Mr Tidy's MC Thread - 5 Years On!

[blobslosak]

How much droop travel do you have left on the coil-overs after topping them out?

Too little can be pretty disastrous for both ride and handling.

Have you tried to slack off the damping, particularly compression? Or tried different springs with them?

How much droop do you recommend? I've just raised my ride height 17mm rear and 15mm front to OEM heights on BC racing coilovers. Not worried about the rear but front is close to the top of the threads. You can adjust the height through the shock body independent of spring preload though, should have done that.

 

[abar121]

How much droop travel do you have left on the coil-overs after topping them out?

Too little can be pretty disastrous for both ride and handling.

Have you tried to slack off the damping, particularly compression? Or tried different springs with them?

How much droop do you recommend? I've just raised my ride height 17mm rear and 15mm front to OEM heights on BC racing coilovers. Not worried about the rear but front is close to the top of the threads. You can adjust the height through the shock body independent of spring preload though, should have done that.

....

That's a good question and I'm afraid I don't have the answer. On lighter cars that I have more experience with, you want a minimum of about 5cm on the rear, say of a Lotus Elise. Any less than that and it will be terrible on anything other than the smoothest of roads. Track use is completely different.

Most road cars usually have a ton of droop standard. The OP's complaints about the ride, plus having his coil-overs topped out, set the alarm bells ringing.

 

[blobslosak]

You can see on my second photo the rear has a lot of droop so that looks ok. Front not so sure. But something I'll consider as I drive it more, cheers.

 

[abar121]

Cool. Yeah looks like plenty on the rear at least. Great that you have ride height adjustment and not just preload too.

For anyone wishing to measure droop, it's really simple. Measure the ride height, jack that corner of the car up until the tyre is just in contact with the ground (i.e. slight drag on the ground) and take the difference. The spring should still be under some compression.

 

[jonstar]

Good question, and being a newbie to all this sort of stuff I had to look it up. :roll: And the simple answer is I don't know how much droop travel I have!

I'm inclined to think the ride is firmer than I want for a long trip although I don't think it is any worse than when the car was lower, but of course I haven't been able to do a long trip, although the handling seems very good.

I haven't tried other springs on these shocks. In the event I do decide to use the Eibach springs that came with the car I'd get a set of Bilstein or KW dampers (recommendations welcome) so the coil-overs remain a complete kit.

Lovely car! I think the standard suspension can use some improvement, may be interested in yours if you sell.

Did you remove the CDV, if so can you feel much difference?

 

[Mr Tidy]

Lovely car! I think the standard suspension can use some improvement, may be interested in yours if you sell.

Did you remove the CDV, if so can you feel much difference?

Thanks, I'll try to bear that in mind if I do swap onto something else.

Ross did remove the CDV, but it's hard to tell as I haven't done 20 miles yet.

 

[jonstar]

Yeah good point! Looking forward to the next update.

 

[Manxman1950]

On the subject of suspension alternatives, I ran the B12 kit on my 335is, together with poly subframe bushing inserts and a Wavetrac LSD and the car was transformed. After soliciting advice from respected local Z4M owners I opted for the KWv3s for my roadie, which I picked up from Demon Tweeks during one of their periodic sales and have been very happy with these. The B roads around the Niagara peninsular are similar to my recollection of the Herts area, during my Caterham days, so some improved suppleness is appreciated.

 

[Mr Tidy]

How much droop travel do you have left on the coil-overs after topping them out?

Too little can be pretty disastrous for both ride and handling.

Have you tried to slack off the damping, particularly compression? Or tried different springs with them?

So a quick update on this as I had the trolley jack out today to swap the wheels on my 3 Series, and once I'd finished I put it under my MC.

Even topped out on the H & R coil-overs I've got about 70mm of droop on the front and 80mm on the rear, so I would have thought that should be enough.

The damping on these units isn't adjustable, only the ride height. I haven't tried different springs because the previous owner bought them as a complete set so I'd expect the springs to be matched to the shocks like a B12 kit.

Now I can use it to go further than the shops I'll see how they feel, but I'm starting to think the Eibach springs that came with the car may be the way to go for a bit of compliance and add some new shocks. Then I need to decide which shocks for longer trips and the occasional B road blast. Bilstein, KW or others? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Well I took it for an MOT today, and it passed with no advisories - happy days!

So I came home the long way round and topped it up with Tesco Momentum - it was only £1.069 a litre.

Then when I got home I pulled Fuse 40 out again so I don't lose any headlamp washers parts. After messing about with the alignment of the glovebox catch I finally got it so that the catch worked properly, so it won't be falling open every time I hit a pothole any more. :lol:

 

[LeeZ4MR]

So I came home the long way round and topped it up with Tesco Momentum - it was only £1.069 a litre.

I usually use Tesco 99 all the time in my 370Z, but the closest one to me is 13 miles away in the opposite direction to the food shop I was going to yesterday. So I had to put shell V power in instead at 1.26 a litre!

