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I've owned a MY2010 V8V non sport pack car for just over 5 years. I always thought it rode a little high and the set up was a little soft.
This is my car just after I bought it 5 years ago.
I put the Vel AP springs on my car about 3 years ago. They were just too low, especially at the front and made my car unusable. I don't believe these springs were ever really designed for the Bilstein equipped cars. I imagine they were initially produced for the early car's Multimatic damper. The 2009 V8V has completely different specced springs and shocks resulting in a spring length that is differrent.
My car straight after VAP spring install.
It dropped the front by about 40mm. I went back to Stuart about this and he tried to be supportive but acted surprised and as if I must have a odd car. I did like the better body control and decided to try to sort the ride height myself. The car has been apart about 5 or 6 times now trying to get this right. I used super pro spring spacers, I think they are polyurethane. I'm sorry but I'm not sure exactly which (the invoice does not have the model numbers.) https://superpro.com.au/tradeview/in...&SDID=99000298
Front spring with car on the ground.
I'm happy now with the car. I think I used a 13mm and a 7mm on the front and ? a 7mm on the rear. Its about 15mm lower than stock.
Hardly Green, if you're wandering.
Additional notes,
The very low ride height also makes the car quite jiggly and has quite a harsh ride. Rasing the height improves this with less being transferred into the cabin. I'm not sure if this is because of the geometry changes or the shocks being in a better working range.
If you have a non sport pack car the AP springs do effect the chassis balance(understeer). The car becomes effectively much stiffer over the front axle than the rear. (The non sport pack cars had a softer springs and a stiffer roll bar, the AP springs give you stiffer springs too.) The Vantage S roll bars can address this, softer front, stiffer rear or both.
I will try to get a shot from the side on flat ground to show the current height better.
Regards from Aotearoa.
ive been looking for this information for so long. Thank you. Does anyone have a sport pack shock laying around so that we can measure the inner and outter diameter of the seat ? Thanks.
One more attempt to post pics to show the results(OEM, Too Low, With Spacers.). I don't have many pics of the orginal set up.
I'm happy with it, I think it's a good compromise, it no longer looks lofty but is easily usable. I had to go into town today, pull into driveways across some broken up ground. No scrapes, no issues.
Go up one profile ratio on your tires. That will raise the car around 1/2” and reduce fender gap by the same amount at the same time. Problem solved.
I guess that's a good point, I did want a taller tire on the rear anyways to change the effective gearing of the car, but I felt hesitant about doing the same at the front. I got my car recently and the previous owner had put brand new tires on in stock size though, so I was kind of wondering about spring shims as a temporary solution to make the car scrape less. Is half an inch of extra tire going to risk rubbing the fender at all?
@drac That fitment looks good, though wow that's a lot of spacer. You said the Bilstein dampers have different length springs than the Multimatic? Are you saying then that the 09+ and earlier dampers aren't actually swappable without a change in ride height?
Last edited by convexproblem; May 27, 2021 at 01:45 PM.
Did you happen to measure the tire to fender gap before and after? thanks . Looks a a full moon low tide?
Yes, pic taken yesterday after the blood full moon on Wednesday night.
I confess I should have been more scientific about this. I did measure from the fender edge to the floor and make some notes but did not take into account properly fuel level, tire wear and pressure etc. I now appreciate that there could have been better measurements to take.
Anyway this is what I have.
Front. OEM(2010) 708mm, VAP springs(immediately after install probably would have settled more) 670mm, current with coil spacers 695mm(well settled)
Rear. OEM(2010) 716mm, VAP springs(immediately after install probably would have settled more) 694mm, current with coil spacers 703mm(well settled)
I guess that's a good point, I did want a taller tire on the rear anyways to change the effective gearing of the car, but I felt hesitant about doing the same at the front. I got my car recently and the previous owner had put brand new tires on in stock size though, so I was kind of wondering about spring shims as a temporary solution to make the car scrape less. Is half an inch of extra tire going to risk rubbing the fender at all?
@drac That fitment looks good, though wow that's a lot of spacer. You said the Bilstein dampers have different length springs than the Multimatic? Are you saying then that the 09+ and earlier dampers aren't actually swappable without a change in ride height?
The later S sizes(245/40&285/35) are a good place to be and give a circa 2% increase in gearing.
The earlier Vantages do have lower ride height compared to the later ones but this is probably all due to the small increase in tyre wall. Regarding the dampers, I am not suggesting that changing the spring/damper units 09+ v multimatic produces a change in ride height but I am saying they have different length springs and spring perches at different heights. This means when you change a spring onto a damper it wasn't specced for you get a different ride height.
