[Wyoming]

I am looking for a little help on getting my rig to handle right. I have been riding with a wildcat that is kicking my butt on the trails that we run for practice. First off I am new to SxS racing. I have always done rock crawling and mountain trails. There is a local circuit of 4-5 races that I want to do with the Mav.

Info on my setup

Mav Xrs with 30 inch Dominators 10-12 lbs of air.

Rear shocks- 5 rounds of preload taken out. about 6-8 clicks of rebound (from slow side) and compression about 4 clicks from softest

Front shocks- 3 rounds of preload taken out. rebound and compression about the same as rears.

Straight line I am way faster than the Wildcat but in the corners I am pushing too much to hold my speed. I feel a lot of body roll and worry about sliding and catching an edge. It feels squrrilly turning when going fast. I usually run in 2 but in 4 I feel that the front helps pull me out of the corners. The Cat just seems to stay planted better than I do. The ride as currently setup feels great going down the trail at speed, super smooth and stable, but the corners are a different story.

I don't have P/S yet but ordered it today. Will this make a difference in what I am feeling?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Megadesertdiesel]

30" tires and you want it to handle like a sports car? in my opinion, too tall of a tire with too much sidewall flex. Its give and take with the large tires you now have more ground clearance and raised your cog (center of gravity) which will put more stress on the swaybar and let the car lean more in corners which lets the inside tire loose traction and pushes on the outside tire.

 

[Whattha]

Ok bud I had the same problem as you. Felt allot of body roll, almost to the point of tipping over. Here is some good baseline settings that I have talked over with several people. First off put your preload back to factory settings. Run more air pressure in your tires. I run 18 all the way around. Close your rebound all the way off. All the way to the right. I would turn your compression clickers all the way open, then adjust your compression from there on bottom outs and such. DO NOT touch the rebound clicker at all. If you have the means to I recommend a shock revalve as that will help tons. If you need any more help don't hesitate to pm me. Hope that helps bud

 

[Glamisfan]

30" tires and you want it to handle like a sports car? in my opinion, too tall of a tire with too much sidewall flex. Its give and take with the large tires you now have more ground clearance and raised your cog (center of gravity) which will put more stress on the swaybar and let the car lean more in corners which lets the inside tire loose traction and pushes on the outside tire.

Exactly what I was thinking!

 

[Wyoming]

I do understand that the 30 inch tires are in all reality too big for racing. I had them on before i decided to do it. When I replace them I will run a 28 inch mongrel.

Whattha- thanks for the helpful post. I was wondering if the preload was the problem. I will put the preload back in and put the rebound and compression like you said. I also thought that the air pressure was an issue but wanted to verify that. In the long run I'd like to do a long travel that uses the factory shocks and then send the shocks to Areed. Im still trying to convince the wife that I "need" the Mav anyway so dropping 3gs on a long travel just aint happening yet, but it will

 

[Whattha]

I race in the W.E.Rock series and these settings helped exponentially. I run 20#'s of pressure in races. Everyone I know that races runs 30" Mongrels so I don't think that is much of an issue. If your running them on the stock wheels I suggest some 14's to get rid of some of the sidewall flex. I had my shocks revalved from Alex. They are definitely better than stock now. Coming from the factory these shocks are lackluster at best for racing.

 

[Wyoming]

I have the 14 inch STI Beadlocks.

If I put the preload back in, isn't it going to ride rougher down the trail? Is that a trade off?

 

[Whattha]

I could be talking out my neck on this one but I wouldn't imagine pre load really having a whole lot to do with rough riding on the trail. Your shocks should be what's handling all the little chop and what not trail riding.

 

[AReed]

I race with 30" tires and a ton of people running KOH ran 30s, hell the top 3 people were running 30s. Your problem is air pressure. You need way more, just like Victor said you need to try around 18 psi and see what that does. I'm the local shock expert on here so if you can any question PM me or call me and I can help you adjust your stock setup of work with you on a custom setup for your Mav

 

[Wyoming]

Well I will start with air and go from there. Thanks for the help.

 

[Whattha]

Done any testing yet with the settings we recommended? I'm curious as to how you liked the results

 

[Wyoming]

We just got started working here, so I am planning on going out tomorrow to do some testing.

 

[Whattha]

Cool.....let's us know how it goes bud!

 

[OLDGUY]

I do understand that the 30 inch tires are in all reality too big for racing. I had them on before i decided to do it. When I replace them I will run a 28 inch mongrel.

Whattha- thanks for the helpful post. I was wondering if the preload was the problem. I will put the preload back in and put the rebound and compression like you said. I also thought that the air pressure was an issue but wanted to verify that. In the long run I'd like to do a long travel that uses the factory shocks and then send the shocks to Areed. Im still trying to convince the wife that I "need" the Mav anyway so dropping 3gs on a long travel just aint happening yet, but it will

Wow still to large of a tire for racing or fast trail riding. unless racing in a mudbog .

You shouls be able to eat him alive EVERWHERE,

 

[AReed]

We just got first place this weekend in our Maverick with 30" bighorns. Ill run anyone any day of the week that says 30s are not a good race/fast trail tire.
I'm still working on shock valving and spring settings. We're close but I don't feel comfortable selling what we have yet. We run some of the most difficult races on the east coast and I want them to be dialed in 100% before I start sending out shocks.

 

[Megadesertdiesel]

We just got first place this weekend in our Maverick with 30" bighorns. Ill run anyone any day of the week that says 30s are not a good race/fast trail tire.
I'm still working on shock valving and spring settings. We're close but I don't feel comfortable selling what we have yet. We run some of the most difficult races on the east coast and I want them to be dialed in 100% before I start sending out shocks.

Congrats

 

[AReed]

Thank you sir.

 

[Whattha]

Awesome Alex! Congrats bud