13 replies to this topic

[R3D VX]

have just placed my order for the new Spax RSX kit. Was wondering if those lucky enough to have tested it already (minime!!!) could give me some ideas on a good fast road setup? I'm not exactly sure what all the features of the kit do!! i know the kit will let me reduce ride hight by 2cm which will look the tits, but i suspect this will be too low for general road use?? Is this the case? How easy is it to adjust? Secondly the different damper settings, I don't want to shake the car to bits and certainally don't want to take off over small bumps, any ideas, eg the number of turns of the damper tops for a good start setting? I know that i will have to spend some time fine tuning to suit my better halfs and my driving styles! Any help would be much appreciated, Mike.

[Thorney]

Mike, minime and a I (and a few others ) are at Castle Coombe next week, the plan is to have a bit of a play with the settings (although I've not told steve that yet ) and also compare to the VXT. We'll report back then, although I'm sure Steve has some views already.

[R3D VX]

Cheers i look forward to hearing about it!

[Ricky2772]

I will tell you what I did on mine.....I experimented with half-way closed dampers and fully-closed. the difference is minimal really, the car behaves admirably either way, maybe a bit more nervous in the transitions with the half-way setting. I now keep it all close minus two clicks. the lotus shop that installed'em tells me that they all keep'em fully closed so to avoid any hint of "rebound" effect. placing the car on electronic scales is very recommended! you can perfectly distribute the car's weight r/l and front/rear,acting on the spring load.....

[R3D VX]

have just spent my first day with the Spax RSX!!! What fun playing with all the settings! Have wound the platforms right down at the moment and it looks the dogs danglies!! Have set the rate at a medium stiffness as it got very choppy with the dampers fully closed! Am looking forward to playing more, Will post some pics soon, Mike

[minime]

yeah....i know what you mean!!! mine is 20mm lower all round and set on 10 it deals with some nasty roads!! what else have you done to your car? i would replace the pads!!

[R3D VX]

Have seen the Mintex offerings from Regal, will wait for the existing pads to wear away, then go for them. So far i have got the K&N induction kit, Vauxhall sports exhaust, removed the pre-cat, removed the rear badge and fitted the Spax. I have noticed a large gain in the in gear acceleration especially after 3000 rpm. My next mod will be the Regal re-map as i have sorted the breathing. Am running the shocks on 15 clicks at the mo, but this is still too hard, i can cope but the better half can't stand the low speed ride quality. Will try 10 clicks for a while. I also need to raise the ride height as i have got the platforms at their lowest settings (wound right down so if the car is jacked up the springs are not located properly!!) this looks great but the ride quality is suffering. Am enjoying tinkering though.

[minime]

spoke to regal today....they have 5 sets of spax suspension kits in! with this and brake pads the car gets seriously transformed .....on the castle coombe track day i had an instructor with who commented on the fact that the cars setup felt like the elise s1!

[speedyK]

I feel that the standard suspension is pretty good, even on track. But you lot are slowly convincing me that there is room for a sizable improvement. Can anyone tell me what the correct Part. No. for the Spax RSX is? On the Spax UK website a search under Vauxhall shows no VX. Is it the Elise Mk.2 one? i.e. RSX LOWERING front & rear 0-20mm Part No. RSX575 RSX Adjust. dampers front Part No. G3575 RSX Adjust. dampers rear Part No. G3576 Need to make sure I can get the necessary confirmation of suitability from manufacturers to get approval here in Switzerland.

[Chuck]

Has anyone had any leaky dampers with the RSX kit? I have had a bad experience with this kit on another make of car. Also, are the spring rates increased (what poundage f/r) and does anyone the piston diameter of the front and rear dampers and what size coilover springs they use.

[BrianDrought]

Hmmmm. Its quite interesting looking at all these posts... things like this were done ages ago on the Elise forum, and I guess the circle is almost fully round now as you guess start to tinker Basically.... Spax are ok, but longevity is a bit dubious. Leda are good, but need rebuilds. Nitron is the next step up, and beyond that, you're into 4 figures with Racing Dynamics stuff. R3D VX, I'd be cautious about setting it that low on medium damping with the standard rate springs..... if you're cornering and you meet the slightest bump, the chances are it'll hit the bumpstop and do very veyr un-nerving things to your car! Also, putting it substantially lower at the front really plays havoc with your bumpsteer unless you raise the steering rack. (on an Elise its easy enough to do, dont see a VX being any harder). What ride height you at now? (measure it from the bottom of the chassis where the front wishbone is.... theres a 'corner' on the chassis. Easy to read it from there). cheers, Bri

[BogBrush]

Anyone here able to tell me how much the spax kit is without fitting?

[minime]

look at the regal website for a price of the rsx kit!

[R3D VX]

I'm now running the kit at approx 12cm ground clearance all round. Front 13 clicks from soft, rear 15 clicks from soft. Am still not 100% about it yet as i'm finding it a little rough for everyday use! The car did actually fly when i ran it at approx 9cm (lowest possible settings but springs can disslocate!!!) Turboman still has the brown stains! Anyone else got any suggestions or recommendations when using the kit? Mike