Gaz Coilovers

[manda3000gt]

Fitted a set of Gaz coilovers this morning from K-Tech, Straight on no probs 2 and a half hours, Lowered front by 15mm and rear by 30mm set both damping controls at half way out from fully in 8 out of 16 on front and 24 out of 48 on the rear, Turned rears out another 5 clicks and fronts in by another 3 clicks after going for a drive, Rear feels good front still a little choppy was going to go in another couple of clicks but started to snow again, Has anyone got the Gaz coilovers fitted and at what sort of numbers are you running your damping at ?

Cheers
Dave

 

[benji&eka]

currently running my fronts at two full turns, and the rear something like 20 clicks but i'm still playin with them. mine's slammed by the way

 

[miketheman2k]

I'm interested to know, what made you decide on Gaz?

I see you've only lowered yours a little. I have the rear on mine as low as it will go (with the adjustment plates fitted), and the fronts are lowered to almost the same (around -55mm). It looks good.

You mention that there are 16 clicks on the front? I counted almost as many on the front as on the back (around 42 or so). Mine is set to around 10 clicks from the hardest. Its seriously firm. Any softer though, and the car feels all loose and wallowy. The handling on mine needs tuning, currently the car understeers far too easily at the moment and doesn't feel nearly as chuckable as it did with OEM shocks.

 

[manda3000gt]

I assumed there was 16 points to the settings on the front as that is what it says on the K-Tech site specs for the Gaz
http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=355

I turned the adjuster all the way in and counted 8 clicks out but have gone another 3 in so is now 5 out from fully in, The front seems quite choppy don't know if that is because the shock is rebounding too slowly b4 hitting the next bump, So going to try all the way out and slowly go in by 3-4 clicks at a time and see how the front reacts, I am using the car for trackdays so do not want the 'slammed' look I wanted the ability to adjust ride height and rebound damping so that is why I chose the Gaz one's. I am wanting to find someone in the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire area who sets up suspension I have read other peoples posts refering to having the corners 'weighted' :S when coilovers have been fitted.

Dave

 

[miketheman2k]

Thanks for the info I presume that the 172 coilovers must be different to the 182 variety, at least in terms of how many 'clicks' there are on the rear.

Do you find the ride very unsettled on the softest setting? Are you running the rear harder than the front (which is supposed to give the car a rear-bias). My springs are 225lb/in front and 250lb/in on the rear, which isn't that hard - does this mean I should be running my shocks relatively soft to account for this? Or can shocks still be hard with softer springs?

 

[Fred@BTM]

lower it more!! 15mm??? WTF!!!

 

[Gaz_]

Do you find the ride very unsettled on the softest setting? Are you running the rear harder than the front (which is supposed to give the car a rear-bias). My springs are 225lb/in front and 250lb/in on the rear, which isn't that hard - does this mean I should be running my shocks relatively soft to account for this? Or can shocks still be hard with softer springs?

the gaz ones are poor, ok for the price, but i beleive FK's are better. on my car the gaz ones were very noisy, especailly the rears, and made the ride very choppy etc, i now have h&R's and the difference is like night and day, MUCH better

 

[miketheman2k]

Thought H&R's didn't fit 182 with cup pack? (or just springs?)

 

[manda3000gt]

I have not had mine on the least rebound setting yet as I only fitted them yesterday morning and only been for a couple of runs down some back lanes and still got patchy snow here, The rebound damping is the control of the speed the shock returns to its full extension after being compressed ie when you hit a bump, The harder the springs you have it will take more force to compress the shock ie cornerin/ dive under brakes, You should aim for a balance were the shock returns as quickly as poss to full extension with enough rebound on that when hitting a series of bumps it does not compress and compress again and again so losing all its travel and the ability to absorb bumps. My only experience is of the multi-adjustable suspension on various superbikes I have had so I am working to those theories. I have an Evo 8 MR with standard Bilstein suspension so I am aiming for a feeling something similar to that, It is stiff and firm when accerlerating/ braking and cornering but flows nicely over bumps.

Dave

 

[Gaz_]

yeah, thats right, the gaz units themselves are the same as the 172 units though.... its a shame you can't get any H&Rs etc for the 182, you either have to pay maga money for leda's etc, or gaz, there is nothing inbetween

 

[Fred@BTM]

there will be in January...........................

