Aftermarket suspension component options

[TME_Steve]

i got kings to make some custom springs for us, they were great. they do some springs for 8g as well but they're not listed in the Oz catalogue, i think they did a heavy duty spring for the rear which was a better rate anyway but i never bought any so i couldn't say what they're like in terms of height.

 

[Tophler]

That was my thoughts with the bilsteins. Very stiff. feel every bump but the car handles so much better than stock springs. Where did you get the springs made up to suit the bilsteins?

 

[Snoozy]

After abit of thinking today the price to set up a decent set of shock/struts and springs im leaning towards coilovers instead now since the price diff isnt much. Will be doing alot of reading and weighing up the options over the next couple of mnths i think and see where it leads me.
May even just find a 2nd hand pair of front struts for the time being until i can raise up the funds.

 

[Tophler]

A few people say coilovers are the way to go, the majority of people who have been down the avenue of coilovers vs the shock and spring setup, especially guys who race have come to the conclusion that coilovers are a waste of time. They are too stiff and don't allow the car to handle as well as it should. I think once my coilovers give up the ghost I will be looking at a shock and spring setup. Feel free to do your own research and feel free to prove me wrong. Everyone has their own preference, some swear by coilovers and others wouldn't piss on them. Keep us informed as to which way you go and how the car behaves afterwards. Good luck

 

[Snoozy]

Not doubting u at all Tophler, have yet to see any race car with coilovers setup. Guess for street use it all comes down to personal preferance. Will def keep posted on which setup i go for in the near future and how it handles

 

[Tophler]

Not sure if drifting is counted into the "race car" category but they want the hardest shocks possible and I'm pretty sure they all use coilovers.

 

[VOLK]

Merged the struts & springs vs coilovers talk from the LCAs thread to this thread, already discussing aftermarket suspension options.

Please confine discussion to the correct thread.

Gotta keep info sorted, categorised and easily searchable otherwise we end up discussing the same stuff over and over endlessly and nobody can find answers easily.

 

[steveP]

(Adjustable Coilovers are out of the question coz i just cant see my self spending time adjusting ride height often so no point for me. )

Umm, do you even know why people get coilovers? Most people on here would have them, and once you have your desired ride height, you don't mess with the height.

 

[steveP]

the majority of people who have been down the avenue of coilovers vs the shock and spring setup, especially guys who race have come to the conclusion that coilovers are a waste of time.

I wonder what the car term of 'broscience' is.

 

[VOLK]

Dare say vast majority, if not all, of the front runners in Time Attack would be running coilovers. MCA S13, Tilton Evo, Nemo etc. etc. I think the stiffness you're referring to is due to a high spring rate (for vehicle weight) and slow valving on the shock absorbers, which is good for control, not so good for absorbing big surface undulations (speed bumps etc). Regardless of whether you're using conventional springs and struts or coilovers, high spring rate and slow bump will be stiff.

 

[Snoozy]

Just because i said i cant see myself adjusting ride height does not mean i dont know why people get coilovers. Most people may like to adjust their ride height how they want and leave it and there may be some who like to tinker around every so often.

Everyone is here for some advice and to help others, to learn more about their cars no need to shoot anyone down for trying to help another member out. Thats why everyone joined the forums wasnt it????
Why reply to a thread if your just gona shoot someone down and say nothing constructive at all SteveP?????

 

[Snoozy]

Very interesting and good info to know Volk. Guess it will come down to personal preference for me and how i like the ride comfort

 

[TME_Steve]

i got kings to make my springs up for the bilsteins too....

i find it a little amusing reading about how stiff coilovers are, you can make them as soft as a normal strut. what a normal strut does (and bilsteins non race only coilovers do) is use a larger diameter spring and seat. this provides a bit of comfort, otherwise oem struts would all just run motorsport sized springs because all springs being the same sized would be cheaper. but apart from that, with revalved dampers and stiffer springs you could make a conventional strut less comfortable and more track focused than a softish Coilover if you wanted. Coilovers are really only different because the springs are all one (well there are a few but anyway) diameter and therefore easy to buy and swap, and the ride height is easily adjusted, and MacPherson strut coilovers eg evo front or suby all round can have camber and castor built in as well. almost every race car runs coilovers (and it seems half of the ones in oz run mca) because of these reasons. smaller spring being less comfortable also doesn't matter in a race car.

also look at whether the springs are linear or variable rate, my 8/6.3 linear springs and stiff dampers were stiffer than most vr4s I've been in (and that's a lot), in fact comfort wise i would have preferred maybe a5kg rear spring, the front didn't seem to be too bad even at 14 but the rear at 6.3 was bad enough and 8 was terrible,, but these were linear rate, with stiff dampers, and Swaybars etc

 

[Tophler]

Seems like its going a bit too technical for me haha but you definitely seem like the man to talk to when it comes to tuning and suspension... or almost anything vr4 related for that matter

 

[Size1]

So are our stock springs parabolic/variable due to the differance in diameters ? Always wondered this.

 

[steveP]

Just because i said i cant see myself adjusting ride height does not mean i dont know why people get coilovers. Most people may like to adjust their ride height how they want and leave it and there may be some who like to tinker around every so often.

Everyone is here for some advice and to help others, to learn more about their cars no need to shoot anyone down for trying to help another member out. Thats why everyone joined the forums wasnt it????
Why reply to a thread if your just gona shoot someone down and say nothing constructive at all SteveP?????

Having a discussion is fine. But it was going wildly off the rails with people make statements that are incorrect.

 

[Snoozy]

Which is fine, some people have more knowledge than others and cars can get pretty complex, best to correct and shed more light to better understand things and everyone else can benefit and learn something new.
Many people put so much dedication into our cars and are always learning something new, then sharing what they have learnt and that helps newbies in a huge way. So lets keep everything friendly here and all get along

 

[TME_Steve]

So are our stock springs parabolic/variable due to the differance in diameters ? Always wondered this.

No the differing thickness compensates for the change in diameter. There are other ways to do this as well by changing the winding spacing etc but the factory springs are pretty much linear rate

 

[Size1]

Thanks Steve. I didn't even notice the difference in diameter of the coils.

 

[Xoxide]

Dare say vast majority, if not all, of the front runners in Time Attack would be running coilovers. MCA S13, Tilton Evo, Nemo etc. etc. I think the stiffness you're referring to is due to a high spring rate (for vehicle weight) and slow valving on the shock absorbers, which is good for control, not so good for absorbing big surface undulations (speed bumps etc). Regardless of whether you're using conventional springs and struts or coilovers, high spring rate and slow bump will be stiff.

THIS X100

Coilovers are exactly as stiff or as bouncy as you want them to be, they don't share one universal characteristic (well, apart from maybe being noisy )

It was night and day switching to coilovers on my Legnum... ride quality has been sacrificed but the improvements to cornering ability and negating of body roll is downright insane... if not a little scary. It's difficult getting used to the high spring / slow valve combo though, having to actually avoid manhole covers when I can.