Adjustable Damper Sleeves - Anygood ?

[Guest]

I have a fairly steep drive and I thought I had graded it when we layed it so the seven good clear it. However since finishing the car, adding myself and the spare tyre (that is an actual spare tyre), I am now scraping the car on the drive for about 6-10 inches.

 

I saw the Caterham adjustable damper sleeves. Has anyone used these? Are they any good? I suspect they are not as good as new adjustable dampers but having only done ~150 miles in the car I am loathed to shell out £1000 on new dampers.

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

Picture of Drive

 

Adjustable platform kit

 

Was I wrong to wash the car after the first drive ?

 

Edited by - AndrewB on 17 May 2014 14:49:41

 

Edited by - AndrewB on 17 May 2014 14:50:35

[Mark w]

I think the problem is your drive not the car

 

lifting the front of the car is going to upset the handling .( as will jacking it up at both ends .

 

What about spending a few quid on some timber and plywood and making a short ramp to take out the dip at the bottom of the tarmac / block intersection .

 

You are experiencing the same issue i have with my Porsche in multi storey car parks , the difference is that the Porsche has a front lift system to get over the issue .

 

 

[Guest]

You are quite right the drive is indeed the problem not the car :)

 

However, to avoid lifting the drive (its the ridge by the garage door that is the issue), are the damper sleeves just a poor choice all round and should I just get proper dampers ?

[revilla]

The adjustable platforms are very good at doing what they were designed to do, which is to allow the correct ride heights to be achieved. They were not designed to allow compensation for drives. The setup of ride heights front and rear are very critical for correct handling of the car. If you do jack things up to avoid hitting the drive, you will in all probablity end up with a car that handles very badly, either in understeer, oversteer or where the suspension tops out due to insufficient remaining travel in extension. It is a very fine balancing act. This is true whether or not you raise the car using the adjustable platforms or by swapping suspension components. The adjustable platforms in fact allow you to adjust the effective lengths of the springs rather than the dampers; changing the dampers themselves will have very little effect on this problem. The adjustments provided on alternative race dampers are to allow the damping rates in compression and rebound to be adjusted, not the ride heights. I think you will find it would be a mistake to mess around with critical suspension settings to correct for a problem with your drive. Mark W's suggestion of som sort of wooden ramp seems a lot more sensible (and cheaper!).

 

Edited by - revilla on 17 May 2014 16:13:59

[Roadsport06]

Would a winch set up do the trick? Park up before you ground out and then winch in with you out and therefore the car being slightly higher.

[Jonathan Kay]

Is the car's ground clearance and ride height what you want them to be apart from the issue with the drive?

 

Jonathan

[John Hughes]

If it's the seat bolts shorten them flush with the nuts

[Guest]

I have only had the car out yesterday to give the kids a ride and today for a gentle hour around the moors. I have not pushed it too much to know if the handling is right and I am still on the ZV3 tyres.

 

It's a good point that the car is set at that height for a reason and lifting it will take it away from where it should be.

 

I guess I wanted to hear that the adjustable sleeve kit is perfect and solves everything, even your marriage, rather than "you need to sort your drive out". Even though I knew I needed to sort my drive out ☹️

 

I am thinking I will take the 1000mm x 500mm section which is the ridge area, cut the bricks out with a grinder, then take some grit out and lower the bricks 1/2 inch. Then chamfer the normal height drive bricks to meet the lowered section of bricks. It's not like the drive is suitable for walking on anyway, well not unless you are Sir Edmund Hillary.

 

Thank you all. Blatchat is quite amazing.

[myothercarsa2cv]

The adjustable sleeves are still worthwhile so you can set the ride height properly* rather than by CCs guesswork. But it won't help with the drive

 

*Or at least on a level surface with your weight in it.

[Ian B]

Depending on where it's grounding out, can you just lower the centre 2 - 3 feet of the 'hump'?

 

The adjustable platforms work well but as others have said may affect your handling if set too high (however, it may be that the car is too low anyway?).

 

ISTR that roughly 70mm under the sump is about right (or a rolling coke can clearance ).

 

 

[Ian B]

Or just take the drive at speed so the car goes light over the ridge 😬

 

 

[Grubbster]

Fitting these will make your suspension effectively the same as buying new adjustable platform springs/dampers from CC - so yes, these are exactly what you want if you wish to change the ride height. It's worth measuring the ride height as it is (with you in the car) as it is quite possible that it is already a bit low so raising it a bit might not be so bad anyway. With you sat in the car get someone to measure between the ground and the lowest point of the chassis rail underneath the rear arm of the front wishbone on both sides. In rough terms (this can get quite subjective) about 150 mm should be the minimum (in the Academy we were permitted to be 140 mm minimum so for road use expect to be a little higher). The rear height measured from the ground to chassis rail under the front edge of the rear wing should be 15 - 20 mm higher than the front. If yours is much lower than these then it could well be worth fitting adjustable platforms and getting the car flat floored. If you are already this high then it's time to re-profile the drive!

 

Edited by - Grubbster on 18 May 2014 16:49:34

[Guest]

I've just been to measure the car ride height clearance. I have 70mm under the sump. But I have 130mm to the underside of lower chassis rail by the rear arm of the lower wishbone. The back is currently 160mm.

 

I am not looking for track performance grip equally why have a nice low car then jack it up. I will weigh up re-grading that bit of the drive where it catches. I reckon I only need to lower 40 bricks or so. Maybe I should have got the adjustable dampers originally so as to account for my weight but ultimately the drive needs sorting.

 

 

[Jonathan Kay]

If you take out a few more bricks and reshape what's underneath over a longer distance could you avoid the work of chamfering the bricks?

 

Jonathan

[Grubbster]

So it would appear that your car is running a bit low, particularly at the front so maybe worth investigating a bit more. Another thing - is your car wide track or narrow? If it is wide track then have the 1" extensions to the dampers been fitted? I know that some kits are supplied without them and no mention of them in the assembly guide so it could be part of the problem as this would drop the car a bit at the front.

[Guest]

I do have the SV model and there is the 1" hex extension at the top of the damper. I think I will get the adjustable sleeves so I can balance the car but also sort my drive out.

 

Thank you

 

Andrew