What is the ideal ride height for a LCR?

[colinpuk]

my road car is an lcr

 

[Willie]

aaahhhh
That explains it
So what have you done to the LCR's handling
And what would you suggest to inprove it or get it ready for a track day.

 

[colinpuk]

i havent done anything to mine , i think its a cracking car out of the box , having a car that handels perfect on a track isnt always the most fun

 

[stewbie55]

I have KW V2's on my LCR, eibach ARB's, powerflex bushes and front and rear strut braces.

I reckon they are set to about -25mm drop all round though I don't have a standard car to hand to compare against . I did for a while have the front set to 10mm higher than this which helped with speedbumps, but the more even lowering I have now is definitely better for handling as I found out at Brands, and I have left them like this now.

TBH if I could be bothered to keep adjusting them I'd run them 10mm higher all round for road use to avoid scraping in car parks etc. and maybe drop them a bit more to -30 or 35 for track use.

I also found that adding 10mm wheel spacers (to the rear only) helped the handling no end with the rear feeling much more planted and less susceptible to lift-off oversteer.

In spite of all this I'd still say the ride/handling is a compromise and the ride is still a bit too fidgety on less than smooth roads for my liking at times. The adustable damping doesn't really add much IMO and if I were to do it again I would probably go for the V1's or maybe the Bilstein PSS9's (though I've never ridden in a car with these ).

 

[Ruddmeister]

Forgot to mention my suspension setup included 10mm spacers all round to fit different rims and 1/2" wider wheels.......

 

[Willie]

Cheers Stewbie55, thats the sort of info I was looking for, I'm surprised the dampers didn't make much of a difference. I've asked a suspension guru about my possible suspension set up. If the dampers don't make a difference I'll maybe push the boat right out and get the V3's

Cheers Rud, hadn't considered the spacers and as I'm running standard alloys I could fit 10 mm allround without any problems.

I know that there are guys with KW V3's how have you guys gotten on with setting up the suspension and changing it for various occasions.

 

[Ruddmeister]

Colipuk's comment for track day wheels and tyres is obviously the next step on from what I was talking about, many years ago on here Cupra_Rog had some 5 spoke Audi TT rims (17's I think) which fitted without any spacers etc to the LCR (do yourself some searching to check it was those rims).

He picked up a set on ebay which were dirt cheap and added some track tyres, I would guess you could do similar for ~£500 (wheels and tyres). Robdon had some trackday tyres he was using recently (hancook if I recall....seemed good value) similar to these I think.........

http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m12b0s1155p4165

 

[Willie]

Cheers Rud, again. I knew I should have just PM'd you

Tyres will be a definate, especially as KH is about 120 miles from my house. If i wrecked an alloy that would be a long push, lol

Are 888's not the tyre of choice?
Would it be better to get smaller wheels for on the track?
I know MK1 S3 17's fit without spacers aswell

 

[Ruddmeister]

I think toyo 888's are meant to be excellent......cost wise Dunlop, Hankook, Yokohama maybe cheaper.......the site I linked to above ahve quite a range

 

[traumapat]

Forgot to mention my suspension setup included 10mm spacers all round to fit different rims and 1/2" wider wheels.......

rudd im on 18x7.5 without the need for any spacers. would you still add spacers for extra width or was it purely a fitment issue?

 

[Ruddmeister]

rudd im on 18x7.5 without the need for any spacers. would you still add spacers for extra width or was it purely a fitment issue?

Purely to clear the brembo brake calipers on the lcr with RS6 replica alloys

 

[Willie]

There is alot of very good info on this thread perhaps it could be chopped up into bits and made into a sticky??

Cheers boys, I feel much more enlightened now

 

[stewbie55]

Cheers Stewbie55, thats the sort of info I was looking for, I'm surprised the dampers didn't make much of a difference. I've asked a suspension guru about my possible suspension set up. If the dampers don't make a difference I'll maybe push the boat right out and get the V3's

Cheers Rud, hadn't considered the spacers and as I'm running standard alloys I could fit 10 mm allround without any problems.

I know that there are guys with KW V3's how have you guys gotten on with setting up the suspension and changing it for various occasions.

The reason I reckon the adjustable damping doesn't add much is that I reckon theres a very narrow range over which you'd want to set them to, which I would guess is the same as which the V1's would be set from the factory.

My understanding (and I may be getting a bit out of my depth here) is that the spring stiffness pretty much governs the ideal damping setting and as the spring rate is fixed (altering the ride height doesn't affect this - though stiffer ARB's may) then there is only one ideal damping setting .

Adjustable dampers would only really come into their own if you had 2 sets of springs (e.g softer for road harder for track) and you could adjust to suit. I believe the ClubSport KW's do allow you to buy different rate springs but you're getting into a more professional motorsport realm there.

 

[Willie]

Cool, cheers for that.
I'm just waiting for a guy to get back to me about suspension issues on my car.
I will let you know what this 'guru' come up with