Ohlins and springs - the end?

I spent yesterday at CG having my Ohlins Road and Track springs replaced by softer springs to give a more compliant ride. The stiffness was reduced from 60/120Nm to 40/70Nm and the improvement has been dramatic, the car now rides well while still handling like a sports car. Rather than a bone shaking experience on broken roads the springs allow the dampers to operate. The car used to jump about on concrete section of the M25 and now you can here the pattering of the joints in the road but not really feel them all. On deeper dips in the road, the car absorbs the undulations as it should but is still stiff enough not to bounce. Cornering is not quite so flat but as a road car it still doesn't roll appreciably. Ultimate cornering is actually improved to some extent because that car is less inclined to be put off line by poor road surfaces. I haven't played with damper settings yet, Chris set them on the soft side and that seems fine so far, I'll play around with them when I've got a few more miles experiance. In conclusion, I suspect that the car would ride better on even softer springs - they are not far off the GT3 RS's 43/80 Nm but I am very happy now. It's a shame that Ohlins haven't put together a road package to complement their road and track offering that really is too stiff for road use.

Have CG devised their own agreement with Ohlin/way of replacing the standard spring with the softer option, or is this something anyone with the R&T kit could undertake via their own independent and some contact with an Ohlin supplier? I still mean to book in with them someday, but CG are rather far north for me...

Anyone can order and fit springs of any rate and free length to any coilovers. Think of it in terms of the freedom you have to spec and have fitted any tyres you want by any tyre fitter.

The only slight complication is that the Ohlins 40Nm springs are smaller diameter than the larger springs so they need smaller spring perches, CG use a 65mm Bilstein part and a top rubber of their own source. I bought the springs from BG Motorsport (Ohlins UK service agent) and they can also supply Eibach 40Nm springs in the same larger diameter as the original Ohlins but in red rather than yellow (they can also paint them yellow at extra cost). I decided to stick to Ohlins yellow front and rear, when I saw the colour of the springs that CG removed I wondered why I bothered, they were filthy! For DIY I would use Eibach red front and back and then it's a straight swap although you obviously have to reset you ride heights and check out your geometry.

hi Mike Glad to hear you've finally got it sorted to your liking :thumbs:

Thanks, hopefully we can meet up again soon and I can take you for another ride.

I also have Ohlin R&T with incredibly stiff springs - I visited CG earlier this year for their healthcheck and Chris indeed mentioned I should consider softer springs as mine are stiffer than those of a GT3.. which makes for a very bumpy ride on a road that's less than super smooth. Cheers J

40/70 is pretty much what Exe-TC use and this side of my Lotus Evora, it's about as good a road set-up as you can get.

J make the change, it's transformed my car.

My car is 40/90, did Chris share his thinking behind dropping the rears by 20Nm?

Having played around with different spring rates on my TVRs, i thought the valving on the dampers has to be adjusted as well to optimise the new spring rate?

I'm going to swim against the tide here, but these are my thoughts on Ohlins R&T, albeit on a Turbo. The ride in my car is affected more by damper settings than spring rate. If I soften the dampers, the ride improves at medium road speeds. I have run through the whole gamut of settings on the R&T, from 20 out (full soft), to 1 out (full hard). The ride is affected greatly by the damper settings. My turbo currently runs 12 front, 15 rear on the road which for my driving is great. The dampers have covered 3000 miles now and are noticeably softer than they were, so have tightened the front from 17 out down to 12. The car is very comfortable at speed on country roads. On track, the front springs in particular are way too soft, I would like to try 80 N/mm versions rather than the 70 N/m ones fitted. So in my experience with these units, anyone saying they are too hard needs to fully explore the damping range first, as it has a dramatic effect on the outcome. If you have been running at full soft, 20 out front and rear and it is still too hard, then go for softer springs, but do not be frightened of experimentation before throwing the towel in. Just my 2p chaps.

I agree with Mike. I run 140/80 on the GT3, albeit with Nitron 3-way remote canister dampers. It's very noticable how much the bump settings will affect the ride quality on a B-road. Using bump to compensate for soft springs seems a bit counter-intuative to me. The function of the spring is to support the car. Damper settings are to adjust how fast the spring reacts to either compression of expansion. Forcing the damper to do some of the work of the spring means it can't do it's own job without compromise.

Hi Dammit, not sure that Chris had a lot of experience with different spring rates when yours were fitted. He suggested 70Nm rears for Steve Bennett and they are close to the GT3 RS settings that Steve quotes in his magazine article - still significantly stiffer than standard 996. I would love to try Ohlins with springs set to standard 996 rates, especially if Ohlins could valve the dampers to suit. I'd happily volunteer my car if Chris and BG Motorsport would pay for the test! My main conclusion on our day at Bruntinghorpe was that spring rates were a key factor in ride quality. The various dampers on show, original Porsche, Bilstein PSS9, Koni, Ohlins and KW3 made less difference than the 3 different spring options on the Ohlins. My original Ohlins setup was too stiff to the extent that the springs were barely compressing on the road so the dampers were scarcely operating, even at a very soft setting. Great on a smooth track however with very flat cornering. Personally I subscribe to Colin Chapman's philosophy of using long spring travel and good damping (as long as the geometry is good enough to cope) With the Ohlins set soft, the ride is now quite acceptable for a sports car, the bone shaking harshness on broken surfaces that you will remember is gone yet the car still handles well. Give me a call and come and try it.... Can't really comment on Mike's turbo. 70s on the front seems very stiff although with my original 60/120 setup it was the rear that really caused the ride problems and Dammit's 60/90 is much better. Perhaps you can join Dammit and me some time for a comparison?

OP states he's not played with the damper settings yet? Did you play with them before fitting new springs? I have driven R&T on a 996 GT3, dampers on three or four clicks from full soft, worked just fine on the road.