Hi all!
What better time to address last year’s MOT advisories: “misting damper, right front, left rear, right rear”, than the same day the next MOT is due!
And what better way to do it than performing an “upgrade” to ZetaCRDs?
Cue another pilgrimage to Vincent’s… That man proved last time he knew what he was doing.
Now, I know there’s a lot of opinion when it comes to addressing the running gear on NCs. However, I personally struggled to find much that described in detail what changing the suspension felt like specifically for the NC1.
For clarity, Ana (the car) is an 07 2.0 Sport and has:
- Stock ARBs
- Stock bushings
- OEM sport 17s wrapped in Uniroyal rainsport 3s.
- No spacers.
- Stock Sport LSD
- Greenstuff Pads
- Stock ICE mechanics, excepting a cobalt backbox
To be clear, I have repeatedly bothered Vincent about ARBs and bushings in emails:
“Are you sure Vincent? What about wear?”
“No Andy seriously mate, just do the suspension”.
Thusly I have listened to the professional.
Ok set up over. How does the difference feel? And was Vincent right?
Deliberate blur for dramatic pause… and here we go:
PPPHHWWWWOOOOOAAAARRR
YES! HE WAS VERY RIGHT!
You really don’t understand the “yacht” reference until you have made this change. Because it isn’t just about the size mate.
Before
There was always an element of float and dive when lifting off and then applying the brakes. You had to time it perfectly with corner entry to feel a positive and sharp start to a corner. If you got it wrong, you would either be far too positive too early, or far too fast too late. Either way, you were getting off the throttle.
Mid corner and on application of power, the car would blend to mild understeer (Boring). Unless there was a bump somewhere. In which case the rear would bunny hop to what felt like the top of the suspension travel, and want to slip wide. Almost as if some bizarre version of Bugs Bunny was about to erupt, cartoon esque, from the boot, bounce around and proclaim a premature “That’s all folks!” end to the journey.
All the above then produced some very unpredictable corner exits, sometimes getting it right, a lot of times totally missing an opportunity to make time and speed. All very frustrating of course!
After
Float and dive is gone on corner entry. A natural reaction to the stiffer suspension. The predictability and dart-like positivity of the front end now inspires supreme confidence.
On mid corner, applying throttle now has that positive effect of pushing the car around the corner, front end first, gokart style. Frankly, applying the throttle is as effective as applying NASCAR levels of corner camber. It’s also predictable, bumps no longer induce that bouncing, jouncing slop. Instead you get a very predictable wobble from the bump steer growing and then diminishing. There and gone in the instant the bump is felt.
This produces extremely predictable corner exits.
It lets you apply early application of throttle, and therefore: Add speed!
NB: An unexpected, but logical, consequence of this newfound confidence is freedom to look further down the road (whilst in the corner). Without the need to check the surface every moment, you can lift your gaze up the road to the horizon, and then draw your eyes back down the road. Just like those YouTube videos say you should!
In summary/TL:DR
It’s totally transformed the car.
Do it, and do it with an experienced professional setting it up. Vincent knows his stuff, advised me well and provided alignment and balancing that has meant I have a car I can seriously trust, despite it’s late teenager age.
For my previous post on Vincent’s and a view of the run I took to test, both then and now, see:
Some before and after photos for comparison:
