Opinions..

Must be reasonably priced ie less than 1500

5dr wagon..

Suspension is for ten of the best.. then fast road..

David

 

Fast road, does that mean 110mph around the streets of leeds........Thought so.

Marc

 

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hi david just to get the ball rolling i`ve got avo coilovers on my car and quite please with them(after the fafing of fitting them ). been on only a month now, so have`nt had a proper run out on them yet. using the springs that came with the kit. its not overly hard unless you drive down a bad road or cobbled street. only paid £770 inc vat and delivery so it prity good value for money(even if they don`t come with brake pipe brackets )

hope this is some help mike

[Edited by FASTER MIKE!! - 4/19/2003 2:21:21 PM]

 

David,

I think you should at least contact Leda, especially wrt the sticker situation, they might do something for folding money who knows.

I do rate the Ledas, the single adjustable oil units would about about £1000 all in. The double adjustables double that (depending on how the VAT and/or discounts go...

Goof prices on Bilsteins at the moment, but Iwould get in touch with Bilstein if possible to make sure the problems they had have been resolved.

paul

 

David,

DMS Giants and Leda C are excellent, very pricey though.

DMS Golds are also great on the road, but need stiffer springs for track, Leda B(?) I've not experienced.

Then you have Bilstein which look very well made and also use helper springs, but as Paul suggests check they have resolved the valveing problems. KW variant 3 look interesting and well priced too. H+R do a kit but its only height adjustable and comes with some fairly hefty springs (400lbs at the front!) AFAIK H&R supply Porsche for their GT2/3 cars. AVO are cheap but I've seen one snap, so wouldn't be that confident running them at TOTB!

One thing to cheak out is warranty. With DMS you used to have to send them back to Oz to be repaired...

 

DMS Gold 40mm are an option but was thinking circa 380 - 400 springs..

Which would need different valving..

I dont like Avo's having fitted a set to steven's car.. dont like the spring seats.. no brake pipe support bracket.. (not a major problem, just an annoying on a road car.)

Leda's may be an option.. and looking into the KW's at the moment.

David

 

we can now supply "Proflex" road suspension.........recently fitted a kit to evo6 and very impressed with the quality, fit, etc.......also very good customer back-up (used their competition units for years on various rally cars)
should come in at around your budget......
alyn - as performance

 

mail me a contact number please

David

 

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0191-4103770
YHM

 

Come on...

What spring rates are people running / recommending

 

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I'm running 60 N/mm front and 30 rear with 30N/mm compensators on Aragosta suspension on a MY97 Gotta play with the settings still...

 

Whats the conversion from nm to lb's

David

 

David,

Ravensblade-impreza.com has a file listing for spring rates for various different kits and std fit parts....may be useful?

 

david, im on leda b's with 450 front and 275 rear. i have said this a number of times; leda are the only company who can supply a reconditionable strut with the spring rate of your choice with the damping adjusted internally to suit.

 

I dont belive that for one minute..

Maybe the only local company..

How do you find those springs? what sort of roads do you drive on?

Does it increase the percieved bumpsteer you get?

David

 

Stuart, 450's are scarry hard! The front end of my car is bouncing around all over the place at the moment, and by this I mean it looks like the body is moving more than the suspension

350's on the rear don't seem to bad which is strange...then again the geometry and ride height are completely to pot and so I haven't tried 'pressing on' with it yet

 

Not sure, look it up. Maybe on www.convert-me.com ?

 

I wouldnt boast about such a ****ty setup! LOL


Complete and utter BS!

 

claudius,

You confirmed my thoughts..

Would would you recommend with the budget specified??

Fast Road spec.. but to take into account bumpy roads.

David

 

Claudius

Harsh, but to the point

I'm now trying to figure out who has done actual R&D on GC8 suspension so I can buy something that works, doesn't cost £2K+ and/or need yearly rebuild

Ohlins "Sport Line " SUS 7A00 ( front ) + SUS 8A00 ( rear ) ?

[Edited by madou - 4/25/2003 2:33:57 PM]

 

For £1500 I would get either reconditioned Proflex / Öhlins tarmac spec (reconditioned with softer hydraulic settings to accomodate 60 or 70 N/mm springs, no idea who does that in the UK, ask AS Performance and rallyroger turnaround360.com or a local rally team). Check out a rally magazine, there are often some for sale. I bought BRAND NEW ARAGOSTA (same as Proflex) suspension 2 months ago for £1400, but they needed £300 of hydraulics work.

The Proflex road kit stockcar mentioned is a completely different desing (dual tube dampers), but I heard good things about it, on an Evo.

Whether you buy competition units used (or little used, or like in my case new from a place that went bankrupt) or rather a road kit is a personal choice really. I am the type of person who junks the A/C and isolation material in his car, I dont care about noises etc. If you want a good road kit, the Proflex street kit is ok, although a little expensive for what it is. And not ideazl for streets with holes etc. I guess you'd be best off with a competition suspension with relatively soft springs, ie 50/60 N front and 40/50 rear. Imagine driving over a bump or hole the size of a small dog and the suspension absorps it like you down a pint sluuurpp. You can hear the hydraulics work, you can tell there was something there, but if you stop and check it out, you'd bet money you would have left the bumper on the road driving over that thing at 50 mph LOL

You'll need to have them check for lubricant say once a year, that's the price to pay. But it's the best mod you'll ever do to your car!

 

david - AFAIK, bumpsteer is only a problem with excessive suspension travel which is not an issue with my car. your asking for the impossible though....'fast road spec for bumpy roads'. its my preference to drive slowly if the surface is bad and to learn where its smooth so i can nail it a bit.

wey up tim - put some weight on a corner when its stationary and see if the deflection comes from the tyre or the strut. i bet its the tyre. u sure thats not where the bounce comes from?

 

Claudius, David and I both know someone with Proflex and Ohlins (was last running Ohlins).

Proflex advised him NOT to use their competion dampers on the road as they have limited dust sealing and are really only designed to last a complete rally between rebuilds. He has been trying to fit an additional seal and lubricating ring to make them more suitable for road use.

I spoke to Ohlins in depth about their competion set up, primarily because their GC8 road kit does not feature adjustable platforms, and they did say they could supply the dampers with a tougher seal that would be good for around 10000 miles instead around 1000. Problem there was a new set of Ohlins would have set me back nigh on 2k a corner Shame really they looked like they would have been perfect for my needs

I did have another though David, in Group N I think that at some point Bilstien used to supply damper inserts for use in standard struts, and although not adjustable you could buy what ever spec insert you wanted (for Sti inverted dampers) for about 100 quid a corner (list). Maybe a cheap alternative?

 

Stuart, forgot to say, in it's current set up (completely and utterly poly bushed now as well!) I can put the jack under one of the front towing eyes and end up with the car lifting 3 wheels off the ground

 

Hi Tim,

I know about 15 people running Proflex and Öhlins dampers on road cars. Some for years, some for months. Everytime I see them, they tell me how great their suspension is and how impressed people are with it, and how often people dont think this or that corner will be ok to take at a certain speed and scream Only talking about people who drive reasonably fast road cars (200+ bhp) pretty fast.

Yeah, they say that, I know. The suspension shop here thought I was crazy when I asked for Proflex Evo 3 for a road car They quoted me a special price of 5000 instead of 6500. EUROS that is

Again, that's too high a price. See above. Talk to rally teams, read magazines' ads, or I can get you a quote from my shop if you are serious about it.

Later

Claudius

 

Hi Claudius, well the chap in question with them on a scoob was on his second Proflex rebuild...in 6 months of use then again he was traveling at one point 1k miles/week

I know I could have got the Ohlins dampers 2nd hand or cheaper, but I would probably have been looking at over 2k for the 4 dampers and 500 a rebuild...

Leda isn't perfect, but to date I've only speant 1.5k on them, including buying, 2 rebuilds, 4 new springs, alignment and fitting 3 times!

I do want to replace them with Ohlins, but just can't afford it right now, that is unless you can offer me a set of rebuilt Ohlins, with bump and rebound adjustment, height adjustable platforms, springs etc all for under 1500 GBP

 

LOL Sorry Tim, I'm not in the trade, just know a few people. £2k sounds more realistic for Öhlins. I'll take a look at a few mags for you