Ohlins dampers

[Paul bow]

Hi guys has anyone had any experience with an Ohlins front damper set up.
I was in the process of ordering a set for the front when it became apparent that they have 300N of force (67lb) of force as a preload each side, due to the nitrogen gas in them.
They are about as good as a damper as you can get, eagle use them, but question is surely that amount of preload would raise the front by some 5/10mm?
Anyone tried or know anything more?
I really don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of altering the splines on the torsion bars around etc..
The dampers spec are ;
404 open
105 stroke

Any views?

[MarekH]

Front dampers don't change the ride height. They're not even connected when you set the ride height and they are completely compressible by hand if you do it slowly enough.

The fact that Eagle use them isn't relevant here, as their picture frame and frame rails may be different strength and stiffness. Any force not transmitted by the torsion bar into the tub is taken through the dampers into the frame.

kind regards
Marek

[Paul bow]

Yes thank marek,
However these dampers have a preload of 65lb roughly each side that’s 130lb of potential lift, obviously not directly upward because of the geometry of the set up.
I understand that a standard damper is just that a damper and all the compression is via the torsion bar itself, just seemed alot of preload (due to nitrogen gas) with a potential to lift the car up to 10mm at the front..
I’ll be honest I’m getting these elevated figures from calculations done via chat gpt, so was interested if anyone had had a similar problem, if indeed there is one to have !!
Best regards Paul

[mgcjag]

Hi Paul....do these dampers have springs...either internally or externally for preload adjustment.....

[Paul bow]

Hi Steve, no they are oil and gas, with around 20 odd adjustments should you wish to mess around.
Essentially this is how they work ;
An Öhlins damper is an oil-filled hydraulic damper with pressurised nitrogen gas behind a floating piston. The oil does the actual damping; the gas mainly keeps the oil under pressure and compensates for the volume occupied by the piston rod.
They are considered to be the best u can buy both for comfort and race applications,
They are expensive at around £2200 inc, a pair, so don’t want to spend money and create a problem for myself at the same time..
The reason I can hear u asking is why bother, and I’m nearly at that point tbh, but I’ve a weekend at the Nurburgring next year and was planning a few weeks travelling so just wanted the best I could buy I suppose, at the moment I’m on gaz adjustables which have been good 4.5k in so far.
The ring is a suspension killer very bumpy .
Hence maybe upgrade needed.
Obviously it’s not a std E,
Many thanks

[mgcjag]

Comfort for traveling and race/tack are two very different things.......you need 2 setups.....and change them over when you get to the track.......Steve

[Paul bow]

Steve that’s why ohlins are 10 x the price of their equivalent..the settings actually do what they are supposed to do.
One click on the wheel actually changes the damping,
Just interested in the pre load issue

[mgcjag]

Hi Paul....any preload/spring assist added to a front damper will affect the torsion bar spring rate and require an adjustment for ride height.....Steve

[mgcjag]

Hi Paul....just to add if you do change the spring rate at the front then you ideally need to look at the rear....Steve

[Paul bow]

Thanks Steve, I’m not going to get involved in all that torsion bar adjustments, if it was a straight forward replacement I’d of had it, speaking to two Ohlins suppliers both confirmed a lift of 5/10mm would be probable.
Thanks 🫡

[Quattrofrank]

I had øhlins setup on my e46 m3 and it was setup by a race shop around the ring. Not sure how it would work in a e type, but in my m3 I really got the best of both worlds. Good for streetdriving, and when doing trackdays just adjust the dampers and it was a killer on track

[MarekH]

So what you are saying is that when compressed by hand, these shocks rebound all by themselves and the length they rebound to is longer than the setting link length (or the current length the ones in your car sit at at the moment).

kind regards
Marek

[Paul bow]

Hi marek, that’s correct it’s the gas in the shock that keeps the oil under pressure always, it’s up to around 67lb of force at which point it levels out or the shock remains fully extended in the open position.
so in affect I suppose it’s like have a combined 130+ pound of lift on the front, albeit because of the geometry it wouldn’t be a direct lift.
None the less it seems it would make an increase of about 5-10mm, according to those that build them.
Not ideal for a straight forward replacement.
Thank you