'Crashy' Suspension

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Rubyoptics
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:29 pm
Location: Warsaw - Poland

'Crashy' Suspension

Post by Rubyoptics »

Hey all, im hoping you can advise me on the best way forward to sort out my current problems with my suspension. The current dampers were changed in 2015 (have the invoice for this work) however no name for them is visible either on the units themselves or on the invoice, so i'm going to go ahead and assume that they are fairly generic units chosen for cost rather than any improvement over the stock items.

Whilst the roads where I live are fairly terrible, i feel that the current situation is also pretty, well, terrible to be honest. My suspension crashes over even fairly small irregularities in the road surface, and larger ones are literally painful! The plan has always been to improve the stock suspension setup and the appearance of the car with a coilover setup on the front to lower the ride height slightly (and i do mean slightly) as well as getting better quality adjustable dampers on the rear, with a possible ride height adjustment through the torsion beam as and when I may want it.

My question is as follows...I fully realise that most coilover set-ups are going to be firmer than the original set-up, and in general i'm ok with this. However, considering im on the stock setup (as far as possible) at the moment and it's atrocious, where should i begin on improving this? I've read a lot here and on 206info about the drop link having a generally short life, and the road conditions here can't be helping with that. Should i look at replacing these first before continuing any further? Is there anything else on the stock set-up that would carry over to a coilover set-up that i could look at replacing to improve the suspension performance before splashing out rather a lot of money (roughly half the cost of the car!) for the coil overs?

Many thanks as always for your insights.

Joe
2003 2.0. Dyno'd @ 134BHP. 2.5" full stainless exhaust system, lexus style rear lights, LED sidelights and interiors. Latest mod - Full stainless steel Group N gear linkages.

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gazza82
Posts: 2126
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

Re: 'Crashy' Suspension

Post by gazza82 »

I found the CC has a very firm suspension and possibly not helped by the XL lower profile tyres on the 16" wheels .. they have strengthened sidewalls too making them less flexible. 15" wheels with an increase in the profile to compensate and possibly more flexible walls would help. The front arms have slightly stiffer bushes too ... GTi versions .. and I don't think the droplinks will have much of an effect.

I know you also post on 206info and my guess is most people's experience is bigger rims and even lower profiles than you are planning!

I've got a hatchback with 14" wheels and that has 65 profiles .. and that is also pretty teeth rattling!
Family Fleet: ex-Cayman Green 206 CC 2.0 LE, Indigo Blue 206 1.4 HDi Hatchback, Subaru BRZ Auto, Alfa Romeo MiTo

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Rubyoptics
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:29 pm
Location: Warsaw - Poland

Re: 'Crashy' Suspension

Post by Rubyoptics »

Indeed, there was someone on 206info recently wanting to drop to an even lower profile in order to squeeze some 17" rims on his CC, i did advise him that it would be a fantastic idea - if he was driving around on an ironing board all day!

I'm aware that the CC does have firmer suspension than normal, just unsure if mine is unduly 'crashy' due to some worn parts somewhere in the set-up. Living in Poland with a GF who has about as much interest in cars as the dark side of the moon means that I can't really communicate with most of the mechanics over here, even through her, as she has no idea how to translate the parts from Polish to English and visa-versa!

If anyone lives around the London area who is experienced in these cars and is willing to take mine out for a spin and give me some feedback, I'll be in the UK around the end of July. I can certainly pay you in beer for your time!!
2003 2.0. Dyno'd @ 134BHP. 2.5" full stainless exhaust system, lexus style rear lights, LED sidelights and interiors. Latest mod - Full stainless steel Group N gear linkages.