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2G Is it time for coilovers?

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Sam's GSX

5+ Year Contributor
394
54
Jun 10, 2018
Hohenwald, Tennessee
Ok, in a bit of an odd situation, first off here is my suspension setup.
Koni str.t with stock springs, RM rear sway bar, DC front and rear strut bars, 18x8.5 wheels, and 245/40x18 tires.

So I've never had a problem with stock ride height, plus I live on a badish driveway and bad roads so It was better anyway.
I've also replaced all the suspension arms and ball joints in the last year, so the car feels amazing to me, but I've been having a problem since switching to this wheel/tire setup, I've been bottoming out at bridge transitions on the interstate, mostly in the rear and if I see it coming I can nullify it by letting off the gas. (I'm only on the interstate for about 1 and a half hours a week, so it wasn't super pressing)
So I guess my best solution is to buy coilovers? And if I'm not mistaken I need coilovers that have a dampening adjustment?
I almost bought some with just height and preload adjustment.

Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thank you.
 
I have looked into that, but I believe the stiffer springs lower the car, by I believe 1.5 inch at the minimum, and if I get coilovers, I might lower the car a little, but not much, like 1/2 or 1 inch at most.
 
Oh dang, I wish they were for awd that would be perfect.
And I'm definitely hitting the tires, but I don't see any damage to the tires, so so far it's not to dangerous.
The offset is 20, so they do stick out a little bit, I got the wheels with that offset because I do have fender flares coming within this month, and I'm hoping to get this sorted out before I install them, that way I dont rip them off haha
 
This is the poke
 

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That's not a great offset. Lowering spring will just make the issue worse. If it was my car. I would pull the strut out and use a jack to move the suspension up and down and see what it's hitting. You may just be able to roll the rear a little.
 
Coilovers with some stiff springs may also fix it. But if all your trying to do is keep it from rubbing, you may not need to spend that kind of money.
 
Those tires are too tall as well as a super aggressive offset wheel. If you want to keep that setup you’ll need to get stiffer springs or coilovers with super stiff springs if you are trying to lower it. But if you are doing flares anyway you will probably be cutting the fenders and making clearance that way so I guess you have options.
 
Yeah it looks like it, would standard feals with the 6k/10k be stiff enough as well as if I tightened the dampening? Or would I need to go for the swift spring and do like 12k/8k?
 
If your hitting and you have that kind of gap (which is alot btw) your shocks are likely blown and your springs are doing the work for the shock,

Your gap also most represents a stock gap so that should not be an issue for hitting. Yes going 18" is bigger and taking more gap away but your now at 40 wall which is ok, 35 would be more ideal perhaps for an 18" wheel but without checking the speedo calculator for your tire i cannot confirm this theory yet.

I had konis and slightly lowering sptings on 40 wall 17x8.5 tires with 1" spacers and i never hit anything and my poke was alot! So im going straight to the shock for your issue here,
 
Hmm, in my mind I had eliminated them as a suspect, just because the are only 9 months old, but you could be right.
And I don't like the idea of spending $1300 on coilovers, even with the help of the government check we might get.
I also don't know what the cheapest coilovers that aren't trash, and have dampening adjustment would be, tein flex looked nice but they drop the car a lot minimum.
 
Tein are the cheapest value coilover I believe but they are still $700. I was also going to say your ratio is a bit big I run 35 on 240s. But I dont think its enough to cause rub because I dropped an inch or 2 below stock on my coilovers and ive never rubbed. So I would agree that the shock may be at fault here

Edit: I also run 18x8.5 rims
 
Oh ok, hmm, it looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and go for feal, because if I'm gonna spend 1k on something like bc coilovers, might as well spend the extra $300, and some I could do in the future is get 35s instead of 40s but I like the side wall ratio I have, so to run this setup with fender flares and spacers and not rip off my flares if I hit a bump, I might need them anyway.

Thanks for all the information guys, you're the best.
 
Here is my clearance on rear passenger side... Id say I have a good 3/4 inch of free play before I rub the side of the knuckle.

My shop that installed the coilovers said I could could theoretically drop the car lower but I wasnt going to push it
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Also I lied I run 225/40 was to lazy to check this morning.
 
The tire to knuckle clearance does not change as the suspension cycles. Your wheel/tire package will determine that clearance
 
Oh ok, today I'm going to do what that guy suggested about removing the strut and see what's hitting first, I'll also be check all the respectable coilovers minimum drop and see which can retain close to stock height
 
The Megan's are on sale for $750 right now, might go with those just because its half the price, also I can customize the spring rates, any suggestions?
Its 12k/6k and I can deviate by 2k either way.
I was thinking 12k/8k?
 
I think you got ahead of yourself when you bought your wheels. There's a lot to picking wheel/tire combo as well as all the related suspension components. Here a good write up on choosing springs which may shed some light on this discussion concerning springs. I think you need to rethink your wheel choice too though. None the less this should help with choosing springs.
https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/determining-what-type-of-springs-are-for-you.169443/
 
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