When I bought my car it was equipped with Caterham CSR race spec dampers, non-adjustable Bilsteins. They're now 10 years old and not serviced once, and therefore I now think I finally got an excuse to replace them. They've always worked great but I've always been longing for adjustable dampers. Also, my rear droop travel has been limited.
After being in touch with different damper manufactures I chose a set of double adjustable dampers from american Penske - their 7500DA. The reasons I chose Penske were:
- Good reputation, high end dampers
- Very helpful and service minded
- User serviceable! And equipped With Schrader valves to allow control of nitrogen pressure.
- Affordable (but certainly not cheap)
- Custom built for my car, not an off-the-shelf product.
- Plenty of information about their products on their home page.
- Black and gold... What could possibly go wrong??
I was disappointed that the Swedish Öhlins couldn't help me. A lot more expensive (about twice), and still they couldn't tell me anything about their products that made them better than the others. In fact they couldn't tell me much about anything at all. They were not the least helpful.
I sent them information about the car and let them decide what would work best. It took some trial and error, a bit of thinking and a mechanic workshop for the mis-alignment spacers before the dampers was finally mounted on the car with the adjusters accessible. Now I got adjustable dampers with a lot more droop travel without sacrificing bump travel. Not sure what it will do on the lap times. I guess it will depend on myself and how I manage with the setup.
Damn these salty roads. I can't wait until spring!
