Tam very 'crashy' after Nitrons fitted!
Discussion
chris watton said:
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I chose this particular Nitron set because when reading the blurb, it stated that this is the popular for road and occasional track (surely the same could be said about the original factory set up)? As I know they do even stiffer versions, mainly for track (with different coloured springs)
Just out of curiosity Chris, have you spoken to Nitron about your issues and have they got any suggestions to rectify and improve the ride?I chose this particular Nitron set because when reading the blurb, it stated that this is the popular for road and occasional track (surely the same could be said about the original factory set up)? As I know they do even stiffer versions, mainly for track (with different coloured springs)
chris watton said:
I would have loved to come, I love Stratford - but because I'm an idiot and well and truly broke my handbrake, I ain't going anywhere in the Tam for a while.....
I almost never use the handbrake. Because of all the disk warping dire warnings on track days, I now automatically stick the car in gear rather then use the handbrake. OK, doesn't work for hill starts........Ab Shocks said:
phazed said:
Fine by me, fresh underwear with every ride!
I'll be down on the Saturday.
You're on, all agreed with GazI'll be down on the Saturday.
Desiato said:
Just out of curiosity Chris, have you spoken to Nitron about your issues and have they got any suggestions to rectify and improve the ride?
I haven't yet, no. I do know that whatever I decide to do, it will cost more money, and I refuse to spend any more for a least a few months. I spent over £1400 on the Nitrons and fitting (on top of a £6k re-trim, service and MOT) - I simply cannot spend any more right now.It will get sorted, but not yet, and anyway, I won't be 100% happy until I have had the 4.3 and gearbox/diff mods, so am in no rush. Just annoyed that one of the mods/improvements I wanted to tick off as done is far from it!
QBee said:
I almost never use the handbrake. Because of all the disk warping dire warnings on track days, I now automatically stick the car in gear rather then use the handbrake. OK, doesn't work for hill starts........
I know, I hardly ever use it too, even in the garage, the wheels are chocked and handbrake off - but it will be Sods law that I'll need that handbrake at some critical point! Although if my wife's in the car, it wouldn't be so bad...When I used to be fitting a lot of Nitrons (and sorting Nitron kits out for other big players in the service marketplace) sometimes they weren't quite what I wanted from them .. so I used to drive the cars down to Witney and remove the dampers there, give them to Ben with some dialogue about how they were performing .. he would rebuild / revalve them .. then I'd fit them back to the car and road test .. then give back to Ben if they needed further refining.
I don't know anybody in the current marketplace who offers anything that level of service, not even CentreGravity (who sound great by the way!).
Sometimes the guy who's really good at servicing your car isn't the best guy to sort your suspension woes..
I don't know anybody in the current marketplace who offers anything that level of service, not even CentreGravity (who sound great by the way!).
Sometimes the guy who's really good at servicing your car isn't the best guy to sort your suspension woes..
chris watton said:
I haven't yet, no. I do know that whatever I decide to do, it will cost more money, and I refuse to spend any more for a least a few months. I spent over £1400 on the Nitrons and fitting (on top of a £6k re-trim, service and MOT) - I simply cannot spend any more right now.
I'd be very surprised if it does cost you more money. None of the players in this story are big enough to shrug off bad press. Honestly, I would just call some people up - starting with whoever set the car up for you in the first place and then, if they can't improve things, Nitron. I've always been happy with my Nitrons (which doesn't help you) but my understanding is that they are a relatively small company and wouldn't want any hit to their reputation. P.S it's been mooted before but this thread demonstrates that's what's really needed is some sort of "handling day". We hire Millbrook, Chobham or similar, and all meet up. Everyone signs a "you bend it, you mend it" waiver [I'm not a lawyer, this could be improved...], puts their keys on the table and we try each other's setups.
"Is my supercharged LS7 faster than your 6.0 Speed 6?" can wait for another day, this would be about people seeing the setup possibilities for the car at relatively low speeds (unless you can afford to rebuild someone else's car). And no, it wouldn't identify the "perfect" setup because we're all on different tyres etc. but it might open eyes.
