R26 AST sportline 2 or Nitron R1

Yep good luck, what you've actually bought is some stress, unless your very lucky

 

Yeah mark was surprised when I mentioned this thread after the hassle last time.

Hopefully your drop link brackets are correct aye Steve

 

They won't be johns are the same as mine and has had to fit wheel spacers , good luck getting them and if you've made changes it won't happen, I've never known a business run like it in my life, I'd be getting a set of BCs less stress

 

It's a real shame that the service is poor as the product is a real good bit of kit.

 

3 months. Joke BCs next day nothing wrong with them

 

yea im sure the ast are superb but BC i ordered 2pm and had by 10am next day and i had ordered different springs to the advertised kits..so far feel very good (will let everyone know by end of season if my opinion changes no doubt)

 

I'm pretty sure Jason Plato would be able to tell the difference but for what I use the car for id be surprised if I cold tell the difference if the springs were about the same rating , the ASTs may last longer but you can get 3 sets of BCs for the same money, I got my ASTs very cheap otherwise I wouldn't of bothered knowing the stress that can be caused from trying to spend money with a company in the UK , but like I say they are a great bit of kit.

 

I'm also in the market for AST.But have some mix informacion.Can AST boys give me some help.
1.Is the rear sutup full coilove or the springs are separated like stop?
2.Is there really just rebound adjustment? and if so do you miss bump adjustment?
3.Have any one managed to calculate the motion ration if you move from conventionl spring + damper (OEM) to full coilover on the rear?
4.I was thinking to go with 9 kg fron, 8k rear??

 

Full rear Coilovers on the rear, no idea what your on about with the other questions, just fitted them and their great, good luck with the purchase if you take the AST route .

 

1 - full coilovers on the rear

2 - depends which ones you buy , 5100's are just rebound yes and I would say this is fine for track days / road . If you are a full on racer you can get remote compression adjustment on the 5200/5300 series

3 - you do loose an amount of droop on the back wheels .. Not measured it but I would say it's a few inches . But as you have stiffer springs and less roll the back wheels don't lift in hard cornering

4 - the AST springs are in LBs .. Standard is 450lbs which is around 7kg i think ? .. I would stick with 450lb all round proven by many cars on track to handle perfect on track and road also without compising ride comfort when not on track

 

This is the info I was looking for.Thank you.Yes I will buy 5100..to much money for the 5200's. 450 lbs is 8kg.
How is the car on the road with 8 kg springs?Is the back lively on the track?

 

I've run ast on my last 2 cars and there fantastic but the megane ones were ordered last July and arrived in march so be prepared to wait but they are very good. I'm running 500lb all round at the moment but will be stiffening the rear as it isn't loose enough.

 

I've run ast on my last 2 cars and there fantastic but the megane ones were ordered last July and arrived in march so be prepared to wait but they are very good. I'm running 500lb all round at the moment but will be stiffening the rear as it isn't loose enough.

 

Not loose enough, might be better off with a rear wheel drive lol

 

Lol gotta get them moving on the track or it'll create understeer and thats boring!!

 

Do you race in a series

 

Castle combe championship

 

How come it's televised , what other cars are on track

 

They generally do 1 motors tv round a year, it's a mixed grid. Vxr astras, pug 106, audi tt, mgzr, vw scirocco, seat lens.. All sorts really, cars from 150bhp to 600 all in the same race.

 

guessing your winter or bird then being in combe series? was at combe beginning of month spoke to you briefly, im in wsscc didn't compete that round though..

 

Ah yes I remember.

 

I'm just in the process of making a rear antiroll bar for mine. I'll be interested to know if that clio one does fit. Keep me posted if you can.

 

You gone wider wheels on the 17's too? I didn't like the drive when on 17 at all!!

 

Interesting stuff, I note the lap record has recently taken a tumble down to mental speed, faster than the Porsches running on slicks! How much faster do you reckon the track is now after the resurfacing? Good luck btw its great to see a couple of Megs mixing it with those other cars.

 

It's about a second a lap faster depending on car and class

 

Cheers mate. Some other questions, do you have to run the 1-way version? ISTR your championships rules don't allow remote reservoirs? I believe you can also run turbo front wheel drives in CSCCs New Millennium series - Class E. I can see the meg becoming a popular race car in the near future, they have all the right ingredients.

 

Yes I hope so (keeps the value up) we can't run remote reservoir so I'm running the single adjustable. There are 4 different classes in our championship so you can run pretty much anything. (there are a few exclusions) from the year 2000 on.

 

I forgot to answer this one earlier. Easy way to get more rear end movement/slightly looser feeling early in a corner for any car layout is to adjust the vehicles rake to be more more nose down or conversely more arse up. You can also dramatically increase initial roll stiffness with your rear damper rebound adjustment on cars with a decently solid ARB. This confuses people but works because damper rebound forces are way way higher than bump forces in the dampers valving, you can see by how much if you have damper dyno plots for your ASTs.
I can also highly recommend Ian Gardiner (http://www.igracing.co.uk/dampers.html) for rebuild and testing of pretty much any damper but in particular the ASTs as he used to work on them for a couple of friends of mine who had the AST 3 ways on their race cars.