Please educate me
Discussion
Hi
Although I know a lot about cars I only know a little about how they work so I could really do with some advice. My small, flimsy french hot hatch (106 gti) is now 6 years old and has covered 65000 mostly poorly surfaced miles. I want to treat the old girl and refresh the handling. I was thinking about doing this by replacing the tired old dampers with new good quality ones. My aim is to improve the ride and composure, not to shave seconds off my time to the corner shop. The car won't be put on track either.
Now the technical bit:
1. What are the different roles of the springs and damper in the suspension. Presumably the springs won't need replacing??
2. What does it mean if a shock is uprated by 20-30%? Will this mean a harder ride?
3. Are there any tell tale signs that my shocks are past their best? Am I actually better off spending my money on my wife? Will there be a noticable difference with new ones?
4. What else should I change to get the most out of the suspension? Bushes?
5. If it's just a change to a good quality OE part does the suspension need setting up properly after or is it a job that I can trust to my friendly local garage?
Sorry about the long post, all this stuff interests me
Cheers.
Although I know a lot about cars I only know a little about how they work so I could really do with some advice. My small, flimsy french hot hatch (106 gti) is now 6 years old and has covered 65000 mostly poorly surfaced miles. I want to treat the old girl and refresh the handling. I was thinking about doing this by replacing the tired old dampers with new good quality ones. My aim is to improve the ride and composure, not to shave seconds off my time to the corner shop. The car won't be put on track either.
Now the technical bit:
1. What are the different roles of the springs and damper in the suspension. Presumably the springs won't need replacing??
2. What does it mean if a shock is uprated by 20-30%? Will this mean a harder ride?
3. Are there any tell tale signs that my shocks are past their best? Am I actually better off spending my money on my wife? Will there be a noticable difference with new ones?
4. What else should I change to get the most out of the suspension? Bushes?
5. If it's just a change to a good quality OE part does the suspension need setting up properly after or is it a job that I can trust to my friendly local garage?
Sorry about the long post, all this stuff interests me
Cheers.
If you liked the car when you got it stick standard oe shocks back on, you will notice a huge improvement over what you will currently have, if you want it a little stiffer then go for uprated shocks, I would advise for handling to stiffen the shocks but not the springs, unless you really want to lower it which it sounds like you don't.
Standard shocks should cost circa £100 and take 4 hours ish to fit.
Standard shocks should cost circa £100 and take 4 hours ish to fit.
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