Question about the Watts Link

[John Wright]

I'm curious so I have to ask....
Watts links:

Why will one mfg provide a gazillion(+/-) holes for adjusting the Watts link pivot point and another will only provide 3-4 holes?.....

[Gitter Dun]

I think that would be a question for the manufacturers themselves. Are you considering putting a watts in?

[John Wright]

I think that would be a question for the manufacturers themselves. Are you considering putting a watts in?
Not at the moment, it was just an observation.....maybe the different suspension packages allow for more travel than others?

[jknight16]

It's kinda like single adjustable shocks vs. triple adjustable. Do you really need 128+ increments of adjustability to get the job done? It will depend on the user obviously, but most will not need it. However, there are some users who will want that level of adjustability.

[Gitter Dun]

Not at the moment, it was just an observation.....maybe the different suspension packages allow for more travel than others?

Could be, but how much travel do you think you need in a race car? Have you ever watched the Australian Super cars on Speed? I bet those guys dont have more than 3" of travel. The cars are stiff, flat in the corners, and are always catching air off of the curbs.

I've got about 3"-3 1/2" of travel up front and maybe 4" in the rear. The Fays 2 Watts I am using has 9 adjustment positions all in the realm of about 9"'s.

It's an interesting question that you ask, I wish I had a good answer for you.

[j-rho]

In tuning a car for optimal performance, it is important to have a range of adjustment that is both adequately wide, and also adequately "fine" or granular.

If you are always at the "max" of some setting, then that component is not offering you a wide enough range of adjustment.
If Setting A is "too little", and the next setting up, Setting B, is "too much", then you do not have a fine enough adjustment.

If you don't really care about optimization and perfection (or would even know how to recognize them) it doesn't matter much.

[silver69camaro]

It's kinda like single adjustable shocks vs. triple adjustable. Do you really need 128+ increments of adjustability to get the job done? It will depend on the user obviously, but most will not need it. However, there are some users who will want that level of adjustability.

It pretty much comes down to this post. I know some people look down on our setup because company B has 64 positions to adjust their RC, which IMO is a bit silly. The adjustment that I put into our watts has enough effect on the RC such the car will actually respond to the change.

For example, during the triangulated 4-bar / 3-link test at El Toro (2 years ago?), our car's grip changed from 0.96g to 1.00g from the middle watts adjustment to the highest. .04 is just enough for the seat-of-the-pants dyno.

[John Wright]

Thanks Matt.....I wasn't sure if some mfgs nailed it fairly close to being spot on with the RC or others didn't have a clue so they added tons of adjustment and leave it up to the customer to find the swet spot....or if all of that adjustment was really needed to cover the different variety of vehicles that it may go under and some may designed for a specific vehicle so only a few locations would suffice.

I figured it must have been a combination of alot of things to consider so I was asking....just to be clear, it wasn't my intent to pick on anyone mfg's design.

[JRouche]

I'm curious so I have to ask....
Watts links:

Why will one mfg provide a gazillion(+/-) holes for adjusting the Watts link pivot point and another will only provide 3-4 holes?.....

Yeah, Im not sure. Cause really there are only so many holes you can fit in the support for the center pivot while keeping it strong enough.

My builder used some odd methods for the thing. And he used 6 holes for RC height adjustments. Im thinking he could have stuffed more holes in there but the compromise would have been weakening the mounting where the center bolt goes through. See the pic below. It would have made for a smaller "tip" that holds the bolt in place vertically. And not that the mount sees much loading vertically, the "tips" of the remaining metal after drilling the hole dont have to be too large, They are mainly there to make positioning the bolt easier. The massive bolt and clamping forces will keep it in place. Dunno? Some folks see more is better. And Im guilty of that concept also :)

My watts link.....

The mount...

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/05/i-1.jpg

In the car.....

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/05/k-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/05/x-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/05/e-3.jpg