Here is pic of the spring from the 9G33 damper 09+ and a VAP spring. They do have different spring rates and are meant to lower the car but thats quite a difference.
When installed the preload is quite minimal. I suspect this is the reason it is lowering the front much more than expected.
I guess that's a good point, I did want a taller tire on the rear anyways to change the effective gearing of the car, but I felt hesitant about doing the same at the front. I got my car recently and the previous owner had put brand new tires on in stock size though, so I was kind of wondering about spring shims as a temporary solution to make the car scrape less. Is half an inch of extra tire going to risk rubbing the fender at all?
Not a problem on my DBS. Don’t see why it would be for a Vantage.
I've owned a MY2010 V8V non sport pack car for just over 5 years. I always thought it rode a little high and the set up was a little soft.
I put the Vel AP springs on my car about 3 years ago. They were just too low, especially at the front and made my car unusable. I don't believe these springs were ever really designed for the Bilstein equipped cars. I imagine they were initially produced for the early car's Multimatic damper. The 2009 V8V has completely different specced springs and shocks resulting in a spring length that is differrent.
Front spring with car on the ground.
I'm happy now with the car. I think I used a 13mm and a 7mm on the front and ? a 7mm on the rear. Its about 15mm lower than stock.
Regards from Aotearoa.
To get two spacers to sit on top of each other did you trim the lower one to remove the lip? From the SuperPro pictures it doesn't look like they would stack otherwise
These look like they are exactly what I need, those over-low VAP springs have killed the car for me, its too much trouble to even get it off my drive, needing some heavy ramps to get me over the footpath, and the local authorities wouldn't want to lower the footpath to accommodate my lowered Aston Martin.
Before I order them, the two sizes that SuperPro list are 12mm and 7mm, are these the ones you used, a 12+7 at each corner of the car?
These look like they are exactly what I need, those over-low VAP springs have killed the car for me, its too much trouble to even get it off my drive, needing some heavy ramps to get me over the footpath, and the local authorities wouldn't want to lower the footpath to accommodate my lowered Aston Martin.
Before I order them, the two sizes that SuperPro list are 12mm and 7mm, are these the ones you used, a 12+7 at each corner of the car?
I’m not sure it’s that simple, as I think there are different shock and spring lengths.
There are at least 5 different rear shocks/springs and 4 front. Which spacers you need may depend on you set up. I think that having an idea of how much you wish to raise the car at each end is a better approach. The amount the spacer raises the car is just about 20% more than the spacer thickness.
My car has the 12+7 at the front(definitely as per pic and the 7mm rear(I think, I know there is only one spacer at the rear but not 100% which it is. I had the car apart many times doing this.)
I’m not sure it’s that simple, as I think there are different shock and spring lengths.
There are at least 5 different rear shocks/springs and 4 front. Which spacers you need may depend on you set up. I think that having an idea of how much you wish to raise the car at each end is a better approach. The amount the spacer raises the car is just about 20% more than the spacer thickness.
My car has the 12+7 at the front(definitely as per pic and the 7mm rear(I think, I know there is only one spacer at the rear but not 100% which it is. I had the car apart many times doing this.)
That makes sense, the front on mine looks the same as yours did before you raised it, so I'll start there, it seems to be the most significant drop, and does look too low. If that doesn't fix things, I'll raise the back, its the belly of the car scraping across the end of the drive that's causing me the main concern, so I'll probably need to raise both, but will do it in a measured way
I’m not sure it’s that simple, as I think there are different shock and spring lengths.
There are at least 5 different rear shocks/springs and 4 front. Which spacers you need may depend on you set up. I think that having an idea of how much you wish to raise the car at each end is a better approach. The amount the spacer raises the car is just about 20% more than the spacer thickness.
My car has the 12+7 at the front(definitely as per pic and the 7mm rear(I think, I know there is only one spacer at the rear but not 100% which it is. I had the car apart many times doing this.)
Thanks. Just so i understand this right - are you saying that if I go with the 12mm spacer, it will only raise the car by about 20% of the thickness or about 2.4mm overall ? Presumably because the spring will settle into the spacer ?
Thanks. Just so i understand this right - are you saying that if I go with the 12mm spacer, it will only raise the car by about 20% of the thickness or about 2.4mm overall ? Presumably because the spring will settle into the spacer ?
I think drac was saying that the spacer raises the car 20% more than the the size of the spacer, so the 12mm spacer would raise the car around 14.4mm.
