Wanting to slightly soften the first inch or so of front suspension travel on my 2014 Plus 4 I decided to fit softer rebound springs. I've seen mixed reports on the Suplex upgrade (apart from the huge cost). Tim at New Elms (nice people) came up with a pair of Rutherford special rebound springs slightly softer and shorter than standard (3"x200lbs) at about £40. Fitted them yesterday (see pix, second one compares the springs) not a tough job and tried the car this morning. The difference is not huge but is perceptible -- a little more resilience over ridges and small bumps. I had been running the front tyres at 20psi so now I think I can put them up to the recommended 22psi and keep my fillings in.
In the past I’ve fitted Pete Mulberry’s steering bearings and the recommended 140lb springs, and adjustable AVO’s, along with hard chrome kingpins and new bushes, which improved the ride and steering considerably, but I still felt the front end of the car was far too firm.
After reading the suggestion of shortening the rebound springs - and safe in the knowledge that the Rutherford rebound springs are available - I thought well, if my efforts don’t work and it does all go a bit tits-up then I can just buy these new ones and everything will be fine again. So with this option as a back-up, I confidently set to work with the angle grinder and took 20mm off each rebound spring.
And I’m glad I did, as not only has it considerably softened the ride and made the steering even easier, but it’s also given me an extra 20mm of welcome ground clearance. I’m no racer, and no doubt some spirited driving on a track may come up with some shortfalls of this mod, but for everyday motoring the improvements have been considerable. A softer ride, a more ‘settled’ feel on the road, and lighter and more feel to the steering. All for a few hours work and, most importantly, zero cost, too.
So if anyone’s contemplating forking out loads of money on trying to improve the ride quality (and ground clearance) of their Trad, I reckon they could do worse than give this free option a try first.
