Numpty With Nitrons Needs Help

[M111]

I'm still in need of help and advice

 

Quick summary - With Nitron Street Series fitted in place of original Konis my ride height is circa 140mm on all 4 corners. The top collar is finger-tight 2-3 turns on the spring. I believe that to lower the car I need to undo the spring. To get the 20mm drop I am hoping for would mean the springs would be rattling like a good-un.

 

I posted on SELOC but didn't get any meaningful help there.

 

I've spoken to Nitron who basically have confirmed that the dimensions of the springs and damper lengths are correct for an S1 fitment and that my car is the only one that they have had problems with. Without them seeing the car or a Lotus Specialist looking at it, they are unwilling to offer a hypothesis.

 

The (reputable) place where I bought the dampers from (and they race their cars) have said it is acceptable for the spring to be loose with the wheel in droop as long as the spring does not leave the bottom perch. I am happy to take this advice even though it sounds contrary to all that I have read. The dampers are supplied with a spanner, which, to my mind, indicates you require a tool to tighten or loosen the spring. Tightening the collar onto the spring would give me a taller ride height (!), so why the spanner?

 

Advice on Seloc suggested brackets for the back. Trouble is, that would lower the back but leave me with a 140mm front ride height (!) - problem not solved.

 

Is there anyone here that can tell me that they have 20mm+ of play* on their shocks? (*Play - free movement of the shock between upper and lower perch when the wheel is in droop)

 

Anyone here with Nitron Street Series that can give me an insight how they set their ride heights?

 

This is frustrating the out of me.

 

Nitron offered a refund - that is a cop-out. I've bought the same dampers that hundreds of other people are running - I just want to get them set-up the same.

[Dr H]

My old rear shocks had loose springs when it was jacked up but the shock was extra-long (Hoffman spec) and there was no way that it would ever come loose when driving.

 

However the general consensus for a standard setup is that the springs should never be loose. I had this issue when I recently changed mine to the new 46mm Nitrons. I discussed it with Nitron and eventually took it down for them to check it over. They sorted it whilst I was there - they were very very helpful.

 

How about contacting Mark at Nitron and suggesting going down there with the car for them to check it all over?

[M111]

Dr H.

 

It was Mark that I spoke to (when you can get hold of him!). They did offer for me to take the car to them, but I don't have any holiday spare to take the time to go down.

 

I can't believe that of all the cars leaving Hethel, mine is any different. Mark has confirmed the kit is correct. There must be something I am overlooking. I was going to drop you a message asking to take up your previous offer of help but I saw on a thread on SELOC that you are already committed this weekend (and its not Donington - how dare you mis Donny!)

 

Depending on how I get on this weekend I might still drop you a msg

[winthattt]

You may have tried this.....have you taken the car for a short drive? When I fitted mine I found they settled after a short drive. Bouncing the car up and down did not have the same effect. After three goes and short drives I got the height on my s1 exige correct, 112,122. The rear passenger side spring is loose but all the others are tight with the wheels fully drooped.

[stockhome]

You may have tried this.....have you taken the car for a short drive? When I fitted mine I found they settled after a short drive. Bouncing the car up and down did not have the same effect. After three goes and short drives I got the height on my s1 exige correct, 112,122. The rear passenger side spring is loose but all the others are tight with the wheels fully drooped.

 

I can second this, I have just finished fitting some Nitron NTR's and setting the ride height was a real pain. For two days I had been altering the spring platforms and getting varying results, I just could not understand it. The amount pre load on the spring did not seem to equate to the correct change in ride height. I read somewhere to roll the car backwards and forwards in-between changes, this still did not work.

 

In the end I set all of the platforms by measuring the distance from the spring platform to the top of the damper. Went for a short drive, measured the ride height and them adjusted the platforms using the ratio in this document

 

http://sector111.com/images/products/performance/suspension/nitron/Nitron_Tuning_Guide1.pdf

 

It says that one turn of front spring platform pre-load will raise the car by approx.2.8mm or 1/10". At the rear it is about 2.2mm per turn. So if you want to raise the car by 1mm on the front you load the spring by roughly 1/3 of a turn. more like 1/2 a turn on the rear.

 

Took the car or another drive, came back and got pretty much the exact changes I expected

 

HTH

[mtapscott]

Mark -from Nitron, here.

 

I apologise if you felt Nitron offering a full refund was not acceptable...?

