James B. Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 I have a live axle car & would like to improve the ride. Gary at Freestyle does a mod using spax shocks, anyone have personal experience of this mod 🤔 James.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdodo Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 James, What do you mean - 'improve the ride'? Make it go round corners faster 😬 or not be as bumby or harsh over pot holes ? Sorry no experience of the freestyle mods. I have adjustable spaxs and the 'ride' can be varied by adjusting them from a soft, even out the bumps, to a hard, bounce all over the road, set up.     Nick in the (1987) 1700 X Flow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James B. Posted June 14, 2006 Author Share Posted June 14, 2006 Nick, thanks for that, you have more or less answered my question, where I live in Torquay the roads are B awful & I'm running Bilstein at the moment. Can't adjust them. Also, can tyres make a difference 🤔 Thanks again, James.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Crudders Posted June 14, 2006 Area Representative Share Posted June 14, 2006 James - my LA car has a Juno (forerunner of Freestyle) Live Axle Handling Kit, which transformed the car. This runs very hard springs that actually give a more compliant ride. Shock absorbers actually don't, or shouldn't, absorb the shock - that job should be handled by the spring and the 'shock absorber' should just be damping the oscillations. For some reason 'damper' seems to be regarded as a rather old-fashioned term  As standard my car was riding on the dampers and actually using them as shock absorbers - a big bump would compress the springs far too easily and the dampers would load up so far and then suddenly lock solid, giving the impression of a far harder and choppier ride than the rating of the standard springs would suggest. It sounds like your Bilsteins might be even worse in this respect, not haing any built-in adjustment Anyway, I'd recommend getting some upgraded springs from Gary to go with your Spax adjustable dampers  I've yet to meet anyone unhappy with Gary's work  Cheers, Crudders  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James B. Posted June 14, 2006 Author Share Posted June 14, 2006 Thats brilliant Crudders, thanks a lot, I shall be on to Gary in the morning. James  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Crudders Posted June 14, 2006 Area Representative Share Posted June 14, 2006  Best of luck James. Not that you'll need it. If you see what I mean. Cruds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdodo Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 James, Hope they sort it. It certainly makes the difference between a car thats a joy to go out in and one that you have to fight over all the pot holes etc. When mine is not set up right even the road markings cause it to skip. I guess this is when they are set to firm and the shoks are trying to do the job of the springs, as cruddders says. I hadnn't thought of it like that before. They don't have to be that hard to be fun. Nick in the (1987) 1700 X Flow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Elizabeth Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Yes, tyres help a huge amount. Going from 15" Prisoners to 13" 70 profile A021 made the car much easier to drive on bumpy roads, as less tramlining. Also more comfortable AND more grip ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Sewell Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 I had Gary put in their road springs and AVO dampers - together with the adjustable front ARB (I had previously upgraded to the pukka double wishbone front setup) on my live axle. It was the first time that I felt the whole car worked together. Still love it. Cheers, Graham --- Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Crudders Posted June 15, 2006 Area Representative Share Posted June 15, 2006 Second Noger's point (sorry James, missed the original question!) and not just on 7s but any car - this image-based obsession with big wheels and ultra-low profile tyres ruins the ride and handling more often than not  I have to admit I went against CC's recommendation for 185/70 X 13 when I specced my car originally and went for 185/60 X 14 (which works OK in my experience) but then 60 profile is considered pretty fat these days. And I do have some 13" rims on the side which will be dressed with a set of 70 profile Yoko 021s in due course. Apart from anything else these ludicrously low profile tyres do not absorb shocks from potholes and regularly buckle wheels. And all for the 'benefit' of making your car look 'cool'. Sod that for a lark  Crudders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrino Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 But how about weight - fatter sidewalls mean heavier tyres and that's unsprung weight, right? I'm sure the CR500s weren't designed purely with aesthetics in mind - it must help reduce the weight of the tyre too. Unless we're just tallking about stupidly thin boy-racer profile tyres.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James B. Posted June 15, 2006 Author Share Posted June 15, 2006 Thanks for all your helpful comments; spoke to Gary today so watch this space. James. By the way, been off the air for a couple of years (bought a pub) used user name 'boasies' (1.6 VX Blydenstein) nice to be back even if I am a novice again. James.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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