Latest uprated shocks for Road.

[Beagler]

As title what are people fitting please. No track use more comfort than speed. Bit like me. 

[Wrightpayne]

Bilsteins - you can get your old ones refurbished in Leicester

[Beagler]

Thanks its only done 11000 mls so are in good condition. Want something thats an improvement.

[StevehS3]

I find the standard S and R pack ones surprisingly compliant and comfortable. What tyres are you using and what pressure? 

[K7 VCT]

Simon at Meteor Motorsport has various options including new budget ish Core 1 range

[Beagler]

Nankang @ 18psi new earlier this year. Wondered if there was an improvement over standard.

[Wrightpayne]

I know someone who has taken their fancy shocks off their road car and gone back to bilsteins. 

[Beagler]

There maybe some who have taken off bilstiens and found some better fancy shocks. 

[OldAndrewE]

What is the issue with the dampers you have at the moment?

[BenF]

I suspect that when people found improvement in damper upgrades, they were replacing dampers which were knackered.  If your Bilsteins were set up correctly for your spring rates, there should not be much to gain from fitting new dampers.  The cost of a refurb at Bilstein used to be 75 quid per unit, which is a lot cheaper than new dampers all round although still with the inconvenience of having to remove them.

I speak as someone who used to work professionally in this field for 20+ years: we were regularly courted by damper manufacturers, with promises of improved performance.  However, from objective performance evaluation (ride models, rig tests and simulator), we found that once the damping was in the ballpark, there is very little to gain from further tuning.  I suspect most damper "upgrades" done on performance cars are placebos.

[Wrightpayne]

Beagler,

Its your money - the person I know is a hardcore trackday enthusiast with many years seven ownership and multiple cars. His trackday seven has fancy dampers, his road seven has bilsteins.

I had my billies refurbed at 20 years old / 20 K miles and they're greatly improved.

Ian

[Beagler]

Yes it my money. The question was is there a an upgrade for road use to the standard shocks that members have found to be an improvement. I know I can have the standard bilsteins refurbished but that was not the question. My standard ones are not in need of refurbishment. If you are content with yours thats great.
Maybe someone who has found  a better alternative might like to comment.

[Wrightpayne]

Ok - I'm not trying to be smart or condescending, just trying to impart 25 years of personal caterham experience.
 

Further up the thread you have been asked what you think is wrong with the current set up? Suspension set up is a very personal thing and what is perfect for one person is awful for another. Dampers and springs are only a couple of variables in setting up the handling.

Perhaps if you could explain how you like your cars to handle and what shortfalls the current set up has, then people can better respond to your request.

I'll not respond further and let other members offer their advice.

[ScottR400D]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.........

[BenF]

It is your money to spend, but if someone has found an upgrade from the standard Bilsteins, you also need to be asking them about their spring rates - as the best ride performance is found by optimising the dampers for a given spring rate.

I assume the Bilsteins are set with a generic characteristic which is optimum for a specific spring rate.  When/how this was defined is a mystery.

If your springs you are using are +/-10% stiffness from this standard rate, there will be no noticeable ride performance benefit by fitting dampers with re-optimised characteristics.  If your car has much stiffer springs fitted (>20% difference in spring rate from the matched damper optimum), road Bilsteins should then be under-damped, but even then the ride quality will not be signficantly affected, you're just losing a bit of peak performance.

[Shortshift]

Replying to #7

There might well be more than one person in that category!

James

[Beagler]

I think the best thing to do is discuss with this with firms who deal in this type of suspension. Thanks for those who have tendered constructive comments.

[BenF]

Beagler - possibly, but bear in mind that firms selling these products will not necessarily give the best advice in the interests of the customer.  They are also trying to make a living.

They can always say that a damper change will improve performance but it is difficult to prove unless you actually do some kind of objective measurement, which is beyond the scope of almost any 7 owner.

If some damper specialists are proposing an upgrade, ask to see some results from a 4 poster test or a ride simulation.  They should be able to demonstrate a significant difference in the contact patch load variation from the standard Bilsteins to their proposal.  If they aren't able to do that or at least are able to explain why their proposed damper characteristic is better, then the change could be completely arbitrary.

 

[Shortshift]

To reinforce what BenF is saying above.  I suspect (in fact, I really believe) that most of the aftermarket shocks that are advertised for Caterhams are really oriented towards track and motorsports activity.  Given that your starting point was 'comfort on road' then I think you'd have to tread very carefully.

Just think about the amount of time, knowledge and resource that Caterham and their preferred supplier (Bilstein in this case) put into developing their OE damper specs.  I struggle to think of the aftermarket specialists getting anywhere close to this...

James

[Beagler]

Like all manufacturers items are made to a price. Components in many cases  have higher quality or functional alternatives or to obtain higher spec components a higher price is charged. I look at my BMW X1 MSport and there are many components chosen at a higher spec than standard. In the world of Air rifles the aftermarket accessories and alternate components abound to improve on a basic manufacturer build. Whilst as an example, the lights fitted to my car were adequate a vast improvement was fitting LED's similarly the catch can plastic bottle although functional to a degree can be improved on by aftermarket alternates. I wondered if the rear shocks could also be.

[Tazio]

There are very few people who once they have invested not inconsiderable amounts of money in non standard springs and shocks will ever admit that their money has not been well spent, I.e. they were wrong.

There are a lot of experienced voices on this thread that are steering you away from spending lots of money, and in my experience they are correct, and I have been on the same journey.

Alan

[Guy Lowe]

Beagler, you have posted asking for advice & recommendations which several people, who have considerable experience in this field, have kindly offered. However the tone and attitude of your replies is somewhat disparaging and unnecessary IMO. 

We are a friendly club with a membership who collectively have considerable knowledge of all things Caterham & Lotus 7, members that are more than to willing to help. Perhaps a bit of courtesy wouldn’t go amiss, after all it costs nothing.   

[Beagler]

My reply of "Thanks for those who have tendered constructive comments."
In #7 was neither disparaging nor discourteous and was with gratitude. You are of course entitled to your opinion.

 

[Hampshire West AR]

I had 2500 mile Bilsteins on my last 7 which were not good, swopped to a secondhand set of Nitron supplied NTR1s and they were night and day better.  Cost me £700.  Had them on the car for about 12 years, never got them refurbished and did about 23,000 miles and they still seemed fine. My new car has factory supplied Bilsteins that seem ok so will stick with them for the time being but would not hesitate to upgrade to some Nitrons in the future.

Nick

[Beagler]

Good, another constructive suggestion. My thanks Hampshire West AR for your  input. I will include the NTR1's in consideration.