 

As you have said, Nitron have sold hundreds of Street Series car kits and yours is the only one we have experienced this problem with. After offering to look at the car for you FOC, I thought that offering a refund was the next reasonable step - if you / your garage were unable to fix the problem.

 

Street Series have a different (metric) thread pitch to the NTR shocks - as such, you cannot set them using the ratios suggested above, in this thread.

 

I always seek to have timely email responses issued if I am not in the country/office. I am not the only person at Nitron and if you still have problems, you can of course continue dialogue with us. We understood by the lack of such response that you had since rectified your problem.

 

Of course, we will continue to support you as directed, however without seeing the car or further technical explanation as to the issues - we find ourselves somewhat hamstrung.

 

01993 849 449.

[Gary ZBJ]

EDIT- Ignore this, just seen your other post, glad you got it sorted

 

Hi,

 

As I posted earlier in the thread, is it just the fronts that are loose?

 

on mine, the rears are retained but the fronts are loose when the car is jacked up.

 

If it is just the fronts that are loose on yours then I can take 5 minutes at the weekend, take the front wheel off and show you how far mine seperate???

 

Gary

 

I'm still in need of help and advice

 

Quick summary - With Nitron Street Series fitted in place of original Konis my ride height is circa 140mm on all 4 corners. The top collar is finger-tight 2-3 turns on the spring. I believe that to lower the car I need to undo the spring. To get the 20mm drop I am hoping for would mean the springs would be rattling like a good-un.

 

I posted on SELOC but didn't get any meaningful help there.

 

I've spoken to Nitron who basically have confirmed that the dimensions of the springs and damper lengths are correct for an S1 fitment and that my car is the only one that they have had problems with. Without them seeing the car or a Lotus Specialist looking at it, they are unwilling to offer a hypothesis.

 

The (reputable) place where I bought the dampers from (and they race their cars) have said it is acceptable for the spring to be loose with the wheel in droop as long as the spring does not leave the bottom perch. I am happy to take this advice even though it sounds contrary to all that I have read. The dampers are supplied with a spanner, which, to my mind, indicates you require a tool to tighten or loosen the spring. Tightening the collar onto the spring would give me a taller ride height (!), so why the spanner?

 

Advice on Seloc suggested brackets for the back. Trouble is, that would lower the back but leave me with a 140mm front ride height (!) - problem not solved.

 

Is there anyone here that can tell me that they have 20mm+ of play* on their shocks? (*Play - free movement of the shock between upper and lower perch when the wheel is in droop)

 

Anyone here with Nitron Street Series that can give me an insight how they set their ride heights?

 

This is frustrating the out of me.

 

Nitron offered a refund - that is a cop-out. I've bought the same dampers that hundreds of other people are running - I just want to get them set-up the same.

[mtapscott]

I understand this has now be resolved. Nothing at all to do with the Nitron product.

[Martin R]

To be fair to Nitron, i dont see what else they could have done. To offer to look at it or a refund is probably all you could hope for in service IMO

[M111]

To be fair to Nitron, i dont see what else they could have done. To offer to look at it or a refund is probably all you could hope for in service IMO

 

Martin, your not wrong. On reflection, I could have put it differently. I was offered for Nitron to look at the car, but I don't have the time to go down to Abingdon. I was also asked if I could get the car looked at by a 'specialist'.

 

What was frustrating me was, I knew right from the outset that I was doing something wrong. Hence the title 'Numpty with Nitrons'.

I only began questioning the shocks when I was told what I was doing was right, but then they were confirmed to be the correct lengths leaving me back at the start. Trouble was, fundamentally, I wasn't doing things right. I wanted my problem sorted but a refund wasn't going to sort it (and my old shocks had gone for scrap so I had no immediate way out).

 

It is very often to overlook the obvious, and that is exactly what was going on.

 

In the end I still took Marks advice, but at a point where I didn't feel the car was safe to drive (and to be honest, because of how I was adjusting it, it probably wasn't the safest) instead of me taking it to a specialist I had the specialist come to me!

 

Mark/Nitron did all he could from where he was.

 

I have said, if I can offer a constructive critism from all of this, then a more obvious note in the instructions (rather than small print on the back page) pointing out that the car needs to have weight in before proceeding with the following steps, might just help the next Numpty that comes along.

 

Regards,

 

Gary

 

[Martin R]

Gary, fair comment and as i said elsewhere im glad you are sorted. DIY is the only way any of us learn how to do these things. As well as saving a few bob you also know what / how its been done.

 

The beauty of forums is we can all learn from each others trials and tribulations