76 replies to this topic

[peteslag]

I have had a few PM's recently, asking about my new Quantum Zero dampers so thought I would put something up on the forum about them. Just to paint a picture let me start by saying that I'm not a competitive racer, I just like driving really fast. I'm not arsed about camber, rebound rates, spring rates, blah blah blah...... I just want a sort of plug and play car that will that works OK on the road, can handle about 6-8 tracks days a year and doesn't require ANY sort of adjusting or setting up. My suspension is completely standard apart from the Quantums (except the ARB's, not sure about them. They are blue, are standard ARB's black in colour?). ON THE ROAD - Slightly harsher than OEM but certainly not crashey. ON THE TRACK - Utterly brilliant, far superior to OEM billies. I specified "track use" when I bought the shocks, I'm not sure what the spring rates are but they are perfect. Stiff enough to keep things steady during hard cornering but have enough give in them so I can still feel what the car is doing. At Oulton Park I had the standard billies fitted, the car was good but it leaned a bit too much and just didn't feel tight enough. At Goodwood with the Quantums it felt like a proper little racer, absolutely superb. They only took me a few hours to fit, very easy. I've gone for a ride height of 120mm front and 130mm rear. I have considered going a bit lower but don't want to risk upsetting the way the car handles. It really is that good. To sum up, if you want a maintenance free damper that works very well on the track and still gives a reasonable ride on the road Quantum Zeros are definitely worth a look.

Edited by peteslag, 16 April 2013 - 03:10 PM.

[siztenboots]

blue arb is standard

[peteslag]

blue arb is standard

Cheers for that.

[hughcam]

Thanks for the review! I am considering these for the elise

[P11 COV]

Just to say that I was recommended these by Matt Bentley www.facebook.com/MatthewBentleyRacing who has just done a suspension refurb for me. My Nitrons need a recon and Matt feels my springs are very (too) stiff. However, the cost of a recon vs. quantums is a little prohibitive at the mo.

Edited by P11 COV, 16 April 2013 - 07:21 PM.

[rob999]

Paul can you pm me about the refresh, what you had done and approximate cost? Cheers

[Graeme Lambert]

Think I'm going to bite the bullet and refurb my nitrons before fitting too. Belt and braces and all. Quantums sound good though. Where is Matt Bentley BTW?

[Bumblebee]

What do quantum offer that nitron don't?

Edited by Bumblebee, 20 April 2013 - 07:57 AM.

[rob999]

Think I'm going to bite the bullet and refurb my nitrons before fitting too. Belt and braces and all. Quantums sound good though.

Where is Matt Bentley BTW?

Near Huntingdon G.

[P11 COV]

What do quantum offer that nitron don't?

I've been told by two knowledgeable Elise/VX Set up experts now that the Nitrons to not have enough 'droop' and there for limit total grip available e.g. Rear wheel spin up coming out of tight bends.

Certainly that is the case with mine, whether later versions of Nitrons are better I don't know. Also some guys like C Randell to spec the Nitrons quite differently. So it's not really possible to talk about Nitrons in a very general way.

Edited by P11 COV, 20 April 2013 - 09:37 AM.

[Scuffers]

What do quantum offer that nitron don't?

I've been told by two knowledgeable Elise/VX Set up experts now that the Nitrons to not have enough 'droop' and there for limit total grip available e.g. Rear wheel spin up coming out of tight bends.

Certainly that is the case with mine, whether later versions of Nitrons are better I don't know. Also some guys like C Randell to spec the Nitrons quite differently. So it's not really possible to talk about Nitrons in a very general way.

that's just the start of it...

Don't want to get into a X is better than Y cause I sell X (actually, I don't sell anything but I'm sure that will come up!).

what I will say is this.

Quantum Zero's are IMHO the best road car damper available at the moment, they took almost 2 years of messing about to get right, and offer the best ride quality whilst maintaining a sporty feel of any damper used so far.

What this means is that whilst they 'feel' slightly stiffer than OEM Billies, (and thus make the steering somewhat sharper/more responsive), they are also more compliant, as in when you hit a bump, they do not crash over it like the Billies do.

They are very much setup to be what Lotus were trying to do with the original LSS setup but could never achieve with the OEM Bilstiens.

They are not really a trackday damper, that's not to mean they are not OK for this, BUT they are not designed for track cars running low ride heights on sticky tyres trying to set laptimes, so long as you keep to sensible ride heights, they will work just fine .

EP have just re-speced the springs for Zero's in line with using them on the VX's, specifically the heavier turbo's using bespoke variable rate springs, this will enable them to keep the compliant ride but also deal with the need for increased rates to limit travel at the extremes (to put numbers to this, they cover the 200 to 500Lb range for the rear).

Quantum Blacks are really the track damper, and are fully adjustable (either 1 or 2 way), that said, if you are only ever going to use them on the road, I would look at the Zero's as the std valving of the blacks is more track oriented.

There are also the new Quantum X series dampers, these are up to 4 way adjustable with external valving (as opposed to piston based shims), these are very much race only dampers for people that want infinite fine adjustability without compromise, (I am using these on Jamies TA car this year).

Having used Nitrons for many years on both my own car and others, my personal view is that they are a good damper, however, I honestly believe that Quantums have move the game on significantly, they do not have the stroke limitations of the Nitrons, or the low speed friction/stiction, and also, do not require regular servicing to maintain their performance (and even gas charge).

Quantums have been out with customers now for well over 3 years, with returns still in single figures over that time. No damper has had to be returned due to leaking gas charge, lack of 'clicks' (well one did get sent back but tested out in front of the customer with no issue), or general service (we have re-built some to change their valving to order, but not to repair/fix).

I would also suggest that some of the pace setting cars out there are on Quantums, from Jamie's TA car, to cars running in Britcar and LOT here in the UK as well as countless other championships over the world.

[Rosssco]

They sounds (to myself as a complete Layman on such matters) like they are set up similarish to the Cornering Force spec NTR's that I currently have (and I don't use their ARB's) - relatively low springs rates, relatively 'stiff' low speed damping, but softer high speed damping, meaning they do feel stiff in general terms, but offer good control and almost feel like they ignore / skim over / iron out some potholes and poor roads surfaces.. Better than standard / Exige / Gaz / other spec Nitron dampers I've used. I realise its only part of the story, but what spring rates would a road version of the Quantums for a VX220 NA use, for example?

[Scuffers]

They sounds (to myself as a complete Layman on such matters) like they are set up similarish to the Cornering Force spec NTR's that I currently have (and I don't use their ARB's) - relatively low springs rates, relatively 'stiff' low speed damping, but softer high speed damping, meaning they do feel stiff in general terms, but offer good control and almost feel like they ignore / skim over / iron out some potholes and poor roads surfaces.. Better than standard / Exige / Gaz / other spec Nitron dampers I've used.

I realise its only part of the story, but what spring rates would a road version of the Quantums for a VX220 NA use, for example?

?? genuinely, what have I said that makes you think that?

VX wise, for road use at sensible ride heights, I would be looking to use the softer of the variable rate springs.. (200-400 rear) with ~275 front.

[Rosssco]

They sounds (to myself as a complete Layman on such matters) like they are set up similarish to the Cornering Force spec NTR's that I currently have (and I don't use their ARB's) - relatively low springs rates, relatively 'stiff' low speed damping, but softer high speed damping, meaning they do feel stiff in general terms, but offer good control and almost feel like they ignore / skim over / iron out some potholes and poor roads surfaces.. Better than standard / Exige / Gaz / other spec Nitron dampers I've used.

I realise its only part of the story, but what spring rates would a road version of the Quantums for a VX220 NA use, for example?

?? genuinely, what have I said that makes you think that?

This bit:

"What this means is that whilst they 'feel' slightly stiffer than OEM Billies, (and thus make the steering somewhat sharper/more responsive), they are also more compliant, as in when you hit a bump, they do not crash over it like the Billies do."

[Scuffers]

They sounds (to myself as a complete Layman on such matters) like they are set up similarish to the Cornering Force spec NTR's that I currently have (and I don't use their ARB's) - relatively low springs rates, relatively 'stiff' low speed damping, but softer high speed damping, meaning they do feel stiff in general terms, but offer good control and almost feel like they ignore / skim over / iron out some potholes and poor roads surfaces.. Better than standard / Exige / Gaz / other spec Nitron dampers I've used.

I realise its only part of the story, but what spring rates would a road version of the Quantums for a VX220 NA use, for example?

?? genuinely, what have I said that makes you think that?

This bit:

"What this means is that whilst they 'feel' slightly stiffer than OEM Billies, (and thus make the steering somewhat sharper/more responsive), they are also more compliant, as in when you hit a bump, they do not crash over it like the Billies do."

OK, that's a damper thing not a spring thing though....?

Spring rates are another part of the equation.

Whilst I am sure with enough time and effort you could probably shim an NTR to behave the same on the damper rig, I suspect it would be very hard to get it to the same place and stay there over time.

[Rosssco]

Maybe a misunderstanding - I was not making a direct apples with apples comparison of the two, as I don't have enough knowledge / experience to do that. I was just curious if the Quantum damper (and obviously theres different specifications) took a similar general approach with damping and spring rates. Obviously there is some significant difference if the CF Nitrons are designed to work with a F/R ARB set-up, but lets not get into that debate again Regardless, having checked them out on EP, the Quantum dampers seem excellent value for money compared to the NTR, and comparable to the now defunct NSS..

[Scuffers]

Regardless, having checked them out on EP, the Quantum dampers seem excellent value for money compared to the NTR, and comparable to the now defunct NSS..

Zero's are not really aimed at the adjustable damper market, they were very much designed to be the replacement for OEM bilsteins, but 'better'

The bilsteins when they were new are not a bad damper, although they are somewhat limited in their responses, the biggest problem is they don't have a great life, their performance falls off pretty quickly, and failure is not that long away either (relatively).

Also, replacements are not cheap (and at the moment, almost impossible to get).

The idea of the Zero's was to give the market a simple, fit & forget option that had nothing to adjust, and would out-perform and out-last anything else for a road car.

we spent literally 2 years working on them, not only to get the valving fell right, but also to make them as silent as possible, as well as making sure their performance would not deteriorate rapidly in use.

They have been out there not for 2+ years, and so far, nobody has got a bad word for them.

Also, AFAIK, they are the only option out there with a 2 year guarantee... (and do not need a re-build/re-gas every five minutes)

[M3 BFG]

They have been out there not for 2+ years, and so far, nobody has got a bad word for them.
Also, AFAIK, they are the only option out there with a 2 year guarantee... (and do not need a re-build/re-gas every five minutes)

Had Quantum's on for all of 2 years. They really are fit and forget, supplied by Maidstone Sports cars and a great step up from standard. Preferred the Quantum's suppleness over a short test against Nitron.

Recommend.

[Bumblebee]

In no expert by all means but It all probably depends on how its set up/specced etc.

[turbobob]

Quantum zero are a monotube which is good. I must admit I do quite like the sound of quantum zero's