New owner - Handling questions

[andy tims]

So I got my Trophy yesterday. On the way home I had a chance to push it a bit on a twisty bit of a road. The car felt a bit "floaty" over high speed bumps and there was a bit of crashing when I hit small potholes / bits of bad road surface.
The Sachs dampers were service just over 20,000 miles ago, so they might need re-doing.
Any thoughts?

 

[Mikeyjp]

Taking into account you have spent a massive 1 day driving it, I would give a bit longer to see if it's just a case of getting used to a different car, dampers should be fine, could be worn top mounts or anything really

 

[andy tims]

You have a point, but the crashing on poorly surfaced bits of road is definitely not right. I drove my GT3 on the same road a couple of weeks ago and that was much less affected despite having firmer suspension.
I also drove my wife's 2006 MX5 on the same road the day before and that was less floaty despite having both soft suspension and the standard "off road" ride height so hardly a paragon of great handling.

 

[Mikeyjp]

Is it still on oem springs? The ride should be pretty good out the box, I had mark fish springs and Koni rear dampers on mine and solid top mounts, was a very good ride, quite hard, but handled like a dream

 

[Gazza]

I wouldn't go by milage or time as a guide to how long dampers need between services. I would do the push test on the wing and check for leaks (excessive dirt in one place is probably from an oil leak)

The damper thread explains the push test on wing

This thread describes amoungst other things how to check gas pressure in damper with a MTB shock pump

http://cliotrophy.co.uk/threads/another-diy-sachs-rebuild-service.53642/page-12#post-403260

 

[hoolio]

I think I know the "floaty" sensation you refer to and as long as the car is going where you want and more then enjoy. The crashiness, Is that going fairly slowly or fast? It is really not very good at low speed over poor surfaces but at speed the dampers come into their own and flatten out everything even when cornering fairly hard.

 

[Peter O'connor]

Not sure where you live but if you are close to Bristol then give me a shout and you can have a drive off my car. As the front sachs and rear Koni's have done about 1.5k with cooksport springs so should give you a good benchmark of comparison against your car..

I wouldn't say that the car has a floating sensation it is definitely a firm ride but that does mean pot holes and other poor roadblocks surfaces are felt more than in a standard road car. For example I drive the same way to work each day to get to the m5 and my golf gti sails over the man hole covers and small pot holes as it is so soft whereas my Clio makes you want to avoid them..

Suggest you drive the car a bit more and see what you think then.

Cheers

Pete

Ps- nice car a gt3 would love one of those.

 

[andy tims]

I have done the wing test and the damping does feel a little soft. RenTech are pretty close to me and Mike has agreed to have a look, but I can't get to him for a couple of weeks.

 

[andy tims]

Not sure where you live but if you are close to Bristol then give me a shout and you can have a drive off my car. As the front sachs and rear Koni's have done about 1.5k with cooksport springs so should give you a good benchmark of comparison against your car..

I wouldn't say that the car has a floating sensation it is definitely a firm ride but that does mean pot holes and other poor roadblocks surfaces are felt more than in a standard road car. For example I drive the same way to work each day to get to the m5 and my golf gti sails over the man hole covers and small pot holes as it is so soft whereas my Clio makes you want to avoid them..

Suggest you drive the car a bit more and see what you think then.

Cheers

Pete

Ps- nice car a gt3 would love one of those.

Thanks for the offer. I'm in Surrey so Bristol is a bit of a trek. Hopefully RenTech will sort me out.