As you may know I have taken my front end apart. I'm now thinking that its ideal to get the suspension set-up by someone who knows what they are
doing..
I'm based in Wiltshire and have come across a company (on a local forum) fcm motorsport near Bristol.
Has anyone used them and if so what sort money are we talking?
We charge £150 ish for a full suspension setup, i wouldnt expect to pay much more.
[Edited on 29/12/11 by eddie99]
set up for what?
If your planning on it only being a track car then it would pay to set it differently to a road or GT set up.
Do you mean advise on spring rates? most folks vastly overrate these to the detriment of good handling. Or are you looking to adjust camber and
castor? and is it even adjustable on your car? do you even know what your setting out with?
What do you hope to gain from "setting it up" because it may be geometrically right now but have the wrong springs and damper
settings....sometimes it can pay to have an anti roll bar and softer springs....sometimes not etc.
altering the front settings does not always produce dramatic results even for quite large adjustments but a minor adjustment to front axle to rear
axle alignment can have startling results.....
Suspension is sometimes a dark art, get the car geometry checked first and look at what you have first (about £35 local to me) then look to making
changes if required. Tyre choices and running pressures can have the most dramatic affect, But don't think that having your car set up will turn
it into a track demon. The most important component is the loose nut on the steering wheel. most people cannot drive half as well as they imagine, the
fault might be non mechanical.
I am not having a go its just that i worked as a mechanic for Lotus for years and saw all sorts come in and accuse me and my fellow mechanics of all
sorts of dodgy practices and had numerous cars slagged off because the owner couldn't drive the thing. i wouldn't like you to spend money on
something that might be ok, and you wont notice minor changes to castor, camber or tracking.
[Edited on 29/12/11 by snowy2]
Doh, I just posted the same on your other post. 20-odd mins from Melksham (Sherston, near Malmesbury) is
Track Developments. Dave has done and is doing a lot of work for me (see blog link below) and I rate
him very highly.
[Edited on 29/12/11 by TimC]
bit of travel but i can thoroughly recommend
http://trackroadandrace.com/default.aspx
Cheers guy.. Tim; Dave is near to me so I may give him a call next week.
Snowy2; I can see where your coming from and appreciate your advise. On others cars ive had the first mod is MORE POWER... However when doing this
other people say the first thing you need to look at is the suspension and tyres.. This can gain you more when it comes to going round corners... My
coupe had 300BHP which was great until you came to stop the thing!!!!
FCM have done the alignment (and MOT) on my MR2 and quite a few friends cars before. They know their japanese stuff very well and are very reasonably
priced (£20 to check and £8 an adjustment comes to mid).
I would still say that for a seven style car you'd be best off taking your car to Procomp for the day. You can have Matt and Ivan for a whole day
for £200, hot drinks and even a spot of lunch included if you're lucky 
Second Phelpsa's recommendation to use Procomp.
Matt and Ivan are setting up our type of car day in, day out so really know their stuff.
NTDWM just another satisfied customer.
Cheers, Pewe10 
I would also go to pro-comp you will learn a lot I suspect... Personaly I enjoy messing with the string and spanners but having done this 200 quid is
a bargin espesially if it includes setting up the dampers (not sure you could do this at home) and freeing up the MK suspension..
Dan
[Edited on 30/12/11 by Bluemoon]
With regards to Matt, yes he might well know what he's doing, but would you really want to give your hard earned money to a guy who thinks MK's are poo and spends most of his time telling us so, personally I don't think so.
Fair point - but he'll also be able to tell you how to improve it & the limitations of what he can do without just changing stuff & telling you "its a lot better now mate".
quote:
Originally posted by mad-butcher
With regards to Matt, yes he might well know what he's doing, but would you really want to give your hard earned money to a guy who thinks MK's are poo and spends most of his time telling us so, personally I don't think so.