John Simister
John recalls years of fine tuning suspension setups
Change dampers at your peril, warns John. They’re set for a reason!
Last month I wrote about the joy of driving a classic car that feels as it is supposed to feel. Some cars in our hobby may not quite feel that way, judging by examples I’ve driven over the years for magazine features. Often, it’s the dampers that are to blame.
I admit that I’m a bit of an obsessive about dampers, or shock absorbers as they are often, but incorrectly, called. A car that rides badly, crashing over bumps, or bouncing and heaving and pitching over humps, or feeling choppy and fidgety and never settling, soon wears you down. And as roads get worse, so suspension shortcomings are laid bare like never before.
I have sold cars because I can’t tolerate the ride any more, sometimes even after spending too much on suspension improvements which turned out to be anything but. Polyurethane bushes in my first MX-5 triggered one such sale, somehow never getting my Spyder-chassis Lotus Elan to ride and handle properly, despite what was meant to be the last word in recommended rear dampers, triggered another. We mess with the manufacturers’ thoroughly-developed suspension settings at our peril. Even as a student, back in the Seventies, I sensed this. I lowered my Imp with the Rootes competition department’s Monte Carlo springs, as you did, and it was brilliant. Then I fitted adjustable Spax dampers, as you did, and it wasn’t brilliant any more however I adjusted them.
Making it better
My current Stiletto arrived on Monte Carlos (good) and more modern Spax dampers (OK, and better than the Seventies ones). There was an underlying harshness to the Stiletto’s ride although the control of big body movements was pretty good. Softening the adjustment spoilt that control without losing the harshness. The culprits were the big, hard, upper mounting bushes for the front dampers, so I substituted original-type smaller, softer ones. This reduced the road roar considerably, but there was still an initial stiffness to small suspension movements.
So I managed to get hold of a set of new-oldstock, original-spec, Woodhead dampers. What a difference! Responses still taut, steering still crisp, but nasty surfaces filtered out, with no pitching and bouncing. It rides and handles as a good Imp should.
Problems finding parts
And so to my two-stroke Saab 96. When I bought this in 2001, its dampers were shot. I got used but good Boge replacements for the front, intended for a V4 but tautening a two-stroke to just the right degree, and bought new Monroe rears. These fitted but clearly weren’t right, allowing the tail to heave horribly. So I replaced them with Gaz adjustables, which suit the Saab very well if set to 12 clicks. After a decade, though, they started to knock, so I fitted a pair of French-made Record units. The labels claimed suitability for a Saab 96 or a Ford 100E.
On they went, and the tail turned choppy and fidgety. On to Record’s website I went, to discover that it had a different part number for the Saab application from the one on my dampers. So while they fit perfectly, the calibration of the internal valving – which should be individually matched to the intended car – is wrong. It’s probably right for a 100E. Anyone want to buy them?
The danger for our classics is that the correctly-calibrated dampers will become unavailable. That will leave us at the mercy of the aftermarket adjustables that sound as if they’ll be fine – set them as you like them, their makers will tell you – but it’s not as simple as that as you’re unlikely to mimic the originals’ damping curves. Meanwhile, my store of redundant dampers keeps on growing.
‘We mess with the manufacturer’s suspension settings at our peril’