Improving Ride Quality (Currently On Koni/eibach)

[brian j 32]

When I bought my 205, the standard suspension was shot, so I rebuilt the rear beam, replaced droplinks and top mounts and fitted a set of Yellow Koni adjustables, with Koni lowering springs. (they were an ebay bargain in good condition)

 

Otherwise it is standard 1.9, on 15" speedlines with 195/50 15 tyres.

 

This sorted the vague turn-in and snap oversteer, and ruined the ride quality.

 

After extensive research on here I replaced the front springs with Eibach 106 gti ones as reconnended by Sandy et al. (I would say a 35mm drop, suspension arms are horizontal at rest)

 

This has made an improvement, but it is still pretty harsh.

 

The trouble is that I have become a tart and really like the look of the lowered ride height, so I'd rather not raise it back to standard unless I have to.

 

I read that the Koni rear dampers are very stiff (all of them are set to their lowest damping settings) has anyone got any experience of whether replacing these for a set of 306GTI6 OEM dampers is likely to make a noticable difference, or is it more involved than that?

 

Thanks

[Anthony 1,002]

Obviously ride quality is a very subjective thing, but I'm surprised that you're finding the Koni and Eibach combination that bad as I've typically found that setup to be quite good as far as 205's with aftermarket suspension goes! The rears are a little over-damped, but acceptable on their softest setting I find, and the whole thing works quite well as a package.

 

Something like 306 GTi-6 dampers all round would give you a smoother ride and still be OK with some lowering springs - either that, or Bilstein B4 (Streetline) front dampers and GTi-6 rears which would probably be a slightly better option.

 

Difficult to directly compare as they're different cars, but I'd say that the ride quality from that setup would be akin to how your old 306 used to ride on the Skip Brown setup as it was when I bought it from you (I've since swapped the front springs for some Xsara VTS ones to raise it up a touch, and upgraded the rear torsion bars to Xsara 21mm items - handles very well now!) in that it's noticeably stiffer than standard, but still smooth and compliant.

[feb 47]

Have you by any chance replaced the tyres with ones that have stiffer sidewalls? I found michelin pe2 to give the best ride quality followed by hankook s1 evo. The bridgestone potenzas i had in between had so much stiffer sidewalls that the ride quality worsened dramatically although the steering became more crisp as a result.

[brian j 32]

Anthony, It is noticeably worse on ride quality than the 306. I was surprised too. I'll give it a week or 2 more on the Eibach springs in case they just need to settle some more, but if it doesn't improve I need to make a plan...

 

Feb, good point, but I'm on Falken 912s and the sidewalls aren't that stiff.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

I did a car for a guy on here with B4 front dampers, Eibach springs, and new OE GTI6 rear dampers. It transformed it and really is one of the nicer handling 205's I've driven, so that setup gets the thumbs up from me without a doubt.

[Batfink 201]

The Koni are going to be stiffer than standard so you will get a worse ride comfort.

Sounds like you just need some better dampers. Sell the Koni's on and go for some nice Bilstein B4's with GTI6/Xsara rears

I have some brand new Xsara Bilstein ones if you are interested?

 

Kev

[Baz 421]

Yes, GTi6 dampers are notably softer than the Koni ones. I've run a multitude of setups on my blue 205, currently exactly the same set up you have and love it, but previous to fitting the Koni rears had '6 dampers. They help a tad, but i fear you're still going to be unhappy with the front, the initial bump damping isn't quite as good as Bilsteins, so maybe this is the way you'd want to go, as said.

 

It's never fussed me that much, but having been using the car more again recently, i've noticed it, tired drives home when i just want to relax just aren't quite as comfy as the Volvo's, but then the bucket seat doesn't help!

 

Backing up the tyre comment though, it does make a difference, i have a multitude of tyres on rims that i swap around fairly frequently & notice the differences!