Anyone tried a coilover sleeve conversion kit?
- Thread starter saitrix
- Start date
Handles and feels like a go cart for a few days until your stock shocks give up the ghost due to excessive hammering from the much stiffer coil over springs then its all down hill from there. Better off either getting some Eibach progressive springs or one of the off the shelf Spax kits. Coil overs of any description are way too much for road use IMHO anyway. Always went down the Koni adjustable's and Eibach spring route myself and some Power-flex bushes if you can stretch that far. Will give you the most from a new suspension set-up.
Sorry I should have explained more, you don't need to worry about the shocks as I will be using Bilstein monoshocks which I will pair with 300lbs front springs and 220lbs rear springs. The valving in the shock can cope with that perfectly fine, they can take up to 450lbs maximum even.
The reason for looking at these sleeve kits is so I can get my desired ride height. Really I want to be as close to the 'ideal' ride height on the mx5, which is when the bottom arms are parallel to the ground. Though you sometimes get grounding issues on speed bumps, if so it would be handy for me to be able to raise the car up a tiny bit so no grounding occurs. Otherwise I would just get some custom springs made up.
The reason for looking at these sleeve kits is so I can get my desired ride height. Really I want to be as close to the 'ideal' ride height on the mx5, which is when the bottom arms are parallel to the ground. Though you sometimes get grounding issues on speed bumps, if so it would be handy for me to be able to raise the car up a tiny bit so no grounding occurs. Otherwise I would just get some custom springs made up.
Still quite harsh mate for anything other than track days, have tried many types in the past and always went back to progressive springs in the end unless you spend silly amounts on a decent coil over set-up such as Tein etc
Just don't get the cheap ones from the bay - They are as harsh as Joe brand in a bikini
Just don't get the cheap ones from the bay - They are as harsh as Joe brand in a bikini
Soldato
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A lot of people do this on 106 suspension. Seems like the best setup pretty much, as you can build it to your own exact spec. They also use helper springs, so its not quite as harsh as with one spring.
I'm still intending to do this to my spare set of Koni adjustables and putting them on the track car, seems a more sensible option than buying coilovers specifically as the only other options are either very expensive or rubbish. No idea how I'm going to work out what spring rates to go for yet, might be a bit of trial and error on that front.
Convert *to* a coilover? The MX-5 suspension is all coilover
i think they mean height adjustable coilover
Okay well my 15 years of building rally/race cars amounts to not much then mate, I am sure others will be along shortly to help you out.
Best of luck
Well I would like you to explain how it would be harsher using the height adjustable kit than using springs of the same spring rate? Please ignore the actual rates I specified as I already know they work well for my suspension setup, I just cannot see how add the sleeve would make the ride harsher as both use linear springs.
There is a reason why I cannot use progressive springs is because of the valving for my shocks. The softer length of the spring would be permenantly compressed when on rougher road due to the low compression damping and the high rebound damping. So in other words it would just effectively lower my ride height when on rougher road, which is exactly what I don't want.
But I would appreciate it if you can explain why I am wrong.
Thomas. PLease.,
Ever heard of anything fail on them?
kaiowas,
Yep that is my idea, I know my shocks are really good shocks, the only thing is they are not adjustable in anyway.
Howard,
Whoops, I meant height adjustable.
Sorry but this is complete rubbish. If the ride is too harsh then you are using the wrong spring rates, and the whole point of a standard size "coil over" is that a huge range of spring rates and lengths are available, as well as easy adjustment for corner weighting etc.
The fact that cheap and nasty coil over kits tend to come with unsuitable springs does not mean the coil overs have to give a harsh ride.
Best of luck
As Above mate, fit them and see is all I am going to say now.
Seems everyone is an expert and those that try to help somehow need to 'Prove' what it is they are saying. I entered this thread trying to help but like pretty much every other thread in this section asking for advice the 'True' experts know **** all anyway.
So Crack On Mate, See for yourself.
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No explaination then?
Dogbreath,
Only thing I am unsure on is how do you exactly fit the sleeve to the shock? It isn't one you have to weld in place, does it just use the standard mounting point for the spring?
As Above mate, fit them and see is all I am going to say now.
Seems everyone is an expert and those that try to help somehow need to 'Prove' what it is they are saying. I entered this thread trying to help but like pretty much every other thread in this section asking for advice the 'True' experts know **** all anyway.
So Crack On Mate, See for yourself.
No, I am just looking at it from a technical point of view. I cannot see how a threaded sleeve can make the ride worse when you are using the same spring rate as a standard spring setup. So that is why I wanted reasoning how it could possibly effect the ride, apart from using cheap springs.
The way I always found it that when you compress a spring to lower the car (which essentially is what you're doing) then the spring becomes stiffer, you're also changing the 'settle' point of your old dampers (The range they have worked with in since you have been using them) this combination can give a harsher ride. If you want to go down the coil-over route then make sure you get a good set of coil-over dampers that also come with the adjustable platforms, this way the shock will be internally valved and matched to the varying spring rates you will find when lowering/raising our car on the sleeve platform. Get a proper set matched for your car then fine tune them on the spring platforms. This way I can see minimal problems with ride etc. This was and is my only point. if you Google 'coil-over' then you'll see the mixed results people have, most of which are not good unless you spend proper money on a set.
Errrr. No.
The whole point is that these kits give you an adjustable platform, adjusting the height with spring preload is clearly ridiculous.
Anyway, the only way I can see the ride being altered is because the common ground-control type systems do use a dramatically shorter spring to accommodate the setup, so I guess it might bottom out easier.
The whole point is that these kits give you an adjustable platform, adjusting the height with spring preload is clearly ridiculous.
Anyway, the only way I can see the ride being altered is because the common ground-control type systems do use a dramatically shorter spring to accommodate the setup, so I guess it might bottom out easier.