Trophy Lowering Springs

chunktrophy · Nov 2, 2006

just decided to phone up and order the Spax lowering springs for the trophy (20mm) but they have been discontinued due to a lack of sales??? lol

Not being funny but i said to the guy that there are only a percentage of the 551 or so trophys in the world that are gonna want to lower them!!! (then they said that the PI springs for a 172 would fit!!!???) haha

anyway my question is, can i get the trophy lowered by the use of any other aftermarket springs or will i have to go custom??

Shabba · Nov 2, 2006

Why lower it? You'll possibly ruin a near perfect suspension setup.

FunkyMunky · Nov 2, 2006

Shabba said:
Why lower it? You'll possibly ruin a near perfect suspension setup.

looks phat tho decked :wink:

hoolio · Nov 2, 2006

Mmm not sure.What next? Clip on, down to the floor bodykit (sick)

oliie · Nov 2, 2006

You could always cut your springs or heat treat them (heat them up, compress, then let them cool again to take the lower form factor).

:shock:

Shabba · Nov 2, 2006

Hoolio, you and I seem to be on the same wave length.
If you want to modify a 182, do a cup, because it kind of defeats the object of what the Ren engineers achieved with the Trophy's suspension setup ](*,)
Why fix what aint broke? :?:

hoolio · Nov 2, 2006

Yep. Each to his own and there are mods i would like to do when money and worn parts allow, but i will never change the outward look of the trophy.
Besides i'm an old fart and i would look even more of a penis with a totally slammed car. (is that how they say it) hehe :lol:

chunktrophy · Nov 2, 2006

so can i get aftermarket springs or will i have to go custom??

chunktrophy · Nov 2, 2006

or will every1 ignore my question again!!!???

hoolio · Nov 2, 2006

Sorry, but everyone is going to have an opinion on this. Anyway you've got eibach springs on there and i think i would go custom to get as good, 7MAT had his made i think.

Day · Nov 2, 2006

What a load of crap some of you talk.

7Mat has custom springs that lower his Trophy and the handling was transformed.

I know where I'd be going if I owned a trophy that appeared to be on stilts...

Mark Fish Motorsport

hoolio · Nov 2, 2006

Day said:
What a load of crap some of you talk.

7Mat has custom springs that lower his Trophy and the handling was transformed.

I know where I'd be going if I owned a trophy that appeared to be on stilts...

Mark Fish Motorsport

Er think that is what i was getting at, and i think i'm free to talk as much crap as i like

FunkyMunky · Nov 2, 2006

Day said:
What a load of crap some of you talk.

7Mat has custom springs that lower his Trophy and the handling was transformed.

I know where I'd be going if I owned a trophy that appeared to be on stilts...

Mark Fish Motorsport

Totally agree, you only need to read some of 7Mat's posts for an idea of the improvements made to his car.

7MAT · Nov 2, 2006

chunktrophy said:
just decided to phone up and order the Spax lowering springs for the trophy (20mm) but they have been discontinued due to a lack of sales??? lol

Not being funny but i said to the guy that there are only a percentage of the 551 or so trophys in the world that are gonna want to lower them!!! (then they said that the PI springs for a 172 would fit!!!???) haha

anyway my question is, can i get the trophy lowered by the use of any other aftermarket springs or will i have to go custom??

Speak to Mark Fish for options available.

After market springs for the 182 don't work. For example the Eibachs for the 182 will lower the rear by approx 10mm but the front will be the same height as before as already lowered so no good.

chunktrophy · Nov 2, 2006

cheers guys, i have mark fish's phone number so will give him a call tomorrow and see whats on offer.

if he can make somethng up i hope he will mail them as i think he is in essex so a bit far from scotland!!!

what about the springs used to lower a 182 such as the apex??

they lower 40mm but might be a tad too far or will they even fit??

Lee G · Nov 2, 2006

chunktrophy said:
just decided to phone up and order the Spax lowering springs for the trophy (20mm) but they have been discontinued due to a lack of sales??? lol

Not being funny but i said to the guy that there are only a percentage of the 551 or so trophys in the world that are gonna want to lower them!!! (then they said that the PI springs for a 172 would fit!!!???) haha

anyway my question is, can i get the trophy lowered by the use of any other aftermarket springs or will i have to go custom??

