steveski

Well said - I have said this B4 but will say it again - if there is one thing I would change on my setup it would be to ditch the Bilstein HD/H&R set up for a real solution like Megans. Because I am averaging about 2" drop by using the lowest perch, I had to fins a way to increase the spring rate to avoid hard bottoming out.

Finally I have a workable solution: I cut the OEM bumpstop to about 1" and then stacked an EVS black poly bump stop. The EVS is a progressive poly foam bump stop which gives approx. 250 PSI at full compression. Now I finally have a winning combination which means no more bottoming out.

Still Megan's are still the way to go as pre-load is set and does not change when ride height does.

1Bentley

By "full tap coils" are you refering to the springs or damper or other part? Please explain how this works.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

a full tap coilover allows independent adjustment of ride height and spring preload. normally this is accomplished by having 2 sets of perches, one to change the spring preload, that you generally want to leave alone, and another to thread the shock body into the lower mount, to adjust the ride height.

a partial/half tap coilover changes ride height BY adjusting spring preload, which greatly compromises ride comfort as you lower the suspension..

BLKonBLK98

full tap refers to a coilover with a fully threaded damper where ride height is adjusted by theading into/out of the lower bracket, therefore retaining full suspension travel and offering independant preload adjustment via the lower spring perch. this is also referred to as "total length adjustable" since ride height is adjusted by shortening/lengthening the overall length of the assembly.

single tap refers to a coilover where ride height is adjusted by moving the lower spring perch up and down up and down on the damper. the downside to this design is that as you lower the car you lose suspension travel.

with your goal being a 1" drop i feel travel is a non issue whether it be a coilover or spring/strut setup. preload is also a non-issue imo since little to none is desired for daily driving.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

uhh, yeah it is....the factory setup has spring preload.....

when you lower preload, there's less inherent stress on the spring, so it wont work to its full potential when the vehicle's weight is on it.

BLKonBLK98

kinda, but not really.

preloading the spring, in regards to ride height, will only reduce the amount of droop. little to no preload is the reference point (spring perch snug to spring) and anything below no preload is still no preload. therefore, when lowering the spring perch you are only eating up suspension travel and are not affecting preload in relationship to the reference point.

BLKonBLK98

the factory set up does have a small amount of preload. see: "little to none"

i'm not sure what you mean by "inherent stress" but no preload will allow the spring to work to it's full potential, whereas preload will do the opposite. preload puts the spring in a bound state which must be overcome for compression to occur. the entire purpose of springs is to compress and rebound.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

from: http://www.ohlins.com/Checkpoint-Ohl...pring-Preload/

same principle apply. the LS and most other double wishbone/macpherson strut cars use preloaded springs.

look at the length of an uncompressed (ie-unassembled) LS spring vs. compressed and tell me there's no preload

theoretically, a spring with no preload wouldnt need spring compressors to install.

BLKonBLK98

i was not aware oem was considered the pinnacle of suspension design. if that's the case then i guess this thread is really unnecessary.

i am not a motorcycle enthusiasts, although i am aware of their use of preload, so i can not speak on it with any certainty. if i was asked to speculate (let's just pretend i was) i would associate it with eliminating fore to aft weight transfer.

the main difference is side to side weight transfer during cornering. with preload it meets resistance which it must overcome before the suspension can begin to work.

shonn

iTrader: (1)

So to get back to the original question, does anyone have experience with the BCR coilovers? Because I'm debating as well on which coils to get. I had megans on my 91 and they felt too stiff for my taste, and I had D2s' on my 98 which I loved. But I like the look of the BC racing ones(kinda look like stance) and am always down to try out new brands and help the little guy. So what do you guys think?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

if the Megan's were too stiff you should have changed the spring rate.
the BCs run just as stiff a "standard" spring rate iirc.