GATO

iTrader: (1)

here are d2 pics

W. David

John....the car's a 99; as for pics, I want to see some too, but that won't be happening until the snow/salt is off the road, which won't happen til atleast April unfortunately!

Gato, for me to see a pic of coilovers means very little as I hardly know anything about their functions in the first place. I know they are adjustable in terms of height, and I know that Tein offers a wicked setup which allows you to electronically adjust the dampening, which for my money is almost a must have....

But the big question I have for you...and I feel sorta naive for asking this, but what exactly are coilovers? Are they a spring/strut set up all in one, or do I still need an independant strut, or what's the deal??? I just can't seem to figure out this simple concept.

Also, my biggest concern with coilovers is obviously the ride quality. I love how smooth the car is now, and I know as soon as the 18's go on it's going to drop considerably, and I'm just not sure if I would want to experience another such drop by adding coilovers as opposed to a nice spring/strut setup. I've heard nothing but good things about the Toiko struts, and spriongs, well my options are pretty much endless. I really don't know what to be doing here. I would just hate the buy all that stuff, and find myself in the same situation as you did....being unhappy with the ride height. It obviously makes sense to do it right the first time around, but what's "right" for me ultimately comes down to ride quality over the appearance. personally I could take a slight gap up front if the car will ride better...........and from what I've read, coilovers don't exactly give you a smooth ride; am I right?

Lexusfreak

I like option # 3 personally David

What part of Canada are your from??

GATO

iTrader: (1)

W. David, I feel you on that, I too was a bit naive on how it all worked...dont get me wrong, I'm no expert.........First of all don't be fooled by some coilovers out there that are just sleeves and require you to use your OEM strut. ( I've heard these lack in ride quality) from what I understand these are pretty cheezy.
You want to go with a full true coilover conversion, where it's all inclusive ( for instance, D2, JIC, Tein, K-sport) these would be truly the ultimate in suspension upgrade
as you know I have been through hell from springs to airstruts ...I say do it right the first time. from what I understand the D2 offers 110 mm in drop, wich I believe equates to about 3.7 inches more than enough for our cars.
The true coilovers are going to offer many great things for instance:
adjustable dampening; wich allows you to tune your ride to your specification.
upper pillow ball mounts; keeps upper springs and shock absorber close to a stock feel.
also, camber angle is adjustable.
monotube high pressure dampening; still trying to figure this one out
adjustable height lowering perch; wich in essence allows you to set the height desired
hope this helps. Oh and by the way, when those 18s go on the ride is NOt going to drop considerably. if anything it will stay the same heigh. assuming you go with a 40 series tire, the gap will just look uglier

juan01

gato is right, go with the coilovers if you plan on any suspension mods.

I am sort of regretting at this point that I got springs and shocks, because for not much more I could have gotten some good coilovers. I paid around $400 for Tokico shocks and $300 for Intrax springs (that's $700 all together with shipping already included). I really hate the wheel gap in the front that I'm left with, but there's not much I can do, other than cutting the front spring. But once I do that, there's no turning back. oh well...

W. David

Thaanks for the help and Advice Gato (& Juan).....stil got some time to think about and ideally research this stuff, but I'll surely have more questions come spring.

johnnyt

I would agree with el gato and juan and get the whole coilover set up. Ride quality on 18's and a intrax drop isn't bad at all. Actually mine rides better on the highway than it did stock.