I could do with some advice on suspension.

I have some Tien Monoflex to go on. My plan was to fit these myself, then get upto CG for the bushes and geo stuff. I also have rear lower and upper braces to go on.

But... this talk of control arms / arbs / other stuff leaves me a bit confused.

I only want what I really do need. The car will only be lowered about 25mm and on a sensible geo setup.

I really do want rid of the rws effect, so any advice on wether I need ARB's, and these anti bump steer controlarms things would be appreciated!

Just to add, i'm no Ayrton Senna

 

Just to add, I know about the rear driveshaft spacers.

But what requirement is there for front steering rack spacers?

 

I can ask Chris on Friday, if that's any use?

 

Simon, that would be appreciated

 

Dembo is a suspension know-it-all He only has the rear toe arms and steering rack spacers

 

Yup i'm waiting for him, Lower, PL et al too

 

None! if you are only lowering the car by 25mm.

Changing coilovers is pretty straightforward assuming that they come with the mounts.

I find it easiest to do them in pairs, starting with the fronts. On the fronts you need to undo the upper wishbones to remove/replace the coilover. This is very straightforward.

If you have trouble getting the suspension arm to align with the holes on the lower suspension arm you can use a jack to push the arm up.

On the rear it can be difficult to get into the mount on the passenger side, but you can make it a lot simpler by undoing the petrol filler pipe from under the flap and pushing the pipe out of the way.

Once you have installed the coilovers you need to tighten up the springs. You will then need to take the car out for a run before adjusting the ride height again as the car will settle onto the springs. It took me a few goes to get the height to the right level.

It is quite a straighforward job to DIY.

 

I am? I think I've been overtaken in the know it all stakes by M1BJR. And I have coilovers, ARBs, uprated compliance bushes and the steering rack mounts too.

I had the coilovers, then the bump steer bits, then the ARBs. You know what I think about the bump steer bits, but the ARBs make the car feel really sharp, and you can run the dampers softer whilst keeping the sharpness that you'd get with the dampers set hard. Somewhere bumpy, like die Nordschleife, you don't want the suspension set too hard.

But it's all a compromise, and ARBs mean you lose some independence (i.e. hitting a bump on one side unsettles the car more). And I bet those Tiens have much stiffer springs than my Bilsteins, so YMMV.

As for just doing the rear bump steer bits, I don't know in practice. But it stands to reason that lowering the front increases the steering deflection on bumps, and that can't be good. And it's a pretty cheap fix.

Coilovers are easy to fit DIY. The rear toe arms need a ball splitter and you'll mess up the geo completely doing it, so it's perhaps best done at the same time as a geo. And ARBs are quite easy to do DIY too, and won't affect the geo so you can change them as many times as you want. If you buy the Whiteline adjustable droplinks like mine you can even tweak them to some extent.

If you want to go really mad, you should get roll centre adjusters too, and poly bushes all round.

Do you need any of it? Probably not.

 

:what he said:

I was well advised by none other than the Groova about your knowledge

However, toe arms do not NEED a splitter. Loosen the castle nut, but make sure the top of the thread is covered with the nut. The whack the sh1t out of the knuckle (don't worry, it's strong) whilst applying downward pressure on the wishbone (easier if someone else can do this for you). The ball joint will release

Using ball joint splitters usually buggers up the boots, then crap gets in, then the ball joint seizes

I'd drive for at least 100 miles before getting the Geo done, otherwise when it has bedded in, you'll have to do it again. Perhaps not such a problem for the resident rich man however

 

Having fitted Monoflex, shaft spacers and steering rack spacers to my car, I can tell you now that you WILL NOT remove the RWS

Fitting them is fairly straightforward. The nearside rear one will present you some issues, especially with trying to fit the EDFC module. You can install the damper WITHOUT removing the fuel pipe - you just need a 6" extension and lube it up with some WD-40 so it doesn't snag on the rubber.