Cornering Force: overly firm?

marrow · Jul 23, 2013

Hi

I've just refitted my Sachs after CF serviced them and like at least one other person on here they seem incredibly firm. Now I've owned my T for about 5 years and I've driven lots of other Ts so I have a pretty good idea of what's normal, and quite frankly my Sachs dampers currently feel abnormal. The dyno print outs show 250lbs of load for both.

So far I've reduced tyre pressure to 28 front and 26 rear with little improvement. I've reduced the clicks by 2 (now 21 and 20) but have been out for a test drive.

i have also replaced the rears with new Sachs.

Keen to hear your experiences with CF.

Mark

SoS · Jul 23, 2013

My Sachs are currently with CF, so I am also interested. I have only driven the trophy on old dampers so am not sure on the benchmark, but I am hoping they are not too "crashy" over the bumps like they are now.

hoolio · Jul 23, 2013

You know how over time yer pants get old and baggy? Well maybe you've just refitted the equivalent of a G-string.

Carbon Chaos · Jul 23, 2013

hoolio said:
You know how over time yer pants get old and baggy? Well maybe you've just refitted the equivalent of a G-string.

Oh how i laughed REALLY i did

I had mine done recently by BG along with new rears and i thought it felt more compliant over bumps a much more enjoyable ride than it had been.

Sorry this is not much help to you ref cornering force.

rubens172 · Jul 24, 2013

I had mine done. They came back at 18 and 19 clicks! I could just compress them - and I mean just - with my entire body weight on them. At 22 clicks i couldn't compress them at all. I now have them at 24 clicks fitted to the car, it just felt good there after a bit of testing. My dyno print out showed 250 lbs force at 8 inch/s velocity. The damping feels great so I'm happy and I like having the adjusters. It stops the car rolling and pitching.

dainty225 · Jul 27, 2013

I recently sent mine off to cornering force, unfortunately I can't comment on the results because, much to my annoyance, I still haven't had them back...

Sent them on 13th July after speaking to Simon 2 days earlier. He told me that if he got them early in the week, he would try to get them back the next weekend - perfect. My tracked parcel arrived midday Tuesday. Weekend, nothing, but ok, I understand 1 week was a fast turn around. Anyway, after chasing him up on Tuesday this week (1 week later) he said he had just done them and they would given to the courier shortly - "worse case you'll get them Thursday" he says. Friday 4pm, nothing. Call him, no answer, left him a message. Saturday (today), nothing. Call him, no answer. So another weekend passes without a car.

I don't doubt that he'll have done a good job, but it's pretty annoying to be given false dates all the time. I would happily have hired a car if I knew it was going to take this long from the start.

So my advice is... if you're in a hurry to get your dampers rebuilt, don't use CF, regardless of when Simon says you'll get them back!

I'll report back on how the dampers feel in due course!

sj2112 · Jul 27, 2013

Tbf, if you are impatient use bg motorsport and you will get them back quickly....at a price.

marrow · Jul 27, 2013

dainty225 said:
I recently sent mine off to cornering force, unfortunately I can't comment on the results because, much to my annoyance, I still haven't had them back...

Sent them on 13th July after speaking to Simon 2 days earlier. He told me that if he got them early in the week, he would try to get them back the next weekend - perfect. My tracked parcel arrived midday Tuesday. Weekend, nothing, but ok, I understand 1 week was a fast turn around. Anyway, after chasing him up on Tuesday this week (1 week later) he said he had just done them and they would given to the courier shortly - "worse case you'll get them Thursday" he says. Friday 4pm, nothing. Call him, no answer, left him a message. Saturday (today), nothing. Call him, no answer. So another weekend passes without a car.

I don't doubt that he'll have done a good job, but it's pretty annoying to be given false dates all the time. I would happily have hired a car if I knew it was going to take this long from the start.

So my advice is... if you're in a hurry to get your dampers rebuilt, don't use CF, regardless of when Simon says you'll get them back!

