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Freestyle AVO dampers and springs


Shaun_E

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I think it is a case of you get what you pay for and these dampers are far better than the Bilsteins supplied by Caterham. I have used the Avo's for two years and these have helped me win Class 2 of the Club Speed Championship for the past two years setting a number of class records. Unlike Rob and Dave J, I have no trouble with changing the damper settings as I always start by resetting them to zero *thumbup*.

 

I have no doubt that the Nitrons are a better damper but if your budget cannot stretch to Nitrons these are an excellent compromise.

 

Mark D

Su77on Se7ens *cool*

 

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www.nitron.co.uk

 

They quote different part numbers for pre-96 and post-96 Steve, so I guess the answer is yes. The only danger with getting the bolt-through type is if you DD tube needs replacing - the holes have been deleted from the latest version.

 

£945 for one-way adjustable.

£1480 for two-way adjustable.

£1880 for 3-way adjustable.

 

All plus VAT.

 

Mike

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Costs were in one of my earlier posts but for clarification:

 

Freestyle steel body AVO dampers and springs: £465

Freestyle alloy body AVO dampers and springs: £610

Freestyle alloy body AVO dampers and springs with spherical joints: £730

 

Nitron 1 way adjustables and springs (spherical joints): £1110

 

All above prices are complete including VAT.

 

AVO dampers can be successfully deployed, as certain sprinters have proved, but I am concerned about their longevity and the repeatability of the adjuster settings. There have been technical discussions of the respective design of AVOs and Nitrons before and there is no doubt that the Nitrons are a much better product. I started this thread to see how the AVOs had held up and it is clear to me that there may be issues with their quality. I want this to be a one time purchase so have decided to pay the extra and get the better product. I do realise that I will need someone to set the car up properly for me.

 

Yellow SL *cool* #32

 

Edited by - Shaun_E on 29 Sep 2005 13:25:53

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I haven't. I am looking for a product about which there is a reasonable amount of knowledge and experience in the Caterham world hence the attraction of the AVO and Nitron dampers. Whilst there may not be as many Caterham owners using Nitrons as there are AVOs, there are a few and this counts a lot for me. Looking at the Leda website, they do have a specific setup for Caterham - anyone know the spring rates they use? They are in the same price bracket as the Nitrons. Can't seem to find much on Pro Gas

 

Yellow SL *cool* #32

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The Freestyle setup is excellent, easily adjustable and repeatable - I thoroughly endorse it and have had no problems whatsoever after two years of hard use.

 

I would recommend you consider the full Freestyle pack including front & rear anti-roll bars. In a minute you can totally completely alter the whole character of the car. I find being able to adjust the ARBs gives as much if not more control over the car''s behavior than the dampers alone.

 

It takes quite a few track days in different conditions to find the optimum settings and even then it varies a little each session, so you need to tweak but if you keep a log for each session at least that gives you a good starting datum.

 

And with the money you save, think of all those other upgrades 😳

 

It's not pink, it's medium red violet... 😬

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Leda suspension is very very good. It is fully re-buildable and the service from the factory is A1. I had Leda on my old scoob, but there was a significant problem with the application of the Leda suspension to a scooby (and to this day I am not sure if it was simply a problem with the scoob chassis), you could hear the suspension working via tapping noises throuh the chassis conections. It was that loud, you could hear it at any reasonable speed. I was told the noise is produced from the oil valve control mechanism in the dampers (very complicated design in the Leda apparantly). I seem to remember someone saying that he had similar problems with Leda suspension, but cannot remember the application, it may have been a Honda. Not sure if you would get the same issues in a 7 ?

 

www.R300.net

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Shaun, I run Leada's on my 1600 supersport and I am a class 3 regular in L7 club sprints. I bought mine from James Whitting who specifies 'valving for a 7'. I forget the exact price but they will fall between the AVO's and the Nitrons, they are a quality product and priced accordingly.

 

It looks like wey live very close to each other so if you want to take a look at them or want to know what I thought of the spring rates I've tried let me know.

 

Adrian

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Have you taken a spring off a damper and felt the relative weight of the 2 items? Certainly with the stock billies the damper weight feels insignificant compared to that of the spring.

 

Ah, OK that was a rear damper where the spring is quite a bit longer (than a front).

 

Mike

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