Ok.
It's been a while.
The suspension has been in the car since May so now full bedded/settled in.
Now I must admit I'm a bit of an à–hlins fan, so may be biased, but this is really based on using their dampers for thirty years on different things over that time.
I fitted them myself (roughly) just so I could reduce the costs and do all the prep and cleaning that I knew I would need to do "while I was there" so spent two days going through all the bits and pieces.
New ARB's were also on the list as it was obvious I was still on the originals.
So, the plan was fit suspension then the ARB's then drive to Centre of Gravity to get all the important geometry set.
Some images..
The old bushes.. shot.
The previous shocks were Koni FSD's, I had no real issues with these but for a need (or perceived need) for the ability to adjust the damping.
Hub separated, before a good clean..
Then the top mounts.
New top mount plate offered up.
But decided that they should go the other way round, these are solid top mounts and are very nicely machined.
Initial fitting, with new bushes and clamps. (SuperPro bushes used)
The car was then driven to Center of gravity for everything to be finished off properly
Chris and Pete really do know what they are doing and they share all the details of what, where, why and when, it was great to watch (I tried to help by not getting in the way too much)
The car was birthed after a test drive to assess the current handling then the before geometry was taken.
The company couldn't be better, a beautiful RS.
The only surprise of the day was my lower arms, they had to go, but every cloud...
Chris has some brand new genuine replacements, so the job wasn't stopped.
So then on to the final fitting and geometry set up, all the parts touched received a mark after torque checks.
The ride height was set at RS plus 10mm making for a best real world balance.
The day ended with Pete and I going for a test drive around the same route as the morning to ascertain any differences.
Amazing results, the confidence the car gave as soon as you got going was well worth all the effort. What was a surprise was the better initial acceleration, due to less weight transfer to rear and vice versa, better more stable braking the front as there was less dive, and it tracks so straight..
Turn in, stability, transition through corners then out through to the exit was so well damped, really impressed. (Very happy)
This was straight out of the box, I have done about three thousand miles or so now and the newness (stiction) is none existent.
The combination of the the geometry and the dampers has been well worth it, and after all the checks I'm 100% sure everything under the car is right.
It's been a while.
The suspension has been in the car since May so now full bedded/settled in.
Now I must admit I'm a bit of an à–hlins fan, so may be biased, but this is really based on using their dampers for thirty years on different things over that time.
I fitted them myself (roughly) just so I could reduce the costs and do all the prep and cleaning that I knew I would need to do "while I was there" so spent two days going through all the bits and pieces.
New ARB's were also on the list as it was obvious I was still on the originals.
So, the plan was fit suspension then the ARB's then drive to Centre of Gravity to get all the important geometry set.
Some images..
The old bushes.. shot.
The previous shocks were Koni FSD's, I had no real issues with these but for a need (or perceived need) for the ability to adjust the damping.
Hub separated, before a good clean..
Then the top mounts.
New top mount plate offered up.
But decided that they should go the other way round, these are solid top mounts and are very nicely machined.
Initial fitting, with new bushes and clamps. (SuperPro bushes used)
The car was then driven to Center of gravity for everything to be finished off properly
Chris and Pete really do know what they are doing and they share all the details of what, where, why and when, it was great to watch (I tried to help by not getting in the way too much)
The car was birthed after a test drive to assess the current handling then the before geometry was taken.
The company couldn't be better, a beautiful RS.
The only surprise of the day was my lower arms, they had to go, but every cloud...
Chris has some brand new genuine replacements, so the job wasn't stopped.
So then on to the final fitting and geometry set up, all the parts touched received a mark after torque checks.
The ride height was set at RS plus 10mm making for a best real world balance.
The day ended with Pete and I going for a test drive around the same route as the morning to ascertain any differences.
Amazing results, the confidence the car gave as soon as you got going was well worth all the effort. What was a surprise was the better initial acceleration, due to less weight transfer to rear and vice versa, better more stable braking the front as there was less dive, and it tracks so straight..
Turn in, stability, transition through corners then out through to the exit was so well damped, really impressed. (Very happy)
This was straight out of the box, I have done about three thousand miles or so now and the newness (stiction) is none existent.
The combination of the the geometry and the dampers has been well worth it, and after all the checks I'm 100% sure everything under the car is right.