walton

Being a fairly new my99 owner, I'm interested by a few scooby handling traits.As will probably be apparent I have very little understanding of suspension dynamics....

1) At slow speeds, the scooby seems to have similarly firm suspension to most sports cars (e.g. felt over potholes etc), but at higher speeds becomes quite soft/compliant (as opposed to sports cars retaining stiffness) . This set-up obviously helps the scooby down bumpy roads, whilst most sports cars will skip all over the place. What causes these differences, as both seem to have equally stiff suspension - is it due to rebound/compression rates / longer damper travel etc?

2) For such firm feeling suspension, how come body-roll/ weight transfer seems excessive e.g. swerving left-right quickly causes huge amounts of rear bodyroll. Shouldn't the firm suspension / Low CG of the flat 4 engine prevent this weight transfer (i.e. I've been in cars with softer suspension that have less body roll).

I think the scooby *does* have great handling, I'm just trying to get my head around the seeming paradoxal dynamics of things

Chris L

Walton, it has been mentioned many times on the board that the Scoob (certainly in standard UK classic format) is an average handling car with fantastic levels of grip. The two are often confused as the same thing. For instance, the Mk1 Elise is a fabulous handling car, but it doesn't have the ultimate grip of a Scoob. Doesn't make either car any more or less enjoyable, it just makes them different.

There are things that you can do. A set of Eibach springs works wonders on the classic Scoob without destroying the ride quality. Also get the tracking/alignment checked as this is often way out (look for uneven tyre wear). Have the bumpsteer mod done to remove the tendency to understeer - details of all of this can be got from Powerstation or someone like TSL, depending on where you are in the country. Replacement powerflex bushes help aswell. If you are really serious have a look at Leda B suspension - amazing, details from Scoobysport. 17" wheels also seem to work well.

The biggest thing I noticed when moving from an MY00 to an MY01 was the stiffness of the chassis. The MY01 is much stiffer - the only classic shape cars that feel similar are P1s and two door STIs. The extra stiffness certainly helps the handling and this is in combination with a setup of Eibach springs does make the new car a tidy handler (it also has much less bumpsteer built in) - better than my old MY00.

Have fun and enjoy. Get yourself booked on a performance driving day and find out what the car can *really* do. After that make some changes

Chris

Kippax

walton, all cars get more sloppy at higher speeds as the suspension has more energy to deal with. even really stiff suspension wallows if you wiggle the wheel at higher speeds (and the tyres as well).

spence7

hello, not trying to hi-jack the thread but I agree with all of above. That extra suppleness at higher speeds does give you more confidence on B-Roads for me anyway, cos you feel the car just gripping even though there's some play in the body.

I just bought an import MY95 and it has HKS lowering springs and some non-standard dampers. Feels great in the dry, even with only Falken tyres on, but in the wet it's definately un-nerving, but only on bumpy roads. Does anyone know what the best thing to do about this is ? I didn't know whether the HKS springs were progressive or not which might influence performance over bumpy roads, or just whether the dampers are too stiff. Also there are bearings in the strut top-mounts....are these pillowball mounts ?