Suspension or rear shocks

[so called]

I had a problem last year with my Chimp in that I bottomed out the suspension
twice on a Belgium motorway. After inspection, replaced all shocks.
Now I have moved to a Tuscan, I was out in Wales recently with my better half. We had a smallish boot load and twice my cans touched the road surface.
I would have expected suspension to bottom out first. My mate was behind me in his Elise and said he couldnt believe how close my cans are to the road.

The car seems to sit right without an obvious low rear end.
Summer holiday is planned for a French drive with full boot so I will look at the shocks but wanted advice regarding road clearance.
I suppose my rear shocks do feel a little soft but I use her every day and dont do track days so have been happy with the ride as it is.

Has anyone else had this "road contact" problem ?

[the gazman]

The Tuscans don't like hard suspension but there is a major difference between soft and compliant and Tuscans often go way too soft.
Drop into Ian's place at Middlewich, he always has plenty of Tuscans in and will show you the difference.

[so called]

Yes OK, thanks for that, I dont live far from Middlewich.

I new there was someone in Middlewich but dont know where they are.
Can you give me the full name or address so I can look them up.

Thanks.

[trackcar]

IMO most TVRs are waaaaaaaaaaaay too stif at the rear and the tuscan is no exception .. chances are there's something wrong with your car .. the ride height was raised quite early on in it's life and revised spring/damper rates also followed so if yours is low and/or excessively soft either someone has lowered it too far on aftermarket shocks already or you have a problem that needs fixing.

[Mustang Baz]

Had exactly this issue during a 2k road trip to Scotland last year. Boot was pretty much fully loaded with roof/screen off and inside - had about 4.5-5cm clearance if memory served and ground carbon cans about 5 times during the 10 days. Not a nice sound, but no damage and light contact. Suspension - Nitrons, with reasonably stiff setting. No other problems since that time but roads in Scotland often small tracks/single lane so could also have been a factor.

[the gazman]

trackcar said:

IMO most TVRs are waaaaaaaaaaaay too stif at the rear and the tuscan is no exception .. chances are there's something wrong with your car .. the ride height was raised quite early on in it's life and revised spring/damper rates also followed so if yours is low and/or excessively soft either someone has lowered it too far on aftermarket shocks already or you have a problem that needs fixing.

I agree that some of the Tuscan S cars seem a bit on the hard side but the early cars all seem to have developed soggy tendancies.
There is a culture that loves low cars and fitting Nitron or similar gives the opportunity to get the cars a bit on the low side and doesn't help handling one iota.

[W7 KAA]

Mine is on GAZ at the moment and seems to handle ok, but also bottoms out on a regular basis (not car to ground, but what feels like either wheel to arch or just the suspension not having enough cushion in general to support large bumps in the road). Is this normal?

[Biggriff]

Seems quite normal from the one's I have followed and watching how close the cans get to the ground makes you wince.

Mine bottomed out when we initially fitted GAZ DA's, but The Gazman (thanks Derek) sorted it as it was (a) set 10mm too low and (b) far too soft. Handles lovely now and no more bottoming out.

Just got to take a couple of clicks of rebound off the front and should have a nice predictble and compliant set-up.

Richard

[so called]

Thanks for the interesting feedback.
I will be contacting Ian or Derek in Middlewich in the next few days.

My Tuscan is in Germany at the moment and so wont get fixed until August but I will post what gets done.

Thanks,
So Called.

[the gazman]

W7 KAA said:

Mine is on GAZ at the moment and seems to handle ok, but also bottoms out on a regular basis (not car to ground, but what feels like either wheel to arch or just the suspension not having enough cushion in general to support large bumps in the road). Is this normal?

Have you had a ride height check now the shocks have settled, one way or the other it might be advisable

[dvs_dave]

I had some Nitrons put on mine and it liked to bang its cans on the road if you were anything more than 2 up with a tank full of fuel.

Following advice, I increased the spring platform height by 1/4" and stiffened the dampers by 2 clicks.

It hasn't bottomed out since.

[W7 KAA]

the gazman said:

W7 KAA said:

Mine is on GAZ at the moment and seems to handle ok, but also bottoms out on a regular basis (not car to ground, but what feels like either wheel to arch or just the suspension not having enough cushion in general to support large bumps in the road). Is this normal?

Have you had a ride height check now the shocks have settled, one way or the other it might be advisable

I haven't no. Is this somethign you can help with and what would be the cost?

[YI8TVR]

W7 KAA said:

the gazman said:

W7 KAA said:

Mine is on GAZ at the moment and seems to handle ok, but also bottoms out on a regular basis (not car to ground, but what feels like either wheel to arch or just the suspension not having enough cushion in general to support large bumps in the road). Is this normal?

Have you had a ride height check now the shocks have settled, one way or the other it might be advisable

I haven't no. Is this somethign you can help with and what would be the cost?

What spring rating have you got on the rears. To know that might help to solve your problems. And to adjust the ride height all you need is a C spanner. Is there anymore adjustments on the dampers for bump stops