I have a couple of stone chips on the Libra, one that needs the gel coat rebuilding...……… anybody any idea what colour the WHITE libra was????

Also considering fitting a rear ARB as I had both front and rear on the Spyder. Any views on handling if fitting only rear or only front? Or do both need to be fitted at the same time?

Phil i have front and rear but i have disconnected the rear to try the car without and i feel the car rides better on bumpy B roads without the rear A/R bar as the suspension follows the road better just my opinion
Ian

I wouldn’t run the rear bar only.....unless you like the view from roadside hedges

No problem to run front only but rear only is really not advisable.

Thanks. I'll keep the rear set up on the shelf then for another day and look at the front end first. Although I have to agree with Ian that the ride is good without and I find it more superior to the Spyder I had.

The gel coat colours, unless custom mixed, all come from the RAL range so that's a good place to start looking.

Phil out of interest did your spyder have 17 inch wheels ? Just be aware the gel coat colour may have faded over a period of time
Ian

Re gel coat, no idea sorry.

Re ARB's having recently fitted them to my Spyder I wouldn't want to not have them! I fitted the front first and tried that for a while and then the rear. As has previously been said, front only is okay but rear only is a bad thing! (didn't test that theory though) Front should be much stiffer than the rear.

The car does ride better over bumps with none but the handling is a massive improvement with them. I've gone for home made and I've gone a bit stiffer than the standard GTM supplied version on the front (although the wide range of holes on the bottom wishbone means it can be softened massively) and probably about the same on the rear.

With the front only I noticed a big improvement in turn in and stability and, funnily enough, less body roll. There was a bit of tendency towards a feel of understeer when pushed though. After fitting the rear it brought the balance back to neutral and now just feels right, willing and eager to turn in but without the slight nervousness it used to have. Once loaded up the body roll is noticeably less and on track it seems to hang on much better and I can steer it on the throttle where before it would just snap into oversteer.

I'd not previously considered the need for an improvement for the road, it was mainly track day use that prompted me to add them, but now I've got them I notice the improvement on the road too. There is some additional jitteryness over bumps (when only one side hits a bump) but a small price to pay in my eyes.

re gelcoat colors, I got a DSM brochure with the colors from GTM. On this page you will find the scans of the 4 pages of the brochure:
http://midas.orba-design.com/index.php?dir=archive+cd%2Fbrochures+general%2F

Thanks for all
Yes the Spyder did have 17inch wheels
Re the ARB, have decided to shelve that for the moment........... so I do have refurbished rear ARB spare if anyone wants one
Colour chart is a great help, should I have bought a red one? I knew that was Ford Radiant Red from the Spyder days!!!!, but I do like the white
Cheers Phil

Phil i asked because i tried a Libra with 17 inch wheels and for me the ride was rock solid and uncomfortable now this may have been down to the springs and shock settings but the setup on my car with 16 inch wheels is pretty comfortable
Ian

Ian. I am also running the Libra on 17inch wheels and have just put new tyres on using Toyo 205/40/17 away from some Goodyear ones. I now find the ride considerably more comfortable and a lot quieter which is a real bonus as I can now hear the radio without full volume
Having run both cars on 17 rims I find (not wishing to upset any Spyder owners) the Libra has more comfort when both were on the same tyre pressure and shocker settings. I guess this is down to longer springs on the Libra?

What a nice pair ?
Ian

I have driven Toyo tyres, but found these too soft and wear out very quickly. The softness of the rubber and lack of stiffness in the tyre walls is the reason they feel comfortable, but steering will also be less precise. Good Years are very hard tyres as are Bridgestones. Last year I replaced my Bridgestones, because they were getting too old, wear was still nothing. I now drive Falkens, fantastic tyres. A good mix between comfort, wet weather road holding and precision. Unfortunately my specific tyre size wasn't available anymore and had to use a slightly bigger one. This was a mistake, turning circle is now too big and there hit the body at max compression. But if you can get the correct tyre size, Falkens are worth considering.

It was a nice pair, but the Spyder has now gone to a new home
Toyo are soft, but for the amount of mileage I do 2 or 3 of years from them and I'm a happy man
As the tyres have just gone on, I'll look at Falkens next time.

Phil i thought the Spyder was going when we spoke at Stonleigh i agree about the Toyo have them on the TVR really good grip but not the longest life due to soft rubber but do not do enough mileage to worry about that.
Ian