Grounding in bumpy country lanes
Discussion
I know this is a fairly common problem, but is there a solution to my T350 grounding out on bumpy lanes? I seem to suffer from both bottom grounding out AND tyres hitting the arches sometimes.
I've got Nitrons fitted and the ride height looks like it's been dropped from standard so I guess the first thing to do is get the height raised up to stock again but how much difference will a few CM of ride height make? I really don't want to stiffen the shocks, it's a rough enough ride as it is.
I've got Nitrons fitted and the ride height looks like it's been dropped from standard so I guess the first thing to do is get the height raised up to stock again but how much difference will a few CM of ride height make? I really don't want to stiffen the shocks, it's a rough enough ride as it is.
I have a similar problem with my Tamora, also on Nitrons, grounded the front splitter on a bumpy lane and the tyres catch the inner arch when I drop out of the rear alley way at hime. Going to raise mine by about 5 to 10mm, should be just enough and shouldn't effect the handling. The front looks a littel low on mine compared to others I have seen,
Try a couple of clicks on your damping control knob at the top of the Nitrons, clockwise stiffens them up, if you speed the damping reaction time up it will help and not allow so much spring movement. If this doesn't help do two full turns of the spring collar at a time go give more preload.
Unless you have the remote reservoir versions for high and low speed damping, its always going to be a trial error thing I'm afraid and usually some form of compromise
Unless you have the remote reservoir versions for high and low speed damping, its always going to be a trial error thing I'm afraid and usually some form of compromise
SwampySi said:
Comparing to a friends mine is a good 20mm+ lower than his, I think the previous owner was very track focused. So I think maybe 10-15mm higher will be a good start.
How easy is it to raise the ride height? I'm very non-mechanical so I'm thinking it's a job for the garage.
its an easy job to do yourself, providing you go to a garage afterwards for a geo check.How easy is it to raise the ride height? I'm very non-mechanical so I'm thinking it's a job for the garage.
first place car on a bit of level ground then measure the distance form the corners of the outriggers down to the floor and write it down, then working on one corner at a time, jack up car, remove wheel and measure the distance from the underside of the adjusting collar under the spring down to a suitable reference point on the bottom of the shock, use the same reference point on each shock.
then raise up the collar with the shock c spanner, try something like 5mm on the shock first and remember the hieght of the collar, put wheel back on, then work on the opposite wheel, ie do fronts first, and make sure that the hieght of the collar is the same as the one you have just done.
then do the rears, these collar hieghts will be different, so measure first, raise up, do the opposite side and collar hieght to be the same as the opposite side.
when done go for a short drive to let everything settle and check ride hieght by measuring outriggers again, and check how it looks with tyre to top of wheelarch gap, you don`t want to end up looking like a 4 x 4!
when happy book it in for a geo check, job done.
clive f said:
its an easy job to do yourself, providing you go to a garage afterwards for a geo check.
first place car on a bit of level ground then measure the distance form the corners of the outriggers down to the floor and write it down, then working on one corner at a time, jack up car, remove wheel and measure the distance from the underside of the adjusting collar under the spring down to a suitable reference point on the bottom of the shock, use the same reference point on each shock.
then raise up the collar with the shock c spanner, try something like 5mm on the shock first and remember the hieght of the collar, put wheel back on, then work on the opposite wheel, ie do fronts first, and make sure that the hieght of the collar is the same as the one you have just done.
then do the rears, these collar hieghts will be different, so measure first, raise up, do the opposite side and collar hieght to be the same as the opposite side.
when done go for a short drive to let everything settle and check ride hieght by measuring outriggers again, and check how it looks with tyre to top of wheelarch gap, you don`t want to end up looking like a 4 x 4!
when happy book it in for a geo check, job done.
first place car on a bit of level ground then measure the distance form the corners of the outriggers down to the floor and write it down, then working on one corner at a time, jack up car, remove wheel and measure the distance from the underside of the adjusting collar under the spring down to a suitable reference point on the bottom of the shock, use the same reference point on each shock.
then raise up the collar with the shock c spanner, try something like 5mm on the shock first and remember the hieght of the collar, put wheel back on, then work on the opposite wheel, ie do fronts first, and make sure that the hieght of the collar is the same as the one you have just done.
then do the rears, these collar hieghts will be different, so measure first, raise up, do the opposite side and collar hieght to be the same as the opposite side.
when done go for a short drive to let everything settle and check ride hieght by measuring outriggers again, and check how it looks with tyre to top of wheelarch gap, you don`t want to end up looking like a 4 x 4!
when happy book it in for a geo check, job done.
