Suspension Upgrade Options

[Simon Owen]

Olivera said:

jont- said:

Having to jack the car to adjust is something of a PITA - I had a caterham previously with Nitrons where the dampers could be fitted at the bottom with adjusters at the bottom to make them easily reachable. Still...

Is that because the damping adjuster is at the top end of the strut? Manual adjustment is fine if it can be adjusted easily from either top mounts or at the bottom of the strut (reaching behind wheel when on ground), but having to jack the car up does sound like a PITA.

Yup I think so…

[jont-]

Olivera said:

Is that because the damping adjuster is at the top end of the strut? Manual adjustment is fine if it can be adjusted easily from either top mounts or at the bottom of the strut (reaching behind wheel when on ground), but having to jack the car up does sound like a PITA.

Yes. It's at the top of the strut and there just isn't clearance to get your hand between the wheel and top of the arch to fiddle, especially if you have a lowered ride height (but even if it was standard I don't think you'd manage it).

[Olivera]

jont- said:

Yes. It's at the top of the strut and there just isn't clearance to get your hand between the wheel and top of the arch to fiddle, especially if you have a lowered ride height (but even if it was standard I don't think you'd manage it).

Plus I guess you have to be very careful if adjusting when jacked up, as you'll have a crushed hand/arm if it somehow slipped off the jack...

[five50]

hmmm - interesting re the AST adjustment...

Re the comment above wrt Tractive dampers - there is quite a bit of noise about these online - they are are getting traction in the Porsche world etc.

This is a pretty narrow and maybe a slighty uninformed piece of feedback - but I know someone who recently fitted Tractives to a Lotus - apparently good on the street but he seemed surprised (and maybe a bit disappointed) about how soft they are on track.

Not sure if there is some further adjustment required etc.

[Aladoro69]

Had anybody tried the billet machined shock caps that a number of the European aftermarket companies produce?
They are meant to be more rigid and similar to the ones used on the rally and race cars
They claim they add more rigidity to the shock mounting and reduce roll

[Simon Owen]

five50 said:

hmmm - interesting re the AST adjustment...

Re the comment above wrt Tractive dampers - there is quite a bit of noise about these online - they are are getting traction in the Porsche world etc.

This is a pretty narrow and maybe a slighty uninformed piece of feedback - but I know someone who recently fitted Tractives to a Lotus - apparently good on the street but he seemed surprised (and maybe a bit disappointed) about how soft they are on track.

Not sure if there is some further adjustment required etc.

I guess depends on design spec, you still need to decide on a spring rate don’t you and this doesn’t change, it’s only damping adjustment on the fly. I would be interested in how you would set up a road biased kit, ie with 5 settings that all work on road rather than 1 (often ‘full soft’) road and then lots of other settings that are just too firm and really only suitable for track - often the pattern with lots of sports cars with adjustable suspension. If your a heavy track user I get it but there are lots of us who primarily use road thus paying for an adjustable set up with only one setting suitable for road is not great is it ?

I will try to get some feedback.

[corrieb74]

Simon Owen said:

I started ‘stock’ and asked Dave to put the Bilstein’s on the platform that got closest to this, which he did.

So for me only a marginal drop, ie I’m still pretty high compared to lots of cars. I like this as I can virtually ignore (within reason) bumps and crests on gnarly B roads.

Regarding adjustment after the fact, I presume that the Bilsteins have to be entirely removed from the car to have the ride-height changed?

[Life110]

Regarding the adjuster position, this is the same on all A110 coilover offerings, even the A110R standard parts. With the damper rod at the top there is no alternative.

To adjust Bilstein ride height yes you have to remove the damper entirely and disassemble.

[five50]

Looks like the life110 website has just gone live for another batch of ast suspension orders - for delivery in 4-5 weeks.

[Julian Thompson]

I’d not noticed that they were set for delivery as far forward as that - doh - placed my order last night. What a pain - need to read more carefully

[James Elmer]

If anyone has Bilstein dampers fitted now and is considering changing to AST, but is wondering about getting money back in their Bilstein items, then I’m happy to buy Bilsteins as that’s the next item on my list.