 

[Gaz_]

I have not had mine on the least rebound setting yet as I only fitted them yesterday morning and only been for a couple of runs down some back lanes and still got patchy snow here, The rebound damping is the control of the speed the shock returns to its full extension after being compressed ie when you hit a bump, The harder the springs you have it will take more force to compress the shock ie cornerin/ dive under brakes, You should aim for a balance were the shock returns as quickly as poss to full extension with enough rebound on that when hitting a series of bumps it does not compress and compress again and again so losing all its travel and the ability to absorb bumps. My only experience is of the multi-adjustable suspension on various superbikes I have had so I am working to those theories. I have an Evo 8 MR with standard Bilstein suspension so I am aiming for a feeling something similar to that, It is stiff and firm when accerlerating/ braking and cornering but flows nicely over bumps.

Dave

i'm not convinced you'll get this from the gaz units, i never did

 

[manda3000gt]

the gaz ones are poor, ok for the price, but i beleive FK's are better. on my car the gaz ones were very noisy, especailly the rears, and made the ride very choppy etc, i now have h&R's and the difference is like night and day, MUCH better

Did you refit the Gaz with all the standard reno rubber bushes etc I have noticed no increase in noise, I have read posts were people have said you do not need spring compresses to remove the standard fronts but you have to remove the standard spring to get the rubber mount and bearing for the strut top mount otherwise the top of the coilover is up against and turning on the body mount top and would have an excess of strut sticking out the top something else I have seen written about damage to the underside of the bonnet WTF, The rear standard springs are fitted with a rubber cup top and bottom I have refitted the new springs with these rubber cups otherwise the spring would be metal to metal and I would imagine very noisy.

Dave

 

[Fred@BTM]

Dave, you still don't need spring compressors to remove the OE springs from the struts

 

[Gaz_]

it was the rear shocks on mine, they were awfull, maybe just a bad batch? i did indeed fit the rubber cups (only the top half mind as the adjusters sit in the rear trailing arms).... to prove it was the dampers, i fitted the O.E reno units for a day and the noise vanished.... i think it was probably the internal valves

 

[manda3000gt]

lower it more!! 15mm??? WTF!!!

15mm front/ 30mm rear enough for me do not want a 'slammed' max power motor

Dave

 

[manda3000gt]

Dave, you still don't need spring compressors to remove the OE springs from the struts

True, just did it facing a wall and wound the top nut off at arms length, Did not know how much force it was holding but popped off like a damp fire work on bonfire night

Dave

 

[Fred@BTM]

15mm front/ 30mm rear enough for me do not want a 'slammed' max power motor

Dave

lol, they handle better lower

you want to get the car sitting perfectly level, or a tiny tiny tiny bit nose down

 

[miketheman2k]

Dave, you sound like you know a bit about this suspension malarkey - could you keep us posted in this thread with how you get on with the different Gaz settings? I'd be very keen to get mine setup with the best handling/flowing balance - haven't found it yet! ....and if they aren't any good, then I don't want to pay £200 to have them toe'd, corner weighted, etc. to then find they're not going to do what I want.

Speaking of top mounts, what are the front / backs supposed to be torqued to? I got my local garage to air-gun their asses back in.

 

[Fred@BTM]

NEVER air gun the top mounts!!!! NEVER EVER EVER!!!

 

[Gaz_]

they'll be fine! quick and easy!!!! mine were

 

[miketheman2k]

oops. Well its not like they're any tighter when they wouldn't come off the first time.

Any ideas of what torque they're supposed to be?

 

[manda3000gt]

lol, they handle better lower

you want to get the car sitting perfectly level, or a tiny tiny tiny bit nose down

Were do you suggest best place for measurement, I took a measure on the sill front and rear was 24 1/2cm o/s rear and 18 1/2cm o/s front and 24cm n/s rear and 18cm n/s front dropped it to 16 1/2cm front both side and 21cm rear both sides at the same mark, Do you think I should be looking at a more level measure between the front/ rear than that ?

Dave

 

[benji&eka]

lol, they handle better lower

you want to get the car sitting perfectly level, or a tiny tiny tiny bit nose down

yeah! tits down ass up!....i'll leave that sentence just there. LOL

 

[Fred@BTM]

yeah! tits down ass up!....i'll leave that sentence just there. LOL

great minds.......................

i measure from where the front bumper/front arch meets down

and rear 1/4 + rear bumper meet down

technically you should measure front the centre of the wheel (or lower rim) up to the lowest part of the arch

 

[rmccardal]

I run 5mm positive rake on mine.

 

[Carlos13]

No expert in the clio world (currently have an impreza with AST coilovers) but surely if you replace the springs/dampers you must have the geometry done to get the handling right? I'd have thought it would be all over the place...

 

[rmccardal]

Correct.

 

[miketheman2k]

I'd have thought it would be all over the place...

You'd have thought right! lol