Just wondered what people thought about the standard suspension set-up on these cars for UK roads??

 

Superb imo, on mine sometimes its a little harsh but for general road use you don't really need much more.

 

Agree with Toby

Superb, I tried mine with some Eibacs and I tried the Leda but the standard set-up is the best. Adding solid rear drop links and uprated front & rear ARBs now.

Paul

 

Nice to hear

For me it feels great but I have never been on a track day and have heard a lot about Leda B etc and thought maybe my car was lacking where others had a superior set up

TB - good luck with the sale. Can't believe it is still there! These are the times a bike is nice though!

 

Kingsize K2

Agree with TBMeech and pban

Poor valving on Leda B results in primary ride which should be firmer, secondary ride which should be softer, allied to tertiary feelings of why the f**k did I spend £ 1K+

 

 

is uk turbo suspension and STiV suspension similar?

is the P1 suspension closer to it?

and the Prodrive suspenion kit similar too?

 

madou, what do you mean by primary and secondary?

 

The P1 suspension uses STi V struts (inverted ones), and special Prodrive developed springs (progressive rate), which give better ride quality over most city road (small bumps/ripples), and reduces body roll significantly on faster corners. The suspension will be "harder" than standard UK suspension over bigger pot holes/dips/manhole covers in the roads though, so it isn't a win/win situation.

UK dealers can sell the P1 springs for about £120 - £150 inc VAT if I remember correctly. Ideal if you have an STi V, though you'll probably need a P1/UK owner to order them for you.

John

 

John,

Does that mean that the P1 has a stiffer ride than an STi5? IYO would the STi5 benefit from the P1 springs? I find my car on standard springs to be quite firm. I haven't lost any fillings yet, but have been close once or twice, not helped by 18" wheels with pieces of elastic on them

 

I thought the P1 uses slightly stiffer damper on the front, I remember a very earlier article I read about the P1 (I can't remember which mag now) they said that the damper were from the STI range but were not the same as those fitted to the STI 5. Prodrive developed the P1 suspension with custom springs matched to STI dampers from the range available. Not sure if this were entirely true, just something I remember when the P1 was tested.

Paul

 

P1's have softer front springs, 1 extra coil iirc. Apart from that they are the same.

I 'borrowed' some P1 front springs for my V5 -R, made a large improvement in ride quaility but more importantly they seemed to control the front end much better, especially on B roads - more grip and better turn in. Unfortunately I had to give them back.

I would definitely recommend the solid rear links and antilift/castor kit on a V5 too.

 

My STI 5 Type R came with what appeared to be an uprated and lowered STI spring. These seemed very harsh on our roads and felt like a Go-kart That was with the standard 16" wheel. However. Changing to Eibachs, gave much more feel. certainly recommended if running 17" wheels.

 

Kippax

"primary" controlling mass of whole vehicle, ( ie ) all wheels go over a bump or dip. Valving results in lack of body control resulting in an "all at sea" experience. For a real test, try driving onto the Eurostar at c. 10 mph, and wait for the oscillations to build, or follow a Ford Focus down a section of road

"secondary" controlling motion of wheel, ( ie ) one wheel drops into pot hole. Bang. Bang. Bang etc

Whiteline Drop links, adjustable rear ARB, antilift/castor do work very well, even in situations such as braking downhill into a downhill 2nd gear corner, which then goes uphill, loading and unloading the front end, a situation which previously would have caused a great deal of understeer. Now possible to get on the throttle earlier and harder, car resists understeer, and is easy to drive on throttle

[Edited by madou - 4/24/2003 8:25:03 PM]

 

so your saying the bump is too soft and the rebound is too hard in relation to each other. i havent used any other coilovers apart from leda b's so i cant draw a comparison. i think their fine and surely if the body rolls or pitches, the soft compression you speak of is counteracted by the hard extension....

stu.

[Edited by Kippax - 4/24/2003 10:41:29 PM]

 

Kippax

Good point regarding asymmetry of valving between bump and rebound, which I don't really expect to be able to control in this price range, and can't really justify spending £2K - £3K on a more sophisticated suspension that has this on a car worth c. £9.5K and which probably also needs a yearly rebuild, as it was never designed for road use

I was trying to express that I wanted more ( symmetric bump / rebound ) low speed damping, and less ( symmteric bump / rebound ) high speed damping. I am satisfied with the spring rates, it's just the valving

Glad you like them, I know people that use Leda on track, or for race car applications and that are happy with them, my own opinion is that they have not got the valving correct for mixed road use in this application