aftermarket springs with standard shocks

[jimbob-mcgrew]

going to lower the nova 40mm sometime in the future.
i wanna make it look a tad better, but at the same time keep the spongy ride quality.
how will the handling react to aftermarket springs ?
ive heard it can be a dangerous upgrade to do if the shocks arent matched to the spring rate.
would it be worth waiting till i had the money to get a full kit (if they do comfortable kits that is)

[Mike]

It will handle shockingly bad.

[Jay]

would it be worth waiting till i had the money to get a full kit

Yes.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

know of anyone that sells a comfortable kit ? friend on mine had a 40mm apex kit on his and speed bumps and potholes were prety brutal, especially sat in the back, would shock u up thru the spine almost and every now and then hit your head on the ceiling.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

It will handle shockingly bad.

shockingly bad as in worse than standard ?

[Jack]

Unfortunately you can't really have better handling and lower ride height whilst retaining comfort

Its not good on the dampers to be at half height (or so) all the time - imagine walking round everywhere like an ape with your knees bent, similar thing - so its better to get a full kit. Plus the dampers that are on there now are probably still the original ones? So no doubt pretty much past their use by date anyway.

However, matched dampers (being shorter) have less distance for resistance, so make up for that by being harder.

Don't forget tyres also give some damping force too, in fact most of my suspension softness is from my tyres. If I had 195/45, the ride would be a boneshaker lol

[jimbob-mcgrew]

lol knee bent ape lol makes sense !
hmm, in that case i think what im after is probably gte suspension & springs.
whats the drop on that 25mm ?
im not prepared to sacrifice the ride quality, and besides i quite like the handling characteristics of the standard suspension, u know exactly when its gonna snap out by the amount of lean.
im more of a rally fan than a road warrior anyhow, so it'l prob work out best this way.

[Leeboo]

????

40mm springs will be fine on standard shocks! Will be a little bouncy but hey you have to expect it.

It will handle slightly better with less body roll.

It certainly isn't dangerous.

But yes if you can afford hardened gas shocks aswell then it will be better, iv 60mm kyb shocks and springs in mine and they are top notch.

[Graeme]

As RJ said the increased looks are going to be in exchange for ride quality, When we were younger we used to fit springs only but they did frequently 'bottom out' which isn't good, this is because you have the shock permenently under load and with a forty mil spring you will loose that much travel. I don't know what is dangerous about it but it definately won't improve the handling

[Jack]

I wouldn't have said 40mm would be dangerous on standard dampers, but it WILL shorten their lifespan. If the damper gives up, all that will happen is that corner will become a lot more springy. You know how car buying guides all say to rock or bounce each corner of the car and check to see if it keeps bouncing after you let go - thats checking to see if the dampers are knackered.

60mm on standard dampers, now that could be dangerous. Springs can come dislodged from spring cups, and the rear ones may even fall out.

IIRC GTE/GSi stuff is only 10mm lower? Bilstein black are supposed to be OEM spec but 25% uprated, so they may be worth a shot.

[GDN16v]

IIRC GTE/GSi stuff is only 10mm lower? Bilstein black are supposed to be OEM spec but 25% uprated, so they may be worth a shot.

Beat me to it!!:p The black bilsteins are very good if youre looking for a slightly softer ride, and they are quite cheap!!:thumb: Use with Bilstein springs!

[jimbob-mcgrew]

only 10mm ? poo! lol

will deffo have to take a furher look into those black bilsteins.

cheers guys.

[amggsi]

I put my 60mm springs and standard GSi shocks onto the 1.0 to see how they would go, and the answer is not to well!!!
The fronts aren't long enough to stay seated properly in the shock, and the ride quality with them is very bad!
I've only managed to drive it about a mile so far, so think I'll have to look out for a new set of shocks!
I've the same springs with the Bilistein black dampers in the SR, and they don't compare!!!