AST? Coil overs

[NicBowman]

Hi

Apologies if this has cropped up twice, (I piggybacked a Tuscan thread as well). Trying to get all your views! Thinking it might be time to replace my 23 years old Bilsteins. Motoclan seem big, they recommend AST. £2k ready to fit. Not cheap, but are they worth it? Anyone got experience of AST? Apparently big in motorsport, used by top teams. Ford mentioned by someone.

Thanks


Nic
Griffith 500 year 2000.

[astonman]

Ben Lang ( Mr Bilstein), must be a good alternative or the most basic Nitrons

[Johno]

Over 15yrs on mine, bought direct and rebuilt at Nitron twice. Not through any failure, but a lot of use. Nitron recommend 12-18,000 miles between services. Used to be about 65 a corner, but it’s now 115+vat.

https://www.nitron.co.uk/buy-online/automotive/tvr...

I keep mine in Kirkey damper bags and they remain as good as new, genuinely they look like I got a month ago, lt 15yrs.

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/kirkey-coilover-co...

I can’t comment on AST, but I have no hesitation to recommend the NTR’s. A genuinely quality long lasting product.

My father had his original Bilsteins rebuilt with Tuscan springs and really liked those.

I had awful experiences with Gaz and other damper manufacturers and I can’t justify 3 way Ohlins, Nitron seems to hit the sweet spot of a great product at a reasonable price.

Edited by Johno on Thursday 11th May 22:08

Edited by Johno on Thursday 11th May 22:13

[spitfire4v8]

Motoclan presumably sell it because racing green did. I doubt you will go far wrong with them, their team's credentials are superb. They're Dutch (the Dutch make great dampers for some reason!) but have a UK agent so you might be better going direct to AST UK - I doubt Motoclan have the expertise to talk the techie details with you if you want anything slightly different to their off the shelf setup.

Let us know how you get on

[astonman]

If you decide to go with Nitrons, make sure it's the 40 mm ones .
The were some posts years ago about a too jiggly ride,and it's turned out eventually that the car in question had 46 mm dampers, provided by an intermediary and not direct from Nitron ( these are I believe more competition oriented).
You can ring them and ask about spring rate options as well.

[NicBowman]

Hi. Weird price variations hard to explain. Bilsteins, Protech, Gaz all in the 750 ish bracket. Nitrons £1500 ish and AST £2k. Hard to judge why 3x is justified?

[spitfire4v8]

NicBowman said:

Hi. Weird price variations hard to explain. Bilsteins, Protech, Gaz all in the 750 ish bracket. Nitrons £1500 ish and AST £2k. Hard to judge why 3x is justified?

The same reason a Lambo costs more than a Daewoo. Research, development, material quality, name cachet etc etc..

[NicBowman]

You would hope so. Although it is clearer why a Lamborghini costs more than a Fiat, I guess it would be hard to be categorical on why a Bilstein is less than AST? No actual data on the meaningful aspects of performance. No 0 to 60 equivalent you would get with the Lambo. It’s all subjective. To spend 3x you would surely want to be very sure the value was there?


The reason I don’t buy my wife diamonds ( is cause I’m tight..) but otherwise because I have no idea what a good diamond is compared to a cheap one.

[TwinKam]

You can use very basic questions to cut through the bs in a superficial, brand obsessed world though, Nic.
On diamonds and dampers ...does it look 'right'? ...is it fit for purpose? ...will it achieve the purpose that I require of it? ...am I 'happy' with it? ...is it within budget? ...does it represent vfm? etc etc
On tyres and dampers... and this argument is commonly used in motorcycling circles, the worst is still probably better/ braver than I am...

[spitfire4v8]

Volume sales comes in to it to. Bilstein don't make each component of their damper specifically for each tvr model, they pick and choose from their range of already made parts. The same will be true for AST and others, but their output in sales will be smaller than bilstein, so costs for each part will be higher.
Also the AST is adjustable, the std replacement bilstein is not.
You might therefore ask, given all the above, why is the bilstein so expensive for so little rather than the other way around?
Well it's Research, development, material quality, name cachet etc etc..

Bottom line is the majority of people will want the cheapest way of getting the job done. It's not that you might not notice the difference between a cheap damper and an expensive damper in general driving, moreover it's what happens when you've screwed it up into a rutted downhill corner with a lorry coming the other way and you need all the experience and tech that high end damper manufacturer has put into their product to maximise your grip and avoid disaster.
Same with tyres ..

I guess there's no one answer that satisfies everyone, and you are absolutely correct that it's very difficult to be completely sure that a more expensive damper is better than a cheaper one, but one look at the history of the main guys at AST should put any worries you might have to bed.

[astonman]

If you just want the best British damper,for your British car,then Nitron all the way.

[Basil Brush]

Raceshocks UK have some other options depending how much you want to spend.

[GTRene]

also look into how often some brands need to rebuild... often the expensive ones...

so, its what you want, the last tenths, the best road presence, the longest joy or the most rebuilds not that I know all, but read some complains about certain brands that needed rebuilds quit often.