Eibach Sportline Springs

[Ossie87]

I'm currently having my dampers refurbished and had a snapped spring so I'm looking at getting some alternatives as replacements from Renault are a shocking price. I was recommended the Sportline Springs by Yozzasport but some other people think they will lower the car by up to 50mm?!

Has anybody got them fitted?

Do they lower the car much at all?

What alternatives are there?

Thanks

 

[PB.283]

the last owner of my car had some from mark fish.

but if it were me id cough up for standard.

 

[Ossie87]

the last owner of my car had some from mark fish.

but if it were me id cough up for standard.

Are they still on your car then? What are they like?

Why would you go for standard?

 

[PB.283]

No he took em off to sell separate.

I'd go for standard cos it was voted the 7th best drivers car ever so why fix it if it ain't broke??

 

[BenG]

I'd go for standard cos it was voted the 7th best drivers car ever so why fix it if it ain't broke??

Spot on !

I think lowering the car by 50mm on the Sachs dampers would have an adverse affect on the handling. I would imagen the first 50mm of travel (after the weight of the car has been dropped on them) will play a fairly big part on how the car handles ?

The Mark Fish Springs only lower the car by a further 15mm and the characteristics are a good match for the Sachs dampers, These have been tried and tested !! If anything id be going with them, or standard.

 

[Stevie]

No he took em off to sell separate.

I'd go for standard cos it was voted the 7th best drivers car ever so why fix it if it ain't broke??

^^ Me too, that set up is what has made the Trophy so special.

It would be nice to test the standard springs vs. Mark Fish tho.

 

[Cue]

a few things to add to this....

the oem ones are custom made eibachs - hence the high price from reno, they are better than the sportlines and prolines and wouldn't lower it by 50mm, more like 10-20mm, the higher spring rate of the oem ones are there to complement the stiffness of the damper.

you may find by reducing the height too much you will bounce down the road like a unsprung trailer does as the tyres would in fact be working as the damper.....

the mark fish ones do add a bit though although if you don't do any track miles i wouldn't go that route.

 

[hoolio]

the higher spring rate of the oem ones are there to complement the stiffness of the damper.

I thought the soft rating of the oem springs fitted to the Sachs was meant to compliment the damper by letting it do almost all the work, IE by not affecting the bump and rebound.

Does anyone know what the spring rates of the MF and sportlines etc?

 

[Cue]

sorry i meant soft.... been awake since 4am and am suffering mental fatigue i think

 

[PeterGinger]

Mark Fish told me that his rear dampers and springs all round are approx 25% stiffer. Sounds a lot, but 25% of 150lb is about 40lb. I was going to go with Eibachs, as ive been told by everyone that they are the best. But I think lowering the car that much may give me problems. I've never heard of the make of the springs mark uses, can't even remember it. But I get what you guys are saying. Isn't the reduced ride height supposed to reduce body roll? This is why I wanted to find a way to run helper springs.

 

[hoolio]

You have to remember that Renault didn't build a track car, they built one for use by joe public on british motorways so the margins they would have built in were probably fairly huge, so I don't see much reason for reducing the ride height a little without compromising the handling too much but George is much better placed than me to spout on this.(I mean I spout and G talks sense )

 

[PeterGinger]

There is a 172 at work which is lowered. It looks great but quite low without being chavvy :lol: I would assume they are sportlines, but don't know other alternatives.

 

[PB.283]

Isn't the reduced ride height supposed to reduce body roll? This is why I wanted to find a way to run helper springs.

In a word no.

Depends on spring rates and travel.

 

[Ossie87]

No he took em off to sell separate.

I'd go for standard cos it was voted the 7th best drivers car ever so why fix it if it ain't broke??

^^ Me too, that set up is what has made the Trophy so special.

It would be nice to test the standard springs vs. Mark Fish tho.

Just took delivery of some MF springs. I shall be fitting them tonight ready for MOT tomorrow!

Dampers have been refurbished as well though so might not be an accurate comparison but hopefully it will be a nice noticeable improvement

Edit: Quick photo from my phone

 

[jack_davey]

I'd be interested to see a spring rate comparison, but I have the sportlines on my trophy dampers and I have to say they handle really nice!

 

[George K]

Hoolio – thanks. In view of past rhubarbs, I shall try to keep my comments short(ish). The idea of lowering the car is to lower the centre of gravity (CoG), which should make the car more stable – and resistant to roll. Actually what makes the car more or less stable is the height of the CoG above the roll centre.

The problem is that the roll centre for Clio behaves in an unexpected way from lowering because the front strut system and rear torsion beam have very different geometric characteristics when calculating their respective roll centres. In general lowering a strut layout will actually make it less roll resistant – people don’t notice this because they normally fit stiffer springs at the same time. But what it means is that the balance of the car can change.

In theory there are other good reasons for lowering the rear, but then the designed in minimal droop travel at the rear becomes longer, which in turn will spoil the handling balance – the only answer would be a shorter damper.

It is the age old answer, that springs and dampers should be part of a package. MF probably achieves this with his bespoke Konis at the rear. I am not even convinced that all coil-over kits get the travel right.

The Trophy works very well, as do all 172/182’s – I would leave well alone and just make sure that the geometry is spot-on (including more negative at the front for competition) and the dampers are in good condition. We found that for hill climbing, with short runs on cold tyres, lower tyre pressures make a big difference – 28/26 were as good as any - and track tyres down at 26/24.

 

[Cue]

george, i've got to say after years of messing myself i tend to agree.... the T is about as perfect as it gets without throwing stupid money on a whole new suspension set-up, which you may as well not bother with with a clio, net alone a trophy.

just make sure, what's there is working as it should. -2.0 camber of the front makes a massive difference to stability and cornering g compared to spending hundreds on new springs etc. Although keep an eye on your tyre wear...!

 

[Rexina182]

Why does -2.0 negative camber make a big difference? I am having my Sachs refurbed as I type and after I am having a four wheel laser alignment done.

I would like to know the reasons for -2.0 when I tell the laserist to do it.

 

[hoolio]

For the reasons Cue mentions but you will not be able to increase the camber without camber bolts which effectively reduce the size of the top strut/hub bolt to allow the hub to lean back further.