Chassis Tuning / Suspension

One of the most overlooked areas in performance tuning is chassis work. Sadly the mucky, grubby bits you can’t see are usually some of the last to receive attention when a car is being modified. Sure, improved handling won’t give you the street-cred of a new set of rims, or the fantastic soundtrack that one of our exhausts delivers, but taking time even to make small adjustments will deliver huge dividends in every aspect of your performance driving. Whether it’s seconds off each lap on a track day or even just more confidence in your cornering, chassis work is always money well spent. It’s also a very insurance-friendly way to tune your car!

Eibech Springs

If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It?

So, at this point you may be thinking, ‘What about the manufacturers? Don’t they spend millions of pounds developing and perfecting these cars? How can that be improved?’. It’s true. Most new cars as they come ‘out of the box’ drive perfectly acceptably. But here’s the thing. Manufacturers are building their cars to two main criteria. The first is cost-per-unit. Cars have to be produced at a realistic commercial value. This dictates not only a maximum price for the components used, capping their quality and durability, but also the time allowed to assemble them. For example the fitment of the entire suspension in the factory may take just a few seconds. It’s not uncommon for us to spend two hours simply adjusting it. But guess who’s is more accurate?

The other consideration in automotive manufacture is compromise. Even overt sports models like the Impreza or Aero still have to appeal to a wide cross-section of consumers. To this end, factory suspension rates and settings attempt to try and please all of the people, all of the time. Something sadly, in engineering that isn’t really possible. It only takes a little investment to improve on what the factory have given us and we can markedly improve your driving enjoyment. So let’s look at the options.

Alignment

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As we’ve already mentioned. The manufacturing tolerances allowed when a car is assembled at speed are huge! A quick glimpse of the workshop manuals reveals that tracking, camber and castor angles, the three factors that really dictate how are car ‘feels’ have several degrees of acceptable inaccuracy and yet still fall within the manufacturers guidelines.

As any Race-team technician will tell you, inaccuracy is never acceptable when it comes to chassis set-up. With skill and knowledge these cars can be adjusted to within sixtieths of a degree (or ‘minutes’) to that perfect point where everything works exactly as the designers intended.

Without replacing a single component, we can spend the time that the factory can’t justify. Perfectly aligning each element of the suspension to ensure that the car responds to driver input like never before. With this process we can also tailor a car to an individual drivers wishes. Perfectly neutral for vice free handling, slight over-steer for opposite-lock heroes or just a hint of under-steer for those wanting a bit of margin for over-exuberance. Not only is a perfectly aligned car much safer to drive… it’s also a lot more fun.

A hugely cost effective mod, Alignment can either be performed on it’s own, or as the obvious finishing touch to each and every suspension upgrade.

Drop Links (Subaru Applications)

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Take a squint under your Subaru and note where the anti-roll bar is linked to the suspension. The connecting parts are known as ‘drop links’ Oh dear, we’re back to that ‘cost per unit’ again. The factory have utilised a hard engineering plastic to form the link between these two components. These hard working little ‘c’ shaped links have to transmit the upward force of the suspension arms to the anti-roll bar. A component that by design, is trying to resist being twisted. The result? The massive forces placed on the drop links start to flex those too, diminishing the efficiency of the roll bar and allowing the car to roll. Not good.

The solution is simple. Because we’re now building this suspension up to a quality and not down to a price, just change the material to a much higher quality. Our Perrin rose jointed links transmit the suspension movement into the anti- roll bar far more effectively making the bar work harder to keep the car flatter through the turns. Hugely effective when combined with our alignment service.

Strut Braces (Subaru Aplications)

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Here’s a small experiment next time you’re a passenger in a car. Place your fingers around the edge of the door aperture, near the seal where it butts up to the frame. Chances are you will feel a slight movement between the two panels as the car is driven. Why is this? Well, put simply, all cars ‘flex’ as they are driven… particularly when cornering. The cars ability to resist this flexing or ‘torsional rigidity’ is a key factor in how well it can handle.

Manufacturers strive with each new model to improve the torsional strength of the shell. The stiffer the shell remains, the more work has to be performed by the suspension. If the body remains relatively static, the springs and dampers are more able to soak up changes in the road surface and the lateral forces of cornering. The end result is steering and handling that are both more communicative and consistent.

Our range of strut braces, do just that. Bolted between the top of the front or rear suspension struts, they increase the torsional rigidity of the car, forcing the suspension to work at maximum efficiency, improving the handling and feel of the car. A noticeable improvement on their own, and an easy home fitment, they really come into their own with an alignment and drop link package.

Replacement Sport Springs

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The factory suspension has to perform a myriad of duties. It has to be motorway smooth, handle acceptably and give enough ground clearance for any eventuality. The problem this leaves is usually unacceptable body roll to a centre of gravity that’s higher than the handling ideal and spring rates that err on the side of caution to appease more genteel buyers.

By replacing the springs with something designed specifically to improved handling without compromising ride quality, we not only solve these problems, but by lowering the car we improve the handling by moving the centre of gravity nearer the tarmac. (It just happens to look pretty good too!)

Eibach Logo

We choose to fit Eibach Pro-Kit springs on all of our packages. As the confirmed market leader, Eibach are the original equipment manufacturer to nearly all of the World’s major automotive players… Including Saab and Subaru! In addition they provide springs for several of the top F1 and WRC teams. Allied to this each spring kit come with full TUV certification and a staggering 1,000,000km warranty! Why fit anything else?

Eibach’s unique winding process means that the springs have a ‘progressive’ rate. The bottom half of the spring has a real ‘factory’ feel with superb ride comfort for everyday driving. As you push a little harder into the corners the stiffer part of the spring higher up comes into play, firming up the chassis and keeping the car level. The Pro-Kit also lowers the car between 25-35 mm depending on the model for optimum ride height and cosmetic appeal.

Price Structure

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Saab 9000 / Classic 900 POA

All prices exclude VAT @17.5%