272 replies to this topic

[craglett]

Got mine two weeks ago. JohnyB got his also and they were delivered to me first and then couriered to Austria!! You should have received them by now.

[JohnyB]

Yep .. i got them on friday, but as craglett said they were first send to him and then he sended them to me - to Austria.

[craglett]

Had the geo and ride height done yesterday.

WOW

I am really taken aback as to how much difference a geo can really make. The car handles completely differently now, it's amazing. I have never felt confident with this car until now. You can point it where you want it to go and it does it without arguement.

I have read so many posts with people saying "this is the best mod I have done to the car" and always taken it with a pinch of salt, but I can whole heartedly agree with this opinion now.

The ride height on the car (my initial reason for doing this mod) has now been sorted out aswell. It looks really low and very cool. I had a quick look through the wheel to see how much thread had been used and as far as I can see the fronts are wound up roughly 8 to 10 mm.

I will do some more measurements and take some more pictures at the weekend (or tonight if it's still light) and post them up here.

[JohnyB]

please god let there be light today Do you have 16"/17" or standard wheels ?

[LY25MAX]

Had the geo and ride height done yesterday.

WOW

I am really taken aback as to how much difference a geo can really make. The car handles completely differently now, it's amazing. I have never felt confident with this car until now. You can point it where you want it to go and it does it without arguement.

I have read so many posts with people saying "this is the best mod I have done to the car" and always taken it with a pinch of salt, but I can whole heartedly agree with this opinion now.

The ride height on the car (my initial reason for doing this mod) has now been sorted out aswell. It looks really low and very cool. I had a quick look through the wheel to see how much thread had been used and as far as I can see the fronts are wound up roughly 8 to 10 mm.

I will do some more measurements and take some more pictures at the weekend (or tonight if it's still light) and post them up here.

Exactly what he said! My geo was done on tuesday and the difference is amazing- plus its pretty low now

[craglett]

please god let there be light today

Do you have 16"/17" or standard wheels ?

Standard n/a wheels and tyres.

Oh, Horizon told me to run 22 front and 24 rear tyre pressures now.

[JohnyB]

aha .. i have 16" fronts.. but i would still be glad if you post the ride heights (i can then compare it with my na wheel). Did they tell you what geo settings they used ? (do you have a printout) Mine's set up like this.. front: 0.25mm toe out -1 degree camber Rear: 2mm toe -2mm degree camber Castor they did not change since they didn't know how to - and i at the time did not also About the tire pressures.. i think i may be running a lot higher. will check now (have to pick up niece anyway)

[Richiemouse]

Right, got the car booked into TMS for annual service on 5th April and into Plans on the 6th April for suspension fettling including corner weighting

[JohnyB]

As i thought .. mine were all arround at 2bars (29psi) Just doing that changed the whole thing all over...

[craglett]

aha .. i have 16" fronts.. but i would still be glad if you post the ride heights (i can then compare it with my na wheel).

Did they tell you what geo settings they used ? (do you have a printout)

Mine's set up like this..
front:
0.25mm toe out
-1 degree camber
Rear:
2mm toe
-2mm degree camber

Castor they did not change since they didn't know how to - and i at the time did not also

About the tire pressures.. i think i may be running a lot higher. will check now (have to pick up niece anyway)

No idea on the settings. The only print out I got was the invoice.

I'm not sure about tyre pressures. I know the guy said 22 / 24 was the best for the particular geo I had but i'd imagine it would be different for another setup.

Richiemouse, corner weighting hey? Looks like you are getting the job done properly. You'll have to let us know what difference it makes.

[Richiemouse]

Did MikeF get his shocks yet? Poor show if he hasn't

[craglett]

OK, pics.....

Car before lowering:


Car after lowering:


Apologies for the crap quality, I was trying to make the height more obvious.

[craglett]

Measurements and pics.....

Front before:
1 = 360mm
2 = 60mm
3 = 140mm
4 = 345mm


Front after:
1 = 340mm
2 = 35mm
3 = 120mm
4 = 322mm


Rear before:
1 = 345mm
2 = 38mm
3 = 140mm


Rear after:
1 = 333mm
2 = 20mm
3 = 125mm

[Richiemouse]

You are Lady Penelope and I claim my five pounds Just been out in mine for a blat, still on standard suspension of course. We've got a really bumpy fast sweepy road near us[1] and I have to fight the car quite a bit if I want to hustle. It'll be interesting to see what the improvement is when it's been Spaxed in a couple of weeks. [1]Quite usual to see cars in the fields on either side where they've overcooked it. This morning it was a fully loaded car transporter!

[craglett]

A couple more pics I took whilst cleaning my wheels today...

Front suspension:


Rear suspension:

[SteveM]

Did you lubricate/oil/seal/wd40 them before fitting?

[craglett]

Did you lubricate/oil/seal/wd40 them before fitting?

Yes I lubricated myself all over before fitting them

Seriously, the only bit of lubrication (I used grease) needed was on the rubbers at each end of the shocks. I found they slid into the mounts much more easily, especially at the front where you have the spacers to fit.

Seeing how much water has splashed up onto them already I am now thinking I should do something about protecting the adjusters. I might just cover the adjuster in it, hopefully this will give a waterproof barrier even if it doesn't look pretty.

edit: I suppose a bit of grease on the threads wouldn't go a miss either.

Edited by craglett, 25 March 2006 - 07:02 PM.

[Richiemouse]

Just spent a couple of hours fitting mine. The only problem I had was not being able to get the trolly jack out after lowering I used Craig's pictures as a guide to initial ride height settings, this did mean that the front spring only seats properly under compression, which I'm not too happy about. I measured from the floor to the wheel arch in a line through the centre of the wheel and the car has been lowered front and rear but the wheel arches are now level. On odd thing is that with the ride height on the shocks set the same on each side, the car is 5mm lower on the drivers side (without the driver in it of course). I set the damping 8 front and 6 rear as recommended for initial settings and went for a drive. All I can say for sure is that it feels different, certainly not better. It seems to tramline more now. I don't think I'll bother fiddling with it between now and the trip to Plans on the 6th April to get it set up properly

[JohnyB]

Thanks craglett for extensive post .. I'm missing how much front/back clicks do you have - or did you leave that to the first settings that you had when you installed them? About the ride height - i have about the same as you now.

[craglett]

I'm missing how much front/back clicks do you have.

I have set mine to 12 rear / 14 front but this is going to be a personal preference and may not even be my final setup.

My thought process on it was:
1) Start with the standard recommendation of 6 rear / 8 front made by spax - take it for a drive.
2) Double the setting on the rear (12) and keep the difference of 2 front to rear (14) - take it for a drive.
3) This felt much better so I thought I would wait until the geo had been done before changing it any more.
4) Geo now done and it feels really good with these settings so I am going to leave them for a bit.

It kind of makes sense (to me at least) that the sweet spot on these things is going to be roughly half way through the available damping so around 14 clicks. At the moment this is about where I am.

Richiemouse, I agree with your thoughts totally. I could only really sum up the change as different and definately not better once I had fitted them. That was until I got the geo done of course. I would definately say the ride was better now as my post above suggests

Also Richiemouse, I am now resorting to driving onto a Yellow Pages before sticking the trolley jack under the car. It's a lot cheaper than the alternative method of buying a racing trolley jack for £120!!