Finally Finished my D2 Coilovers install

[aleccolin]

After many delays I finally found the time to get everything installed. I am VERY happy with these coilovers. Here's the specs:

D2 Coilovers (from thespeedfactor.com - Thanks Martin!)

Fully threaded shock bodies, height adjustable
Pillow ball mounts front and rear
Front camber plates
7 kg/mm front springs, 5 kg/mm rear (comes with 9/7 normally, too stiff for a 1G)
Strut-top knob adjustable dampening

Right out of the package these things impressed the hell out of me. Very nicely manufactured and Everything fit just exactly as it should. I used Ingalls arms out back for camber correction, DEFINITELY worth the extra scratch.

Here's as it sits right now:

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This height is lower than what I'll normally run it at on the street, it'll be at least a half inch to 3/4 inch higher when I'm done. Prior to doing this install I borrowed a fender roller and rolled my fenders a bit on the front (inner lip) and rear (out a little) in order to clear my tires with plenty of room. My 225/40/18s on 18x7.5 wheels with 42mm offset fit quite nicely, and once it's all set up I SHOULD be able to step up to 235/40/18s without issue. Right now I get a little rubbing on the front fender liners in a hard turn but that's just because they pop down when you roll the fender lip. I'll just trim them back some more and again, the car will be raised a bit which will take care of that issue.

On the rear I took some basic measurements and used a little simple geometry to guesstimate on the adjustment to the Ingalls arms, then set them both up symmetrically with the eccentric bolt adjusted all the way out (most positive camber) and locked in place. Rear camber looks pretty good right now, should be very close to zero. Rear toe is at about 3/16" toe in on each side, that'll all get adjusted once I put it on the rack.

On the front I left the camber plates at zero and installed the struts with the most negative camber possible using the elongated lower mounting holes. This puts the camber at maybe a half degree negative and toes it out just a little, maybe 1/16" on each side. I'll add probably a degree of negative camber and I'll leave it toed out 1/16" and maybe later toe it out to 1/8" per side for autocross.

It'll take a little more time to fine tune and set it all up. I'll probably wait a week or two for the springs to settle before doing a full alignment, but even as it is right now the handling difference is NIGHT AND DAY. The car feels MUCH more settled and I easily took a long sweeping left hander at triple digits yesterday that I could normally only do at about 75....on a track, of course It handles now like it should have from the factory.

 

[jtmcinder]

I'll probably wait a week or two for the springs to settle before doing a full alignment....

Assuming the springs are really so bad as to sag a meaningful amount in a week or two, what makes you think that they will not sag some more during the third and fourth weeks?

Seriously.

- Jtoby

 

[cait sith]

Man, if my springs started to sag, I'd be really pissed off.

I also really don't like comparisons of saying "I can go so much faster in some unknown curve!", as that really means nothing.

 

[aleccolin]

internet negativity rules.

I'm less concerned about the springs actually settling than compression and settlement of the poly spring seat isolators used on both the upper and lower spring perch. Some information from Eibach:

When Eibach suspension springs are fitted, will the car sit at the correct ride height or will it need time to settle?

All Eibach suspension coils are pre-set to eliminate settling and increase life expectancy. Some minimal settling may occur as the new spring mates up to an existing rubber suspension isolator, this is normal, but is not the same as a poorly produced spring which may take a set and effect the ride height, handling and alignment of the vehicle.

The curve-at-speed reference was only made because (1) I don't have any quantitative numbers to provide yet like skidpad numbers or slalom speeds and (2) I was attempting to give an idea of how the car feels much more stable and neutral at speed than on the stock suspension.

Anyway, hope this information helps somebody.

 

[onegee]

Please keep this thread updated with info as you go along. At least one person on this board appreciates the review.

I was debating a suspension setup, so I'd like to collect as much data as possible before I make a choice. Is your car a daily driver?

 

[Beaker]

Please keep this thread updated with info as you go along. At least one person on this board appreciates the review.

This makes two of us.
What made you choose the D2 setup?

 

[aleccolin]

Yes, the car is a daily driver, though I have a beater for when the dsm is under the knife. I chose the D2s primarily because I could get the whole setup with the ingalls arms for about $200 more than Sportlines and AGXs. There is a ton more adjustability and with the D2s and you don't have to worry about blowing out nearly bottomed out dampers like you do with lowering springs and OE replacement struts. I've used KYBs and Ground Controls before on other cars and was never really all that happy with the results, though it was an improvement over stock. I can already tell now though that once this setup is dialed in the car will handle amazingly well. My goal is to have it handle on par with my friend's B5 chassis S4 on Bilsteins...a lofty goal but I think I can get damn close, minus quattro of course.

I'll post some numbers once I get the thing on the rack and set up, plus I'm trying to borrow some corner scales from a buddy of mine who races Porsches so that I can properly corner-weight balance the car.

 

[yangtech]

your car looks good dropped... i should stop putting so much money on go fast parts and lower my car... one of these days for sure...

 

[onegee]

Good stuff. I dont know much about tuning a suspension. I was planning on just dropping it 1.5-1.8" and then taking it to the alignment shop to get aligned.

What do you mean by dialing in? I hear that alot and never got around to asking what it meant in terms of suspension.

Im not really a big fan of track racing or hardcore drag. Just mainly use the car for daily driving and would like to have it handle well. Maybe just minor camber upfront for better grip, but thats about it. In your opinion, is this suspension user/learning friendly? One reason I was going with an AGX and prokit setup was it was very simple.

Thanks for the response.

btw, are the D2s rebuildable?

 

[jtmcinder]

What do you mean by dialing in? I hear that alot and never got around to asking what it meant in terms of suspension.

In this case, it means finding the best setting on the shocks. The odds of finding the optimal settings for the springs are just about nil when the adjuster changes compression and rebound simultaneously, but there will still be a best possible setting.

- Jtoby

 

[aleccolin]

This setup is very user friendly as long as you have a good understanding about what camber and toe are and do and to a lesser extend caster. After that, it's easy. As far as dialing it in I'm basically going to set the rear toe as close to zero as I can, a little toe out up front, maybe a half degree of rear camber and 1-1.25 degrees of front camber and for the time being I'm just going to set the ride height the same all around. Later I'll use the corner scales and move some weight around to get the most even corner weight distribution possible. Playing with the dampening settings is going to take some time to find the best compromise for the street and an autocross or two should yeild the best setup for that. I'll hopefully be able to hit VIR for an open track day to dial in a road course setup (probably 2 degrees of front camber and stiff dampening all around). It all comes down to feel and trying to maintain the most neutral handling characteristics possible, as opposed to pushing like an ox cart like it does in factory trim. It'll probably understeer a little still, but then it's just a matter of adjusting tire pressures and welding in a three point tie bar between the rear strut towers. Oh and yes they're fully rebuildable, they're gas charged monotubes so anywhere that does Bilsteins should be able to do these too.

My main challenge is this: The roads where I live are far from perfect. Whatever I end up with you can bet it'll be driver-friendly to the greatest extent possible. It's no use driving around on rails until you hit a ripple in the road and skip right off into a ditch, I've had setups like that before and it's not even worth doing. Thanks for the interest, I'll keep it going, but for anyone interested in a really good, relatively cheap, easy to install and use setup, I highly recommend the D2s. Give Martin at thespeedfactor.com a call, he'll hook you up, but definitely order the 7/5 spring rates for a 1G, 9/7 would have DEFINITELY been too stiff for street use.

 

[boostedinaz]

What is the highest ride heigh you can get in the rear? My buddy has these and his car is slammed and nothing can be done until D2 makes the new parts. Its just to bad that no one knows how long or if they will ever come out. Did you have to crank down on the spring to get the rears up as high as they are in the pics?

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

What is the highest ride heigh you can get in the rear? My buddy has these and his car is slammed and nothing can be done until D2 makes the new parts. Its just to bad that no one knows how long or if they will ever come out. Did you have to crank down on the spring to get the rears up as high as they are in the pics?

the owner of D2 USA is in Asia as we speak getting this taken care of. He told me last night before he left that he should be able to get he new ones here by the time he gets back in about a week and a half.

Glad you are liking your coilovers collin.

