Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan Larsen
Putting an o-ring on the shaft on the outside of the shock will prevent the piston going above the oil, thus making sure it always stays airfree. I have no air in mine at all.
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No matter what you do, the air will always mix with the oil. If you don't believe me, remove one of your caps after a run and see if the oil is full of bubbles. Adding o-rings mainly reduces your compression stroke.
The bleed ports are used as a tuning aid. They allow you to leave little or no air inside. Air inside leaves you with a softer and less progressive damper throughout the stroke. No air inside makes the damper smoother, but also causes larger pressure changes through the stroke (more progressive). With no oil inside, it is important to bleed enough oil out so the damper doesn't hydro-lock when compressing it. If it does, your car will loose it's compression stroke just like adding o-rings on the outside.
The nice thing is that the bleed port allows you to easily change both the oil and air levels in the damper. That makes matching them left to right much easier. If one damper has more rebound than the other, simply bleed some oil out of the faster one. If one damper feels softer than the other, suck some air into the stiff one).
Having said all this, I have yet to mess with this adjustment. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the different possibilities and when to use them...