Suspension: C70 Springs

[Simon J]

Alex,

The Sports Chassis (not lowered) was the standard spec for the T5 Coupe and I suspect most C70s were sold off the showroom floor rather than to special order and few dealers would have bothered to specify the lowered chassis.

All you have to do now is decide how to proceed! Good luck!

[don kalmar union]

The Eibach springs that you have on the car are of a very good quality, they will have lowered the car by arround 30mm from standard and will have added an improvement in handling and reduced roll from standard.

The harshness that you are experiencing may well come from the dampers being a bit worn. You would certainly find an improvement in body control and handling if you fitted new dampers in that case, Bilsteins preferably.

You could also look at the tyres pressures that you are running.

Another point is that you need to keep with 17" rims as these chassis gave very poor ride with 18" rims with their shallower side walled tyres. So attention to tyres and pressures will bring its rewards.

Best regards, Don.

[alexward]

Originally Posted by don kalmar union

The Eibach springs that you have on the car are of a very good quality, they will have lowered the car by arround 30mm from standard and will have added an improvement in handling and reduced roll from standard.

The harshness that you are experiencing may well come from the dampers being a bit worn. You would certainly find an improvement in body control and handling if you fitted new dampers in that case, Bilsteins preferably.

You could also look at the tyres pressures that you are running.

Another point is that you need to keep with 17" rims as these chassis gave very poor ride with 18" rims with their shallower side walled tyres. So attention to tyres and pressures will bring its rewards.

Best regards, Don.

Thanks Don.
I am running on 17" Canistos with no plans to change them because they are mint. For now I might try lowering my tyre pressure to see if that takes some of the ride harshness away like you say.
A few people have said that the Eibach springs are good, so i'm thinking of changing the shocks/dampers. I think the originals which are Sachs are fitted to my car, so they're getting on a bit.
Hopefully changing the shocks will ease the, shall I say, joltiness of the ride.

[Simon J]

Alex,

I stopped by my dealer this afternoon as I wanted to check out some details about rear stabilizers (as Volvo call them) or rear anti roll bars (as the rest of us call them). It seems possible that your car (being originally a standard height chassis) may not have had an uprated one fitted and this might be something you'd want to think about. And of course Don Norchi does one that's uprated in comparison with even the uprated Volvo one. I've been mulling over getting one of these for my car but haven't finally decided. It's the sort of thing it would be nice to test drive before buying but I doubt if there is a lowered Cabrio here in Belfast with one fitted that I could try!

[alexward]

Originally Posted by Simon J

Alex,

I stopped by my dealer this afternoon as I wanted to check out some details about rear stabilizers (as Volvo call them) or rear anti roll bars (as the rest of us call them). It seems possible that your car (being originally a standard height chassis) may not have had an uprated one fitted and this might be something you'd want to think about. And of course Don Norchi does one that's uprated in comparison with even the uprated Volvo one. I've been mulling over getting one of these for my car but haven't finally decided. It's the sort of thing it would be nice to test drive before buying but I doubt if there is a lowered Cabrio here in Belfast with one fitted that I could try!

Never heard of Don Norchi mate. Would this be an expensive upgrade and worth the expense?

[Simon J]

But you've already replied to Don's post (above)! The upgraded ARB isn't that dear at around £200. Is it worth it? I don't know, but I'm sure there are plenty of guys here who have fitted it to their S and V 70s as well as C70 Coupes who can give you their thoughts on it. I'm still undecided.

[alexward]

Originally Posted by Simon J

But you've already replied to Don's post (above)! The upgraded ARB isn't that dear at around £200. Is it worth it? I don't know, but I'm sure there are plenty of guys here who have fitted it to their S and V 70s as well as C70 Coupes who can give you their thoughts on it. I'm still undecided.

Oh I see. Don!! Right. I'm thinking i'm gonna get some new shocks and keep the Eibach springs as everyone is saying how good they are, as i'm thinking that my old original shocks are worn out. Hopefully that will give me a more compliant ride. If it doesn't, then i will be looking at other mods.

[Simon J]

Well be sure to keep us posted, Alex. I'll be very interested to hear what you finally end up with, and what you think of the result. Good luck!

[acshortt5]

Suspension is always a compromise.

A track day car will require totally different parts (probably adjustable coilovers such as KW would be best) to a road going everyday car where you will want a bit of give to preserve your spine lol.

I would suggest going to meets and having rides in other peoples cars to get a flavour of how different setups handle and then decide what YOU want.

Maybe check out www.t5d5.org as well as there's a lot of info RE suspension setups on there.

[alexward]

Originally Posted by Simon J

Well be sure to keep us posted, Alex. I'll be very interested to hear what you finally end up with, and what you think of the result. Good luck!

Will do mate. Thanks for your input.