4. Shocks that are mounted farther from the ball joint should be stiffer than if they were mounted close to the ball joint. That is because with each inch of travel of the wheel, the shock mounted farther away will move at a lesser speed which means less resistance to both rebound and compression.
5. Tune entry performance first. If there are no entry problems, make small changes if you want to experiment to see if entry can be improved. Entry problems include a tight car or a loose car. By far the worst problem would be the loose-in condition. Nine times out of ten this is an alignment problem and not shock related.
6. Tune exit performance last. If there are no exit problems, don't make any significant changes. Exit problems can include a car that pushes under acceleration or one that goes loose under power. Be sure that you do not have a tight/loose condition where the car is basically tight in the middle and goes loose just past mid-turn.
7. On dirt racetracks, reduce rebound settings on the left side and decrease the compression rates on the right side for dry slick surfaces to promote more chassis movement. This helps to maintain grip as the car goes through the transitional phases of entry and exit.
8. On asphalt tracks, once the car has been tuned with shocks for optimum entry and exit performance, increase the overall rebound rates a small step at a time, especially on the left side, to possibly increase overall performance. This is especially good for low to medium banked racetracks. For highly banked tracks, the added rebound is not necessary or advisable.
The suggestions provided here are representative of trends that can enhance your handling package. Before any of this can work, the setup must be balanced, the steering characteristics must be ideal and the car must be aligned properly. If not, you will probably chase the setup and experience a lot of frustration and expense. Shock tuning is the last thing to experiment with in order to try to increase your racecar's performance, but it is nonetheless a necessary step in finding the ideal total handling package.