You've just fitted a set of AST or MOTON coilovers. Maybe they're your first adjustable dampers, maybe you've been running them for a while and never touched the knobs. Either way, those little orange adjusters are there for a reason — and using them properly is how you turn a decent coilover into a great one.
This guide covers how to adjust 1-way, 2-way, and 3-way coilovers in plain English. No engineering jargon, no motorsport theory, no talk of valve stacks or piston velocities. Just where the knobs are, which way to turn them, and what the car should feel like when they're set right. If you've read our 1-way vs 2-way vs 3-way explainer and you're ready to actually start turning things, this is the next step.
The One Rule That Applies to Every Knob
Before anything else, memorise this: clockwise is firmer, anti-clockwise is softer. Every adjuster on an AST or MOTON coilover — rebound, compression, high-speed, low-speed — works the same way. You're opening and closing a small valve inside the damper that lets oil flow. Closing it (clockwise) slows the oil down and makes the damper firmer. Opening it (anti-clockwise) lets more oil through and makes it softer.
On AST's orange adjuster knobs there's a small "H" marking. That stands for "Hard" — fully clockwise, fully closed. That's your reference point for every adjustment you'll ever make. It's the "zero" you count clicks from.
One important thing: do not force the knob past the end stop. When you turn it clockwise and feel resistance, you're there. Stop. Back off to the nearest click. If you crank on it, you can damage the adjuster.
Before You Touch Anything — The Five-Step Baseline
Every time you adjust, start with these five steps. They take two minutes and save you hours of confusion later.
1. Find fully closed. Turn the adjuster clockwise until you feel resistance, then back it off to the nearest click. That's your zero. This is the same on rebound knobs, compression knobs, and the high-speed and low-speed adjusters on 3-way units.
2. Count the total clicks. From fully closed, turn anti-clockwise and count until you feel the other end stop. On AST dampers this is usually around 12 clicks — sometimes 13. This is your working range.
3. Start in the middle. For a new set or a fresh baseline, turn 6 clicks anti-clockwise from fully closed. That's your starting point. Too firm at first? Too soft? Adjust from here.
4. Always match left and right. Whatever you do to the front-left damper, do the same to the front-right. Whatever you do to the rear-left, do the same to the rear-right. If the two sides of the same axle don't match, the car will pull, feel weird under brakes, and you'll chase problems that aren't really there.
5. Change two clicks at a time. Not six. Not a full turn. Two clicks. Drive, feel, decide if that was the right direction, then go again. Small changes make big differences on good coilovers.
Adjusting a 1-Way Coilover (AST 5100 / MOTON 1-Way)
A 1-way coilover has a single adjuster per corner, and it controls rebound — how fast the spring pushes the damper back out after it's been squashed. You have four adjusters in total, one on top of each coilover.
Where to find the adjuster
The rebound knob sits on top of the damper shaft, at the very top of the strut tower. On most cars you'll need to pop open the bonnet, or lift the carpet in the boot for rear dampers, to access it. Some top mounts have a small cap you'll need to remove first — look for a plastic cover or a threaded ring.
What rebound does, in one sentence
Rebound controls how quickly the suspension pushes back up after compressing. Think of it as how fast the car "unsquats" after a bump.
Starting point
Go to fully closed on all four, then back each one off 6 clicks. Take the car for a drive.
What to feel for
If your coilovers feel too firm (too many clicks towards closed):
- The car feels harsh over small bumps and expansion joints
- The wheel seems to "skip" on rough surfaces rather than follow them
- It takes a long time for the car to settle after a disturbance
If your coilovers feel too soft (too many clicks towards open):
- The car pogos or bounces repeatedly after a single bump
- It wallows over crests and dips
- The front dives dramatically under braking, or the rear squats hard on acceleration
The fix is the same either way: turn two clicks in the correct direction, drive the same stretch of road again, and reassess. Repeat until it feels planted and composed without being harsh.
Adjusting a 2-Way Coilover (AST 5200 / MOTON 2-Way)
A 2-way coilover adds a second adjuster: compression, which sits on the remote reservoir (that separate canister connected by a braided line). Now you have two knobs per corner — rebound on top of the damper, compression on the reservoir — and eight adjusters in total.
Where to find the compression adjuster
The compression knob is on top of the remote reservoir. It's smaller than the rebound knob and typically orange. If your reservoirs are mounted in the engine bay or boot, they'll be easy to reach. If they're piggyback-mounted on the damper itself (common on some Subaru and BMW rear fitments), you may need to lift the car to access them.
