Simon W

I have just had a set of Bilstein B16/PSS9 coilovers fitted to my car at Center Gravity, and the suspension geometry optimised for track and the Toyo R888s I use for track days. Chris also fitted polybushes on the rear toe arms.

I collected the car yesterday, and it is transformed. I’ll know more on Friday as I’m going for a track evening at Bedford, but during the test drive with Chris yesterday, as he demonstrated the different handling characteristics with different settings on the dampers, I was mightily impressed.

The idea had been in my mind for some time. You know how it is, you read on here about other people’s projects, and after a while you get inspired to find out if your car can be improved from stock. I’ve had my S for over 3 years now, and have enjoyed it immensely “out of the box” but had begun to think that the suspension might be improved, especially for track work. So, I read a few threads, and did a bit of research. Then I contacted CG and set out my aims and my half formed ideas.

Chris sent me an e-mail in which he actually didn’t try to sell me anything at all. What a refreshing change! He simply asked me whether I had had my geo set up to suit my use of the car, and suggested I might do that first, to see if it gave me the improvements I was hoping for. By this stage, though, I really felt I wanted adjustable dampers so that I could stiffen the car up for the track but keep it comfortable for the road, so next Chris recommended (out of my options of KW v3 or Bilstein PSS/9) the Bilsteins. He also recommended the polybushes for the rear toe arms to reduce the rear steer. He gave me a quote for the work, which I was happy to accept, and so we looked at the diary.

About three weeks ago, therefore, I set the controls for the heart of Atherstone. Well, Holly Lane Industrial Estate, to be precise. Chris wanted to check the car over in advance of booking the car in for the work, so that he could assess the state of the car, and see how much work he needed to do to free of the adjustment bolts etc. I found Chris’ enthusiasm infectious. He really knows his stuff, and took the time to explain to me how the suspension on the car worked, where all the bits were, what they did, and what he was going to do. This was fascinating, and what’s more, I found Chris and Jayne to be really nice people, which just made the whole project even better. I don’t know, you might get this kind of job done well somewhere else, but if in addition you like the people you are involved with, it adds another dimension to the experience of booking your pride and joy in somewhere and having someone attack it with spanners, which, as we all know, can be a little daunting.

So, last Monday I dropped the car off at Center Gravity, and Jayne dropped me off at Tamworth Station so I could get the train back to Birmingham.

Yesterday morning, as planned, I got the train back to Tamworth, and Chris collected me in my now lowered and somewhat meaner looking S. There’s about a 30mm drop at the front and about 20mm drop at the rear. Immediately as he drove me out of Tamworth I felt the difference from the old setup. We were on full soft settings, which was very comfortable, but the car felt far more composed, and cornered far more confidently than before. That might have been something to do with Chris’s driving as well, but when I got in the driver’s seat and found out for myself what the car felt like, it was a revelation.

We spent a good 2 hours testing the car on various different types of road around Atherstone. Chris has a well established set of routes he uses to demonstrate the different characteristics of the handling, and he explained everything to me as we went from full soft, to full hard, to intermediate settings, and then hard front and soft rear, before the final demonstration (what not to do) of soft front and hard rear. Interesting!

Then it was back to the office where Chris showed me all the geometry settings, and explained why he had set the car up as he had. He got the car up on the hoist so I could see all the new bits, and how he had freed off the adjuster bolts and fitted the polybushes. He showed me how to adjust the ride height (not sure I will!), and we discussed how he could further adjust all of this geo if I have any issues after this season on the track.

Sorry this is a rather long write-up, and I haven't posted any settings I know, but I’m very pleased indeed with the results, and wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed the whole process.
If anyone is interested I can post settings later.

The Loon

A great write up Simon. It's just what the doctor ordered for me, as I'm getting these coilovers too - very soon

Dembo

I've always found having the front slightly softer (2 on fronts, 1 on rear) is what works best on track.

Simon W

Thanks Dembo I'll try that. Chris has encouraged me to experiment with the settings. The only thing he said was not a good idea was full soft front and full hard back, which he showed me just so I'd know why!

Dembo

What happened? In theory softer at the front should mean turn in oversteer and exit understeer, which I always found good on track because you can turn in better, and use more power on the exit. But with different geo and those tyres, you might find a different compromise works better.

Simon W

Full soft on the front and full hard on the rear gave quite unpleasant understeer, and the front felt as though you were pushing it around corners, rather than the car being nicely balanced. There must come a point in the adjustment where with the settings much closer together front and rear you get the advantage you speak of, but if you go to the extreme (as we did just for demonstration) it is not very nice!