Discussion
cooperman said:
wildoliver said:
You would get far more constructive responses if you asked in English and not chav speak.
If you ask nicely in proper English using correctly constructed sentences, I, or someone else on here, will tell you.
Education, education, education!!!
Aw cum on gize, a fell o mini lvr u shud nt b takin da piss n dat
To the originator of this post.
You are this weeks victim, you will get mercilessly slaughtered for the entire week, you have two options, go home running to mummy, or grin and bear it. If you grin and bear it you will never be allowed to forget it, but you will gain more respect as a man, provided you speak English from now on.
The thing I would find particularly frustrating is everyone who has posted will know all the answer to your questions, but refuse to comment till you ask them in a way we can understand!
You are this weeks victim, you will get mercilessly slaughtered for the entire week, you have two options, go home running to mummy, or grin and bear it. If you grin and bear it you will never be allowed to forget it, but you will gain more respect as a man, provided you speak English from now on.
The thing I would find particularly frustrating is everyone who has posted will know all the answer to your questions, but refuse to comment till you ask them in a way we can understand!
I am very sorry gentlemen and ladies. I have wiped the tears from my eyes and i can now see. As you now know im uneducated so some enlightenment would be much appreciated. What dampers would you reccomend? The engine is standard so there is no serious power to handle and i dont want the car any lower as the speed bumps where i live are a nightmare. More abuse is not welcome but will be tolerated.
Welcome!
On my Mini, I have Spax adjustables which I find excellent. However one thing I will add is that the little screws that allow you to adjust them have rusted, and so I now cannot adjust them! Which is a pain as they are set a bit too firm. On my old Mini I had KYB auto adjustables which were a good upgrade from standard. It ran 12" wheels - current runs 13s. I do notice a difference between the Spax and KYB - the Spax are a bit more expensive, but worth the extra. However I would put them in a different category, so perhaps it's best not to compare like-for-like.
Cooperman will be along in a minute!
Cheers
On my Mini, I have Spax adjustables which I find excellent. However one thing I will add is that the little screws that allow you to adjust them have rusted, and so I now cannot adjust them! Which is a pain as they are set a bit too firm. On my old Mini I had KYB auto adjustables which were a good upgrade from standard. It ran 12" wheels - current runs 13s. I do notice a difference between the Spax and KYB - the Spax are a bit more expensive, but worth the extra. However I would put them in a different category, so perhaps it's best not to compare like-for-like.
Cooperman will be along in a minute!
Cheers
I have run a few different sets of dampers, KYB, Koni, Spax, Gaz. IMHO for road driving I preferred the Konis. But they were a PITA to adjust. For adjustability the Gaz and Spax were far better. Value for money if you're not looking to tune up go for the KYB self adjusting ones. Fit and forget, nice comfortable ride too.
if its a everyday beast fit the silver self adjust kybs. these will cope with everything but lowered cars (i.e two fingers and less bewteen tyre and arch)
if its a fast road track day warrior use either gaz, spax or avos, they are all roughly the same price and are adjustable on the car.
if you enjoy taking shockers off the car to adjust (!) or know what you are doing, buy some konis
dont be tempted to do the coilover, spring cone routes unless you live in a perfect world of smooth tarmac with no speed humps etc!
that should answer your question, innit?
if its a fast road track day warrior use either gaz, spax or avos, they are all roughly the same price and are adjustable on the car.
if you enjoy taking shockers off the car to adjust (!) or know what you are doing, buy some konis
dont be tempted to do the coilover, spring cone routes unless you live in a perfect world of smooth tarmac with no speed humps etc!
that should answer your question, innit?
Welcome!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
wildoliver said:
Welcome!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
Er, HiLos do not replace the rubber "spring" just the cone. They allow you to set the suspension height at any level you want just by turning a couple of large nuts (assuming they haven't siezed - worth putting some copper grease on the threads when first assembled)
GTRMikie said:
wildoliver said:
Welcome!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
Must say I agree with the general consensus, I prefer Koni's, but if you will want to adjust them then buy spax etc.
Hilo's are to replace the "spring" i.e. the cone and rubber donut, as the name suggests they allow you to set the height to your spec, for the cost they are worth getting!
Er, HiLos do not replace the rubber "spring" just the cone. They allow you to set the suspension height at any level you want just by turning a couple of large nuts (assuming they haven't siezed - worth putting some copper grease on the threads when first assembled)
Oh you know what i mean! Picky Picky Picky.
I've used SPAX on my rally cars for many years and they have been exceptionally tough and effective.
However, there are suggestions that SPAX are 'not what they were' although the new ones I fitted last yeat are still OK. Apparently GAX are very good now and, in fact, I'm just about to fit GAZ to my Rover 214 rally car as when I fitted SPAX front struts they lasted all of 2 hours on a rough event and then were scrap. Mind you, it was an exceptionally rough event even by forest road standards.
The only dampers I don't like are KONI as they work on the 'soft on bump, stiff on rebound' basis and are difficult to adjust, although thay may have changed since I last had any experience of them. They may be good on the track, but for road/rally use I would rather use an alternative.
KYB's are a super damper as a good aftermarket unit, very tough, well built and not expensive.
As with many mods and improvements, it depends on the application and for road use any of the good adjustables is fine, just don't set them too hard or you'll lose traction.The basic suspension must be allowed to do some work.
By the way, when I've had the adjusters seize up on the SPAX, I soak them in penetrating oil with the damper on it's side on the bench, adding more oil every day for a few days and it soon becomes free again. Then I put a blob of Waxoyl or heavy grease on the adjuster when re-fitting and every service I re-grease the adjuster. It seems to work fine.
I hope this helps, although I do realise I've not been very definitive.
However, there are suggestions that SPAX are 'not what they were' although the new ones I fitted last yeat are still OK. Apparently GAX are very good now and, in fact, I'm just about to fit GAZ to my Rover 214 rally car as when I fitted SPAX front struts they lasted all of 2 hours on a rough event and then were scrap. Mind you, it was an exceptionally rough event even by forest road standards.
The only dampers I don't like are KONI as they work on the 'soft on bump, stiff on rebound' basis and are difficult to adjust, although thay may have changed since I last had any experience of them. They may be good on the track, but for road/rally use I would rather use an alternative.
KYB's are a super damper as a good aftermarket unit, very tough, well built and not expensive.
As with many mods and improvements, it depends on the application and for road use any of the good adjustables is fine, just don't set them too hard or you'll lose traction.The basic suspension must be allowed to do some work.
By the way, when I've had the adjusters seize up on the SPAX, I soak them in penetrating oil with the damper on it's side on the bench, adding more oil every day for a few days and it soon becomes free again. Then I put a blob of Waxoyl or heavy grease on the adjuster when re-fitting and every service I re-grease the adjuster. It seems to work fine.
I hope this helps, although I do realise I've not been very definitive.
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