4.3 Vantage suspension upgrade - V8S Bilsteins?

[NickXX]

Hi all,

Has anyone changed their 4.3 suspension for new V8S Bilsteins? I'd like to upgrade from my Multimatics, but not sure whether to go for just the V8S Bilsteins or go the whole hog and go for the BR adjustable Bilsteins (~£7k)?

Thing I'm hoping to achieve are:

- Less crashiness around town (I do quite a lot of town driving - potholes/speedbumps).
- More composure on fast back roads (no more pogo-ing).
- Better/quicker turn in (will suspension help here, or is this purely down to geometry?).

I'm generally happy with the ride on the motorway, it's just the crashiness at lower speeds that bothers me. I do track the car too but as it's only once a year, probably not enough to justify one system over another.

Is there anything else to consider?

Thanks,
Nick

[Veg]

Did this last spring and the transformation is glorious. A lot smoother, still firm and the odd crash due to the stiffness but a different league compared to the Multis. I haven’t done roll bars etc as prefer to do it one step at a time. After living with it I doubt I will change the roll bars for now as the mid corner balance is perfect for me. The straight line poise is awesome.

My “new” shocks were a bargain as they came from a 5,000 mile N420 whose owner had gone the Nitron route – which he loved – so they are almost new. Fitting was easy and I am having the tracking done in a couple of weeks (sorry “geo” – a phrase for added glamour) but it handles so well I doubt it is too far out.

If you read reviews of the N420 they all say still firm and a little crashy but for us older 4.3 V8V owners it is a must!

Lastly I have had adjustable in many cars (my other Aston had them as does my present Jag) but I almost never use the settings so I would ask is it really worth it? As an everyday maybe but for my garage queen V8V, no.

[Trahison]

Found a recent thread on this which may be of use: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[NickXX]

Excellent, thank you guys. Veg- that was just what I was looking to hear - glad to know that the new bilsteins are better at low speeds than the Multimatics. Do you know if the N420 setup is the same as the Vantage S?

[Dewi 2]

NickXX said:

Hi all,

I'm generally happy with the ride on the motorway, it's just the crashiness at lower speeds that bothers me. I do track the car too but as it's only once a year, probably not enough to justify one system over another.

Is there anything else to consider?

Thanks,
Nick

On a smooth motorway with minimal corners, I don't think different suspension would be noticeable.

I have no experience of different suspension systems, but if you do not want crashiness at lower speeds, you might want to investigate this point.

When the 4.7 was introduced , I think that was when the Bilsteins became standard.
At that time customers could choose standard suspension or Sportpack, which included harder suspension.
I wonder if AML were using extra hard Bilsteins for the Sportspack cars?

My car has standard suspension, which on a poor surface road can be jarring. Is that what you mean by crashiness?

Think Sportspack ended at some point, but whether it was then only the S model which had harder suspension, I do not know.
Something to enquire about perhaps, if you do not want extra hard suspension.
There might be two different versions of Bilsteins fitted to the 4.7 Vantage.

Edited by Dewi 2 on Thursday 12th August 16:17

[BiggaJ]

Funny this should come up.

I was in at Vantage Engineering yesterday afternoon to have a look round and also to put my name on a set of their own developed suspension which actually works out at a better price than any of the other options I have looked at including replacement with the stock AM, upgrade to Bilstein, Nitron from Appleby's or Bamford Rose's own Bilstein set up.

Developed between Terry (Vantage Engineering owner) and an ex Benneton F1 suspension engineer. The basis is they will take your car for a week with a pre inspection, test drive & Q/A as to what you are looking to achieve and then set them up to your own requirements and then go for the drive once fitted to make sure you are happy. Any adjustment can be made, they come with a 3 year warranty and can be rebuilt (unlike the Dynamix).

Having seen their operation, with 3 engineers plus Rob and Terry and an approx. 60/40 split between Heritage cars and VH platform cars. They certainly appear to know what they are doing.

