Pothole jolts

[Logan89]

Hi folks,

My 182 is on eibach sportlines,standard non cup shocks and has standard 182 profile tyres. It handles well and takes undulations and even speed bumps quite nicely, however any sharp bump,even a small pothole completely shakes the car and makes you almost come out of your seat, I've read the eibachs aren't a huge difference comfort wise from standard but I can't see the standard car having such a poor ride over small potholes from the factory.

Any advice as to how I can get better comfort would be great, the 182 is my work car, I have a track spec mk1 mx5 that I can take out if I want to lose my fillings!

Cheers.

 

[Tomotek]

Hi,
How much lowering do the Eibach Sportline springs offer?.. In any case, If you have lowered the car then the OE dampers will not be suitable. The bump travel of the damper will be dramatically reduced, therefore when you hit a pothole or sharp bump then the damper will bottom out and transmit all the load into the chassis, hence shake the car.

There are aftermarket shorter dampers for clio's which reset the nominal damper position for the lower ride height, to prevent this happening.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Sportline springs on OE shocks is a bad idea. Had it been just the Pro kit you'd probably have been ok. -45mm on OE shocks was never going to end well.

Either upgrade the shocks, or change the springs. However if you change the shocks I think you'll still experience some harsh ride as the springs are very firm.

 

[Logan89]

That's strange, everything I have read on here says that these springs work well with the oem dampers and that they are the nearest lowering spring in terms of comfort to the oem springs, perhaps ive been misled.

 

[.Stevo.C.]

Sportline springs on OE shocks is a bad idea. Had it been just the Pro kit you'd probably have been ok. -45mm on OE shocks was never going to end well.

Either upgrade the shocks, or change the springs. However if you change the shocks I think you'll still experience some harsh ride as the springs are very firm.

They don't lower 45mm more like 30mm at the most.

Sportlines springs are totally fine on OE shocks. I've ran them on 2 172 for countless amounts of miles without a problem along with many others on this forum.

 

[Tomotek]

I don't think @Logan89 is saying that they aren't fine for general use.. Just that he is getting a harsh ride under extreme incidents (which wont be helped by the OE dampers) .. You wouldn't have a problem with them under normal driving circumstances, just extreme events, when the sub optimum installed damper length becomes the limiting factor

 

[LeeRS]

I run cooksports with standard 172 shocks. Is harsh on potholes but what do you expect?

 

[Tomotek]

Avoiding those small pot holes would be the easiest fix

 

[Logan89]

It just seems like it reaches the bump stops far too quickly for what isn't a huge drop,the clio shocks seem to have plenty of travel as standard.

Ive had dozens of lowered cars in my time but nom have transitioned so badly from perfectly comfortable over average roads to terrible on even slightly below average ones. I do wonder if perhaps my front shocks are knackered and maybe thats the cause,If they aren't controlling the spring then it would feel a little sharp. Maybe going to a 15 inch wheel with a higher profile tyre would also help.

 

[LeeRS]

The shocks are prone to going on these so may need a refresh. They are cheap direct from Renault aswell and pretty easy to change.
Might be worth a try. If you opt to getthe cup ones then make sure you get the correct bolt spacing for your car as they do differ by a few mm.

 

[Tomotek]

http://www.cliosport.net/threads/which-rear-shocks-do-i-need.781712/#post-10878016

I wrote a list of all the damper OE part numbers in the above thread.. for reference

 

[Addicted]

The springs are progressive, that's why you get a shock from the potholes - nothing you can do apart from get different springs, but imo they're all that way.

 

[Budgie]

Prolines > everything.

 

[Logan89]

I'll have a look into the pro lines and change the front shocks,cheers folks.