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MG MGF Technical - Changing Springs

I have decided to put the X POWER springs on my TF 160. Anybody done this, and was there any problems . I have a RAVE disc and it looks straight forward. Just trying to save a bit of money..
Ron TF160

I let Techspeed do it because they were brilliant and cheap. Couldn't be ar*ed to hire spring compressors etc and at the time warranty was an issue. However, I watched tehm doing some of the work and it all looked fairly straight forward.
David M

I did the same as Dave and got Techspeed to fit mine. They can do it in a fraction of the time it will take you, and you will need to spend money having the tracking reset afterwards anyway. It is fairly straight forward, but it only takes one slip with the spring compressors to cause serious damage/injury, which can be a bit unnerving.
Steve White

What sort of price did you pay, and where are Techspeed .
Ron TF160

Techspeed are in Eathorpe, just outside Leamington Spa Ron. Drop them a line on 01926 632066.
Rob Bell

I had some brake work done at the same time and paid just over £100.
David M

Ron,
I have a set of X-Power springs and like you, I intend to fit them myself. Beeing very busy with other things, the springs are waiting in my garage for some time...
I looked in the workshop manual and it looked quite easy.
If you do it yourself, can you post your comments here please ?
Cheers,
Fabrice
Fabrice

Fabrice
I have just ordered my springs from B&G, so hope to fit them over the next week. I'll let you know how I get on..
Ron TF160

That's great Ron !
I'm looking forward to hear about you successul experiece of fitting the springs.
Fabrice

Ron, if you can, take some pictures! But most of all, take care with those spring compressors :o)
Rob Bell

Well, siome news here : I fitted my X-power springs yesterday.
It's not difficult, but some screws are not easy to access, to say the least ! I mean the top screws at the rear, esp the left one :-(
The good news are:
springs compressors are not required,
and I took about 20 pictures, although with my mobile :-( but they are good enough to put on the web. Who wants them ? Rob ?

It took me about 2 hours to change the front springs, and 2h45 for the rear ones. That time includes cleaning inside the wheels (that was bloody dirty!!), taking the pics, cleaning the old springs, putting rust inhibitor on the dampers....
That means I could have done it quite faster.

What can I say about these springs ?
the front ones are much shorter than the original ones, I'd say by about 40mm, but the rear ones are almost the same length as the one they replace.
My TF definitely sits lower now, but not excessively. The lowering is IMO about 20-30mm.
I haven't test drove it thouroughly, but I think that the ride is a bit less "bouncy". The front springs are "softer", for sure. One has to be careful with speed bumps, the suspension bottoms out quicker than before. I think an upgrade of the dampers (for stiffer ones) would compliment these XPwr springs very well...
So I'd say the ride has been *a bit* improved, so has the look. They do not transform completely the TF suspension, as some have written here.

Now, the question is : what are the tracking figures I should ask for ? Are there specific figures for X-pwr lowered TF's ?
Fabrice

Fabrice, I'm a bit surprised at some of your findings. My X-power springs were almost exactly the same length as the standard ones (Techspeed did suspect I could have had Sports Pack 2 springs fitted though, even though I hadn’t asked/paid for it) and they certainly weren’t softer, quite to opposite in fact, hence why IMO they do transform the TF. Techspeed recorded mine as being 15mm lower at the rear and 20mm lower at the front at the time of fitting, and I measured that they settled a further 5mm in the few weeks after. I've not had any problems with the suspension bottoming out either.
Did you get the springs direct from X-Power? I assume they are a nice lime green colour?
Steve White

Steve,
mine are genuime X-power springs too. I bought them 2nd hand from Dave G. (a BBS contributor), who has used them for about 6 months.
I should have measured the height of the car before/after, this was stupid of me not thinking of it !
But about the springs length comparison (I mean the springs alone), I have pictures showing what I said.

If I had had the time, I could have measured approximately their "rate", i.e. the lengh variation with a given weight on them (F=-k.d and F=m.g or something like that, IIRC ?? ;o)

Fabrice

I bought my springs from B&G they were about the same size.
The front springs were quit easy to remove, only the nut at the top of the damper and a bolt on the bottom. The back ones were more of a problem, the nut at the top, a bolt at the bottom, but I had to remove the antiroll bar and the top ball joint. The only problem I had was nuts at the top needed to be "air gunned " off. The old front prings was about an 1inch shorter than the old back springs.
The car is now lower, about 20mm. The ride feels about the same stiffness, but you dont get the s**t shaken out of you when you hit a bump or a pot hole.
Not sure if the change of handling is worth the cost. I would have been disappointed if I had paid to have them changed....I hope I havnt sounded to negative..
Ron TF160

Nice to hear your comments Ron.
Me too, at the rear I had to disconnect the anti-roll bar, but not the top ball joint.
I disconnect the anti-roll bar on both sides, so I could turn it (up) by about 10 cm. This was enough to enable taking the damper/spring unit from beneath.
(I have also a photo of that!)
I didn't have to use an airgun, although I found that some screws had a big torque in them ! And holding the 5mm allen key at the same time wasn't the simpliest thing either...

That's strange what you're saying about the sizes of the springs... If I understand correctly, if your XP ones are the same size front & rear, and the old front are shorter than the rears, that means the XP front are actually longer than the old front springs ??
I found exactly the opposite !

>>Not sure if the change of handling is worth the cost. I would have been disappointed if I had paid to have them changed....I hope I havnt sounded to negative.. <<

I feel like you. Although I still have to have my wheels aligned after the lowering.
What are the TF tracking figures ?
Fabrice

This thread was discussed between 04/05/2005 and 19/05/2005

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