Harsh Ride

[bilko0795]

I have recently fitted new Oem shocks along with H&R springs and solid sub-frame bushes ( rear only at the moment ) front bushes to be fitted this w/end With our crappy roads im finding the ride harsh, ok on D/carriageways and motorways it's mainly on the B and some A roads and cattle grids are a nightmare and I go over three everyday twice. Is there a combination that suits our cars better I/e would a better shock like the billie b6 suit the solid bushes and H&R springs better. What combinations are people on here finding suits our roads.

Oh yeah Im also running 18" wheels with 235 x 40 Pirelli p zero tyres don't know if these contribute to the harsh ride.

[macspring]

It's a pain to change them just to see but the main 'problem' I think is the H&R springs, oem wold fix it for you, but the car will ride higher, if you decide to buy coil overs, post how you get on.

HTH a bit.

[Error404]

I found the ride with H&Rs pretty unpleasant, it was really crashy over bumpy B-roads. I'd say the ride is better on the KWs to be honest, even though the spring rate is over 50% stiffer, but stillI would not say they are "comfortable".
Sounds like you want OEM springs though Ray, they are the best bet for comfort

[K Simmonds]

The H&R's are pretty harsh and like Alex says you'd probably be better off with OE springs, however I expect the 18" rim's and 40 profile tyre's aren't helping the situation very much. Changing the shocks will make very little noticeable difference to the harshness of the rid.

On the rougher roads around our neck of the woods I find the best set up for most cars to be standard size wheels with top quality tyre's combined with decent lowering springs/shocks or coil overs and poly bushes. Or if you want to run big wheels and low profiles stick with the OE suspension.

[Christophski]

I have h&r's with oem shocks on my avant and I find it pleasant. A little soft sometimes. Maybe I'm used to harsh riding vehicles from my past car history lol.

[K Simmonds]

What wheel's\profile tyre's do you run? I'm guessing no bigger than 17"'s.

[Rusty]

Sounds like a case of the springs being upside down... (joke for error404)

Just to let you know, you'll never get a coupe to ride well; the suspension design is too simple for the large amount of weight going through the front axle, so you always have to use fairly stiff springs to control it and as a result, the dampers need to be stiffer too. Sure, some fancy variable rate springs, KW V3s or some dampers at £2k would be better but you're always going to be trying to overcome nearly 1000kg bouncing around in front of the front axle and a light rear end...

Seriously though, the stock shocks aren't really going to cut it with the HnRs, so you either want to go for a stock setup or a sport setup. The stiffer springs suit stiffer dampers to control the movement better. I run Konis with them all 0.5 turns from fully stiff and while the ride isn't great, it is at least controlled.

I originally had the Konis (1.5 from hard front, 1.0 from hard rear) and stock springs and in that case, the damping was more than the springs really required but it did mean that sudden direction changes were well controlled, even if steady state cornering yielded the same amount of roll as before.

[Error404]

So in summary Ray, either go back to OEM and have the best comfort, or go KW and have it stiffer but handle much better

[Rusty]

One of the things that ruins the HnRs is that they are dual rate springs, to enable the free length to be greater for standard shocks but when the car is sat at its natural ride height, they are still just on the softer rate, so when the car hits a bump (or you turn in to a corner/ change direction) there is a small portion of the suspension reaction that is at a significantly lower spring rate, thus the movement is less controlled and the car can move at a faster rate. The close coils then bind and the spring rate jumps up but by this point, the car is already moving, so there's more for the springs and dampers to control, resulting is the 'crash' that you feel.

I did look a while ago at designing my own springs to cure this (and the rideheight issue of the HnRs) and make the rates more favorable to sporty driving and handling but struggled to find a manufacturer who I had faith in (as is so often the case unfortunately). If I can find a manufacturer, then springs could be made which are an improvement over the HnRs both in terms of driving and price.

[Error404]

Trouble is there is just no market for them now to make it worth while, there are so few S2s & CQs left now.

[Rusty]

Hadn't stopped me before

[Sonic]

As has already been said the H&R springs are not ideal for comfort and i found that after fitting my coupe, as a result of the lowered ride-height and increased stiffness, the car was far more crashy and i was destroying top-mounts in no time. Simply, they're not cut out for the road conditions we have over here. The wheels also won't help, as the decreased profile with an 18" tyre means there is less travel in it, making the car even more crashy.

I currently run adjustable koni's which are softened up with the H&Rs, and they seem to handle both the road and track, but the lowered height with the H&Rs is still a problem on the road and although it's pretty decent with stock springs, it's not great on the track. As a result i'm going KW V3's, which are fully adjustable (which reminds me i have 2 sets of front struts, stock springs, H&R springs and koni dampers to put up for sale. I have a set of bilstein but they're knackered after road use. Yes i really have tried every combination on a coupe ).

[AndyP]

I did look a while ago at designing my own springs to cure this (and the rideheight issue of the HnRs) and make the rates more favorable to sporty driving and handling but struggled to find a manufacturer who I had faith in (as is so often the case unfortunately). If I can find a manufacturer, then springs could be made which are an improvement over the HnRs both in terms of driving and price.

Try here:-

http://www.coilsprings.co.uk/

I know a few people ( inc me ) who are running custom springs from here and they do what they say

[andy10v]

Off topic

What are the actual handling benefits of lowering an S2 coupe (ignoring springs rates, just like for like but shorter)? Lower centre of gravity?

[Error404]

Lower CoG, but at a compromise of other factors of course. No free lunch