Which Shocks

[MADNESS]

My car has Bilstein shocks fitted to it, which I feel are getting tired and could do with replacing.
I have found that with 4 of us in the car on a bumpy road the tyres on the rear can rub on the arch, my thinking is putting new shocks on will have decent bump stops and stronger springs to prevent this happening.
I only use the car on the road ( no track days) and would like to be able to drive with a set of shocks which are suited to this.
Any recommendations ?

[gruffalo]

Nitrons will do you well, also worth thinking of a little up-rating of the spring rates at the same time, not huge but 20% harder or something like that if you are 4 up regularly.

[Gazzab]

All comes down to budget.
Nitrons sit in the middle of the price spectrum
Ohlins and intrax at the top (and Penske?)
Then gaz and protech etc are cheaper.
http://www.kitsandclassics.co.uk/suspension/

Edited by Gazzab on Friday 10th July 08:17

[Gazzab]

Looking at Joolz's site there is a kit below that suits your requirements? Protech are highly regarded.

Protech kit shown with optional spring and bumpstop kit for carrying extra load eg full holiday luggage and passengers. All Protech kits can be biased to your requirements eg comfort to full race.

4 single adjust dampers 467.20 (damper only kit, no springs)

add 160.00 for springs

4 double adjust dampers 712.00 (damper only kit, no springs)

add 160.00 for springs

Touring kit 639.00 incl uprated bump stops and springs

Postage 20.00 on all damper and spring/damper packages



Please note all our mail order bespoke Protech damper kits come with disposable gloves and new nyloc nuts for your damper bolts for your convenience and safety

[Byker28i]

I went with Nitrons and Eibach progressive springs and not regretted the setup. Works well for me. I had the shocks rebuilt by the factory quite cheaply a couple of years ago.

[PuffsBack]

Plain ol' cheap Gaz on my Cerbera transformed the ride. Haven't a bad word to day against them.

[Incognegro]

Put a set of Gaz Golds on dads cerbera and were brilliant (3 years on one side may have just let go). My cerbera was bought and already had Nitrons with Suplex springs and are awesome!

In saying that for a ltd budget I honestly think the Gaz are brilliant and offer great value (great performance for very good price)

[Montauge]

My rear shocks were replaced with Protech when I bought the car and I must say I am very impressed with them. I do track days as they are great and do road driving with 2 adults, 1 kid and luggage and it is also fine. In my limited opinion I think ride height also plays an important part. I think a lot of Cerbera rear suspension setups are maybe a bit low at the rear compared to factory spec and raising it to a height above the front with no load gives a good start point for mixed conditions. John.

[Luckyone]

Montauge said:

In my limited opinion I think ride height also plays an important part. I think a lot of Cerbera rear suspension setups are maybe a bit low at the rear compared to factory spec and raising it to a height above the front with no load gives a good start point for mixed conditions. John.

Yes the factory spec is high at the back, I've just raised ours at the rear. I fitted Nitrons many years ago & just left the spring adjusters were they were set when they came reasoning they were set correctly for the springs. Looking at pics of it out on track the rear was far too low.

I'm getting older now & can't be bothered with looks over function!

For what it's worth Nitrons give a better ride than any of the MSport BMWs that have come & gone over the years. In terms of handling the Cerb leaves the current F13 640 for dead. Then again my 200SX is possibly the best in that department but that is likely down to the 45 profile rubber on it but that's a different subject. Though for ride comfort the Cerb is still the winner over the 200SX with its BK shocks even though the Cerb is running the 35 profiles (neither have progressive springs).

[Incognegro]

Luckyone said:

Montauge said:

In my limited opinion I think ride height also plays an important part. I think a lot of Cerbera rear suspension setups are maybe a bit low at the rear compared to factory spec and raising it to a height above the front with no load gives a good start point for mixed conditions. John.

Yes the factory spec is high at the back, I've just raised ours at the rear. I fitted Nitrons many years ago & just left the spring adjusters were they were set when they came reasoning they were set correctly for the springs. Looking at pics of it out on track the rear was far too low.

