Sagaris Suspension - 3rd world roads

[Funky]

So what would you recommend as the best suspension setup for the worst kind of roads you can imagine, Ireland. I'm talking potholes the size of dinner tables and just generally the worst backroads you can think of. Once the best setting has been found it will be staying like that. Nitrons, Ohlins, Gaz golds? Tell me what you think and why?

[SAGRIFF]

for the road keep em standard, for track Nitrons or Ohlins.

[SAGRIFF]

plus all hard core sports cars feel to hard/stiff on stty b roads, GT3 RS etc all feel twitchy on crap roads.

[spitfire4v8]

The Sag has one of the best ride/handling/grip compromises TVR ever came up with .. if you want to change away from std be very careful who you entrust the work to. Your average bodyshop/repair/service garage is more than likely going to cock this up unless they know a fair bit about damper valving and springs. When i was involved in speccing bespoke suspension systems for TVRs I used to have 4 or 5 different valving curves available through nitron and i'd invested a lot of time to get there. Most garages wont have a clue .. and without trying the car on the roads in Ireland even the garages that do understand suspension will only be able to make a guess.

[SAGRIFF]

spitfire4v8 said:

The Sag has one of the best ride/handling/grip compromises TVR ever came up with .. if you want to change away from std be very careful who you entrust the work to.

very easy to fk up the handling with a Sag if you don't know what you are doing,

also can't believe anyone would stick GG on a Sag

[BCA]

Wheels, wheels, wheels.

You want improvements in ride over awful roads - replace the spiders/standard tyres with smaller diameter wheels with a decent sidewall size before you consider the suspension IMHO.

Incidentally - 3way Nitron NTR dampers with 450f/400r springs (which is relatively soft for track stuff/ slightly stiffer than standard Sagaris rates) on full soft everything is slightly more compliant than standard suspension for us, with 17" wheels it is better still. The issue is exaggerated on the T350 due to the front tyres/ stretch they run up front, but the difference is still surprising. If we were really concerned about purely road driving compliance/fun - we'd find a set of 16" spiders - as it happens, we've got a set of Cerbera 17 RLs waiting to go on to test more extensively.

O/T - Joo, where are you/what are you up to/ welcome back to more frequent PH posting, we've missed you! Email is still the same/in my profile.

[SAGRIFF]

BCA said:

Incidentally - 3way Nitron NTR dampers with 450f/400r springs (which is relatively soft for track stuff/ slightly stiffer than standard Sagaris rates)

no they are not, standard Sag springs are still stiffer than that

[BCA]

SAGRIFF said:

no they are not, standard Sag springs are still stiffer than that

I thought they were 425/400?? I stand corrected.

[spitfire4v8]

Yep i would suggest smaller wheels .. bus as Funky has already been posting on threads showing 19 inch wheels don't know if she wants to go smaller, though it would be sensible if Ireland's roads are as bad as she says.

Ben : YHM .. not good news at all

[VARLEYHYD]

SAGRIFF said:

BCA said:

Incidentally - 3way Nitron NTR dampers with 450f/400r springs (which is relatively soft for track stuff/ slightly stiffer than standard Sagaris rates)

no they are not, standard Sag springs are still stiffer than that

Sorry chaps, but sag's are, pretty much without exception 450f/400r pink/orange Eibach.

G

[SAGRIFF]

VARLEYHYD said:

SAGRIFF said:

BCA said:

Incidentally - 3way Nitron NTR dampers with 450f/400r springs (which is relatively soft for track stuff/ slightly stiffer than standard Sagaris rates)

no they are not, standard Sag springs are still stiffer than that

Sorry chaps, but sag's are, pretty much without exception 450f/400r pink/orange Eibach.

G

Sorry G, but mine were 460/412

and I also have a e mail from you saying yours standard were 460/400,

I now use 475/450 for road and 600/450 for track (Nitrons)

Edited by SAGRIFF on Sunday 29th January 22:33

[BCA]

VARLEYHYD said:

Sorry chaps, but sag's are, pretty much without exception 450f/400r pink/orange Eibach.

G

I stand corrected again.

Due to the superior way that the dampers/springs are mounted on the Sagaris, those rates will feel softer than our T350 on 450/400s anyway - which is a happy compromise for road/B-road/sprints for us so far.

[SAGRIFF]

I'm sorry but anyone who has voted for Gaz Golds doesn't own a Sag and is taking the piss,

[spitfire4v8]

SAGRIFF said:

I'm sorry but anyone who has voted for Gaz Golds doesn't own a Sag and is taking the piss,

a triumph of marketting

[yoshizou]

For road/B, I now use Nitrons 3way and Yokohama Neova A08 with 18 inch light weight forged wheel.
700-225-500F/700-225-450R + helper spring (Eibach)

[Targarama]

yoshizou said:

For road/B, I now use Nitrons 3way and Yokohama Neova A08 with 18 inch light weight forged wheel.
700-225-500F/700-225-450R + helper spring (Eibach)

Yoshizou-san, in my experience you are very lucky as the roads in Japan are very smooth compared with the UK or Ireland (where as Funky says, the roads are especially bad).

[VARLEYHYD]

SAGRIFF said:

Sorry G, but mine were 460/412

and I also have a e mail from you saying yours standard were 460/400,

I now use 475/450 for road and 600/450 for track (Nitrons)

You're corect, well nearly, 457lb/in front Eibach is on factory build records.

Hope this helps

? you running 3Ways then?

G

[SAGRIFF]

VARLEYHYD said:

you running 3Ways then?

you must be joking, I cock up the 1 ways, the 3 ways would melt my brain,

[Funky]

Thanks all for your opinions. I have asked a few different places which would be best and it was all different answers so hopefully ater a bit more sounding out i can find out what really would be best for bad roads. So far it seems staying on 18's but not spiders and going for nitrons/ohlins would help.

SAGRIFF said:

for the road keep em standard, for track Nitrons or Ohlins.

My first sag was standard and it was woeful on irish roads. It made it very hard to drive to be honest. It was grand on standard roads but to keep the wheel straight on some of the back roads was a struggle.

spitfire4v8 said:

The Sag has one of the best ride/handling/grip compromises TVR ever came up with .. if you want to change away from std be very careful who you entrust the work to. Your average bodyshop/repair/service garage is more than likely going to cock this up unless they know a fair bit about damper valving and springs. When i was involved in speccing bespoke suspension systems for TVRs I used to have 4 or 5 different valving curves available through nitron and i'd invested a lot of time to get there. Most garages wont have a clue .. and without trying the car on the roads in Ireland even the garages that do understand suspension will only be able to make a guess.

I had a few places try to sort the suspension out perhaps that made things worse Its a hard one alright as you say they cant test the car on the roads.

BCA said:

Wheels, wheels, wheels.

You want improvements in ride over awful roads - replace the spiders/standard tyres with smaller diameter wheels with a decent sidewall size before you consider the suspension IMHO.

spitfire4v8 said:

Yep i would suggest smaller wheels .. bus as Funky has already been posting on threads showing 19 inch wheels don't know if she wants to go smaller, though it would be sensible if Ireland's roads are as bad as she says.

Bca & Spit - I will definitly stay 18's if they make a difference. It would be silly for me to go bigger at the cost of handling.

SAGRIFF said:

you must be joking, I cock up the 1 ways, the 3 ways would melt my brain,

I am the exact same, i would rather stick with the best setting i can find and not change after that as i know i would mess it up

[SAGRIFF]

Funky said:

Thanks all for your opinions. I have asked a few different places which would be best and it was all different answers so hopefully ater a bit more sounding out i can find out what really would be best for bad roads. So far it seems staying on 18's but not spiders and going for nitrons/ohlins would help.


My first sag was standard and it was woeful on irish roads. It made it very hard to drive to be honest. It was grand on standard roads but to keep the wheel straight on some of the back roads was a struggle.

Also the standard spring rates that come with Nitrons/Ohlins dampers will be even stiffer than the standard Sagaris ones, yes you can wind down the dampers or spec softer springs but then the car will feel like it has blancmange for dampers and will feel horrible as the car will either be underdamped or undersprung,

It's a problem most sports cars suffer from especially the track versions on our stty roads, best thing to do is move to Nurburg as the roads around the track are awesome and you can wind the dampers right up,
I think our roads now are even worse than the ones in Belgium