CleaR Motorsport. A new beginning in Cheshire. Your chassis tunning specialist.

[harrypotter]

6 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

The spring platforms are quite wound up, which paired with the taller top hats, are making the dampers hit full extension IMHO.

A longer damper should be on the cards here to solve the problem, from what I can see. Or a shorter spring.

Might be worth trying the old short top hats as well? As those might give you some more travel in this specific case.

A shorter spring won’t help. The spring needs to be wound up with the platform to gain the correct ride height. 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

18 minutes ago, harrypotter said:

A shorter spring won’t help. The spring needs to be wound up with the platform to gain the correct ride height. 

Yep, a shorter spring will lower the ride height. Longer spring or taller top eye would be my thoughts.

[Andrzej]

As for keeping the shock thread in good condition -is greasig it a good idea ? 

 

on the picures one can see how much dirt is kept by sticking to grease after just one ride. 

I was told once years ago (approx 10 y ago) to keep those threads dry. And I can turn rings by hand till now on that car ( or with little help of special spanner for coilovers ) . That car has Bilstein shocks, track only but driven some times on salt track and rain. But to be honest, those rings was time to time moved over the years for changing springs and setings change.

Wonder what to do with Westfields shocks  threads  ?  So far I kept those dry too . Had no issuses with changing preload / height (Nitrons and protech) . But mine Westfields dont drive in rain , opposite to @Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO ' s car which is I think most widely seen od this forum in rain  On the other hand it is aluminum (I assume?) - so - what are other experiences - dry or grease? (shock threads to be clear )  

 

[Maurici- CleaR Motorsport]

8 hours ago, Andrzej said:

As for keeping the shock thread in good condition -is greasig it a good idea ? 

Grease allways.

Any crud and dirt that the grease can attract can be cleaned with a brush and brake cleaner.

Galvanic corrosion cant be cleaned.

[CosKev]

10 hours ago, Andrzej said:

On the other hand it is aluminum (I assume?) - so - what are other experiences - dry or grease? (shock threads to be clear )  

Ians Spax are a steel body with a aluminium spring seat,Protechs are aluminium body and spring seats. 

Steel and aluminium react to each other and cause a really nasty reaction which is way worse than rust etc on threads.

Get some coilover covers,you won't get any debris on your grease on the threads then!

They work really well,easy to remove too being fitted with velcro. 

[DamperMan]

The sounds are very much like the dampers coming to the end of there stroke….  To control the suspension bringing it to a controlled stop in 10mm vs 50mm requires a lot more damping, which would be detriment to the ride quality previously enjoyed.    Also if the damper is topping out the wheel will be unloading from the road, not following the road’s profile..   The dampers supplied are standard length for the rear.    I have come across  cars needing shorter dampers on the rear but non longer needing longer.   I try not to stay awake at night thinking about these things.    These are kit cars and sometimes they are as special and unique as we are. 
 

There are other things which sometimes make noises too which get blamed on the dampers or happen change when ride hight changes…. Handbrake cables now taping something, drive shafts not being fairly horizontal and bouncing between the joints as the wheels go up and down.   These are just a few fairly random things I’ve some across on various cars.   Even an intermittent rattle which turned out to be a fuel float… 

 

As said we can extend the damper tops to increase the open length of the damper if required.      
 

as regards to coating the threads..   There is always a compromise of grease/copperslip/waxoil attracting dirt or keeping them dry. People have very absolute views on what to do.   But if it’s a dry use car it largely does not matter.  Ians car is used in al weathers.     I prefer the grease the threads with copperslip. Once the hight has been set cleaning the exposed thread just to make it look clean.    If the body’s are aluminium or steel and plating it’s important not to damage the coating on the damper as it leads to damper damage.. grit will.. so will turning the collars if loaded dry damage the coating.    On the Spax dampers the thread is stainless steel.   But the anodized spring seats are aluminium so there is potential for corrosion between the two if not protected.   The spring seat is sacrificial not the damper.   The seats can be cut and split, the stainless cleaned up as it’s not at all compromised and new seats fitted.