H&R's now fitted

My springs finally arrived and fitted them on Friday. I did a spring swap on a non cup 197 a few weeks ago, the H&R springs are about the same diameter as those but the stock 200 cup springs are seriously beefy in comparison. The diameter of the H&R's looks puny!

Out on the road there's no doubt it corners flatter but i think mostly because it's lower and there is less travel rather than it being significantly stiffer if at all.

The other positive is I now have some lift-off oversteer... not sure if that's because the rear now sits a touch lower. On tight 2nd or 3rd gear hairpins the front had too much under steer that was sometimes unpredictable and lifting off the throttle didn't really help bring the nose in, it would just plough forward until enough speed had been scrubbed off. That's all changed, I'm having allot of fun playing with the throttle now.

It just seems overall easier to feel the car slide rather than it rolling around

The down side is the increased rattle noise but it handles better and finally looks right,
Very happy so far
 
P.s. The difference between the 197 non cup with H&R's and a 200 with cup dampers and H&R's is significant.
The 197 rides very well, mine is pretty bouncy
 
These were exactly my thoughts Andreas and I do mention the above in my thread.

The H&Rs are like baby springs in comparison to the cup ones, maybe that's why the cup springs are so expensive? And yes, I agree that the car runs flatter (less dive under breaking as well) but not because the springs are stiffer but due to 30/40mm less travel (which I may add...is quite a lot).

And I also agree that the car becomes bouncy and this is the reason I had them taken off. On spirited drives and on anything but smooth roads I couldn't stand it and the improved looks couldn't compensate for that. I don't know how the roads in South Africa are but here our country roads/B-roads are far from smooth...(well, the ones I've driven on anyway)

I have to add that I fitted the springs alongside the 200 cup dampers (like yours I presume?) which are 15% stiffer than the 197 cup ones. I've said it in the past and I'm repeating myself here. I simply can't see how one set of springs can compliment 4 different sets of dampers! It's simply impossible. If a set of springs is good with the 197 ff setup, it can not be good with a 200 cup one and vice versa! These setups are day and night different!! And how can a damper operate nicely when the 1/3 (or maybe more) of its travel has been sacrificed? I just can't see it.

However, I didn't track the car with the H&Rs fitted but I'm sure it's a very good combo.

This is only my personal opinion of course, glad you liked your new setup:smile:
 
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Everything you said is correct but there are no alternatives unless you spend big money and go for coilovers that will make it stiffer and lower but without losing travel. They are also better damped.

Our roads are incredible, I moved here from London so this place is like a racetrack. I laughed at the episode of top gear when they went looking for the best driving road in the world. Ours are better and we have more of them
 
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How would you rate it for using it day to day?
Would like it drop mine but don't want to make it uncomfortable.

Hard to recommend it to someone else tbh. I wanted it lower and reducing the roll really helps flicking it left right. I'm happy with it. On bad roads it will be a rattling nightmare!
 
I took the car out for a spin tonight and have to say the handling is night and day. Sure there are compromises but it's worth it. On the one stretch of road there are two hairpins straight after each other taken screaming in 2 nd or in at lower revs in 3 rd. It used to be an under steering mess with a ton of wheel spin on the exit but now I could barely get the tyres to squeal... and I took it off the chart of the G meter on the RS Monitor!
 
P.s. The difference between the 197 non cup with H&R's and a 200 with cup dampers and H&R's is significant.
The 197 rides very well, mine is pretty bouncy
You say the difference is significant but how, what's the actual difference, which is better?
 
You say the difference is significant but how, what's the actual difference, which is better?

He hasn't logged in here for 3 years!
If you have a read of the definitive suspension thread you should get an idea of the difference.