I'm getting older now & can't be bothered with looks over function!

For what it's worth Nitrons give a better ride than any of the MSport BMWs that have come & gone over the years. In terms of handling the Cerb leaves the current F13 640 for dead. Then again my 200SX is possibly the best in that department but that is likely down to the 45 profile rubber on it but that's a different subject. Though for ride comfort the Cerb is still the winner over the 200SX with its BK shocks even though the Cerb is running the 35 profiles (neither have progressive springs).

Glad it's not just me who has noticed the rear height of the factory setup. I have been thinking it could do with a 10mm drop at least but after hearing opinions I think I'll leave as is! Great posts guys!

[HarryW]

I'm running Intrax shocks at standardish ride height, with the front rear rake of about 20mm.
Does everything I want it to do, comfortable enough, not as crashy as most standard cars on poor roads tbh, goes around corners beautifully. The grip of your arse on the seat is more limiting than the grip of the tyres around corners with AD08R's too.......

[MADNESS]

Thanks for all the feedback on this guys.
Going to look at all the options and decide in the next few weeks what to go for.
Having raced bikes for some years, I have a understanding of suspension.
With regards to car setup, do you do static sag settings etc? If so would anyone be able to provide me with any information please?
Cheers

[Byker28i]

Montauge said:

My rear shocks were replaced with Protech when I bought the car and I must say I am very impressed with them. I do track days as they are great and do road driving with 2 adults, 1 kid and luggage and it is also fine. In my limited opinion I think ride height also plays an important part. I think a lot of Cerbera rear suspension setups are maybe a bit low at the rear compared to factory spec and raising it to a height above the front with no load gives a good start point for mixed conditions. John.

I measure mine from the corners of the outriggers, clearance to the road. I have mine set at 120mm front, 130mm rear. I find this works well for me, especially when travelling with lots int he boot. Very stable at high speed also.

[Jhonno]

On a budget I would go for Protech
Mid-range would be Nitrons
Top end would be Intrax or Ohlins..

[Gazzab]

Jhonno said:

On a budget I would go for Protech
Mid-range would be Nitrons
Top end would be Intrax or Ohlins..

Exactly right.

[Steve_T]

Quantum Racing Suspension 2-way adjustable shocks going on the car this week, then time for a bit of setup. Have had Yoko AD08s on the car for a while now and as per HarryW they've been excellent, AD08Rs next time for sure. Credit also to Nitron as their shocks have lasted 10 years without an issue.

Edited by Steve_T on Monday 13th July 14:38

[HarryW]

Byker28i said:

Montauge said:

My rear shocks were replaced with Protech when I bought the car and I must say I am very impressed with them. I do track days as they are great and do road driving with 2 adults, 1 kid and luggage and it is also fine. In my limited opinion I think ride height also plays an important part. I think a lot of Cerbera rear suspension setups are maybe a bit low at the rear compared to factory spec and raising it to a height above the front with no load gives a good start point for mixed conditions. John.

I measure mine from the corners of the outriggers, clearance to the road. I have mine set at 120mm front, 130mm rear. I find this works well for me, especially when travelling with lots int he boot. Very stable at high speed also.

Out of interest just measured my ride height very roughly in the garage, my front is 135 and rear 155, never bottoms out or scrapes speed humps at work.....

[Byker28i]

Interesting - thought I had mine set high for a cerbera. I do sometimes scrape the tunnel ladder bolts on ramps

[gruffalo]

HarryW said:

Out of interest just measured my ride height very roughly in the garage, my front is 135 and rear 155, never bottoms out or scrapes speed humps at work.....

Same as mine.

I spend a while getting it set to the right height at Snetterton playing with the ride height to get the right compliance, it rides so much better higher than when it looked great really low but the springs ran out of travel too quickly.

[MADNESS]

Having taken the rear wheel off my car tonight, checked the rear shocks to find 12/97 on the spring.
Is this a spring rate or a date stamp ? My car is an early 4.5, I do have an invoice dated 2007 for new shocks, starting to think they maybe original.