How about another coilover thread?

[98spydert]

So all the threads on suspension go about the same... Those are junk, spend $10,000 on suspension if you want the best, this part of that setup sucks, that part of this setup sucks.

Now a lot of the time you guys are probably right about what's good and what's not but I think for the average Joe Schmo enthusiest, you're wrong. Only a fraction of the users here have ever or will ever see a road race course with their DSM. Most drive to school/work and street race sometimes, take it to the track every once in a while, and pack the daily driver miles onto the odometer. So for the enthusiest, not the auto xer, not the magic 1/4 mile number chaser, and not the lottery winners, is there a set up or a few set ups recommended that will:
1. Slightly improve performance
2. Give that lowered look everyone loves
3. Be able to handle city roads with out knocking out your fillings
4. Be able to handle miles compared to the stock set up
5. and, not brake the bank

I say coilovers in the title because everyone LOVES ride height adjustibility. If coilovers aren't the case, please state what is. If there's no suck thing as a streetable, afortable, performance oriented set up, just say a plain and simple "just stay stock" None of the repetitive "you gotta spend money to get performance" crap that everyone already KNOWS, but is there a middle ground?

 

[14.5 drift]

Of course there is a middle ground. Typically the less drop you have the less harsh the ride will be. The lower you go the tighter the spring needs to be wound. Typically 9 out of 10 say they really like the eibach pro kit, it lowers right around an inch-inch and a half and retains near factory stiffness (it is dropped so it'll be a bit stiffer), and significant gains in road holding and pithc and roll. Search eibach, you'll find what your looking for.

 

[98spydert]

If you drop the car at all on stock struts, the struts will die very fast. A strut with a shortened design will need to be matched to these for any usefull life. But besides that, and the fact that they have a higher spring rate in the rear than the front, they seem to be a pretty good street set up. A good example of a middle ground.

What else people?

 

[jtmcinder]

For $1000 ... Koni Sports and H&R OE Sports and, then, if that isn't low enough, shave the top side of the OE upper spring isolators to drop the car another 1/2". Then slip in one or two washers behind the upper rear arms (depending on how much you hate understeer) and then get it aligned. Including the alignment, this is in your budget. Plus, only about $200 are "wasted" when upgrade later, much less when you remember eBay.

- Jtoby

 

[tunerkid]

what about the "cheaper" coilovers? ground controls or like skunk 2's? i can get skunk 2's for 100 bucks from a friend who used them less then 1000 miles, are they any good?

 

[98spydert]

small print: this isn't for me, I just read all the suspension posts and people argue, call everything crap, and nobody learns anything at all. This is just for everyone to learn I would give my opinions of this stuff, but I don't have enough first hand experience with different suspension set ups.




How about the $1000 and under coil over set ups. Tien SS, Apexi World Sport, Tanabe (?). Now I'm not asking if these are better than JIC's high end shit or a professional setup, just are they worth what they cost or comparable to the setup you mentioned jtmcinder since they're about the same price?

 

[njshift]

IMO, I would go with what jtmcinder recommended. You're getting an all around better setup (cost, performance, service..etc) then that of the true coilovers you mentioned above. If you don't want to piece together a system and you’re on a budget I would go with the tein SS. Ideally, the koni setup is the best route to go.

 

[98spydert]

IMO, I would go with what jtmcinder recommended. You're getting an all around better setup (cost, performance, service..etc) then that of the true coilovers you mentioned above. If you don't want to piece together a system and you’re on a budget I would go with the tein SS. Ideally, the koni setup is the best route to go.

Thanks but I didn't ask what set up to go with, I asked if the true coilovers were worth the price tag.

Who's got the best price on those Konis anyways?

 

[tunerkid]

yea can someone give a price range for the > 1000 coilovers?

 

[14.5 drift]

800 and up. A set with bells and whistles will cost upwards of 1200

Cheapest way to go without sacrificing any quality, get some koni shocks, call up ground control, they sell a coil over kit for 400 and you can customize your spring rates, or you can order the coil over kit with out springs for 120 and opt for a better spring elsewhere. Paul might chime in and tell you where to get some custom springs if he's feeling like a nice guy.

 

[njshift]

Thanks but I didn't ask what set up to go with, I asked if the true coilovers were worth the price tag.

How about the $1000 and under coil over set ups. Tien SS, Apexi World Sport, Tanabe (?).

From the coilovers you mentioned, I believe none of them are worth the price tag.

 

[balljp]

Hey i have a problem...I got intrax springs, and i have installed all of them except the shock on the rear passenger side. I have pounded on it and put tons of wd40 on it but it still wont budge. Any ideas on how i can get it off?

 

[14.5 drift]

this not your thread buddy

Start your own if you need some help

 

[98spydert]

From the coilovers you mentioned, I believe none of them are worth the price tag.

Are you just saying this because you would rather have FLT A2s or something else or do you have some sort of argument against paying (example) $900 for Tien Street Specs? When I'm finding Koni yellows for about $500-550 (without getting hooked up on the price) and a set of GC for $400 which I have personally seen strip out more than a few times (not all of the time mind you, some people have good luck with them) the SS set up looks pretty good.

 

[98spydert]

yea can someone give a price range for the > 1000 coilovers?

