Initial suspension set up

[TheGriffalo]

Woohoo, I've now got my lovely Protech shocks

Now I'm assuming they are set to a default setting and I'm fairly used to setting up bike suspension but I haven't had the luxury of adjustable shocks on a car.

Add to that the fact that I have new wishbones, Powerflex bushes throughout, Steve Heath adjustable droplinks, 2" larger wheels all round, lighter brakes and new upper and lower balljoints I kinda don't have a starting point to begin adjustment from.

Fortunately there's a good laser alignment place within a mile or so to get everything pointing in the right direction so I can get her pointing straight but how do I go about setting the shocks.

On a bike you can wind the dampers off, set the "sag" with and without a rider on the preload adjusters and then tweak the damping adjusters till you get a balance you like.

What is the equivalent technique on a car to achieve a decent initial setting?

I have a feeling I could be playing for weeks once she is back on the road.

Edited by TheGriffalo on Thursday 24th January 19:46

[laz11]

I don't think there is a standard set up for aftermarket TVR suspension which is why a lot of people go to specialists who have the tools and TVR know how. I went to Top Cats Racing in Aylesbury on the recommendation of a lot of people here. Very happy with them. I'm not a DIY guy so had no choice... but from reading a number of posts here the consensus is that getting it set up right is apparently not an easy job to do yourself. And by the sounds of the other mods you have I would have thought you want to get the advice of someone who knows how to get the best out of your car. Just my two pennys...you might like the challenge of doing it yourself!

[Else]

I would thoroughly recommend Julian at Track Car Solutions. There isn't much he doesn't know about TVRs including the suspension setup and he is a reseller of Protech shocks so he knows them inside out.

He has set both my TVR suspension in the past, only down side is the distance but just take a day off and enjoy the drive!

Andy

[TheGriffalo]

Else said:

I would thoroughly recommend Julian at Track Car Solutions. There isn't much he doesn't know about TVRs including the suspension setup and he is a reseller of Protech shocks so he knows them inside out.

He has set both my TVR suspension in the past, only down side is the distance but just take a day off and enjoy the drive!

Andy

Just got a call into him at the moment as I bought it all from there

[steve-V8s]

How you set it up depends so much on your driving style how you like the car to feel and what you are going to do with it. The obvious starting point is to set the ride height, get all the wheels pointing in the correct direction and then get the camber somewhere near right. The difficulty is determining what is right as it will depend on you and use. As a starting point 2 deg neg camber and just on the toe in side of parallel works for me You can get a fairly good starting point with both Toe and Camber using string on axle stands a tape measure and a sprit level provided you have a piece of level ground to work on, or you could get someone to set that for you.

Setting the dampers again really depends on you. Stating the bleeding obvious but in simple terms softer equals more grip but less body control. A good starting point as recommended to me, on here, some years ago is to set the dampers half way and go for a drive, if the front or rear feels under damped then crank them up a bit, if it feels harsh and crashes over bumps then slacken them. When it feels about right try to press on fairly hard round a corner in the dry and see if it under steers or over steers. If under steer then you have the option of softening the front a bit for more grip or stiffening the rear for less. It is all a bit of a black art and one thing effects another. If you use the same bit of road at the same speed and the same tyre pressure (very important) you really can change the damping and select over/neutral/under steer.

Write down the adjustments you make and the results as you go along else it gets very confusing.

Couldn’t really get mine to feel right until I went up 75lb all round on the springs and worked out that I needed the front dampers a lot stiffer than the rear.

You could take it to someone but if you take some time to do it yourself you will understand a lot more about how the car works at the end of it and get it right for you rather than the person you took it to.