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Not that they need any more praise......

sdh2903 - 4/6/13 at 05:08 PM

I know there have been several glowing reports from people using procomp in the past couple of weeks but when a good service is provided I like to tell people.

My car has had an issue with handling over 50mph ever since its been on the road and trying several diy tasks and a visit to a local "specialist" to have the suspension settings done it was no better. So yesterday the car was at Procomp for a full setup. Several issues were noted

1. 1 front damper was way off Procomp's settings (100lb of compression difference) after going back to Protech for a warranty repair, luckily a bit of tweaking on the shock dyno got it to within 2 lbs of the other side.

2. Thrust alignment was miles off, 100mm+ off centre.

3. Rear toe in was excessive (4mm in)

So all these were sorted and all the other camber settings and corner weights done, I was there from 9am til 6pm for the set fee of Ł225 which is an absolute bargain for 2 peoples work for 9 hours work in my mind.

I've just had the car out and to quote a cliche, its a completely different animal, rock steady at 60+, turns in better and grips better too, just feels how i thought the car should. Came back home and got out of the car with a big smile on my face, the mrs noticed and said "its sorted then?".

So for anyone thinking of getting it done, just do it, worth every penny, and they make a good brew too

I have one Negative though........

They are bloody miles from glasgow

Now the only other issue is my car is a bit lardy at 550kg with a full tank. I think it will need a winter diet where the heavy vented brakes will go, the heavy plywood bootlid swap for carbon and maybe even ditch the one piece heavy nose/bonnet and go back to an Ally bonnet and see if i can get it to the 500 mark.

puma931 - 4/6/13 at 05:28 PM

don't forget the driver in the weight saving programme

daniel mason - 4/6/13 at 05:40 PM

do you think if the car was set up almost correctly they could do one in less time? reason being id like mine setting up perfectly but would also like to take my uncle on the same day (dutton phaeton) for general alignment/setup. we are also a long way away from brum!

rodgling - 4/6/13 at 05:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Now the only other issue is my car is a bit lardy at 550kg with a full tank. I think it will need a winter diet where the heavy vented brakes will go, the heavy plywood bootlid swap for carbon and maybe even ditch the one piece heavy nose/bonnet and go back to an Ally bonnet and see if i can get it to the 500 mark.

My GKD is 735 with an M3 engine so 550 is good going. You can get about 10 kg by sorting the front brakes but I reckon 500 kg is going to be very difficult. Let me know if you find any good weight savings though.

daniel mason - 4/6/13 at 05:51 PM

foam bag seats are super comfy and very very light! you might get 10kg by fitting these!

sdh2903 - 4/6/13 at 06:15 PM

I already have Jk composite seats which are pretty light as they are. Realistically I think without spending a fortune I could probably shed 25kg by swapping the big heavy vented brakes for the slightly smaller solid setup from the 318 then back to ally bonnet and swapping the plywood boot lid for carbon fibre.

After that I would probably look at the wheels and go down the route of redrilling the hubs to 4x108 pcd and go for a lighter wheel setup. Although I don't know what the weight difference would be between a 205 40 16 r1r and TD pro race 1.2 down to a 195 50 15 and 15 in rim?

With regard to driver weight I'm working on it! I'm 6ft4 so am never going to be lithe am 97kg at present but in training for a cycle ride so may drop a little.......

daniel mason - 4/6/13 at 07:05 PM

think the caterham 13" alloys weigh circa 5.2kgs a corner. your 16"s will probably be near 10kgs each

sdh2903 - 4/6/13 at 07:10 PM

13's are a definite no go with my front/rear setup, 15's would be the smallest I could go so I could do with finding out what a 15" pro race 1.2 with a toyo r1r weighs to see if it's worth it. Tyres would be considerably cheaper at 195 50 15 though.

gaz_gaz - 4/6/13 at 07:28 PM

What setup do you have front and rear?

sdh2903 - 4/6/13 at 07:36 PM

BMW e36 front and mk4 golf rear.

Just done some quick googling my 16s weigh 66.1kg with tyres, the same wheels and tyres in 15s is 61.16kg so a saving of 5kg overall. So not worth the hassle I don't think.

daniel mason - 4/6/13 at 07:40 PM

unsprung weight loss counts for a lot more than 5kgs!

bi22le - 4/6/13 at 09:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
do you think if the car was set up almost correctly they could do one in less time? reason being id like mine setting up perfectly but would also like to take my uncle on the same day (dutton phaeton) for general alignment/setup. we are also a long way away from brum!

No, I think it takes pretty much the same time for a small or large adjustment. These guys do take their time but they are not being paid by car so don't rush. I think if they really wanted to bust their guts they could get 2 cars done in a day but thats not them and they are not athletic enough to keep running around like an F1 team. No offence fellas !!!

rodgling - 4/6/13 at 10:34 PM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
BMW e36 front and mk4 golf rear.

Just done some quick googling my 16s weigh 66.1kg with tyres, the same wheels and tyres in 15s is 61.16kg so a saving of 5kg overall. So not worth the hassle I don't think.

I'd say that's worth it, it will save money you in tyres if nothing else. The Pro-race are not the lightest - with effort you can find 15" wheels that are sub 5 kg so you can improve on those numbers. The brakes are without a doubt the biggest win though as the BMW calipers are crap so you'll get better brake pedal feel as well as saving a lot of unsprung, partly rotating, weight. However, you need to decide what fitment to redrill the hubs to (if you're going to do that) before doing the brakes, obviously.

I don't think redrilling 5x120 to 4x108 will work as the holes will overlap? But you can go for Honda/Toyota fitment (5x114.3) which opens up a lot of lighter possibilities.

sdh2903 - 5/6/13 at 06:41 AM

Did you get your new brake setup Dave? If so which did you end up going for?

franky - 5/6/13 at 07:26 AM

Glad to see you're making progress with the car, The GKD chassis is on the heavy side but its strong(its made to take mega bhp/torque). You can get lightweight calipers for the golf rears which would save about 5kg, 318 bits on the front should get you another 5kg I guess?

rodgling - 5/6/13 at 09:21 AM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Did you get your new brake setup Dave? If so which did you end up going for?

I've got Powerlites on the front with aluminium bells and Wilwood 280mm rotors (with Mintex 1144 pads). They're really really good, probably near the limit for what my car needs but plenty for a lighter car like yours. Certainly they did the job for me at Brands and I wasn't being gentle with the brakes.

On the rear, as Franky says, Hi-Spec do a drop-in 2-pot replacement (with handbrake) for the Golf calipers which I'm planning to switch to in the future. Not sure there would be much weight saving, but not having a floating caliper should improve pedal feel.