I had the shocks in my hand yesterday and can vouch for their quality but also something of a surprise, just how light they were. They seemed about 30% lower weight to what I've felt with handling a Dynamix shock. I haven't weighed them so dont hold me to this analysis.

Edited by BiggaJ on Thursday 12th August 14:11

Edited by BiggaJ on Thursday 12th August 19:15

[Veg]

I think the N420 is a smidge lower but not so you'd notice, so I may be seeing a bit more negative camber. I think the N420 are close to the sports pack stuff but what do i know! I do know sports pack are Bilsteins..

Oh and i'm still on Bridgestones so goodness knows what Michelins will do

Edited by Veg on Thursday 12th August 15:08

[LTP]

NickXX said:

Hi all,
......

I'm generally happy with the ride on the motorway, it's just the crashiness at lower speeds that bothers me. I do track the car too but as it's only once a year, probably not enough to justify one system over another.

Is there anything else to consider?

Thanks,
Nick

Yes there is. What tyres are you on? Because if you're on the original model Bridgestones then changing those would be a good first step.

Edited by LTP on Thursday 12th August 15:11

[NickXX]

Thanks everyone. I'm on Michelin PS4S which did make a big difference last year.

It may actually be worn bushes which could be exacerbating the crashiness on my current dampers - so will get these checked out first. I'd like to be able to go with the non-adaptive Bilsteins ideally.

[Veg]

Not worn bushes I can almost guarantee that. My car has 55k miles and they looked like new!

[Riddochg]

Switched to Nitrons at David Appleby a couple of years back. Huge improvement. They were racing spec but settings adjusted to old fart mode. Good compromise. I think DAE now do a road biased version.

[TR-Spider]

I went to 4.7 (non-sport) Bilsteins on my '07 4.3 (non-sports).
Massive improvement in roadholding on bumpy, curvy roads, smoother ride, and the low speed crashyness is reduced as well.
There are certainly better dampers out there - but if you can get reasonably priced set, I would recommend the change.
Turn-in is governed mainly by geometry alignment (unless you have dampers with sophisticated low-speed bump adjustability...).

[Riddochg]

Switched to Nitrons at David Appleby a couple of years back. Huge improvement. They were racing spec but settings adjusted to old fart mode. Good compromise. I think DAE now do a road biased version.

[V8V Pete]

V8S Sports Suspension Bilsteins as standard on my 2014MY V8S here with PS4S tyres and BR fast road geo. Great for fast road driving and compliant enough for me at low speeds over poor surfaces. Perfectly comfy on motorways but it does follow the camber ever so slightly with the fast road geo.

I won't change them unless they break and even then I might go like for like because I'm not sure I'd use the comfort setting on an adaptive setup much, even if I had it. Having said that I've not driven a car with the BR adaptive Bilsteins so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing.

[johnc61]

I

I have a set for sale if your interested , thanks.

John

[David W.]

Had BR adaptive/adjustable Bilsteins fitted to my 4.3, they still didn’t provide the ride I was looking for. In my many test drives to find an acceptable Aston ride the 4.7S comfort setup gave the right amount of compliance on country roads for me. Not sure if some of the crashieness comes from the Ali structure amplifying it in someway. I’ve had firm cars like 997 turbo but ride didn’t intrude into the cabin in the same way.

[MichaelV8V]

The N420 has the sportpack suspension that was an option on other models.

I thought the V8S had the same sportpack suspension as standard.

I have the sportpack suspension and love it, its very supple and well balanced. Before choosing that option I tried non-sportpack and wasn't impressed, it had too much roll for me.

[Veg]

That might be why the N420 shockers I have feel so good on mine. even witheht elesser roll bars it doesn't really roll that much on the road (track might be different)

[johnc61]

Ment to put my shocks are from a 4.7 09 plate with sports pack . Covered less than 15,000 dry miles cheers

Edited by johnc61 on Wednesday 18th August 18:35