Who's running Coilovers?

pugheaven said:
Coilovers on, will take some piccies tomorrow... dropped a couple inchs or so (not sure yet, not measured myself lol), maybe more, then setup for road with not as much camber as others would possibly have, will see how this suites.

However, initial drive home... wow, massive difference, feels tighter and deffo no where near as much lean around corners... will report back later this weekend when I've thrashed her a little... however, first impressions, very sweet.

Will also monitor the tyre wear as well over the next couple of thousand... make sure everything is cool. Basically the the hardness is right in the middle for now, think it's number 8 on front and rears, however don't want it hard on the front, I want a little lean on the brakes... might only harden the rear.

Anyhow, will see how it goes...
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Sounds like an odd strategy. My advice is don't have any preconceptions, try as many settings as you can, you might be surprised by what works. Almost certainly, soft front and stiff rear will result in a car that wants to swap ends all the time.
 
I've had cusco and gaz coilovers on my MX5. With the cuscos on it was like driving a plank of wood. Little to no damping due to them being rock hard with no adjustment options.

The gazes were much better thanks to being adjustable, and cope with the bumps much better.

Saying that, with the roads in their current constant state of deterioration, I'm now tired of crashing over potholes rather than riding over them.

Coilovers, brilliant as long as you aren't doing daily miles on them like I have been doing.
 
Slinky1989 said:
I've had cusco and gaz coilovers on my MX5. With the cuscos on it was like driving a plank of wood. Little to no damping due to them being rock hard with no adjustment options.

The gazes were much better thanks to being adjustable, and cope with the bumps much better.

Saying that, with the roads in their current constant state of deterioration, I'm now tired of crashing over potholes rather than riding over them.

Coilovers, brilliant as long as you aren't doing daily miles on them like I have been doing.
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If it rides like a bag of nails then either you have rubbish damping or springs too stiff for your usage. I daily mine and it's perfectly fine, that's sitting on a bucket seat with almost no base cushioning too.
 
Oh don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fine as long as the roads are of an ok standard (as in it handles normal bumps and undulations in the road perfectly well).

But it seems that every single road I travel down has a massive unavoidable pot hole in it that you either have to slow to a crawl to go over if you spot it, and if you don't then it's BANG "oooouch! ><".

I guess I'm just getting sick with the state of the roads more than anything and having to deal with it almost everywhere is getting draining on coilies.

I drove my mums golf plus around today on a run to the dump. And whilst it was like driving a boat compared to the MX5, it was so so nice to just not have to worry about craters in the road and speed bumps. The fact I didn't have to worry was over riding the joy I get from the once or twice a month where I can stretch the 5's legs out and really drive it, and in this situation, I love the coilovers.

I dunno, I guess I'm just getting a bit down about it (reading a pistonheads thread about peoples alloys being destroyed by potholes yesterday didn't help!).
 
I've got the BC coilovers on my car. They've been on for nearly 4 years now and are shot.
I've done about 20,000 miles in that time and if I could get a decent set of standard shocks then I'd replace them in an instant.
 
I've used various different brands over the years including D2 and AVO. I currently use Nitron dampers with Eibach springs and you certainly get what you pay for in terms of a quality product. But the cheaper brands will do an okay job for most people, and you won't really know what the difference is until you've tried a few different options. Ignorance is usually bliss!
 
Coil overs really are no different to normal suspension. They just offer more adjustment for the spring platform. Sometimes the coil overs even cause issues by having less spring travel

Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers go completely OTT on the spring rates as they want that race car feel, but thia is completely unsuitbale on a road car and often makes it handle worse (thats ignoring the ruined suspension dynamics from lowereing the car.

I don't really know why this thread is asking for experience of coil overs as if they are a universally fitting part that are the same for each car.

Something like D2s on 14/10 are nothing like Tein monoflex.

My recommendation about konis earlier in the thread were around getting good handling our the box without having to mess with bump and rebound, spring rates, spring perch heights and corner weights.

I really rate the Koni yellows, a well developed product compare to many coil overs I see and on the S2000 owners comparisons to many 'branded' coil overs are favourable. Plus on a bumpy road at speed it's very compliant.
 
Youre right about the insane spring rates, but IME even if you go for a posh brand, you wont necessarily get the damping and control youd expect for the price.

I had a set of Eibach Prosport coilovers on my Golf, with their special ERS springs (effectively progressive rate) but the front had a serious lack of rebound damping and was capable of firing the car in the air after certain compressions. Those kits cost almost £1000
 
bitslice said:
I know nothing about coil overs, but this damper inside a spring arrangement looks just like every car on the road, or do some have them separately mounted?
What obvious bit of engineering am I missing here?
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Your not missing anything, the confusing thing here is people are talking about adjustable coilovers rather than "coilovers" which are indeed what most cars run so

normal cars have coilovers

people are talking about adjustable coilovers!!!!
 
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