Shell have always been absolute robbing gits for sure!

 

[MrPT]

So I came home the long way round and topped it up with Tesco Momentum - it was only £1.069 a litre.

I usually use Tesco 99 all the time in my 370Z, but the closest one to me is 13 miles away in the opposite direction to the food shop I was going to yesterday. So I had to put shell V power in instead at 1.26 a litre!

Shell have always been absolute robbing gits for sure!

Ah yeah but every 4 million fillups you get a free Costa coffee and 50p off a Ginsters, so it’s totally worth it.

 

[LeeZ4MR]

So I came home the long way round and topped it up with Tesco Momentum - it was only £1.069 a litre.

I usually use Tesco 99 all the time in my 370Z, but the closest one to me is 13 miles away in the opposite direction to the food shop I was going to yesterday. So I had to put shell V power in instead at 1.26 a litre!

Shell have always been absolute robbing gits for sure!

Ah yeah but every 4 million fillups you get a free Costa coffee and 50p off a Ginsters, so it’s totally worth it.

:lol:

 

[mmm-five]

Ah yeah but every 4 million fillups you get a free Costa coffee and 50p off a Ginsters, so it’s totally worth it.

It's every 10 fill-ups, and in-between the trigger points you get a random 10p off a tank off a £2 bottle of 20p/bottle water.

...and you get to offset your carbon emissions (I think they buy credits from Tesla) - so my 330D is cleaner than my Z4MC

 

[abar121]

OP, good news on the MOT and the droop seems reasonable.

Did you notice any effect removing the CDV?

Cheers.

 

[MrPT]

Ah yeah but every 4 million fillups you get a free Costa coffee and 50p off a Ginsters, so it’s totally worth it.

It's every 10 fill-ups, and in-between the trigger points you get a random 10p off a tank off a £2 bottle of 20p/bottle water.

...and you get to offset your carbon emissions (I think they buy credits from Tesla) - so my 330D is cleaner than my Z4MC

Hah... don't get me wrong, I still buy the stuff. The free Costa usually ends up in the driver's door bin and footwell.

 

[blobslosak]

OP, good news on the MOT and the droop seems reasonable.

Did you notice any effect removing the CDV?

Cheers.

I'm trying to get my head around this droop business. Surely droop is the same whether the spring collar is in the lowest or highest position on the coilover body.

With the collar (and hence ride height) in lowest position, the spring is probably uncompressed and free to rattle by hand. The damper will fully extend under gravity.

With the collar in the highest position, the spring will be compressed, but pushes the damper downwards so the damper will be fully extended.

So in either configuration, with a wheel dangling in free air, either gravity or the spring will force the wheel and damper down to its full extension no?

What am I missing? Makes my head hurt

 

[Mr Tidy]

Well I've only done about 100 miles since the CDV came off and while but it does feel slightly better, it's not the sort of "Night and Day" difference I noticed on my 3.0Si.

The suspension thing had been doing my head in too! :lol:

But based on what I have been told even on the highest setting (like mine is) the spring isn't any more compressed because the piston in the damper extends - unless it reaches the end of it's travel, and if that happened then you wouldn't have any droop. Which is why I thought I would measure my droop.

So if you encountered a dip in the road the wheel might briefly leave the ground because there would be no downward suspension travel if the damper was at the limit of it's travel.

 

[bowser134]

How much droop travel do you have left on the coil-overs after topping them out?

Too little can be pretty disastrous for both ride and handling.

Have you tried to slack off the damping, particularly compression? Or tried different springs with them?

So a quick update on this as I had the trolley jack out today to swap the wheels on my 3 Series, and once I'd finished I put it under my MC.

Even topped out on the H & R coil-overs I've got about 70mm of droop on the front and 80mm on the rear, so I would have thought that should be enough.

The damping on these units isn't adjustable, only the ride height. I haven't tried different springs because the previous owner bought them as a complete set so I'd expect the springs to be matched to the shocks like a B12 kit.

Now I can use it to go further than the shops I'll see how they feel, but I'm starting to think the Eibach springs that came with the car may be the way to go for a bit of compliance and add some new shocks. Then I need to decide which shocks for longer trips and the occasional B road blast. Bilstein, KW or others? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Iain,

Was meaning to message you. I drove an MC a couple of weeks ago which had the Bilstein B12 kit fitted and it drove really well. Think that’s made up of Eibach springs and Bilstein B8 dampers so you’d only need the dampers.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Iain,

Was meaning to message you. I drove an MC a couple of weeks ago which had the Bilstein B12 kit fitted and it drove really well. Think that’s made up of Eibach springs and Bilstein B8 dampers so you’d only need the dampers.

Many thanks Ross, that seems to be the way I will be heading. On our lumpy roads with these H & Rs I keep seeing the T/C light flashing for some reason! :lol:

On a smooth road they are great but smooth roads are few and far between, and usually not the twisty type you would head to for some fun.