hi guys!


ihave always been wanting to lower my clubman non-s since day one,(july 2010), but because my wife was the daily driver of the clubman, so i wasnt able to modify the suspension. finally, a week ago, we have came to an agreement that she will be driving the c300 and i will be driving the clubman, which i always been wanted drive.

after a week of researching, i have concluded with this setup, and these are what i ordred:

1) koni sport yellow
2) nm spring
3) alta rear lower control arm

is there anything else i need? given that i dont autoX, but fast in street corning.

i was also considering the fixed IE camper plate, but didnt pull the trigger.

thanks for reading!

-calvin

 

Maybe a NM 22mm rear sway bar?

 

opps, forgot to mention that i have the nm sway bar installed 3 months ago...haha!

 

One other thing that was recommended to me were the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates.

 

My only suggestion is to forget about the control arms and get some voshlag adjustable camber plates. Since this is likely not a track car, you really will not need the adjustability that the control arms will give you. But you will feel the difference with a -1.6 to -2 front camber.

 

blackcaden: i was cosidering the IE fixed camber plate, but i didnt pull the trigger as i thought it is almost the same with the OEM strut plate, which are both non-adjustable.
how does the IE camber plae different from the OEM one? thanks in advance.


linger:
thanks for ur suggestion on the adjustable camber plate, but since i dont autox my clubman, do i really need the camber plates? the main reason i went with lower control arm is because i want some adjustment for the allignment shop to allign my car as neutral as possible without excessive wear of the rear tyres.

one question just pop out my head, is it true that a car will have more negative camber than be fore when t is lowered? in this case, nm lower the car for about 1.2" front and 1" rear, does it mean i will have about 1 negative degree?

thanks for answering my noob question.
any thoughts would be helpful.

 

Negative front camber can give you better turn in. With enough negative camber, when you turn the steering wheel, the car seems to instantly reacte to your inputs. You want to get it to the point in a turn where you have the front wheels turning and the back wheels just coming along with you as though they are connected to the front.

The problem with front drive cars is understeer. When you turn the front wheels, the car seems to want to track straight and not turn. While rear sway bars can help, they generally only add oversteer, so you must already be in a turn and the back end seems to come around (hopefully just enough and not too much) and the car just tracks nicely in a turn. You would want to introduce enough negative camber in the front so that there can be that initial quick reaction at your turn in. Generally, fixed plates such as the IE will give you -1.25 extra camber which is good. Lowering will add a little more to it.

Remember, suspension tuning is difficult and depends on what the driver wants and needs based on his/her driving style and equipment in the car. Adding a little adjustability in the front is kind a nice to have. Both the front and back should be tuned together in terms of camber.

Rear control arms are not really necessary because there is more adjustability in the back (perhaps enough adjustability) than in the front.

 

slinger
thanks for the input, that really helps me to under stand more about suspension.

if i decide to go with a set of front camber plates, would the added negative camber accelerate the wear of the front tyres, or even the rear? because one of the major concern for to when lowering a car is excessive tyre ears. any thoughts on that?

thanks in advance.

 

The only points I can say are these:

If your car is tuned for the turns and you only go straight on the highway, then you will have wear on the inside edge of the tires.
If you tune your car to go straight and you do a lot of turns, then you can have excessive wear on the outside of your tires.
If you compromise with an in between car, then it will not be fun to drive in the corners.
If you want a car to turn corners well, the penalty is tire wear. But a well tuned suspension with good cornering capability and some negative front camber (-1.6 or so) and perhaps -1.2 or so negative camber in the rear, can have good tire wear characteristics if you rotate the tires often and take lots of twisties.

I have a car that I am still trying to tune for the turns. I have lots of camber and the tire wear is generally flat. I am getting another new suspension soon and hopefully can finally get closer to what I want.

 

slinger:
thanks for your input, i am greatly appreciated.

i think i m going to cancel the lower control arm in my order and replace it with the IE fixed Camber plates.

 

Good luck to you.

After you spend much more time in the car and learn what the suspension is doing in the turns, if you need more ideas, you can pm me.

 

BTW, you will start to know your alignment person real well. I am on first names with mine.

Let the suspension settle before getting an alignment.

 

my order should be here within next week, and will do a self installation instead, but because i dont have the special strut socket, i will takeout the shocks and let my friend's mechanic shop to dis and reassemble the shocks.

slinger:
how long should the "settle" period to be? or it differs from car to car? how many miles did you put on ur car before you take it to the first alignment after the suspension upgrade??

 

I run the car about 100 miles approximately before getting an alignment. There is no hard and fast rule here. You can get two alignments, one immediately and one later if you are worried about running a poorly aligned car.

 

i have received the NM spring and the IE fixed camber plates, still waiting for the KONI to arrive, so i can begin my upgrade!! cant wait!!

 

damn! i missed the delivery of the KONI today, need to wait till monday.

 

guess what!!!!! NAMotorsports is having the KONI shocks on sale for $677 shipped!!! the sale started today! ekk.... regretted ordering my koni when i can get a even better deal with NAMotorsports.... sigh~~~~

anyway, just a head-up for anyone who's interested in koni, but didnt pull the trigger... get it while the sale last!!!!

http://www.namotorsports.net/detail....OMiniSportsR56

ps: i m not affiliated with NAMotorsports in any way...

 

Looks like they are back ordered with an estimate ship date of 3/11.

 

Just in time for spring install

 

i was told that the set i bought was the last set available nation wide

 

hey guys! i didnt have time to do the upgrade myself, so i sent my clubman to a local shop to do the job for me. ($150 labor, sounds lazy to me )

should pick it up before 6pm today! so exciting!

 

took a pix while waiting at the shop... but didnt have a chance to take the on-wheel pix because it was already dawn when i pick up my clubman....

these koni shocks are amazing! i can feel the ride is much firmer than the stock suspension even i have the dampening setting at the full softest position!

will get alignment done within 100 miles as i dont want to wear too much of my new tyres
maybe i should put back the 15" wheels before alignment?