Different rear shocks l700

Hello guys. I was wondering if there’s a direct replacement for the rear shocks on the l700 ie from a heavier car for a stiffer ride? I’ve heard the hyundai accent/excel ones work but can’t see a model that shares the same fitment. Thank you!

Edit, I’ve searched through the forum (which I should’ve done first! :woozy_face:,) and seen its the excel, which we didn’t have in the UK. I guess this is the accent, which year is it and are they straight swap?

Hi, this info (before your edit) sent me on a search, and i found that the hyundai i20 mk1 have rear shocks that are similar, they also have similar rear axle, they are shorter!

First screenshot is data for the l701 rear damper

This is the i20 crdi rear damper

Looks to be shorter and also more heavy, the i20 is also 950-1050kg

Also they cost about 20£ for the gas ones

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Thank you so much! Great info! I’ll have a look at these now!

Also peugeot 206, again really short:

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Nice!! I’ve bought a pair of the i20 ones, I’m gonna give them a go! Thanks again! I’ll report back how they go…

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Hope it works out, im also ordering a pair of trw shocks for the i20

Same applies to l700

Heavier or stiffer ride is the job of the spring. “Shocks” do not actually absorb shock. What they do is control the frequency of the spring. Once a spring is set in motion it will experience sinusoidal oscillation (or bobbing up and down). A “shock” is a damper that uses friction to control this. Friction is applied to the bump stroke and then friction to the rebound. Controlled correctly the wheel will perfectly follow the contour of the road. Perhaps I have stated what you already know. What might be thought of as a stiffer shock will be a slower one in either bump, rebound or both.

Your front wheel drive will benefit from a fairly std front spring rate and double, triple or even quadruple rear spring rate. Don’t just throw four springs in with actually doing some evaluation. I will guarantee a stiff front spring with a std rear will make it understeer like a dog and will have a propensity to wheel spin. Leave the front std and put a stiff rear spring in and it will feel so sweet. Weight transfers diagonally. So as soft front tends to keep both wheels on the ground whereas a stiff rear will load the outside wheel. The rear wheels drive nothing so a perfect situation is where the inside wheel lifts. That being said a shorter rear damper is good as full load on the outer rear wheel is reached sooner. Something else to remember is whether the spring leverage has a ratio. A strut is nearly 1:1. A trailing arm could be 1:2.

My recommendation is a Koni red twin tube hydraulic firmed up to be a bit slower in rebound (they are adjustable for rebound only). Measure the compressed length you have, then measure the extended length (and figure you can go 3/4 to 2/3 of that) and note the mount type at both ends (built-in ring mount top and bottom aren’t they?) and go from there to find something that will fit. Moving up from the Koni would be BC Racing and towards the top end would be Bilstein (or a similar construction, ie Ohlins, Penske, MCA…)

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I will use these hyundai dampers ONLY when going with lowering/stiffer springs in the rear

I searched for the excell model car, but there was none, now had another look and it was called pony x-2 in europe, and there are rear dampers for it on the site like the ones in the video posted by evilhighway

Sorry OP :disappointed_relieved: hope the ones you ordered work out for you, I will be waiting to hear how they fit

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I’ll report how they are. They’re due Monday. I think may need to go with stiffer springs too but we will see! Thanks again.

Oh and @Mr_Gormsby thanks for very detailed reply. Very helpful. I must be evaluating everything.

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Update! The i20 shocks are a success. I had to make the width of the eyelets smaller to fit. They are alot shorter, but they’re much stiffer. They definitely only really work for lowering as they are quite short.

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That is awesome!

Now take a look at what i found, rear spring of a ford focus 2 wagon, cut in two? :smile:

OEM ford code 1356556

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Nice work man!! Great to know!

If you want to set it up correctly I have posted the formula for calculating the desired spring rate.
You need your corner weights and the desired frequency in Hz, but there is also guides there on how to obtain them.

Stiffer rear springs will lean the car towards oversteer, but if you go too hard or have too little outward travel on the rear the risk of lift off oversteer increases drastically, and can be dangerous if you go overboard with it.

My opinion on springs is the car should be sprung to the desired frequency, and my opinion to suspension set up is as follows;
the front toe to should be set up according to the scrub radius, camber should be set up according to tyre temperature, and the tendency for over steer or understeer controlled by the rear toe. traction when braking or accelerating (also weight transfer, but they are directly related to one another) is adjusted by adjusting the shock bump and rebound.

Ofcourse not all cars have the ability to adjust all of these things, so you have to make adjustments elsewhere to achieve the desired affect.

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Mick i read a lot about springrates and calculations but is there a list of some sort with the original springrates? Or do i have to measure and calculate myself? :zipper_mouth_face:

I only know the front Sirion springs are 30 N/mm, the rears you would need to calculate.

To find the spring rate you just need a few measurements, length, diameter, rod diameter, and number of coils, then you just enter them into the spring rate calculator at https://www.thespringstore.com/spring-rate-calculator.html

To calculate the desired spring rate you just need corner weight minus unsprung weight, and the frequency you want. There is a pretty easy formula here on the forums Understanding spring rates

No need to over think it, there’s only a few values needed to calculate what you want, it’s not voodoo or magic. Just do the math and you will have a Good base to start making other adjustments.

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Short is good on the rear, even if not dramatically lowered. Only the wheel on the outside of a turn need to be touching the ground. To short though of course is not so good when the load on the rear is equal.