37 replies to this topic

[Captain Vimes]

My nitrons are almost brand new (only 200 miles old) but when I jacked the rear up today, to have a look at the brake pads, I noticed that the spring was loose on the shock with a gap of 1cm+ between the spring and the adjusting collar. I would have expected a helper spring to be included to avoid the spring rattling around when going over pot holes and speed bumps (and I do have noisy suspension in exactly these situations) I'm going to adjust the collars to remove the gap (raising the ride height) to see if it helps quieten it down over bumps but was wondering if anyone else had added helper springs? Ride height is currently 115 123.

[Exmantaa]

Street Series are not designed to go that low; result is loose springs as you noticed...

[VXT Tim]

Mine are the same.

[SteveA]

How often to you completely unload your car while driving?

[Captain Vimes]

Street Series are not designed to go that low; result is loose springs as you noticed...

This is what I suspected.

Just searched on the Nitron site and found the following in the Street Series brochure:-

"Nitron advise that the spring always maintains a level of preload and that the adjuster platform is not unwound to the point where it allows the spring to move freely and rattle around’ over the damper. If the shocks are setup in this way to achieve a very low ride height, the spring may become unsettled and unseated form the platforms when the shock is fully extended or is said to be in ‘droop’. It is also an MOT failure."


The suspension on my car was supplied and fitted by a well respected company that are very familiar with the Elise/VX220 so I'm surprised they set the suspension up like this. I'll need to have the geo checked again now

How often to you completely unload your car while driving?

I don't know but if the rattle goes away when I add preload then I'm guessing that it's more often than you'd think, especially when you have pot holes and speed bumps to contend with. I'll add my findings once I've increased the pre-load.

[siztenboots]

the geo won't be altered, thats a function of the tie-rod and the bump curve

[VXT Tim]

the spring may become unsettled and unseated form the platforms when the shock is fully extended or is said to be in ‘droop’. It is also an MOT failure."

Mine has been into vauxhall for an MOT twice with the setup like this and hasn't failed.




I must admit, it does annoy me though

[rob999]

Who set the car up? PSR me thinks

Edited by rob999, 04 February 2013 - 11:26 AM.

[Captain Vimes]

Who set the car up? PSR me thinks

[Captain Vimes]

Right, increased the preload this evening so that there is slight pressure in the springs and went out for a drive.

The car still rattles but subjectively I thinks it's better over the larger pot holes. Either way I'm much happier having the springs under some pressure at full extension - as per nitrons own instructions.

Before:



After:

[Exmantaa]

You will have some more bump travel now, so it should go a bit better over the potholes

[butch111]

Is there anybody who knows that the Helper-Kit from the NTR46 would fit on a Street Series?

[siztenboots]

depends on the inner diameter of the springs, but the Nitron range always used 2.25" , I don't know about the SS ones

 

you can use the helper springs and perches from the eliseparts quantum , 2" 2.25 150lbs helpers

[butch111]

Ok thank you! Anybody else who had try this with the NSS? I wonder because many of the german NSS-Driver wants to lower their suspension.

Edited by butch111, 26 April 2014 - 12:13 PM.

[wowzer]

I had my Nitrons supplied and fitted by back on track and yep the spring is loose when the car is jacked up but under load it won't be

[Scuffers]

the geo won't be altered, thats a function of the tie-rod and the bump curve

Yes it will...

 

By how much depends on where your starting from and where the rack is.

[siztenboots]

taken out of context, true, but we don't want to change other factors , just keep the spring seated

[Scuffers]

taken out of context, true, but we don't want to change other factors , just keep the spring seated

I would suggest that 10mm of spring platform moments significant...

[siztenboots]

10mm to only take in to account the now flat helper spring and platform, to return back to where we started from

 

any other disaster scenarios you can think of

 

[Ormes]

About a year ago, I phoned nitron to enquire about helpers for my NSS... they said sure... that will be £500+ for shorter springs and helpers.  Ended up going to 16" fronts with a rideheight of 120/130... I don't have any suspension rattles, and I am happy with the performance.  You can also get lowering top mounts that include the ABS mount by calling EP... but you will need different spacers, or loads of washers to fit them with the NSS (think they are intended for Quantums)... I didn't fit these in the end, as I have a tiny bit of pre-load on full droop