No offence, and I'm not sure if you were taking the p155 or not, but anyone would have to be mental to ditch Eibach springs and slap some Spax one's on :shock:

I think as others have said, its probably not really a question of just banging some shorter springs on, you want to make sure the rates are correct and that the springs don't screw up the geometry - which if you get some designed for a std 172/182 they almost certainly will. I really would recommend taking the car to a specialist who knows their stuff.

Neophyte · Nov 3, 2006

hoolio said:
...Besides i'm an old fart and i would look even more of a penis with a totally slammed car. (is that how they say it) hehe :lol:

One of the more amusing posts I have read in a while

I had a couple of "youngsters" (young but HUGE, with hoodies of course (bless their souls)) stood by my tomato car recently, discussing it between themselves they concluded it was "Deep" and "Rude"; but I am sure "totally slammed" is something that Westwood character might say, proper street man 8)

By way of contribution to the thread, I can only add (having had some work done by Mark - Camber & brakes) my recommendation for Mark Fish; "knows his onions" is that what they say :wink: . If memory serves correctly he won the R5 GT championship in '85; ie been in the business a while.

Steve · Nov 3, 2006

Just my worthless two-pennyworth but I would never lower my Trophy for cosmetic reasons, but I decided the centre of Gravity needs lowering I would go to Mark Fish and get something done properly rather than just adding some nasty springs off eBay to such a perfect car.

As for your comment Day - Well, the Trophy might look a little high at the back due to it being 10mm lower at the front over the Cup but I would hardly say it's 'on stilts'. I think you've been hanging around with the Cliosport Max Power Massif for too long and forgotten that most Trophy owners bought their cars for the ultimate in driving pleasure to be had for sensible money, not to cruise their local Madeira Drive looking like they're on their way back from a booze cruise with their sea-lion bird in the passenger seat and her walrus friends in the back.

George K · Nov 4, 2006

Lowering begs lots of questions - the advice of going to an expert such as Mark Fish is 100% right - whatever you do do not use cheap springs, they have zillions of drawbacks, Eibach are amongst the best (we used to use them in F1 - but those were mega expensive and specially wiund out of titanium) as will be those used by Bilstein. A couple of issues on the Trophy are that at the front the bump stops are built into the dampers and thus are designed for the standard ride height - lowering will bring them inrto play too soon, whereas at the rear the roll stiffness is partly managed by the short amount of rebound travel and lowering will in fact increase the rebound travel, thus being counter productive.

Secondary issues are that the way the roll centres change with ride height is totally different for strut and torsion beam suspensions, in fact lowering a strut system often lowers the roll centre by more than the reduction in ride height, so actually decreasing roll stiffness, even though the CoG is lowered relative to the road - most people never realise this pitfall. because the lower ride height springs are normally stiffer and so mask this issue. To give you an idea the front springs on the Challenge racers are at least 5, yes 5, times as stiff as those on the Trophy!

Sorry about the lecture, but I spent a lot of time years ago unpicking why racing saloons went slower when the so called suspension mods were a f-up. A lot of the aftermaket stuff is cheap cheerful and mainly cosmetic. For the Trophy stick to tweaking the geometry, which does work, or go to an expert with a proven track pedigree.

Day · Nov 4, 2006

Steve Gunnis said:
As for your comment Day - Well, the Trophy might look a little high at the back due to it being 10mm lower at the front over the Cup but I would hardly say it's 'on stilts'. I think you've been hanging around with the Cliosport Max Power Massif for too long and forgotten that most Trophy owners bought their cars for the ultimate in driving pleasure to be had for sensible money, not to cruise their local Madeira Drive looking like they're on their way back from a booze cruise with their sea-lion bird in the passenger seat and her walrus friends in the back.

Funny I'm sure even the site owner referred to the stilts comment in the past, what are you suggesting

I've never seen your car on a track Steve :twisted: