Tamora Suspension Set Up Advice

[Martin B Tam]

Over the winter months I have altered various parts of the Tam and now would like a baseline to start setting up the suspension ride heights.

I currently have approx 110mm clearance at the front and the car has approx 10mm rake measuring the chassis to floor height behind the front wheels and in front of the rear wheels with a full tank of petrol without driver.

I have just fitted Nitrons so have adjustable platforms, I have also fitted SP12s shod with Toyo R1Rs (this is partly the cause as the rear tyres are 255s with a square shoulder)

My current problem is that the outside edge of the drivers side tyre is fouling on the top of the wheel arch before full compression. I have had the camber checked and adjusted to try to reduce this.

Could anyone who has had their car corner weighted give me the height difference from chassis to floor at front and rear points please, or any other advice welcome.

The car will be predominantly road use and I have purchased the Nitrons revalved to mimic the dyno plot from Ohlins to hopefully give me a slightly softer but controlled ride. I found the standard Bilsteins poor and the Gaz Golds too harsh, so splashed the cash on the Nitrons as I hope this car is a keeper. Really don't want to set the preload too hard to ensure this doesn't happen.

Cheers in advance

Martin

[Buzz Billsberry]

Right Hand granade time!

Hi

Corner weighting is specific to each car and very few will be similar as its all down to the weight of the car with you in it and what crap you have in the boot on the day ! It won't affect the ride height too much as they'll use the ride height of the car on the day or use a TVR specfic to the model and work it from there.

I think a baseline Tamora ride height would be much easier to obtain. I run Nitrons and I can't for the life of me remember my ride height. Speak with your local TVR specialist or ring Dom of Power or one of the other specialist etc or just get it booked in for corner weighting!

Personally corner weighting of a car for the road is a pointless. People will swear blind that there's a big difference but that’s normally due to car been set up badly in the 1st place i.e. geometry been out etc. Others will say it’s made a big difference but really won't feel much of a change but will have convinced themselves to justify the costs in there heads! + If you a pushing the car on public roads and feel the difference then you shouldn't have a licence!! For me corner weighting comes into effect when your competing and you need the balance of the car on the limit say when you're 4 wheel drifting throw Paddock Hill bend! If you see what I mean.... but I'm sure a few of the space cadets on hear will disagree

I know it sounds a bit cynical etc but I've raced been around racing building/prepping cars all my life and you get a feel for what’s right or wrong... and also learnt by listening to all the advice then totally ignored it & then made a cock up!!

HTH

Buzz

Edited by Buzz Billsberry on Thursday 12th April 15:51

[Martin B Tam]

Ta for the input Buzz

I do agree corner weighting is a step too far for road cars but was hoping to achieve a base set up from someone such as yourself from which I could tinker.
I thought with most T cars sharing a largely similar chassis a rake measurement would get me started, I have already had a geo set up so know all is pointing the right way.

Cheers

Martin

[TVR_owner]

Please dont take this the wrong way, but trying to optimise set-up where a large part of the criteria is to manage arch clearance for oversized rear tyres is the wrong way to go.
Much easier to go back to the correct size rear tyre (which provides adequate grip)

[madbadger]

^ John is correct.

However if you wish to persevere with wider tyres then changing the rear springs from the standard 350lb/in ones to 375lb/in Eibachs will help a lot.

[Martin B Tam]

Ta for the replies all

I did a fair bit of searching on here before buying the SP12s and R1Rs and the only issues I found were with front tyre clearance due to the higher 40 profile.

I do agree with the logic, and am prepared to change the tyres if I need to, don't really want to harden the ride on the rear though understand the principle.

If I were to keep the R1Rs the alternatives are 225/40 with a 636mm diameter, which is virtually the same as the diameter of the 255/35s or a 245/40 with a diameter of 659mm. With the tapering of the wheel arch I am concerned this tyre, whilst it is 12mm narrower will just rub the wheel arch a little higher giving me a similar problem. Standard fit is 235/40. On another thread Mattt with a T350 is using 255/35 without problems though I guess the mouldings are different for each model.

I do like the feel and grip of the Toyos but the car is just for road use so appreciate I am not using their full potential very much.

Anyone used the other sizes mentioned or have resolved similar issues

Martin

[Walford]

[fredd1e]

My OEM spiders with 235/40 rears rubbed the outer wheelarch on full bump , on 255/35s it rubs slightly less as the tyre isnt as tall. Aparrently there were some variances in body mould "quality" over the years to "fix" this. Stiffer springs will help as will avoiding too low a ride hieght but leave the camber settings at the ones that help handling only ..
PS i think SP12s were meant to run 255/35 rears and were specced with an ET to avoid rub so it could just be a body mould /ride hieght issue (once you have the correct for handling camber)

[Templedog]

I'm running Pro Race 1.2s (SP12s) with 255 35 R18 R1Rs and no problem with clearance. Just been and measured and have 65mm between the upper outer edge of the tyre and the wheel arch? Set up was done by Power about 3 weeks ago. Having Nitrons fitted on Tuesday so will get specs then.