After upgrading to the stiffer springs in Phase 1 it became abundantly clear that the dampers were not going to work so my Sport Pack Dampers have arrived and will be installed on Friday, but in the meantime, my O Z Racing official Aston Martin Racing Wheels have arrived and I did a test fit yesterday...SUCCESS!!!

The gun metal color is a perfect complement for the body color and this has sparked a visual modification project for the rest of the car...but that's another story...Phase 3.

I was worried that the 10" front and 11" rear wouldn't fit under the wheel wells (stock is 8.5" and 9.5"), but as you can see, there's plenty of space...in part due to going down to 18" diameter. They bolt right up and I gained tread width in the process...a GOOD thing for the track!

The front wheel does touch the upper arm on full steering lock in full sag, so I will adjust the steering lock limit a little to compensate, but it won't affect turning radius enough to matter.

So here are the before and after results...

Before
Front Wheels - Stock 8.5X19 - Tires 235/40/9.2 in. - Weight 46 pounds (Michy Pilot Super Sport)
Rear Wheels - Stock 9.5X19 - Tires 275/35/10.2 in. - Weight 50 pounds (Michy Pilot Super Sport)

After
Front Wheels - O Z 10X18 - Tires 265/35/10.5 in. - Weight 41 pounds (BFG g-Force R1 DOT Race)
Rear Wheels - O Z 11X18 - Tires 285/30/11.5 in. - Weight 44 pounds (BFG g-Force R1 DOT Race)

The only thing lacking are the titanium wheel nuts, so I will be on a quest for those...PM if you have some you are willing to part with. I'm already saving 22 pounds of unsprung weight and reducing rotational mass and while I know the titanium nuts won't make any measurable difference, they will match the color of the wheels perfectly!

Here are some preliminary pics...3 track days scheduled ending at Laguna Seca in June...track pics to follow...

 

nice job!

 

UPDATE... Lesson learned...Aston Martin Sport Pack Dampers are a mis-match to H&R Springs. While the damping level works well, the springs are too short as the spring perches sit lower on the SP dampers compared to the stock dampers lowering the car too much and taking the camber adjustment out of range for street use.

The rear perch is about 20mm lower and the front about 6mm lower. The least amount of negative camber I could get at the rear of the car is -2.6 degrees with max recommended at -1.7 degrees.

This means you should only use the H&R springs on stock dampers. Just make sure your stock dampers are still working well as tired dampers will cause a pogo effect that is magnified by the stiffer springs.

The good news is that as a result of this thread, I met Stuart and discovered that Nitron is completing development on a purpose built adjustable height and damping coilover solution for the Aston line. While I could make spring perch spacers and make the Sport Pack dampers work with the H&R springs, they need to have Sport Pack springs to be the right height without mods. I will be offering my SP dampers and springs in the future as well as the H&R springs once I get the Nitron solution on my car.

Cheers...Robert

 

Elise ready for action...



Lookin' racy on the front straight at Buttonwillow...

 

Looks great Bob! Did the bump stops work out okay?

 

Thanks Stuart... bump stops worked a little too well... plenty of clearance on front wheels, but I can't make a u-turn anymore (unless I use the gas pedal)...20mm was a bit too much, but I had no time to take them down a few mm...

I'll figure out the perfect size when the Nitrons go on...

 

I don't know why but these wheels look great on any Aston. How did you source them? I assume these are the same wheels used on the N400 and GT4 cars?

 

It's the color and the smooth edged form language. The slightly dark color keeps them visually quiet, complimenting whatever paint color. The smooth form plays well with the taught but smooth forms of the rest of the car.

At least, that's how I see it. It's why I insisted on the Anthrecite wheels when shopping for my vantage.

 

These are the official Aston Martin GT3 (from DBR9) and GT4 (from V8V) OZ wheels. I sourced two brand new sets... 10X18 front...11X18 rear. I found them tucked away in a warehouse where they had been for 2 years and snagged them both.

These sell for about $1350 USD each...and with the BFG Dot race tires she's rolling on about $7,000... and I expect the tires to make it through 3-4 trackdays...

The combination of the suspension work and the wheels/tires made my 9 very impressive on the track...now I just need more torque to pull stronger out of the corners...most of the Porsches and Z06s had me for lunch down the straights...due to their clear HP/Weight ration advantage...the Z06 has 55 more HP and 800 lbs. less weight...

I'll be adding 40+ HP and torque in the summer...

I liked the color of the wheels so much on my DB that I painted my stock wheels close to the same color...

 

Yes, they seem to be very hard to find. How much do they weigh? Are they magnesium?

 

Wild man, were these the wheels from China that I put you on to months ago? Just curious, if they were, how smooth was the deal?

 

Yes...and I took my time to get the shipping cost down...all went very smoothly and no issues...

 

They are forged for sure and I think they are mags, but I don't know how to tell so they could be aluminum...the front is 21 lbs. and I forget the rear weight...I have the 2nd set I can weigh and post soon.

 

I had a challenging day for a number of reasons, but all's well that ends well...

The day started with my oil filler cap o-ring disintegrating and blowing oil all over the engine on the drive to the track... I thought I was facing something much worse, but my support team took me into town and we found that the 2006 Mustang uses the same cap and o-ring... picked up an insurance o-ring to give extra seal and that problem was solved... only a small amount of oil (didn't register loss on the dipstick) escaped but it doesn't take much to make a smokey statement...

I got that sorted in time for the session and went out on the DOT race tires and re-familiarized myself with the track which I'd only run on my 1000RR Honda bike previously...

The next problem that surfaced was the left rear DOT race tire puncture I got last month and repaired re-opened and went flat after the session...oh well, back to street wheels/tires...

I ran two more sessions with my support crew in the passenger seat and was able to beat my times run on my bike with the Michy Pilot SS by 2 seconds a lap. The bike hit 145-150 on the front straight while my DB9 was topping out at 120-125. I could have knocked another few seconds a lap off with the DOT race tires, but I only timed the last session which was on the streets.

Here are a few pics from the day...first 3 on the 18" race wheels/tires, the other 2 on the 19" wheels/tires...Laguna Seca next on June 20...

 

sounds fun! btw.... make sure a radial plug kit to fix punctures is always in your tool bag. perfect for the track and really a perminant fix. patches will more than likely come apart on a DOT tire with the heat generated (and tread squirm).


what kind of lap times did you click off in the DB9? (dot vs the street tire)


let me know if you need a hand at laguna .


off to thunderhill next weekend for the SCCA race!