Rose joints - do I need them?

[marino]

Next month I will be sorting out the brakes and suspension on my Griffith 500, although the threads on the Spider wheels etc have put a spanner in the works. When changing to the Nitrons I was going to use poly bushes, would using rose joints be wise? how much are they? how many would I need? Oh and finally, what are they?

Dave.

[GreenV8S]

Need to be clear whether you're talking about rose joints on the dampers or the wishbones. For thw wishbones it isn't a practical option unless you're replacing them, and in any case it's only something you'd want to do on a racer and would make the car rather impractical for road use. Stick with reasonably hard grade poly bushes and that should be fine. For the dampers you do have the option of specifying rose joint end fittings for a small surcharge. With cheaper dampers this would be too harsh but Nitrons are much more forgiving in this respect. If you are going for a hard suspension setup and want pin-sharp handling it's worth considering - I have them on mine. You would get a slightly more comfortable ride with bushes though, and I'd recommend sticking with them for normal road use. The bushes Nitron use are low compliance bushes which will be pretty firm anyway.

[marino500]

Thanks Peter, I am doing 1 to 2 trackdays a month but don't want an uncompromised setup. I understand the Nitrons are adjustable and so this should give me what I require.

[2 sheds]

If you want to know more about the pros & cons & costs of rose joint suspension phone Sean at CastleSPORT he has a fully rose jointed TVR, its very impressive although feels a little harsh.
Tim