Marti

 

[Drew84]

So how would you say that these stack up against, JICs, Tein ss, Hotbits coilovers? I realize that you may not have experience with any of these but, can anyone else chime in. I'm trying to dicide what coilovers to go with for my 1g awd. Also why are 9k7k springs too stiff, what made you go with the 7k5k? I run 12k 10k Omni Power coilovers on my Si and I love it for auto-x and daily driving, not that cars are any way similar.

 

[aleccolin]

the owner of D2 USA is in Asia as we speak getting this taken care of. He told me last night before he left that he should be able to get he new ones here by the time he gets back in about a week and a half.

Glad you are liking your coilovers collin.

Marti

Thanks M, what exactly does the "fix" entail, and will those who have already bought sets be able to get the new parts?? I'd assume it would just be a longer lower section for the rear shocks. (I don't mind mailing back the old lower sections if needed)

The rear is nearly as high as it can go safely. Looking at the design and construction, and the fact that the rear suspension geometry places little torsion or moment on the rear shocks, I figured that 20mm is enough thread bite to operate safely. The front is fine with plenty of room for adjustment both ways, but the rear is about maxed out. As it is I can only come up about 10 mm in the rear without longer lower sections. I would really love to come up at least another 15-20 mm. Bear in mind also that I rolled my rear fenders using an Eastwood style fender roller, had I not done this I'd likely be rubbing bad in the rear as low as it sits.

Keep us updated man, this one problem is the only real thing I have issue with, otherwise the D2s completely rock.

 

[aleccolin]

So how would you say that these stack up against, JICs, Tein ss, Hotbits coilovers? I realize that you may not have experience with any of these but, can anyone else chime in. I'm trying to dicide what coilovers to go with for my 1g awd. Also why are 9k7k springs too stiff, what made you go with the 7k5k? I run 12k 10k Omni Power coilovers on my Si and I love it for auto-x and daily driving, not that cars are any way similar.

I just searched around online and asked some friends and 9/7 springs (504 lb/in and 392 lb/in) were higher than most people were using on their 1gens, even cars that were basically track-only. The 1G suspension geometry utilizes very little leverage effect on the springs, unline honda suspensions which require much higher spring rates to accomplish the same downward force at the wheel. The 7/5 rates (392lb/in and 280 lb/in) is a better match to the 1Gs, especially for a street car. Super stiff "track" suspensions suck on the street, you need some usable suspension travel in order to absorb road irregularities and allow the shock to help you maintain contact with the road. I didn't plan on "slamming" my car to begin with so I chose the best compromise for a daily driven vehicle. I'm confident now, after driving on it extensively, that I've made the right choice - softer would be too soft and I'd have to raise the car and upgrade roll bars, stiffer would lend itself to control problems on irregular surfaces.

 

[Drew84]

I just searched around online and asked some friends and 9/7 springs (504 lb/in and 392 lb/in) were higher than most people were using on their 1gens, even cars that were basically track-only. The 1G suspension geometry utilizes very little leverage effect on the springs, unline honda suspensions which require much higher spring rates to accomplish the same downward force at the wheel. The 7/5 rates (392lb/in and 280 lb/in) is a better match to the 1Gs, especially for a street car. Super stiff "track" suspensions suck on the street, you need some usable suspension travel in order to absorb road irregularities and allow the shock to help you maintain contact with the road. I didn't plan on "slamming" my car to begin with so I chose the best compromise for a daily driven vehicle. I'm confident now, after driving on it extensively, that I've made the right choice - softer would be too soft and I'd have to raise the car and upgrade roll bars, stiffer would lend itself to control problems on irregular surfaces.

Yeah that makes sense that the Honda has more leverage with the double wishbone setup than the McPherson strut setup. Was that a custom order on the springrates, I went to thespeedfactor.com and they advertised 9k7k and I could have sworn that last night the price was $899 and now its $975. Anyway let me know how they run under auto-x conditions. I really don't mind a stiff suspension and my Honda rides unbelievably well it really has to be felt to be believed

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

i talked with the owner of D2 USA on Thursday and he is actually in Asia as i mentioned as we speak and he said he was shooting to have it taken care of by the time he gets back (middle of next week) and i am not sure of what we are doing but it will be taken care of.