Maybe we could even hire somebody who knows what they're talking about to come and chat/explain things through.
"Is my supercharged LS7 faster than your 6.0 Speed 6?" can wait for another day, this would be about people seeing the setup possibilities for the car at relatively low speeds (unless you can afford to rebuild someone else's car). And no, it wouldn't identify the "perfect" setup because we're all on different tyres etc. but it might open eyes.
Maybe we could even hire somebody who knows what they're talking about to come and chat/explain things through.
spitfire4v8 said:
Sometimes the guy who's really good at servicing your car isn't the best guy to sort your suspension woes..
I know - but silly me, I thought they'd be great straight out of the box!I must make it clear, I am in no way bad-mouthing Nitron - I am sure the shocks are fantastic on a track (and are fine on smooth roads), it's just that they are a hell of a lot stiffer than I could have imagined - I chose 'the most popular Nitron choice for TVR owners' after all
Booking the car in with Nitron may not be a bad idea - before we take our trip to Italy, for sure..
I see you are having fun electrically.
With all this conjecture on the Nitrons, have you actually looked and checked how many clicks you have on each corner yet?
Some way back in this thread you said they (Central TVR) "adjusted" them - to what??
It may help to know before you need to contact Nitron, or Neil Garner or CG?
T
With all this conjecture on the Nitrons, have you actually looked and checked how many clicks you have on each corner yet?
Some way back in this thread you said they (Central TVR) "adjusted" them - to what??
It may help to know before you need to contact Nitron, or Neil Garner or CG?
T
K4TRV said:
I see you are having fun electrically.
With all this conjecture on the Nitrons, have you actually looked and checked how many clicks you have on each corner yet?
Some way back in this thread you said they (Central TVR) "adjusted" them - to what??
It may help to know before you need to contact Nitron, or Neil Garner or CG?
T
Yes, my dash area look eviscerated at the moment. Once this is all back together, I shall take the wheels off and have a look. I was told however, that they were set up as not too harsh/not too soft....With all this conjecture on the Nitrons, have you actually looked and checked how many clicks you have on each corner yet?
Some way back in this thread you said they (Central TVR) "adjusted" them - to what??
It may help to know before you need to contact Nitron, or Neil Garner or CG?
T
chris watton said:
Yes, my dash area look eviscerated at the moment. Once this is all back together, I shall take the wheels off and have a look. I was told however, that they were set up as not too harsh/not too soft....
First job, take the car for a drive and see what it feels like,You should be able to find the damper control knobs without taking the wheels off.
Next, at each damper in turn, turn the adjuster anti-clockwise until it stops, counting the clicks as you go. Write down the results.
They are now as soft as possible. That is as soft as they will go.
Then turn them clockwise, and bearing in mind whether you found them too harsh or too soft before, adjust them up to settings you think might be correct. test drive and adjust until you are happy.
QBee said:
First job, take the car for a drive and see what it feels like,
You should be able to find the damper control knobs without taking the wheels off.
Next, at each damper in turn, turn the adjuster anti-clockwise until it stops, counting the clicks as you go. Write down the results.
They are now as soft as possible. That is as soft as they will go.
Then turn them clockwise, and bearing in mind whether you found them too harsh or too soft before, adjust them up to settings you think might be correct. test drive and adjust until you are happy.
Thanks for that, that's what I'll do! You should be able to find the damper control knobs without taking the wheels off.
Next, at each damper in turn, turn the adjuster anti-clockwise until it stops, counting the clicks as you go. Write down the results.
They are now as soft as possible. That is as soft as they will go.
Then turn them clockwise, and bearing in mind whether you found them too harsh or too soft before, adjust them up to settings you think might be correct. test drive and adjust until you are happy.
Do the fronts and rears separately otherwise you won't know what is affecting what. Likewise, when you are trying to find the right set-up, turn the up/down two clicks at a time. Only turn them up/down 1 click at a time when you are nearly where you want to be.
It's quite fun playing with damper settings.
I now want a 1/2 click setting on my Protechs at the rear (but I know I'm just being picky!!!)
It's quite fun playing with damper settings.
I now want a 1/2 click setting on my Protechs at the rear (but I know I'm just being picky!!!)
QBee said:
chris watton said:
Yes, my dash area look eviscerated at the moment. Once this is all back together, I shall take the wheels off and have a look. I was told however, that they were set up as not too harsh/not too soft....
First job, take the car for a drive and see what it feels like,You should be able to find the damper control knobs without taking the wheels off.
Next, at each damper in turn, turn the adjuster anti-clockwise until it stops, counting the clicks as you go. Write down the results.
They are now as soft as possible. That is as soft as they will go.
Then turn them clockwise, and bearing in mind whether you found them too harsh or too soft before, adjust them up to settings you think might be correct. test drive and adjust until you are happy.
I was once told we shouldnt go to either extreme on the damper settings because they dont perform well and iirc dont last. Please correct if wrong.
I don't know the Nitron settings.
The Gaz settings are that the Gaz Gold Pros have 20 clicks from soft to hard. I cannot get the hardest four clicks, the adjuster is impossibly tight. Out of the other 16, I have seven soft clicks, then at around 8 it suddenly goes much harder, and by 10 it is pretty rock hard. So a very narrow band of real adjustment.
With stiff sidewall tyres on the car (say 91 load index or higher) for the road I have both the fronts and rears on 6 clicks up from soft, so in the soft zone. With my Federals (83 and 87 load index) I can run the fronts hard all the time.
On track on 888s I harden the fronts up to 16 clicks, but I leave the rears alone. I found when I got above the 8-10 point, the back of the car tended to hop around hairpin bends on the track, whereas with the rears soft I got really good traction. The harder fronts stop the front of the car diving under heavy braking and improve the turn in, and the handling is fine with a degree or so of front camber.
As I understand it, the Gaz Monos have a similar number of clicks as the GGPs, but those clicks represent the band from 6-12 clicks on the GGPs, giving you much finer adjustment of the stiffness of the dampers
The Gaz settings are that the Gaz Gold Pros have 20 clicks from soft to hard. I cannot get the hardest four clicks, the adjuster is impossibly tight. Out of the other 16, I have seven soft clicks, then at around 8 it suddenly goes much harder, and by 10 it is pretty rock hard. So a very narrow band of real adjustment.
With stiff sidewall tyres on the car (say 91 load index or higher) for the road I have both the fronts and rears on 6 clicks up from soft, so in the soft zone. With my Federals (83 and 87 load index) I can run the fronts hard all the time.
On track on 888s I harden the fronts up to 16 clicks, but I leave the rears alone. I found when I got above the 8-10 point, the back of the car tended to hop around hairpin bends on the track, whereas with the rears soft I got really good traction. The harder fronts stop the front of the car diving under heavy braking and improve the turn in, and the handling is fine with a degree or so of front camber.
As I understand it, the Gaz Monos have a similar number of clicks as the GGPs, but those clicks represent the band from 6-12 clicks on the GGPs, giving you much finer adjustment of the stiffness of the dampers
on my tam, with nitrons, i wound them all back to softest setting, then 7 clicks on the rears, 6 clicks on the fronts is about right for bumpier b roads with the tyres i use .
for track use this is way too soft though, i started to stiffen the suspension bit by bit at curborough sprint and ended up at 12 clicks all round before i had to depart,
there is a reason many high end cars have switchable suspension, you need different setups for different uses.
i don't think there is a simple solution for both road and track, but shocks you can select damping like nitrons are a decent option, but need to be set for your preference.
for track use this is way too soft though, i started to stiffen the suspension bit by bit at curborough sprint and ended up at 12 clicks all round before i had to depart,
there is a reason many high end cars have switchable suspension, you need different setups for different uses.
i don't think there is a simple solution for both road and track, but shocks you can select damping like nitrons are a decent option, but need to be set for your preference.
Originally for the NTR's for lotus, but should help anyway: http://www.sector111.com/images/products/performan...
twinreal said:
Originally for the NTR's for lotus, but should help anyway: http://www.sector111.com/images/products/performan...
Thank you - have saved that for future reference.Gassing Station | Tamora, T350 & Sagaris | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff