Discussion
Hi
This is my first post so sorry if I'm asking an old question.
I just got a Griff 500 and had the first 'wet road' incident yesterday. To be honest, it broke away a lot easier than I had expected it to (this isn't my first RWD performance car). I was talking to a mate last night and he suggested that changing the TVR dampers for adjustables might allow me to improve day-to-day stability and still stiffen it up for track days.
So I'm told Pistonheads has all the experts
so any suggestions which aftermarkets to fit and who to get to fit them?
This is my first post so sorry if I'm asking an old question.
I just got a Griff 500 and had the first 'wet road' incident yesterday. To be honest, it broke away a lot easier than I had expected it to (this isn't my first RWD performance car). I was talking to a mate last night and he suggested that changing the TVR dampers for adjustables might allow me to improve day-to-day stability and still stiffen it up for track days.
So I'm told Pistonheads has all the experts
so any suggestions which aftermarkets to fit and who to get to fit them?Hi razzer
Congrat's on your first post, It will not be your last !!
As for wet road breakaway, it's always going to be easy with any car with that much torque, it's easy with my 400HC, so watch that right foot with your 500.
But as for shocks, it could indeed help with new shocks and springs in wet conditions especially if your old ones are a bit tired. you could at least set them up to your liking.
The damper situation seems to go like this,
AVO's, cheap, adjustable, better than standard but not that great. about 150 a corner.
GAZ, good, mid price, better than avo's. about 200 a corner.
NITRONS, Highly recommended (on my chim), comp spec, designed for light cars, the dogs do da's, 250 a corner but worth more !!
Next are full comp jobs, 2-3k a set, bit much for road use !!
They are easy to fit, any mechanic will do then you just fiddle around with settings until it suits your driving taste.
Hope this helps.
Congrat's on your first post, It will not be your last !!
As for wet road breakaway, it's always going to be easy with any car with that much torque, it's easy with my 400HC, so watch that right foot with your 500.
But as for shocks, it could indeed help with new shocks and springs in wet conditions especially if your old ones are a bit tired. you could at least set them up to your liking.
The damper situation seems to go like this,
AVO's, cheap, adjustable, better than standard but not that great. about 150 a corner.
GAZ, good, mid price, better than avo's. about 200 a corner.
NITRONS, Highly recommended (on my chim
), comp spec, designed for light cars, the dogs do da's, 250 a corner but worth more !! Next are full comp jobs, 2-3k a set, bit much for road use !!
They are easy to fit, any mechanic will do then you just fiddle around with settings until it suits your driving taste.
Hope this helps.
There are also some specialist who have them built to their own spec. If your a member of the TVRCC read the article recently in Sprint about the suspension setup done by one of the WRC suspension guys for a member. If you are not a member I can get you the guys number (it was in the article).
However, as has already been said, you cannot really compare the ease of breaking rear traction in a Rover V8 TVR with any other cars. They have such huge low down torque, light wieght and wide tyres that the trick is finding out how not to do it..
However, as has already been said, you cannot really compare the ease of breaking rear traction in a Rover V8 TVR with any other cars. They have such huge low down torque, light wieght and wide tyres that the trick is finding out how not to do it.
.I would highly recommend Nitrons, only when you have got them can you notice the difference.
Should be able to get better quote for dampers than £250 per corner, should be able to reuse std progressive springs.
As for any machanic to fit them - big mistake!! The dampers will only be as good as the set up of the car.
Steve Guglielmi did mine from Guglielmi Motor Sport (01327 878425), and this involved new dampers, use of std strings, setting up the suspension geometry (tow in/out, camber caster etc) as well perimeter weighting.
The car now handles like a dream. The best £1k you can spend on any TVR.
Give Steve or Paul a ring, very helpful chaps!!
Should be able to get better quote for dampers than £250 per corner, should be able to reuse std progressive springs.
As for any machanic to fit them - big mistake!! The dampers will only be as good as the set up of the car.
Steve Guglielmi did mine from Guglielmi Motor Sport (01327 878425), and this involved new dampers, use of std strings, setting up the suspension geometry (tow in/out, camber caster etc) as well perimeter weighting.
The car now handles like a dream. The best £1k you can spend on any TVR.
Give Steve or Paul a ring, very helpful chaps!!
yep...Nitrons. (new gas type come with springs)
shockers are wasted without...
polybushes £7-00ea
full set up (to your spec)
corner weighting (to your weight)
Peninsula developed these with nitron. cost me around £1600 including new wishbones as mine were 'orrible.
worth about 3 seconds a lap at Donnington
BUT REMEMBER THIS! THE CAR WILL DO IT LESS AS YOU GET USED TO DRIVING IT!
AND...
YOU MAY JUST HAVE A GOOD'UN! 300+BHP!
shockers are wasted without...
polybushes £7-00ea
full set up (to your spec)
corner weighting (to your weight)
Peninsula developed these with nitron. cost me around £1600 including new wishbones as mine were 'orrible.
worth about 3 seconds a lap at Donnington
BUT REMEMBER THIS! THE CAR WILL DO IT LESS AS YOU GET USED TO DRIVING IT!
AND...
YOU MAY JUST HAVE A GOOD'UN! 300+BHP!
dannylt said: Err, Peninsula were by no means the only specialist to help develop them (even if they did at all). Joolz certainly, I had an early set which I was very happy indeed with.
I may be wrong but I think you are confusing Griff and Cerb. Peninsula definitely helped to develop the Griff/Chim versions.
GarryM said:
dannylt said: Err, Peninsula were by no means the only specialist to help develop them (even if they did at all). Joolz certainly, I had an early set which I was very happy indeed with.
I may be wrong but I think you are confusing Griff and Cerb. Peninsula definitely helped to develop the Griff/Chim versions.
No confusion as far as I'm aware .. I believe Peninsula helped fund the development of the now defunct NTX damper that Guy used to make .. that's been superceeded by the road going NTR damper. i had the very first set for John Lewis' tuscan which we used to prove their worth .. input from john (former Formula Ford racer, Nick Beaumont of BTCC plus an unnamed bloke who helped develop a racing firm's road car) - then we changed them so I think that counts as development to me..
Peninsula however may have done their own development on the NTR for themsleves or they may be using a std version.. certainly I've kept developing and now offer several variations on both cerbie/tuscan and griff/chim dampers, maybe they do the same. As I always say, phone around and see who you like the best, that could be Peninsula or any of the other Nitron distributors. best wishes. Joolz
>> Edited by joospeed on Tuesday 17th June 16:49
Thanks very much everyone. Sorry I didn't reply before, I think I'm a natural lurker.
I have got more used to the car but it's still wilder than anything I've had before. Sounds like Nitrons is the way to go, and I'll definitely get in touch with Joolz since he's so close. Just need to check finances first.
Thanks again
I have got more used to the car but it's still wilder than anything I've had before. Sounds like Nitrons is the way to go, and I'll definitely get in touch with Joolz since he's so close. Just need to check finances first.
Thanks again
Just had Nitrons fitted myself (on Monday by Precision Racing) and am impressed so far. Although there may still need to be some final tweeking as the front/rear ride hieghts look wrong even though they were measured when setup. Will wait a while for things to settle before we start playing.
IMO looks are the last thing on the wish list, but of course are important to most people, that's one raeson why nitrons look so blinking gorgeous of course, but surely it's more important to have a suspension kit that performs rather than looks good? if you improve the looks and ruin the handling then is that better? .. of course if ou can do both then you're a winner
on this point, I've had three cars (all griffs curiously) through the workshop recently that have come in for handling problems after having nitrons fitted at other garages .. remember set-up is everything on these cars, even more so if you're going for a high quality performance add-on like the nitron is, so if you're in any doubt about the handling of your car, wherever the kit is fitted, be sure to ask any questions of your fitter so you're confident the car is set up to your liking, and to make the car as good as it possibly can be. Guy works hard to make a damper that's a market leader, so it makes sense to have the car set correctly.
You might also find that the new kits are so different in feel from the std TVR kit that you have to take some time to learn new driving styles, if they're fitted correctly you should have much more traction at the rear so you can really power out of tight bends which would previously have seen you in the hedge backwards. A slight understeer balance might seem unwelcome at first, but it's the key to making a powerful rear drive car fast on track, so you can power through to make the car neutral rather than backing off each time the rear steps out such as with the tvr kit. etc.
You might also find that the new kits are so different in feel from the std TVR kit that you have to take some time to learn new driving styles, if they're fitted correctly you should have much more traction at the rear so you can really power out of tight bends which would previously have seen you in the hedge backwards. A slight understeer balance might seem unwelcome at first, but it's the key to making a powerful rear drive car fast on track, so you can power through to make the car neutral rather than backing off each time the rear steps out such as with the tvr kit. etc.
joospeed said:
A slight understeer balance might seem unwelcome at first, but it's the key to making a powerful rear drive car fast on track.
Yup, a mild understeer setup is the fastest as the car becomes neutral under heavy acceleration giving massive traction out of corners. But you can have too much of a good thing, take it too far and you will struggle to get it turned in to tight corners.
The Nitron kit is a std price wherever you buy it from, 850 plus vat - that's for four springs and four dampers - beware some people selling just the dampers for 850 plus vat though - if you don't get the springs you'll want around 120 pounds off that price, but also the cerbie / tuscan kit certainly was designed around a particular set of springs, so if you change from these (ie keeping the std stuff) you might want the dampers revalved to suit, but you'll have to do your own development there. It normally takes around 2 hours to get the kit on the car and at a fair starting point, after that it's as many hours as it takes to tweek it to your satisfaction, so I reckon anywhere from 100 pounds fitting to 500 pounds if you're bad at saying exactly what the car is doing
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