I'll report back on how the dampers feel in due course!

look forward to your update

Badgerman85 · Jul 27, 2013

Mine feel fine!

marrow · Sep 14, 2013

Update following my original post...

have spoken with Simon at CF several times and he tells me the original damping is there 'somewhere' and that I just need to experiment with the clicks. After much experimenting, I'm on 11 and 10 from fully soft! To me that's as close to oem but its still too firm/crashy. And Hoolio my pants aren't that baggy.

has anyone had a similar experience following CF refurbishment?

Dan493 · Sep 14, 2013

My dampers are on the way back from CF at the moment so when they're back on the car I will let you know my thoughts. After driving with cup dampers on the road and track I imagine they will feel extremely firm.

Sean Jones · Sep 14, 2013

Mine are fine. They are a firm ride but that's to be expected from dampers normally used on btcc cars.

Cribert · Sep 15, 2013

I believe using the softest setting has a negative effect on the dampers/ride comfort.

i spoke with a guy who knows his suspension inside out and adjusted mine to the firmer setting which matches the springs and stopped the bouncing completely

jezzerbing · Sep 27, 2013

I dropped mine off on the 6th october
called for an update on the 16th
simon said he would call me back. But he didnt
ive not rang since because have been waiting for payday (27th)
i agree with dainty225. Not knowing anything
and simon at times is very difficult to get hold off
i reckon they will do a good job tho

SoS · Sep 28, 2013

jezzerbing said:
I dropped mine off on the 6th october
called for an update on the 16th
simon said he would call me back. But he didnt
ive not rang since because have been waiting for payday (27th)
i agree with dainty225. Not knowing anything
and simon at times is very difficult to get hold off
i reckon they will do a good job tho

Mine took a long time, email is usually best to get in touch but the lack of communication is not great. My dampers are on the car now and they are great, so much better than what came off. Not too firm either.

One thing to watch if they have been powder coated by CF, mine came back damaged due to poor packaging so I had to send them back to be re-done which was another 3 weeks nearly. Even then when they came back a 2nd time both had chips down to bare metal on the edge of the spring platform so they had to be touched up with normal paint to protect from rust. I had to fit them due to the MOT running out in the same week but I am a bit hacked off as the coating is expensive (even compared with BG) and after 2 attempts it was still not good.

marrow · Sep 28, 2013

SoS said:
Mine took a long time, email is usually best to get in touch but the lack of communication is not great. My dampers are on the car now and they are great, so much better than what came off. Not too firm either.

One thing to watch if they have been powder coated by CF, mine came back damaged due to poor packaging so I had to send them back to be re-done which was another 3 weeks nearly. Even then when they came back a 2nd time both had chips down to bare metal on the edge of the spring platform so they had to be touched up with normal paint to protect from rust. I had to fit them due to the MOT running out in the same week but I am a bit hacked off as the coating is expensive (even compared with BG) and after 2 attempts it was still not good.

Had similar experience with dampers coming back with some chips, Simon offered to recoat them but was too much hassle. Overall though the powder coating is pretty good.

SoS · Sep 28, 2013

marrow said:
Had similar experience with dampers coming back with some chips, Simon offered to recoat them but was too much hassle. Overall though the powder coating is pretty good.

I had mine re-done once, when they arrived they were hanging out the box, the 2nd time there were chips around the lip of the spring platform but were packaged well. This was not done in transit in my view but during assembly or testing. I don't really think it is acceptable as it is a weak point for dirt/water which will start rusting quickly if not protected. Hopefully they won't need doing again!

jezzerbing · Sep 28, 2013

I'm reading bad things about cornering force!!!!!

hoolio · Sep 29, 2013

jezzerbing said:
I'm reading bad things about cornering force!!!!!

Do you mean the comments above or elsewhere? If the things you are reading are elsewhere and true then you should not be afraid to put up here, If peeps are getting a poor deal then those that are thinking of having work done should know.

Carbon Chaos · Sep 29, 2013

I had mine done at BG and they could not be more accommodating.

Quick turn around even when i requested the dampers back so i could have them powder coated my self .

They came back very well packed and unmarked with the new double seals on the reservoirs(BG upgrade to a known fault).

The end results were and still are fantastic the originals and imho the best.:up: