Better Dampers / Less Roll?

[brainii]

I want to reduce roll on the 1.4

I found plenty of aftermarket kits that lower springs 30mm.

However, after some reading (and after fears of failing MOT), it seems that lowering springs alone (not inclduing a shock upgrade) is a bad (destroys shocks quicker) and dangerous solution (bouncy ride, less road hold, less braking performance).

So, question now is, will fitting better shock dampers while not touching anything else improve body roll ?

Thanks

[Rumbly]

Dampers are not really designed to reduce roll, anti roll bars are designed to control roll. Fiddling with anti roll bars if you don't know what you are doing can have very serious consequences not alway good. Altering roll characteristics could potentially result it a terminal oversteer situation which you might not discover until you are travelling backward down the wrong side of the road!

Reducing roll does not necessarily improve handling, some very fine handling road cars roll quite appreciably.

High quality dampers might well be a good idea as they should control the suspension movement better, specially under hard use, but they won't reduce roll. They may slightly reduce the rate of roll if they have higher damping rates than the originals, but I doubt if you'd notice any difference.

I'm not saying don't fiddle, thats how we learn stuff and have fun :-) Sure get some uprated dampers and see how it goes, buy from a reputable manufacturer and it should improve the car with no adverse effects, but not in an attempt to reduce roll.

[brainii]

Thanks for the info, I'm just comparing the Auris with other cars that I have/had in the past and it's just too fiddly, not when driving normally but in emergencies.

I once had to quickly steer left (and then right again to stay on the road) in the city to avoid another car and then the car behaved a bit dangerously, it kept going left and almost went up the sidewalk (while the tyres didn't lose grip/skid).

Another time sthng similar happened on the highway and again the same thing happened.

I guess I'm just used to driving other cars with a lower center of gravity, this is my first hatchback car, I always was driving saloons before and almost all (with the exception of the ****ty nissan sunny) had better handling.

Of course, all this relatively bad handling of the Auris might have to do with the fact that the left front shock/damper has been replaced by a used one 2-3 years back when my wife had an accident and completely destroyed the front/left side of the car, but the highway incident happened when the car was new.

I'll ask my local mechanic to see what he thinks too, if the new dampers aren't gonna improve things why waste the money?

[Uncle Buck]

If you're trying to reduce the Auris' lack of body control, dampers are not going to change much at all I'm afraid. As someone who's tried various mods over the years with different cars, the one thing I've learned is always buy quality springs. The best I've found are H&R or Eibach. Both companies make springs for the Auris & I have an Eibach Pro-kit fitted. They reduce the roll by a very noticeable amount, but keep a very good level of ride comfort. The worst I've come across were Gmax, which were absolutely rubbish - rock hard ride & rusted easily !

[Rumbly]

The Auris might not be the sharpest handling car ever, but not in my opinion dangerous. Pretty typical front wheel drive fare, built in understeer, can be provoked to lift off oversteer. I think maybe as the car has been in an accident there might be some underlying problem with that car. If it is displaying odd handling it could be something is still bent or out of alignment, and if so, until that is sorted out I'd think there would be little point in making modifications.

Maybe have a suspension specialist have a look at the car and check the alignment of everything.

[brainii]

It's not that it's dangerous, just more dangerous compared to other cars I have/had.

Oh there is surely still some problem after the accident as the left front wheel is like 1-2cm closer to the front wheel arc (where it meets the front bumper) than the right wheel is. Part of the underside frame has been bend in the accident but the shop that fixed it said it's only a minor bend which shouldn't affect the car (and the replacement part was 1000 euro) so not worth replacing and they might be right as when I took the car for alignment at my own specialist after the accident they guys there said the same thing (and the car drives straight and tyres are evenly worn etc).

Also like I said before I could feel the car's bad handling before the accident (in emergency situations).

Oh well, I think it's just the way it is.

I might however still lower the car if my mechanic agrees and if the price is right (and if this won't affect MOT).

Thanks for the replies

[Awebb180]

I would say that if something is bent then it would be best to sort that out before modifying it any further as it will never be correct

Alex

[brainii]

So, just back from my mechanic. He advised against replacing springs only with lower ones as this will have an impact on the stock shocks and they will wear out much much sooner.

He advised to get full shocks (springs AND dampers) which are also fully adjustable and that a very good brand is KW (or D2 is a cheaper alternative) and this would cost upwards of 1000 Euro for all 4 wheels.

What do you guys think?

[Speed_Chaser]

He's right.

Generally there are 3 options:

- lowering springs

- coilovers (like your mechanic adviced)

- bags (air compression adjustment)

[brainii]

So after further reading I found these for about 1000 Euro:

KW Variant 1 inox-line – Perfect Street Performance

However on the website it says they only fit the Auris with this model: E15UT(a)

For the E15J(a) model they only have lower springs.

I can't seem to find any of these E15 models anywhere on my Auris so don't know if the first option will fit.

Anybody knows the difference between the 2?

[Speed_Chaser]

Not sure but the letters are probably related to the country the car's built in. U=UK J=Japan

BC racing is making coils for Auris aswell I think. You should check them out, they're noticeably cheaper compared to KW and TEIN.

[Uncle Buck]

BC's were on sale for £748 when I checked about 3 months ago ...... Excellent quality they are too, just a bit too expensive for me. Especially when you consider fitting & alignment on top will take you to approx £1k !