Riding High !

[Jonathan]

Yeah I must admit even though mine is still fractionally on the high side it rides nicely.

As soon as I can squeeze the time in I'm taking it to Lotus sport to be done properly - I just dont have the ballast (fat boddies lol) here to do reset the suspension myself

[andydclements]

Well my new springs and shocks are definitely starting to settle.

The backs are now at 200mm clearance, when laden to manual method, visually it seems quite a bit lower and when I just went and checks my camber it had gone from 0.5 negative to zero. I've now adjusted the top link and set it to 0.75 negative, to account for a bit more settling and it should then reach the desired 0.5 negative again. The problem is that now I've got to go and adjust the rear toe again. Because the act of adjusting to more negative camber moves the centre of the wheel inwards it means it decreases the toe in.

The fronts are still high, but I'm currently looking to help them settle, 2 bags of sand from B&Q currently reside around the spare wheel, and that's with a spare wheel and the new bigger charge cooler rad. They are at 190 currently, so hopefully a few months and they'll drop a bit more and I can take the sand out, I'm looking forward to that as it is so nose heavy at the moment.

Despite the 4x4 look, and the rear toe out and lack of rear camber the car has still been some much better than the old shocks and springs (Protech), and hasn't been wallowing round corners.

[ragingfool35]

do a track day and it will settle right quick!

[Jonathan]

Yeah - probably.

Just thought I'd share a picture of mine I took yesterday - sitting there with 1/2 tank

Front is on the low setting, rear is on the high (so it looks a bit high) - as you can see it's not monster high anymore.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonhimself/3621971947/sizes/l/

Off to Lotus mid July for the whole kit&kaboodle so it should be perfect.

[Simon350S]

Bleedin heck it still looks high though doesn't it!

Don't remember the original cars looking that heigh in the press pics reviews etc.... and these are supposed to be capable of a 1 inch lowering?

My Vectra is lower than that! LOL

[Jonathan]

It's not that high wrt the factory spec and a LOT lower than it was (add at least 15-20mm)

Keep in mind mine is probably the lightest stevens car available bar a S300 - mines got thin seats and no air-con so even amongst GT3's its light !

Once it is loaded up with passengers it does return to factory spec ride height (well, top end of the tollerance at least).

Just before it goes to factory I will take all the measurments and see what the difference is when I get it back

Ps your vectra might be lower but it's not as fast, doesn't handle as well and it's not red

[jfitz981]

Jonathan,

Your car looks good but that gap in the wheel well is exactly what I am talking about. I do know that Lotus knows handling, but you would think that they know car stance as well...I might just be too picky...

[Jonathan]

It's not been setup right hence the reason why I am taking it to Lotus to have everything done.

The critical thing is re-setting the bushes, which I cannot do here. What you have to do is laden the car correctly and then re-tighten the bushes but I can't get underneath to really do it propperly. What lotus said on the phone is they pull the car down and then chuck it arond the track to check everything.

Having slackened the bushes it's pain to see the car can sit a lot lower, but it's a tricky job to do without ramps etc.

I'm 100% confident all of the 'riding high' issues with the suspension are to do with incorrect setup - we'll see, have no fear I document everything

[andydclements]

If you want a cheat, weigh down the car and measure from hub centre to wheel arch (do all to make sure one side body isn't different to another). Take one wheel off at a time and do those bushes, loosen them, jack the car under the hub to the point at which the hub is at the right distance from the wheel arch and then tighten the bushes, put the wheel back on, return it to the ground and move to the next wheel and so on.

It's not perfect, as you really want to do them all as per factory instructions, but if you don't have suitable facilities, it's enough to get it close.

Andy

[Jonathan]

Shhhhh it's an excuse to goto Lotus really

[Loose Cannon]

Jon

I have a feeling mine will be needing this very soon as the ride has got noticeably poorer this last year. However this ride height thing was putting me off. It's hard to compare on yours as your wheels are different, but it does look higher than the original press shots of the GT3;

However I spoke with an owner of a blue GT3 at Donington who had changed his and the results were not too different which was encouraging, so a bit of settling and a load would help. I would also like to be able to take ferry ramps without fainting!

[Jonathan]

My car IS currently riding slightly too high - which is why it's going to Lotus.

The press cars, well they are just that - they're meant to look low arnt they.

BTW the front tyres are +8mm, the rears are only +2.5mm larger radius than the old ones when I measured the car (correctly laden) in march the fronts were 180mm and the rears 187mm off the deck. Lotus say it should be 180mm +/- 5mm so the car is not far out of spec at all. It drops 14mm at the front when laden which is a lot.

End of the day it might look odd but it is correct within a few mm. This is easily going to be solved by re-setting the bushes.

End of the day I'm not too fussed what it looks like, as long as it keeps owning porsches/subarus/evos and the like in the corners I'm happy - if the man from Lotus, he say YES then I'm even more happy

[rogerch]

This is not an approved method but it is one that has served me well many times over the years. Getting hold of 2 Rogers sitting them in the car (for weight) and then trying to fit underneath it, because it has to be sitting on the ground, well it's not easy.

Currently mine is on 4 stands and I have had all the suspension out, all the bushes are still only finger tight. The last thing I will do before dropping it down is to put a jack under outer link and jack it enough to lift it just off the adjacent stand, then tighten all the bushes on the one corner, then systematically repeat around all 4 wheels. Then put the wheels on and drop it down (next weekend with any luck)

Roger

[sanj]

This is the method I use as well.

[ragingfool35]

that's how I did it

[Vulcan Grey]

That's how I would do it, but instead I had Lewtus drive my car on the track (while I drove his X180-R), and that sorted out my suspension;) Even got rid of the squeak that no amount of grease would cure.

[andydclements]

Brian at the factory is doing some investigation as to which front springs should suit my car as it's sitting at full damper extension, laden with fuel etc but no driver, and very close to full extension (perhaps 5mm car drop) with me in it, so looks like I need softer springs.