Suspension's still not right

New dampers and springs required?

After the tweaking we did last weekend, I've been paying attention to the feel of the car this week. It's still not right, but it's difficult to explain why. Particularly when cornering, it's as if the car is moving underneath me, but not in accordance with the way I'm adjusting the steering.

I checked the wheel bearings this evening, and they seem to be holding solid - no noticeable play. I checked the back too, and they are fine.

There's still the nearside lower wishbone spherical ball joint to change, but somehow I don't think that is responsible.

For some time I've had an inkling that either the springs or dampers are shot. The car seems to crash over bumps more than I remember it doing previously, but there's two potential flaws in this observation. 1) my memory is appalling these days, and 2) I've been changing tyres, and I know that both the 21s and 32s are a lot firmer than the old 539s. I need to either get a ride in someone else's car, or get them to drive mine, since I've not really got anything to compare with.

I also need to find out whether anything available is better than the standard Caterham Bilsteins. I like the sound of Nitron dampers, but I'm conscious of the fact that Nigel had a nightmare trying to get his car set up properly (they weren't Nitrons, but they weren't standard Caterham either).



This page is http://www.strangely.org/diary/200207/Suspensionsstillnotright.html. It was first published on Sunday 28 July, 2002 and last updated on Sunday 28 July, 2002.