Bernie, thanks for your request. We use Carrerra as our "bread &
butter" shock recomendation. They are adjustable (downside is they are
a push and turn to adjust) and can be spec'd to your requirements
initially. Since they are an American company, it is very easy for us
to access the tech staff right at the plant. Immediate feedback and
tech info. Price is equivalent. Spax and Koni are both good shocks.
We offer them in addition to Carrera. We raced on both of them over the
years. There have been some supply issues with Spax. Koni is more
costly. All 3 shock brands are good. Spax is the easiest to adjust but
has the least access to immediate tech assistance. Koni and Carrera are
harder to adjust but offer more and easier tech support. Once the
shocks are installed, the frequency of adjusting them dimishs rapidly.
Please remember, if the shocks are on a true race car, suspension
componenets will be adjusted/changed on a frequent basis to accomodate
changing track conditions. To a lesser extent, this may be done on
autocross cars (autocross being a competiton event but not a race). For
street use, once a happy medium is reached, suspension changes are
rarely done again. Note the analogy of "there ain't no such thing as
slightly pregnant". It's either a race car or it's not. If it's not,
then you have a compromise situation. On the spring question, you need
to be aware of what goes into making a spring The vehicle manufacturer
gives the spring maker some specs - total weight of car, type of
suspension, individual corner weights, suspension travel, etc. The
spring maker then creates a product that approximates these needs. The
problem is, spring industry standards are +/- 5% or greater. Not a good
accuracy rate for a performance product. The other issue with springs
is set and sag. If a standard spring has a live coil touch another live
coil (a live coil is one that does not touch another coil in the laden
position) the spring will set and not return to its original free
length. This could occur if you hit a "major pothole" and bottom the
car. Sag occurs when the spring material is "not very good". The
spring actually sags over a period of time. Set and/or sag cannot be
repaired. The spring is replaced or a stop-gap measure such as rubber
spacers are used. We produce uprated coil springs for the big TR's.
Our springs are accurate within 2% and guaranteed to never set or sag..
We have springs that have been installed for over 25 years that still
sit at the correct ride height. Quick note on ride height. This is
always checked from the ground to the top of the wheel arch. In the
case of a TR250/TR6 the rear height should be 28 5/8". Installing lower
profie tires will show more space between the top of the tire and the
wheel arch. This is not the same as an increase in ride height. Front
springs are uprated 20% and rears are uprated 25%. Swaybars have also
been discussed on the list. Sway bars are used to tune the suspension.
This is done only after all changes have been made - springs, shocks,
suspension bushings, tires, etc. Just throwing a swaybar on the car
doesn't "do the job". If you go to our website and click on the
swaybar button, there is a list of changes in rate by sway bar diameter
and also some causes and cures for other suspension issues - oversteer,
understeer, wander, etc. Hope this helps Ted
--
Ted Schumacher
tedtsimx@q1.net
http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com
Pandora, Ohio, USA
Fax: 419/ 384-3272 (24 hrs.)
Phone: 800/ 543-6648 (US & Canada)
Tech/Gen Info/Worldwide: 419/ 384-3022
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