Good Journey Today but the Suspension's too Much

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

Witney - Bibury - Cirencester - Tetbury - Bath
Cracking road, weather and scenery...
...and a 'ro under one's posterior I've discovered how easy it is to trigger an overspeed warning when set to 0.9lept with Wortec'd grunt (on private roads )

This drive, having had the car for a month, has crystallised a dislike:
I find the Wortec suspension too low and too hard for our roads - those little traffic angering speed bumps are hit and anything other than a smooth surface is crashy. By little I mean where a wheel fits either side i.e. not full width so sounding like lumps are being gouged from the sump. Even the full width ones sometimes ground - I think the front spoiler.
I'll be talking to Mr M.Fish about options but does anyone have any experiences of before and after such an upgrade or other suspension tweaks?

regards,
Jet

[doleboy]

Seem to remember that there was an issue that could effect the dampers and make the ride harsher than it should be - an oil return valve?? Think Alan had it?

Him or the Oracle of all things suspension-wise (Roger @ Monkfish) may be able to comment.

Failing that, it might just be you

[jet_noise]

Dear doleboy,

could be, I'm fairly skinny so don't have much bum cushion

regards,
Jet

[monkfish1]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

Witney - Bibury - Cirencester - Tetbury - Bath
Cracking road, weather and scenery...
...and a 'ro under one's posterior I've discovered how easy it is to trigger an overspeed warning when set to 0.9lept with Wortec'd grunt (on private roads )

This drive, having had the car for a month, has crystallised a dislike:
I find the Wortec suspension too low and too hard for our roads - those little traffic angering speed bumps are hit and anything other than a smooth surface is crashy. By little I mean where a wheel fits either side i.e. not full width so sounding like lumps are being gouged from the sump. Even the full width ones sometimes ground - I think the front spoiler.
I'll be talking to Mr M.Fish about options but does anyone have any experiences of before and after such an upgrade or other suspension tweaks?

regards,
Jet

That suspension if adjustable for both hieght and damping, so it can be optimised (upto a point) for your requirements. Maybe it has been set up very firm?

[monkfish1]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

Witney - Bibury - Cirencester - Tetbury - Bath
Cracking road, weather and scenery...
...and a 'ro under one's posterior I've discovered how easy it is to trigger an overspeed warning when set to 0.9lept with Wortec'd grunt (on private roads )

This drive, having had the car for a month, has crystallised a dislike:
I find the Wortec suspension too low and too hard for our roads - those little traffic angering speed bumps are hit and anything other than a smooth surface is crashy. By little I mean where a wheel fits either side i.e. not full width so sounding like lumps are being gouged from the sump. Even the full width ones sometimes ground - I think the front spoiler.
I'll be talking to Mr M.Fish about options but does anyone have any experiences of before and after such an upgrade or other suspension tweaks?

regards,
Jet

That suspension if adjustable for both hieght and damping, so it can be optimised (upto a point) for your requirements. Maybe it has been set up very firm?

[crisisjez]

Bit of a novice mistake putting the wheels either side of a speed lump. (Finally got Sophie to put a wheel over and slow down after she sumped the Firebird)

Just seen you have an old Austin.....sweet

Edited by crisisjez on Wednesday 18th March 21:20

[ringram]

My tar scraping camaro taught me the lesson of ride height. Now I just leave my cars at stock height. Roger's bushing job works well to firm things up and you can still traverse farm tracks, constuction sites and the like without fear of injury.

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

thanks for the responses.

I only did the one wheel either side once, lesson learned
Progress through a set of these is still horribly un-smooth - accelerate, brake, steer, bounce, crunch repeat till fade

I bought the car as modified for a previous owner so it will have been setup to his preferences. Mine are different. When service/MOT time comes around I'll include this issue in the Fish's todo list.
If the height is adjusted upwards does this bring with it any softness, or is that all controlled by the shocks? Or is it a bit of both?

O.T.
the A35 is a little cutie but so far extremely unreliable. I've got it down to the LV side of the distributor but it always dies when I haven't got time/kit to fix. Then when you look at it again it starts fine.
It's only done 25k miles or so in 50years but has been serviced by miles not time. When I got it the lubricants apart from the engine were low or in the case of the steering box/some grease points bone dry, not a drop, arid you follow,

regards,
Jet

[V8HSV]

Just to add my input, my coil over set up has now corroded so adjustment is no longer possible, I have put nylon shims under the springs but now have to live with quite a low set up. Speed humps are out & have to think ahead journey routes to avoid, the front spoiler is wearing away nicely as it scrapes getting in & out of the drive!
One thing I have found, the car will lower itself with age so if you lower - it will get lower over time, good to know this if adjustment is not possible.

[monkfish1]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

thanks for the responses.

I only did the one wheel either side once, lesson learned
Progress through a set of these is still horribly un-smooth - accelerate, brake, steer, bounce, crunch repeat till fade

I bought the car as modified for a previous owner so it will have been setup to his preferences. Mine are different. When service/MOT time comes around I'll include this issue in the Fish's todo list.
If the height is adjusted upwards does this bring with it any softness, or is that all controlled by the shocks? Or is it a bit of both?

O.T.
the A35 is a little cutie but so far extremely unreliable. I've got it down to the LV side of the distributor but it always dies when I haven't got time/kit to fix. Then when you look at it again it starts fine.
It's only done 25k miles or so in 50years but has been serviced by miles not time. When I got it the lubricants apart from the engine were low or in the case of the steering box/some grease points bone dry, not a drop, arid you follow,

regards,
Jet

If im correct, you have a yellow 04 CV8 with focus pac, AP's etc and very low miles?, If so that car has Pedders "superlow" suspension. Not adjustable and very low and very easy to bottom out. The "low" setup is probably more suited to your requirements.

[jet_noise]

Dear monkfish1,

thanks for responding. Yes, that's the one.
The chap I bought it from thought it was the low rather than superlow but many a slip etc

regards,
Jet

[SimonV8ster]

I think the only option now is to sell it, I have loads of flat roads where I live so should be able to put up with this characteristic quite easily

[gareth h]

Is it on 19 or 18" rims? If 19 change them to 18s and you'll see a big improvement.

[monkfish1]

gareth h said:

Is it on 19 or 18" rims? If 19 change them to 18s and you'll see a big improvement.

Its on 18's

[jet_noise]

Dear SimonV8ster,

hands off I got there first...
...you should have bid higher

It only needs a lighter wallet to fix, can I buy shares in Monkfish?

regards,
Jet

[crisisjez]

Sadly not... I have had my car 2 years and its been at Monkfish for nearly half that time, and I still don`t
I absolutely cannot recommend them enough.

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

Simon's been hassleing me for some feedback now I've got the springs changed so...
...it suits my normal motoring much better. I don't have to avoid any road imperfection larger than a gnat, I can speed bump without crunching, I can even get into my work car park.
The car still feels flat and firm enough, it may even skip less when hitting a mid corner bump.

I'm obviously not driving round corners hard enough

regards,
Jet

[SimonV8ster]

Thanks Jet - gald to hear its improved to your satisfaction

Can't remember exactly what you had done now ? Think you were just changing to VXR springs but keeping the same shocks ?

[jet_noise]

Dear SimonV8ster,

the intent was VXR springs + Pedders shocks. Those excellent piscine fettlers got 2nd hand VXRs for the front and new Avo's on the back (or was it the other way around?). I assumed the Avos are direct replacements (in height if not in rate) IIRC of course, I don't have the bill to hand.

My suspension also has Road Response Pac bushes which it retains,

regards,
Jet

EF spelling, thanks Magic919
piscine: Of, relating to, or characteristic of a fish or fishes

Edited by jet_noise on Monday 20th July 11:48

Edited by jet_noise on Monday 20th July 11:48

[Magic919]

Not sure what a swimming pool has got to do with anything.