Hey, I know it's kind of a select few people on here in comparison to 6n owners with TA technics coilovers so.

After people's opinions/informations on them.

Due to the fact I work in vehicle dynamics on a daily basis and work alongside some really good suspension tuning engineers, I'm trying to establish any improvements which could be made for future kits on the Gaz kits...

I have an issue with mine, and someone else has also mentioned they have the same. Trying to establish if it's common or not..

If you could post up your information, opinions, good and bad things (don't be shy to be picky) just like to see how others rate them.

Spring rates (F / R):

Subframe (Stage 2 / 3 / Na):

Amount lowered (from standard, not g40) (F / R):

Damper settings, if you can remember, clicks from fully soft, (F /43 - R /43):

Car usage:

Opinion, good points, bad points, improvements?

Thanks.

Spring rates (F / R): 225lb / 180lb

Subframe (Stage 2 / 3 / Na): NA

Amount lowered (from standard, not g40) (F / R): around 50/40 (+ lowering top mounts so 60ish)

Damper settings, if you can remember, clicks from fully soft, (F /43 - R /43): F 8/43 ish - R 4/43 ish

Car usage: Commuting mainly.

Opinion, good points, bad points, improvements?

So I think the primary ride is okay, motorway usage and decent roads rides the gradual bumps fairly well, "dips" etc on the motorway are acceptable and the car settles well after one and doesn't "wollow" around too much.

Body control in cornering is fairly good, IMO handling is completely fine for me for road use anyway.

Small bumps like cats eyes, painted lines, small surface joins are very noticeable, but almost acceptable for a lowered car with poly bushes and stiffer springs etc, wheels/tyres probably don't help.

Large bumps, like a higher velocity impact such as a pothole (not even deep) cause a large bang on mine, like it's underdamped and "crashes through" if I approach a speed bump, unless I go less than like 5mph this bang also occurs - it shouldn't. It happens in compression, and as the fronts are only rebound adjustable altering this won't effect that.

Trying to get a copy of the rating graphs for the fronts off Gaz to have a look at their damper curve, as the fronts just seem all wrong, the rears arnt too bad.

So yeah, input welcome please :)

Edited 6 January, 201313 yr by harris.racing

Also worth asking people what length bumpstops they're running and what tyre size too.

Also what's yours like over the painted rumble strips on the road? (e.g. the bastard ones on the Fosse Way). Amplitude of that shock is small compared to a pot hole, but at 60mph is an uber high frequency. Would've thought you'd have pothole strike down as a lower frequency with respect to these.

Erm the ones on the b4100 just before that big island for leam etc are pretty harsh man, trouble is because polos have like no sound deadening etc it all seems worse

thud thud thud thud ..Budget wank bollocks lol ..

Intrested in this :) .. Id rather spend my hard earnt cash on something with abit more testing and develeopment ..

Nick you looking into avo suspension ? they can do conversions with mono tube etc

Nah probably not avo mate.

To be honest after some testing and such I'm sure I could come up with a better damper curve and spring setup for Gaz to use.

Depends what kind of piston setup they're using internally

http://www.avouk.com/CatalogueFrameset-84.htm

Could do with contacting them myself. See the size of the dampers etc.

Gaz must have just used a generic size shock .. Most prob off a rover or something lol

Edit

http://www.avouk.com/MotorsportFrameset-84.htm

Edited 24 October, 201213 yr by jamiedub

They just sent me a rating graph, stupid potato plots I'll have to try and find someone who can translate them into what modern people use :)

Potato plots lmao .. Soft soft soft rack arddddd. soft

Post 'em up 'arris!

Yeah would be interested to see them. Well I would pass them on the my brother to see if he could understand them!! :)

I've got gaz coilovers on my mk2 (well did have until I rolled it saturday, boo!

Anyway, no idea on any figures, but they felt very good to me. No complaints, very happy.

Well I’m glad you’re aiming towards something constructive other than “my matez said they wer shit” like you pretty much said in the first place. Also glad to finally hear what the issue actually is. Are they both “knocking”? You said only one side was at first?

You do have to bear in mind the lowered tyre profile size, fact every bush is of increased stiffness, and as you said the polo’s chassis is far from luxury. I remember driving a fresh H&R cup build with the green nylon bushes and it wasn’t pleasant round town. Whereas a car previously with the same kit rode ok with stock g40 arms.

