This must have been covered a thousand times, and indeed doing a search gives a stupid no of results. My S2 has done 43k miles, the last 20k of which have mainly been down bumpy country roads ( as the car is my daily drive), so I reckon it could well be time for a suspension refresh at the very least, or, more tempting, to uprate the shocks all together.
My question is, which ones to go for? The Nitron’s seem to be favourite, (as nice as it would be to have 2/3/4 etc way adjustables, I just do not do enough track work in the car to warrant it) but I see there are Ohlins available (had them on my bikes in the past - superb), someone mentioned GAZ Golds, then there are Intrax units (which we ave fitted to our Ultima and I am very impressed with), then Hoffman does an upgrade kit for the Nitrons which is supposed to be the dogs dangalies…so, which to go for? (I have prob missed some options too.)
As mentioned car is my everyday commute down bumpy country roads, used for the odd trackday but I race other stuff so not that often. I guess how robust the shocks are and how well they will cope with rougher roads has to be considered.
Whilst budget is not really an issue - paying more than I have to for something when I don’t need it seems pointless, as its money I can put forward for other mods. Car is as standard handling wise, use T1R’s for everyday use otherwise I would be getting through 888’s or AO38’s every 3 months or so!
How much of a difference did they make to the car? What was teh quality of the ride like afterwards? They do look very clean and in excellent condition!
I think this all depends on you budget
Sub �1k get those Gaz golds
�1k-1.5k go for Singleway Nitrons Randy spec if you can afford the extra
�2k+ 46mm ohlins 2 or 3 way
Suspension is all about how much you want to spend, personally I went for single way nitrons as I didn’t think I would get the extra for spending at least double on the ohlins as I am at best average as a trackday driver.
If I was mainly driving on bumpy roads on T1-r’s i’d have stuck with the oe bilstens over my nitrons as the lack of suspension travel makes progress tricky. Spending time airborne does save on tire wear though I suppose!
I’ve never been in a car on softer nitrons or any of the other makes though.
I agree low ride height and lack of travel does make for tough going on very bumpy roads with my nitrons with 450\575 springs but as a general rule on normal roads the ride is much better than the std ones.
I went for the Lotus spec 36mm Ohlins (2-way). I have found them really good and backing off some bump really helped on the Mountain Road in the Isle of Man this weekend…