Well for the low end coilover sets, theirs a set of new Apexi world sports on ebay for 550 but usually they're near 700, Tein Basics are around 700-800, Tanabe are anywhere from 500 and up depending on the model (I know nothing about them), and Tein Street Specs are about 945 from prostreetonline.

 

[njshift]

Are you just saying this because you would rather have FLT A2s or something else or do you have some sort of argument against paying (example) $900 for Tien Street Specs? When I'm finding Koni yellows for about $500-550 (without getting hooked up on the price) and a set of GC for $400 which I have personally seen strip out more than a few times (not all of the time mind you, some people have good luck with them) the SS set up looks pretty good.

What you're looking for and what I'm looking for seem to be different things. I would rather pay extra and get something thats track proven rather then limit myself. IMO, the SS's would probably suite you well. You can get them for cheap, they will drop your ride, and other dsmers had success with them. Everything thing else you mentioned doesn't seem to be worth the money in most cases. Those other coilovers tend to drop your ride but give you a horrible ride in return.

 

[98spydert]

What you're looking for and what I'm looking for seem to be different things.

I don't think you understand the point of this thread. Read:

small print: this thead isn't for me, I just read all the suspension posts where people argue, call everything crap, and nobody learns anything at all. This is just for everyone to learn I would give my opinions of this stuff, but I don't have enough first hand experience with different suspension setups.

I would rather pay extra and get something thats track proven rather then limit myself. IMO, the SS's would probably suite you well. You can get them for cheap, they will drop your ride, and other dsmers had success with them. Everything thing else you mentioned doesn't seem to be worth the money in most cases. Those other coilovers tend to drop your ride but give you a horrible ride in return.

Everyone here has an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions... Not everyone needs the best suspension money can buy so what route do they go? "Track proven" as you put it, doesn't matter when you never see a track.

 

[tunerkid]

^ agreed. most people on here have daily driven cars. not track cars, x-ing or drag.

i thikn im getting skunk 2's from my friend for 100 bucks, and being done with it.. now for some struts .. hm

 

[cait sith]

Apexi's setup's for DSM's is good for guys who want to lower their cars and have a good shock to go along with them. If I just wanted a slight improvement, I'd go for them.

 

[98spydert]

^ agreed. most people on here have daily driven cars. not track cars, x-ing or drag.

i thikn im getting skunk 2's from my friend for 100 bucks, and being done with it.. now for some struts .. hm

So far from jtmcinders post and others, Koni yellows seem to be best (although pricey). They've got great compression/rebound caracteristics and a shortened body design to go with the shorter travel.

 

[Turbo Shogun]

Apexi's setup's for DSM's is good for guys who want to lower their cars and have a good shock to go along with them. If I just wanted a slight improvement, I'd go for them.

If you're talking about the World Sport Coilovers, yes, I believe it's a great system for what the starter of the thread was looking for. It's ride height adjustable (although I don' understand why you'd want to change it often ... ) and the damper rates seem to be tuned for city streets and roads of all conditions. I don't have any first-hand experiences with them, but they're less than $1000, and they look pretty beginner friendly, and they meet 98spyder's criteria.

The A'pex Integration World Sport Damper has become a favorite choice among street enthusiasts. One reason is because this product is the direct result of customers' wishes. They wanted a low cost, coil-over suspension that allowed the vehicle to be lowered without sacrificing ride comfort and performance. The WS Damper is a great choice for daily driven vehicles that would like to have a slightly lowered look while greatly improving handling performance.

http://www.hopupracing.com/apn1wospdasu.html

Good luck.

- Edit -

Erm. Well ... One oversight. The link above is for 1G's. Here's the link for 2G's.

http://www.hopupracing.com/apwospda95ec.html

 

[cait sith]

That's what I meant. The World Sports are perfect for a "I want a sporty feeling suspension" people who want to drop their car.

Apexi's shocks are good stuff, although the World sports aren't built to be a racing shock. That's what the N1's are for.

 

[njshift]

I don't think you understand the point of this thread.

I mentioned using jtmcinders setup (which is track proven) or going the Tein SS route. How is that not understanding your thread? I apologize for giving my opinion on the type of suspension set up I like, I guess that was irrelivant. However, I still made an attempt to reccomend a setup for you, which is what this thread is all about. I apologize if I also miscommunicated somehow, sometimes that happens.. Please don't think I was trying to push some outrageous setup that didn't fit your needs. Good luck finding your setup.

 

[98spydert]

Nothin personal man, it's just I didn't want this thread to go like every other "what should I get" thread. Everyone always say that x setup isn't good enough because you can't compete in a road race event with it. Most people don't need a set up good enough to win in an autocross event and just want to lower the car and give it a better feel on the street. I have no plans to even go to the drag strip but once or twice, so I'm not going to base my whole suspension around chasing a quarter mile number when 99.9 percent of the time I'll be driving around town. Same with road racing.

 

[jtmcinder]

You need to read your own posts. Here's the most important part of what you said when you started this thread:

So for the enthusiest, not the auto xer, not the magic 1/4 mile number chaser, and not the lottery winners, is there a set up or a few set ups recommended that will:
1. Slightly improve performance
2. Give that lowered look everyone loves
3. Be able to handle city roads with out knocking out your fillings
4. Be able to handle miles compared to the stock set up
5. and, not brake the bank

If you don't like the fact that several people have answered exactly the question that you asked, then you should take that issue up with yourself and leave the rest of us out of it.

- Jtoby