Traction

[MADMALC]

Are your spax adjustable? They usually were. If so ensure the settings are not too stiff. I used a very soft setting on the front and quite stiff on the rear. There is little weight on the front suspension to control but the rear axle is very heavy and I found needed much more stiffness to control it.

From memory, 2 clicks front and 10 rear. Worth a play as it will not cost you anything.

Have fun

[virden]

Madmalc, re spax, do those setting hold true for "track day" springs? and is clockwise to stiffen?

[stevemersey]

Rallye,

I am new to this game, and buying bits everyday at the moment. I have to say though it is no money pit compared to other things I have fettled.

 

I am sure it could be, but I am finding there is a lot of good secondhand gear around here and on ebay, and the new stuff is not too badly priced at the lower levels I inabit. I am finding it just about possible to ebay enough old stuff to keep on top of the Caterham habit....so far...

 

 

 

 

[rallyemerson]

Cheers for all the advice so far,

 

I have made a start on looking at the front setup to see what is going on. The suspension seems to be slightly different both sides, setting both to maximum hardness and then trying to compress the suspension I am getting different results both sides.

 

The dampners were set quite different both sides, however this could be from a corner weighting session by the previous owner.

 

The brakes pads are not wearing evenly and I see that they are both worn on a angle so I am guessing that wont help.

[MADMALC]

Virden, yes clockwise to stiffen. I had the standard springs but I think the principle will be the same. I used to go fully stiff and then count the clicks back. The clicks at the soft end were very indistinct.

[charlie_pank]

You can't change the spring settings from stiffer to softer, only the dampers (if they are adjustable). Some have one adjustment, some have one for compression and one for rebound. If you are going to change them, you need to understand why you are changing them. In any case, I would start by writing down the current settings so you can return to a known point.

 

In order to check the ride height of the car, you'd probably do well to slacken off the damping as soft as it goes, make sure the car is on a level surface, then put your equivalent weight in the driver's seat, bounce the suspension up and down and then start measuring.

 

You probably have different settings each side to account for your mass being on the RHS of the car.