Post shocks/springs change

[peelaaa]

Hi, I have had replaced the front/rear shocks + springs after 165k miles. All KYB brand.

The car feels a lot tauter now, not much roll in bends, less wallow and more control. And a side effect is when turning off engine, there is less vibration than before.

But for some reason it just doesn't seem to have the smooth,compliant, floaty feeling that it used to have.

Maybe I have had some memory loss and it is supposed to feel this way but the rear in particular has not much give.

I have had the car from 23k miles back in 2008 and I am sure back then the suspension felt more compliant.

No question,it still rides very well, but seems to be missing the extra, if you know what I mean.

cheers
Ian

[Steve1966]

I've said before on here that the reason the car feels so good is the thousands of hours spent tuning things like the suspension during development. There is no chance at-all that aftermarket dampers will have the same bump/rebound damping as OEM. It is also unlikely that aftermarket springs are exactly the same rate throughout their travel as OEM. I have only fitted replacement rear dampers to my car but these came from a low mileage scrap car to ensure I didn't lose the 'feel' of the OEM spec.

Steve.

[peelaaa]

I've said before on here that the reason the car feels so good is the thousands of hours spent tuning things like the suspension during development. There is no chance at-all that aftermarket dampers will have the same bump/rebound damping as OEM. It is also unlikely that aftermarket springs are exactly the same rate throughout their travel as OEM. I have only fitted replacement rear dampers to my car but these came from a low mileage scrap car to ensure I didn't lose the 'feel' of the OEM spec.

Steve.
Thanks Steve, that what I thought.

[peelaaa]

Having been driving on the new setup for a while now, its seems to be the rear that is very hard.
When driving over ramps, the rear gives a jolt as if there is hardly any give, the front is fine.

Is it the dampers or springs that cause the firm suspension.?

[DMGRS]

If there's less wallow and it feels more taught, it's likely the new items are just of a 'harder' ride. As demonstrated by a 75 vs ZT, a harder ride with less roll does give better handling.
They may get a bit softer with time, but I'm betting they're just a different 'rate'.

[RogerHeinz57]

Hi, I would suggest the rear springs are the cause of the stiffness, as the shocks are really for damping effects which cant happen if the springs are the wrong spec,
Maybe worth checking the spring seating is still good and also tyre pressures. Did you tighten everything to the specified torques with the car on the road or up in the air. The suspension should be under load when the final torques are applied.
Hope this may help.
Regards John H.

[peelaaa]

Hi, I would suggest the rear springs are the cause of the stiffness, as the shocks are really for damping effects which cant happen if the springs are the wrong spec,
Maybe worth checking the spring seating is still good and also tyre pressures. Did you tighten everything to the specified torques with the car on the road or up in the air. The suspension should be under load when the final torques are applied.
Hope this may help.
Regards John H.

Thanks. it was done by my mechanic. I assume they did it all as spec.

When pressing the back end down, there is a lot of resistance and very little movement, I'm guessing then that is the springs causing that.

Doing the same on the front and it presses down quite easily.

These were the springs listed by KYB, they are different to the saloon.

[minimutly]

A lot of replacement springs are generic "75/zt" , this means you get the same for both - too hard for 75, too soft for zt.
Rover didn't help by specifying different suspension rates for the same model.
I replaced the rear springs on a zt 1.8 turbo with, as far as I could work out, zt rear springs. They turned out much stiffer than the originals, which, after checking under the rear seat, we're originally "comfort" spec. Now the front feels soft, while the rear feels stiff....
I prefer stiff I have to say, but it is an mgzt after all.
So unless you can guarantee original spec springs, and the actual ones for your car at that, chances are you'll be disappointed.
As someone else said, it looks like you've got mg/zt generic rear springs. The shocks will be fine I would expect.
Huw

[tourer]

I fitted the KYB rear springs to my 75 Tourer last year.
Feels just the same as originals, no harder.
There was a choice of two---- progressive which had thinner coils at the ends than in the middle and linear, which had a consistent thickness of coils.
I chose the linear, as the progressive ones which a garage had previously fitted suffered from early failure.

[peelaaa]

I fitted the KYB rear springs to my 75 Tourer last year.
Feels just the same as originals, no harder.
There was a choice of two---- progressive which had thinner coils at the ends than in the middle and linear, which had a consistent thickness of coils.
I chose the linear, as the progressive ones which a garage had previously fitted suffered from early failure.

I had the progressive type fitted, RJ6364, listed in the catalogue for the 75 tourer.
What number did you fit?

[DMGRS]

The springs usually break where the coils get thinner - if the linear springs feel as good as the originals, they could be a shrewd move. :)

[tourer]

I had the progressive type fitted, RJ6364, listed in the catalogue for the 75 tourer.
What number did you fit?

Sorry, mate. Cannot remember without searching out the receipts and busy at the moment.
As I said, the progressive failed relatively early, about three years but only covered 10000 miles with very few speed bumps and only lightly loaded with myself or one passenger..
The originals lasted about eight years and 45000 miles with a harder life.

[tourer]

I had the progressive type fitted, RJ6364, listed in the catalogue for the 75 tourer.
What number did you fit?

Just found my receipt.
They are RX6364.

[peelaaa]

Just found my receipt.
They are RX6364.

Thanks for that. I see they are the linear coil as you said in an earlier post.
Mine are the progressive, so I wonder if it is the dampers that are causing the harder ride? as the progressive should be very similar to the linear in hardness.
But the dampers are the same for the saloon as well, its only the springs that are different.

Did you change the dampers as well?

[Billy1mate]

Hi, I have had replaced the front/rear shocks + springs after 165k miles. All KYB brand.

The car feels a lot tauter now, not much roll in bends, less wallow and more control. And a side effect is when turning off engine, there is less vibration than before.

But for some reason it just doesn't seem to have the smooth,compliant, floaty feeling that it used to have.

Maybe I have had some memory loss and it is supposed to feel this way but the rear in particular has not much give.

I have had the car from 23k miles back in 2008 and I am sure back then the suspension felt more compliant. T

No question,it still rides very well, but seems to be missing the extra, if you know what I mean.

cheers
Ian

If you want a 'floaty' ride buy a Citroen Xantia.:icon_lol:

[tourer]

Thanks for that. I see they are the linear coil as you said in an earlier post.
Mine are the progressive, so I wonder if it is the dampers that are causing the harder ride? as the progressive should be very similar to the linear in hardness.
But the dampers are the same for the saloon as well, its only the springs that are different.

Did you change the dampers as well?

No mate, all the dampers are originals from 2004 (actually the build date was 2002).
But the car has only done 55,000 miles.:Snow: