this way, then realised how easy it would be to -not- go to all this trouble, and then did the other side the way I describe below.
There is no harm in doing it like this. It's interesting and you get to poke around with the car and fiddle with your torque wrench though - so there's still enough reason to do it
The easier way:-
Jack up the car two or three inches to increase the gap between the top of the wheel and the wheel arch (not strictly necessary, but makes life easier especially if you have big hands).
Remove the middle four fixing nuts in the upper liner - they're plastic and finger tight - no tools needed.
You can now pull down the wheel arch liner (it's soft fabric-y material) and shove your hand in there and feel for what you need to do. If you do this in conjunction with PC's great photos, it will make it easier.
The plastic nut things just push back on - no need to turn them - they have spring loaded teeth. In fact, it's actually impossible to actually tighten them past a certain point - they just spin. Just make sure the threads are poking through the liner first in the right place.
There's less stuff in the way on the side without the charging port, plus there's more stuff to look at on the charging port side. So I'd say if you're going to do one the 'hard' way and one the 'easy' way, make the charging port one the hard one.
There is no harm in doing it like this. It's interesting and you get to poke around with the car and fiddle with your torque wrench though - so there's still enough reason to do it
The easier way:-
Jack up the car two or three inches to increase the gap between the top of the wheel and the wheel arch (not strictly necessary, but makes life easier especially if you have big hands).
Remove the middle four fixing nuts in the upper liner - they're plastic and finger tight - no tools needed.
You can now pull down the wheel arch liner (it's soft fabric-y material) and shove your hand in there and feel for what you need to do. If you do this in conjunction with PC's great photos, it will make it easier.
The plastic nut things just push back on - no need to turn them - they have spring loaded teeth. In fact, it's actually impossible to actually tighten them past a certain point - they just spin. Just make sure the threads are poking through the liner first in the right place.
There's less stuff in the way on the side without the charging port, plus there's more stuff to look at on the charging port side. So I'd say if you're going to do one the 'hard' way and one the 'easy' way, make the charging port one the hard one.
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Thanks, Steve. I'm going to try this!
Do you know why the manual would say not to? It seems odd, as it's generally good practice. I use Copaslip to the wheel/hub mating face as well as the bolt threads.
Nice write-up!
As a side note; I considered the PP but for what they charged they should have used a far superior damper system like the Mag. shocks from GM (which they license out to many auto manufacturers). Just press a button on your UI and the suspension is changed.
As a side note; I considered the PP but for what they charged they should have used a far superior damper system like the Mag. shocks from GM (which they license out to many auto manufacturers). Just press a button on your UI and the suspension is changed.
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Torque is used as an indirect measure of bolt tension. If the bolt tension is too low, the bolt can back out on its own. If the tension is too high, you can begin to stretch (yield) the bolt which can result in the bolt breaking.
Because anything on the threads changes the ratio of torque to tension, putting anti-seize or grease or anything on the threads changes the resulting tension. OTOH, I have a trusted friend who is also a mechanic and over the years, he's convinced me that the benefits of using anti-seize far outweigh the potential hazards. I also use it on the hubs and wheel mating surfaces to reduce corrosion, though you can't get sloppy with it or you might end up with some slinging into the caliper.
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Lots of reviewers have criticized (and continue to criticize) the use of these dampers on our car. It was an intentional design choice according to interviews with Inglenath. Öhlins is a Swedish company with a long racing history, the dampers are widely recognized as excellent, and by being manually adjustable, you keep things uncomplicated which matches the Scandanavian aesthetic and design language.
Yes, it's a bit of a bother to fiddle with them, but I couldn't be happier with the choice. I enjoy faffing about with the car and most people really won't bother to change them, yet they still can dial in the ride they want and then leave it alone. It's a built-in way to customize the car.
Right on all accounts. I'd be surprised if any engineer expected unchanging thread contact surfaces, as they are never perfect (machining artefacts, corrosion, etc), hence using a filling/anti-seize compound is usually a no-brainer.
You're right about being frugal with anti-seize. I once accidentally put a dash too much on a wheel spinner* and at the end of my next short journey I noticed the wheel was a streaky mess.
*That car also had manually adjustable dampers - independently for bump and rebound. Much more fun and involving ownership than flicking a switch. Less weight/complexity too.
Excellent thread Professor. I still find Polestar's decision not to fit dampers that can be remotely adjustable odd in that more buyers might have selected this option. Kudos to those prepared to fiddle around though.
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