just to clear a few things up in this thread, regarding dampers
harder springs wont have any effect on the dampers failing or not, quite the opposite as the damper moves less under small bump so the seals do less work, also shorter springs will increase the stiffness of the damper as the piston on the end of the shaft is further in the body and less likely to flex.
what would cause the dampers to leak more is increased braking forces, possibly created by having a faster car and better brakes, meaning your likely to be going that little bit faster and stopping that little bit harder than before or on the non ss cars.
but i would be surprised if this wasn't a problem on the standard cars as well
and as for dampers getting softer, they will do naturally due to the way they work, dampers use a piston with shims stacked in pyramid shaped layout one set above and one set below the piston (see below image note, only one shim stack) then the ports in the piston mean the oil has to flow through the piston to allow the damper to move meaning it has to flex all those shims. Over time the shims will dish meaning they will open sooner as they are not held against the ports, if you drive hard or on ruff bumpy surfaces this would speed up the process.
the next problem is hysteresis as oil gets hot as you most know it gets thinner well in a damper it could well get up to 600c once its done this a few times the oil starts to stay in a thinner state meaning the piston (above) can flow the fluid easier meaning the shim stack has to flex less to move the same volume of oil.
all these things = softer dampers
we advise customers to service dampers every 2 races or road car dampers to service every year, and these dampers are about 2k each so buying expensive ones wont solve the above 2 problems
PS any one got a ss spring to borrow i can rate it at work so we will know the N rate and the ib rate
(ohlins silverstone damper technician)