Anyway the bushes although a contributing factor, aren't the issue here and it does sound like your damping isn’t setup correctly or there could be a fault with the dampers, or its too low, or maybe they supplied a bump stop that’s too long. Key I found was in setting the dampers up right, it crashed and banged until I found the sweet spot. I also got on well with some slightly stiffer springs as well believe it or not, but my test drive was some b roads I knew like the back of my hand rather than the round town through potholes etc.

My experience with them is a bit far from what you are describing though. They were a bit crashy on the 275lb 6”, but not what you’re saying. Last set of Gaz coilovers I got came with a graph in the box? Assume yours didn’t?

Unfortunately they won’t build any of their Gold or Monotube shocks into a Polo strut due to various reasons. Which is a shame, and due to this I am investigating other options for a couple customers who have mentioned they want the ultimate fast road polo suspension. The only others at the moment are KW or H&R. The latter now using koni monotubes. I run the older H&Rs which use Bilstein monotube inserts on my daily and as you say ride is actually better than stock with the rating doubled, but that is more expensive technology.

A custom set of Bilstein monotubes made for a shortened polo strut are an option, but that’ll push a new set of coilovers to near the mark KW want for theirs new. I have a quote in at the moment though for a pair of custom shortened B8s.

I had a chat with Gaz yesterday, and they’re recommendation is a 7” spring with the seat high enough to preload it. Which would return a near standard ride height, as I found out first time round. Investigation found the usual suspects used the 5.5” spring, most even shorter. I got hold of a few different sets and started giving them ago.

Thinking about it though, when I did my testing I was using some other branded tougher poundage tender springs. Gaz only do helpers, so before sending the dampers back for bump modification, you might want to investigate a tender spring of a larger poundage (100 lb ish) and as you know this may well need a stiffer main spring.

Anyway car looks good, and I look forward to seeing your maths on this.

Interested in seeing the results here, was thinking of getting some Gaz for my mk2 and also looking to replace the h n r's on the daily for something a little more suitable for Surrey roads with my kids!!!

Had a chance to have a proper look at graph earlier, hard to tell much as they've only provided data for testing at one velocity, so need to see if I can find different velocities out to see the damper curve.

Also been looking into spring rates, to calculate ride frequencies etc to try to reduce the "chop" of the car.

Bit busy with other shit at the minute but I'll be looking into this as and when.

As the polos probably gonna be off the road for a bit - I may make a jig to hold the 86c front strut In our damper rating equipment at work.

Then I can accurately adjust my compression/rebound settings to make a matched pair.

Any progress with this Nick?

Nope - busy with other stuff, polos rejected atm tbh

Nick - from memory your kit has tender or helper springs too. Do you know what spec they are? Also, do you know what spring lengths you've got all round?

PM'd you Andy with various ride frequencies and spring rates.

Now running 250lb 7" springs, nearly fully down its got 1" arch gap, need some shorter ones, but that's in hand, spoken to some guys I can trust and know their work well.

I'm thinking of upping to 275lb front, 6"

Also possibly 200lb rear, and will be fitting helpers on the rear, as they're nearly loose being jacked up and it's not even low at the rear.

I know eibach do some helpers which are very very very low rating, and 13mm fully compressed. So these maybe ideal for the front too.

Now the car isn't a daily I can bare it being a bit stiffer, I actually did a bit of maths and I should be over 300lb really for a safe amount of bump impact force with a 150mm spring.

How many Gaz owners have helper springs in their coilovers?

My custom spec'd ones arrived today - without helpers. Gaz have promised to send me some out (being as I ordered and paid for some...) but are adamant that they're not standard on their G40 kit. From memory Nick's has helpers, but Alex's doesn't. Mind you, from talking to the tech guys there it seems they've changed the standard spec several times anyway based on people's feedback/complaints.

I have 7" 250lb springs, nearly fully down and it's got like an inch arch gap, need shorter springs and helpers for sure for mine, I'm going to run them on the rear too.

Yeah, I wanted 5.5" main springs but they'd only supply 7". Also wanted stronger tender springs, but they wouldn't/couldn't do that either - so I settled for getting a set of parts to start with before buying the springs I wanted elsewhere.

Yeah. I'm gonna get mine from eibach I think, they do a helper which is 13mm fully compressed so suitable with the small amount of room for playing with.

Your spring rates will probably be fine at 5.5" mate