What compression does
Compression controls how quickly the suspension can be squashed in the first place. Rebound governs the return stroke; compression governs the way in.
The setup order matters
This is where people get themselves in trouble. Do not adjust both at the same time. Here's the correct order:
Step 1: Turn the compression adjuster on all four reservoirs fully anti-clockwise — full soft / fully open. You're effectively turning compression "off" while you work on rebound.
Step 2: Dial in rebound exactly like a 1-way (start at 6 clicks from closed, adjust 2 clicks at a time, drive and feel).
Step 3: Once rebound feels right, now move to compression. Turn each compression adjuster to fully closed, back it off 6 clicks, and drive again.
What to feel for on compression
If compression is too firm:
- The car feels harsh when you hit bumps, kerbs, or rough surfaces
- The tyres feel like they're "skipping" rather than staying in contact with the road
- The car is jumpy and unsettled on bumpy sections
If compression is too soft:
- The nose dives hard under brakes
- The car leans heavily through corners
- The rear squats obviously under acceleration
- There's a mushy, vague feel when you're loading the car up
Again: two clicks at a time, always match left and right, drive the same bit of road before and after.
Adjusting a 3-Way Coilover (AST 5300 / MOTON 3-Way)
A 3-way coilover splits compression into two separate adjusters: low-speed compression and high-speed compression. "Speed" here refers to how fast the damper piston is moving — not how fast the car is going. You now have three knobs per corner and twelve adjusters in total.
Low-speed vs high-speed, in plain English
Low-speed compression controls slow suspension movements. Think body roll through a long corner, brake dive, acceleration squat. These are movements you create with the steering wheel, brake pedal, and throttle.
High-speed compression controls fast, sharp impacts. Kerbs, potholes, expansion joints, sudden mid-corner bumps. These are movements the road forces on the car.
Where the adjusters are
The rebound adjuster stays on top of the damper. Both compression adjusters are on the remote reservoir — one for low-speed, one for high-speed. They're usually stacked or side by side with clear markings.
The setup order
Same principle as before: rebound first, then low-speed compression, then high-speed compression. Change one thing at a time, drive, feel, then move on. If you change three things at once, you'll have no idea what did what.
Start point for all three: 6 clicks from fully closed is a safe baseline for a fresh setup. Tune rebound to feel right with compression wide open, then close up low-speed compression until body control feels right, then close up high-speed compression until bumps and kerbs feel absorbed without being harsh.
What to feel for on low-speed compression
- Too firm: the car feels disconnected, like there's no information coming through the chassis. You can't feel the weight transferring when you brake or corner.
- Too soft: excessive body roll in corners, heavy nose-dive under brakes, obvious squat under acceleration. The car feels "floppy."
What to feel for on high-speed compression
- Too firm: kerbs and sharp bumps feel harsh, the wheel deflects off them rather than absorbing them, and impact shock transfers through to your hands and seat.
- Too soft: the car gets unsettled on rough surfaces, can feel jumpy mid-corner, and may bottom out on big hits.
Getting the 3-way balance right takes more laps than a 2-way does. That's normal. The trade-off for more adjustability is more testing time.
What to Feel For — Quick Diagnostic Checklist
If your car is doing something weird, this is your cheat sheet. Each symptom tells you which adjuster probably needs attention.
- Bouncing or pogoing after a bump: not enough rebound. Turn rebound two clicks towards closed.
- Car "packs down" and feels low or harsh after a series of bumps: too much rebound. Turn rebound two clicks towards open.
- Tyre skips over rough surfaces: too much compression. Turn compression two clicks towards open.
- Nose dives hard under brakes, rolls heavily in corners: not enough compression. Turn compression two clicks towards closed.
- Kerb strikes feel harsh and deflect the car: too much high-speed compression (3-way only). Turn high-speed two clicks towards open.
- Car feels nervous, twitchy, disconnected: usually too much damping somewhere. Back off two clicks on whichever adjuster you most recently tightened.
- Car understeers at turn-in: front rebound is too firm. Turn front rebound two clicks towards open.
- Car oversteers at turn-in: rear rebound is too firm. Turn rear rebound two clicks towards open.
Those last two come straight from AST's own tuning notes — they're the classic handling fixes drivers use at track days.
The Three Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes
1. Adjusting multiple things at once. You changed rebound and compression in the same pit stop. Now you can't tell which one fixed the problem — or caused a new one. Always change one adjuster per test lap, one test drive, one change. It's slower, but it's the only way to actually learn what your setup wants.
2. Making changes too big. A 5- or 6-click change on a fresh setup can transform the car from mild understeer into vicious oversteer. Two clicks is almost always the right move. If you feel you need more, do it in two-click increments — never jump.
3. Blaming the dampers when it's actually something else. Worn bushings, poor alignment, mismatched tyre pressures, and bumpstop contact all produce symptoms that feel like damping problems. Before you spend an afternoon chasing click counts, check your alignment specs, tyre pressures (cold and hot), and that your car isn't sitting so low it's riding on the bumpstops. AST's own tuning guidance makes this point explicitly — no amount of damper adjustment will fix a chassis with fundamental setup issues.
When to Get Them Professionally Set Up
For most street and occasional track users, the baseline approach in this guide will get you 90% of the way there. You can absolutely tune your coilovers yourself, enjoy the results, and never pay a suspension specialist.
Professional setup is worth paying for if you're racing competitively, if you've fitted significant aero, if you've changed spring rates or revalved your dampers, or if you've genuinely got lost trying to tune the car and it's getting worse with each change. A suspension shop with a corner-weight scale and a data logger can resolve in an hour what might take you a season of track days to sort out.
And a reminder from the previous guide: AST and MOTON dampers are fully rebuildable and revalvable. If you've tuned as far as the adjusters will go and the car still wants more, the next step isn't more clicks — it's a revalve, and your local AST dealer can arrange it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which way do I turn the knob to make it firmer?
Clockwise. On AST and MOTON coilovers, clockwise closes the adjuster and makes it firmer; anti-clockwise opens it and makes it softer. The orange AST knobs are marked with an "H" at the fully closed (firmest) position.
How many clicks of adjustment do AST coilovers have?
AST dampers typically have around 12 clicks from fully closed to fully open on each adjuster, sometimes 13. This is the same for rebound, compression, and the high-speed and low-speed compression adjusters on 3-way units.
What's the best starting point for a fresh set of coilovers?
Turn each adjuster clockwise until you feel resistance (fully closed), then back it off 6 clicks. That's the middle of the adjustment range and a sensible baseline for any AST or MOTON coilover. From there, you can work firmer or softer based on how the car feels.
Should I adjust front and rear by the same amount?
No — but you must always adjust left and right of the same axle by the same amount. Front and rear can be very different from each other. Left and right must match. Mismatched left/right damping on the same axle will make the car pull and behave unpredictably under brakes and acceleration.
Do I need to take the wheels off to adjust my coilovers?
Usually no. The rebound adjusters are on top of the damper and accessible from the top of the strut tower (under the bonnet for the front, in the boot or through interior panels for the rear on most cars). Compression adjusters on the remote reservoirs depend on where the reservoirs are mounted — engine bay or boot mountings are easy, piggyback setups on the damper itself may need the car lifted.
What does "fully closed" actually mean?
Fully closed means the adjuster is turned as far clockwise as it will go, closing the internal bleed valve completely. This gives you maximum damping — the firmest setting. AST uses this as the reference point for all click counts because it's a known, repeatable position.
I've adjusted everything and the car still feels wrong. What now?
Start by returning all adjusters to 6 clicks from fully closed — your baseline. Then check the basics: alignment, tyre pressures, bushings, and that the car isn't riding on its bumpstops. If everything there is sound and the car still won't tune, your spring rates may be wrong for your weight and use case, or your dampers may need a revalve. Contact your AST dealer for advice — they can often recommend a revalve specification without you needing to ship the dampers anywhere first.
Can I adjust my coilovers while the car is on the ground?
Yes. You don't need to lift the car to turn the adjusters. You only need to lift it if you can't physically reach an adjuster because of where it's mounted (some piggyback compression reservoirs fall into this category).
Ready to Dial In Your Suspension?
Browse the full AST x MOTON range at Chicane Australia — including 1-way, 2-way, and 3-way coilovers for most modern performance platforms. Every product is genuine AST or MOTON with fast Australian shipping. If you're still deciding between adjustability levels, start with our 1-way vs 2-way vs 3-way explainer. Based on the Central Coast, NSW, we work directly with the factory in the Netherlands to help you spec the right setup for your platform, and we're happy to talk through tuning guidance for any AST or MOTON damper you've bought from us. Contact us if you need a hand getting started.
