I have finally installed the H&Rs I bought this summer. It took a while to understand how to install but they are now finally in place The ride is not much stiffer but the over all feeling of the car definitely improved a lot. The car is much more stable and the steering is quicker (might be du to more neg camber as a result of the lowering?) It is not easy to make a complete evaluation yet since I havnt had the wheels realigned but I will post back as soon as I have had time to do that.
I will as soon as I can get it safely out of the driveway again ;-) When I tried to bring it back in it got stuck and I had to use peaces of wood to get it back in!
I hope your experience is better than mine. I installed the H&R's and found that for street they created too much understeer and at high speed the car never seemed planted. After a couple on months of playing with toe in, air pressure, et al, found what I consider the best setup for me - stock on the front and medium Challenge springs in back and the Challenge setup on all forurs. The car is now just incredible to drive on the street and on track. I have a tad of oversteer which evolves to neutral as speed picks up. Just my experience.
Thank you for the information. I hope it will work out better than before, the car felt way to soft and it did not corner as I wanted. What setting did you finally go for with the springs you have now?
The fronts are the stock springs, and the rear are the Medium Springs Ferrari made available for the Challenge series. I believe there were three separate springs available. When I first put the H&R's on, I liked the weightier feel in the steering, but after driving through some twisties the car was slower, lacked the alacrity I had been used to, and the springs were so stiff that it dialed out the power assist. In short the understeer killed it for me. However, if I were using the car for track purposes exclusively, I probably would have given the H&R's a bit more time to settle in. I know others who are very happy with them.
The weightier feeling was one of the first thing I noticed, what do you think i comes from? Is it due to the change in chassis rake(20mm lower in front and 10mm lover in rear) or something else? You say the springs are so stiff that they dial out the power assist, what do you mean by that. On the short drive I took, the springs didnt feel that much stiffer, the ride was not much different.
I found that at speeds below 40mph, the steering was much heavier, and I do think its down to the combination of the H&R greater stiffness and the lowering of the frontal mass which combined to reduce the effect of the soft shock setting as it eliminated the operating range of the adjustable shocks which hardened the ride and impact of the power assist. I found the soft shock setting useless. At first I thought it was great because I have always felt that the power assist was a bit much. However, as I said, the overall impact was to dial in understeer which I found unacceptable as it made it much more difficult to toss the car around. The combination of returning to stock fronts gave the car the alacrity I loove, and the harder rear shocks keep the car firmly planted.
Finally got the car safely out of the garage, had to build up the drive way with new asphalt to make it work ;-) Here are a few pictures of the car and the improved drive way ;-). I have measured the car very carefully and it is now 11mm (0,43 inch) lower at the rear and 19 mm (0,75 inch) lower in the front. No difference what so ever between left and right, identical to the original settings. Even though I havent had the car realigned I took the car for an hour drive around town and on the highway. The over all feeling is definitely different and I feel much more in control when driving. The steering is much more direct and the car feels more alive. In town and at mid speed it gives a feeling of being able to really point the car into the corner and it seems to hold the line better. At high speeds it is somewhat nervous, but since the feeling in the steering has increased it still gives me a feeling of being in control. I tested the car at speeds up to +220 Kmh and felt much more secure than with the standard setup. I didnt get the chance to test that much on twisty roads at mid to high speed due to the cold weather today (in Sweden winter is on its way with snow and is), only had a few degrees above freezing so that will have to wait. But when driving through entries and exits to the high way I dindt get the feeling that the car had changed much when it comes to under steering/oversteering, will have to try this more though. I am planing to measure the car allignment as soon as possible but am not sure of what to change, I feel quite happy with the settings as it is. Maybe raise the front slightly or increase toin in the rear to stabilize the car at high speed? Any ideas of which way to go from here when it comes to caster, camber rake etc. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Paul And it is as low as I will ever go. 5 mm lower and there is no way in he.. I wll get in or out of the garage )
Newbie question here.. I noticed that our suspension(struts) has a height adjustment (like an aftermarket coil-over suspension). So isn't it possible to just lower the strut adjustment and not change the springs to make it lower ?
That is correct, but as you go lower you will need/want to go to stiffer spring to lower the risk of bottoming out and hitting speed bumps.
As an aside, a certain Mssrs Eibach used to work for H&R but then he decided to go it on his own. In my part of the world, Eibach is better known but H&R used to and still does OEM spring setups for some manufacturers and only quite recently (5-10 yrs) got into aftermarket... Johan, great looking car there and yer lowering looks just right. And I see your cute son? pointing out the 'ramps'....
Hi I am at home with Arvid this fall, it is something we are encouraged to do here in Sweden and get compensation for by the government. It is quite demanding but also a lot of fun. The real benefit is that when he is sleeping I can get down to the garage and do some work on the Ferrari About the springs, I have used Eibach before and it is probably a better known brand here as well. I have always had good results with them on my former cars. But when I was looking for springs for the Ferrari most other brand specified that they would lower the car too much, in most cases 3-4 cm that would not work at all for me (can really se how that would work for anyone unless on a smooth track). H&R actually specified the least amount of lowering, 20 mm in front and 10 at the rear.