How does the Sag feel now Clive?
Collar to bottom of thread on mine 61mm front 37mm rear, that now gives me a ride height of 121mm F 134mm R outrigger with 1/4 tank of fuel, car feels better than ever, though I think I should have invested in 2 way Nitrons for the Sag.
Was speaking to Nitron last year and they said optimum damper setting for 1 way Nitrons is 12 from hard(thats what they will valve em to depending on your springs) you can go up and down 5 clicks from that for optimum use no problem but any more than that and you need to look at springs as you will either be over or under damped.
Edited by SAGRIFF on Wednesday 9th March 10:42
hi Sagriff, it feels so different to the old Bilstiens, much much better, just goes to show how much better these shocks are, the billies only have 15k miles on them(mileage of car from new) so it must be down to the superior quality of the nitrons, rather than the old story of any new shock will feel better when replacing for knackered ones.
as for ride hieght I started out to low, so have now gone high, as our roads down here are a bit on the naff side, so I just want a happy medium, ok for carefull driving locally, knowing that once over on the big island it will be fine.
so, outriggers, 130F 150R clearance under nose 92mm
underside of shock collar measured down to the painted/machined top edge at the bottom of shock, (about 8mm below bottom of thread)hope that makes sense
anyway, Front 80mm Rear 65mm.
I know all of these cars are different, but as a reference what are your gaps between trye and wheel arch.?
as a reference, the tyre to wheelarch gap front 40mm rear 60mm, all of above on half tank of fuel.
I am going to lower the rear by 5mm on the shock and 3-4mm on the front, my dilema is if I go to low it won`t be enjoyable to drive locally, I`ll be sat clenching my bum waiting for the next clump under the car!
and if I stiffen up the dampers to much it will be even more uncomfortable, feeling every little lump in the road magnified by 10.
I`ll just look for the best optimal ride hieght, then adjust damper settings to suit where I`m going.
dampers at the mo are back at 14 front and 16 rear(from hard) I tried 12 front 14 rear but it was very bumpy on our lovely roads!
as for ride hieght I started out to low, so have now gone high, as our roads down here are a bit on the naff side, so I just want a happy medium, ok for carefull driving locally, knowing that once over on the big island it will be fine.
so, outriggers, 130F 150R clearance under nose 92mm
underside of shock collar measured down to the painted/machined top edge at the bottom of shock, (about 8mm below bottom of thread)hope that makes sense
anyway, Front 80mm Rear 65mm.
I know all of these cars are different, but as a reference what are your gaps between trye and wheel arch.?
as a reference, the tyre to wheelarch gap front 40mm rear 60mm, all of above on half tank of fuel.
I am going to lower the rear by 5mm on the shock and 3-4mm on the front, my dilema is if I go to low it won`t be enjoyable to drive locally, I`ll be sat clenching my bum waiting for the next clump under the car!
and if I stiffen up the dampers to much it will be even more uncomfortable, feeling every little lump in the road magnified by 10.
I`ll just look for the best optimal ride hieght, then adjust damper settings to suit where I`m going.
dampers at the mo are back at 14 front and 16 rear(from hard) I tried 12 front 14 rear but it was very bumpy on our lovely roads!
clive f said:
I know all of these cars are different, but as a reference what are your gaps between trye and wheel arch.?
as a reference, the tyre to wheelarch gap front 40mm rear 60mm, all of above on half tank of fuel.
around 30mm front 40mm rear 1/4 tank of fuel, I took it to the Nurburgring last year running it's factory height of 112mm at front outrigger, bloody thing tried to kill me as a reference, the tyre to wheelarch gap front 40mm rear 60mm, all of above on half tank of fuel.
clive f said:
SAGRIFF said:
around 30mm front 40mm rear 1/4 tank of fuel, I took it to the Nurburgring last year running it's factory height of 112mm at front outrigger, bloody thing tried to kill me
why? was it set too low?, what was the factory setting for the rear?I took ride height of my sag with the standard dampers/set up and was 112mm f 141mm r outriggers (GV confirmed these are about right on that other thread) and that's the height I used for the Nitrons.
Car felt terrible, tyres rubbing under front wheel arches/bump steer and car grounding out just about everywhere on track, I raised the front about 10mm and big improvement, Then i asked GV what ride height he ran with and his settings were 123mm f 132mm r outriggers, so I dropped the rear to 134mm and another big improvement.
It's now the best it's ever felt and now I just have to get the geo sorted and some track rubber fitted as the F1s aren't the best on track.
Edited by SAGRIFF on Wednesday 9th March 20:05
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