Ride height

I’ve just had a garage do quite a bit of work on my car including fitting Spax adjustable dampers on the front. The only problem is that the car has come back from the garage with the nose right up in the air, it looks right-stuck-up. I’ve looked through the maintenance manual but couldn’t find anything about the correct ride height.

Can anyone tell me what the distence should be from the road surface to the underside of the front wheel arch?

Regards
Colin

Colin
Mine isn’t too far off the mark and the figures are
Front 24 1/2" 62cm
Rear 241/4" 61.5 cm

John :wink:

Colin,

Take the Spax off and put original equipment back on and everything will be back as it should be.

I tried Spax adjustables on my S4 when I was putting it together and it was horrible, wishbone and steering angles and ride height all looked odd. I put standard shocks back on and everything fell into place and looked right.

Just for the record I tried Spax on the rear at the same time and the shafts were so much thinner that they were almost pushing through the spring plates - took them off and put Koni’s on - problem solved …vastly superior IMHO

John,

The Spax on your S4 that didn’t match properly, they wouldn’t have been +2 ones would they ? I’ve been mis-sold Elan parts in the past that turned out to be for a +2. I’ve since got around the ‘problem’ by having one of each car, although now I generally know the difference between the dampers, clutches, etc… :unamused:

:arrow_right: Matthew

Hi Matthew,

Pretty sure they were correct - certainly the part number was … they must be for a +2 was my first thought. I think the difference is in the extra bit of body where the adjuster is - makes all the angles wrong.

Even if it was the case it doesn’t excuse the rears. The Koni’s just look and fit so much better

I personally wouldn’t fit Spax on a wheelbarrow :laughing:

This came up either on here or on the Yahoo list a few months ago.

Fitting the “wrong” dampers means the anti-roll bar doesn’t line up.

I’d check whether the wishbone nuts had been tightened up under vehicle load or when the car was dangling in the air.

This pic below shows a +0 fited with +2 dampers

Could be that your garage tightened everything up with the suspension at full droop, not normal ride height. This would cause it to ride a bit high.

I’ve also heard some bad stuff about Spax, and on the Spyder spaceframed +2S (with Spyder wishbones) I bought last year, they were fitted. I thought to give it a go and revert to Konis or whatever If I didn’t like it. I’m now on my second year with them, and chuffed to bits. They’re compliant, and the ride height is fine, not at all high, maybe this has something to do with a different geometry on the Spyder chassis?

Steve, I already suggested that :smiley:

I would echo the previous posts about securing bolts for the shockers and wishbones being tightened up without the weight of the car on them, also I would not put Spax shock absorbers on any of my cars, I use Koni’s, would also use Bilstein if I could get them, but never Spax. Had a poor experience with them when rallying in the 80’s, they felt like the car was riding on concrete, whichever setting they were on, and I soon reverted to Bilstein.
Koni’s are a quality product, have used them on my 911 and my Elan

Thanks to all for your comments particularly John for the dimensions, and to the other John for his comments. I chose Spax because I was fitting Spyder wish bones at the front and Spax came recommended by Andy @ Spyder. I’ve already fitted Koni on the rear.

Many thanks to all.

Colin

Mmm Andy at Spyder… I know lots of you will be fans of the company but my one and only experience was less than successful.

That said:

My S4 has Spyder front wishbones, but they should be dimentionally identical to the original pressed steel ones so shouldn’t be an issue in choice of shocks.

As I mentioned earlier even the rears just didn’t look up to the job. The shaft was thinner than OE (or Koni) and would actually pass up through the lotocone unhindered!! The only thing stopping it was the top spring plate in which it was also a sloppy fit … a disaster waiting to happen on a nice bumpy corner :open_mouth:

Sorry but in my opinion (which isn’t worth a great deal) Spax are cr*p