Discussion
Last week Racing Green fitted Nitron suspension to my cerb and thought I'd share my impressions 
My previous gaz shocks (2 years old) had started to make rumbling noises and I was never that happy with the ride. They were okayish on decent roads, but too resistant to bump - potholes would really thump and I feared for the alloys (as a result I ran the tyres harder to try to protect the rims). This is after trying various stages of adjustment. On harder settings they were too firm for normal roads, but at least they were consistently tough and would probably be pretty good around a smooth track. On softer settings the ride was ok but even though they felt too soft for decent control, the crashyness remained.
Collecting the car with the Nitrons, the difference is immediately apparent. At first I thought they were a bit "bouncy" - they're the single adjustables and on about 8/20 clicks from softest - but I was driving down a rather undulating B-road and realised that the car was merely following the ups and downs of the road more closely than before. They seem to have less bump resistance (less crashy when the wheels hit a bump and need to rise quickly) but have more rebound resistance, so if you enter a small dip, the whole car drops into it, rather than just the wheels. This gives the impression that there's more weight being brought to bear on the tyres over undulating surfaces, which must be good, and gives you more information about the road contours, even if you are thrown around somewhat in the process.
But the bouncy feel is just comparative I think. The car feels more connected to the road and the composure over broken surfaces is brilliant. They also seem to have deeper reserves of compliance when you hit a bump during hard cornering/compression. Overall a big improvement.
My previous gaz shocks (2 years old) had started to make rumbling noises and I was never that happy with the ride. They were okayish on decent roads, but too resistant to bump - potholes would really thump and I feared for the alloys (as a result I ran the tyres harder to try to protect the rims). This is after trying various stages of adjustment. On harder settings they were too firm for normal roads, but at least they were consistently tough and would probably be pretty good around a smooth track. On softer settings the ride was ok but even though they felt too soft for decent control, the crashyness remained.
Collecting the car with the Nitrons, the difference is immediately apparent. At first I thought they were a bit "bouncy" - they're the single adjustables and on about 8/20 clicks from softest - but I was driving down a rather undulating B-road and realised that the car was merely following the ups and downs of the road more closely than before. They seem to have less bump resistance (less crashy when the wheels hit a bump and need to rise quickly) but have more rebound resistance, so if you enter a small dip, the whole car drops into it, rather than just the wheels. This gives the impression that there's more weight being brought to bear on the tyres over undulating surfaces, which must be good, and gives you more information about the road contours, even if you are thrown around somewhat in the process.
But the bouncy feel is just comparative I think. The car feels more connected to the road and the composure over broken surfaces is brilliant. They also seem to have deeper reserves of compliance when you hit a bump during hard cornering/compression. Overall a big improvement.
brogenville said:
good post FYP, these sort of comparisons are always useful. Thing is, nitrons are twice the price of gaz, so are they twice as good? Also, who set your gaz shocks up for you?
I agree it's not a fair fight when you consider the cost. Are they worth the extra? Depends When my oems were leaking and I had the choice, I opted for the Gaz, mostly because I needed some for the MoT and hadn't researched what to invest more serious money on. I had 15k miles use out of them and I was happy enough with the vfm I got. But the Nitron setup is very noticeably better. In other words it's a big step up in performance as well as cost.As for setup, aside from the geometry which I think is fine (and constant), there's not much you can adjust, aside from twiddling the knobs, and I twiddled mine a lot
Andy at APM has just fitted Gaz Golds to my car.
He did suggest Nitrons, but I said they are probably better than I am!
As set they were a bit hard for me, so I have had a twiddle and have to say they are so much better than the originals!
Comfort and handling all in one at a reasonable price.
Steve
He did suggest Nitrons, but I said they are probably better than I am!
As set they were a bit hard for me, so I have had a twiddle and have to say they are so much better than the originals!
Comfort and handling all in one at a reasonable price.
Steve
Gassing Station | Cerbera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff