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Originally Posted by mclaren1885 And using a different viscosity oil is not something I would recommend and its day light robbery the price that are charged at some places given that you can go to Shivajinagar and get the same done for peanuts. It only ends up harming your struts IMO. |
Ahh, I never mentioned that did I? Its definitely not a simple case of high-viscosity oil being thrown in, which is what will happen when you get these things done at Shivajinagar or a similar place and get ripped off. If you get it done from someone who knows suspensions, he will ensure that optimum re-valving is done to arrive at the final damping rate- yes, some people do know what they are doing even though its a minority. So you just need to be careful with whom you are dealing with.
A branded setup offers better functionality and adjustability when compared to the this approach- however, even during the most spirited street driving a driver with higher than average skills will also be hard pressed to reach the absolute limits of a well-done revalving job on a sub 1.1 tonne, street-driven Indian car putting down 120 to 130whp max (rarely though); provided the other pieces of the dynamics puzzle (tyres, alignment etc.) are in place. Aftermarket turbocharged FWDs are left out of this equation since they aren't meant to be thrown headfirst into a corner anyways.
Can't comment on slightly heavier cars (like the Cedia) since I haven't come across any example with a revalving job yet but I guess they'll definitely benefit more from aftermarket coilovers when compared to something lighter like a Baleno or a City.
For someone not looking to track the car on a regular basis, an investment of 20-30k on suspension alone (at the very least, leaving out cars which have lesser aftermarket support) is simply not justified.
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Originally Posted by DocG
A short body Koni or Pedder or H&K or Tein will go through this with roughly a few hundred thousand to a couple of million dollars.
Where is the R&D in a local setup? How do they know the tolerances of your stock shocks? Just adding higher viscosity oil is not going to do this. If hydraulics were so easy then our stock suspensions should be dirt cheap from the company... |
Right. And the customer pays for the R&D in part when purchasing the same. And it may be justified for a 200whp+ car, as even the most basic street performance dampers from brands like H&R (not H&K) or Tein retail at around US$900, which means someone looking to buy the same in India will have to shell out close to a lakh of rupees after factoring in the duties and importer margins. All this for a car valued at three lakhs to begin with. In all probability, the guy wouldn't have spent that kind of money on the performance mods for crying out loud. Boss, this is India, not SoCal.
And just because someone tooner doesn't know what he is doing and you ended up being the guinea pig doesn't make that a generic case.
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Originally Posted by DocG Oh and since you got your shocks "stiffened" why didn't you get your springs cut? |
Just to enlighten you, ghetto cut springs to slam the car won't do handling any favour, however, cutting the springs after doing some homework can easily lead to small percentage gains wrt spring rates. Getting the right preload is tough, but it can be made to work with matching dampers. As I said, its all about who does it.
Its comparatively easy to go for all bells and whistles when you are paying retail. Its clearly not the case here so its only the privileged few who can afford all this high-funda stuff.
P.S. Please don't type in bold, it equals to an offensive tone online. I understand you were trying to be sarcastic and all however, I
can read and answer if you type in normal font. Thanks.