Handling options
Handling options
Author
Discussion

neal1980

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

270 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
My car is a bloody deathtrap in a 300 mile trip yesterday it tried to bite and kill me several times :-P

Im nursing it along until I start my body off at the end of this month. Want to completely re-do the suspension. It curently has AVO's with the standard springs. Im thinking of the following does this sound a good idea to get good handling back, ive forgot what that was like!!

Racing Red Shocks (any experience yet)
New Polybushes Inc Diff
Steve Heath? Droplinks

Bit stuck on spring rates and lengths any idears? does this sound a good combination?

Cheers
Neal

dogbucket

1,256 posts

232 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
Absolutely Shocks have racing reds available and can no doubt supply a kit based on how you use the car rather than you yourself having to choose springs etc.

Saying that though I have just ordered the normal Gaz nickels, only because I felt that using a gas charged shock which may need regassing every few years could be a hassle. My logic is at least I can see if an oil shock leaking, although I accept they may not be as good.

dumbfunk

1,727 posts

315 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
Sounds like a plan but don't forget tyres. I don't know what you're running at the moment but they can make at least a much difference to the whole "not being killed" thing as suspension.

What are you running at the moment?


df

trackcar

6,453 posts

257 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
dogbucket said:
Absolutely Shocks have racing reds available and can no doubt supply a kit based on how you use the car rather than you yourself having to choose springs etc.

Saying that though I have just ordered the normal Gaz nickels, only because I felt that using a gas charged shock which may need regassing every few years could be a hassle. My logic is at least I can see if an oil shock leaking, although I accept they may not be as good.
Gas pressured dampers also have oil in them. you should have dampers rebuilt every so often anyway regardless of make.

neal1980

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

270 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
My tyres are pants at the moment so thats not helping I guess. Just got some spiders froma Tam with Bridgestone ss3 I think (could be wrong). Just want decent handling and stopping :-)

thenick

4,027 posts

243 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
Just put a set of bigger, wider wheels with 40 profile Eagle F1 tyres, coupled with SH droplinks, Nitrons on Eibach springs and Wilwood brakes on my Chim. Holy crap it handles well! Cost a bit but my god, if you want to go round corners fast, I would recommend this route highly. You seem to be able to take the car into a bend at any speed and it just goes around without batting an eyelid - simply awesome!

bigdods

7,175 posts

258 months

Monday 7th July 2008
quotequote all
Steve Heath droplinks ? Best upgrade I have ever done. But in isolation that wont solve your problem. As others have already said - A decent set of tyres and replacing old worn out shocks will make a big difference. But it could be as simple as getting the geometry set properly. On my daily snotter (Omega 3 Litre) I just though the crap handling was due to it being a barge and me being used to driving the TVR. I had a full geo setup done a few weeks back and the difference is amazing. Its now totally planted and i can really chuck it around.

If just having Geo set up properly can turn an Omega into a car that handles imagine what it can do for your chim !


f@-pots

204 posts

234 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
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When I first got my 4.0 Chim I thought I'd bought a real lemon! It handled like a bag of old pooh and as you say, tried to kill me on a regular basis!! Four Toyo Proxes TR1's and a set of Gaz Golds later I had a completely different car . The difference in the handling was like night and day,I would say that the biggest contributor to this was the new shocks,the original factory fitted items were pants.Do it, you won't regret it !!

dumbfunk

1,727 posts

315 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
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I forgot to mention, I had a set of adjustable AVOs on my car 4 years ago and they lasted about 20k miles before they adopted the effectiveness of used pogo stick inserts. But because of the mileage they had covered and the very gradual decay process I didn't really notice the handling getting worse until Richard at Dulford bounced the front of the car and laughed rather than take it on a diagnostic test drive as planned!

After kicking myself for being a cheapskate the first time I opted for Nitrons. At the same time I upgraded to lighter 17" wheels all round and fitted Toyo T1-R. Immense improvement!


dumbfunk

neal1980

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

270 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
quotequote all
ha ha thats eactly like mine, I have been winding them up to max almost now and can still bounce the car around. These are avo's again and not been impressed at all.