healerhand

Hey Gang,

Anyone have any info on the advantages and disadvantages of having coilovers vs. the traditional shock&spring setup?

Manaray

Coilovers are height adjustable...

Keith13b

iTrader: (3)

Coilovers are for the track, traditional are for the street. Some people like to have an unecessarly stiff suspension for the race car feel- a bit of rice, but understandable. Coilovers will rattle, bang, and make a lot of noise, and your molars will fall out at about the same time your kidney dislocates.

If you road race in any class, you NEED coilovers. Autocross can get away with just a stiffer standard setup. Coilovers are almost unsafe on the street. They are too stiff, and there are just too many uneven roads to have that stiff of a suspension.

Coilovers are nice because they allow adjustments of ride height, spring rate, spring height, camber, and caster. If the rest of your car is stock, coilovers are just about pointless for the street. But if you have upgraded brakes, adjustable sway bars, strut tower braces, etc, and see some track time, I'd say get the coilovers, they allow nice tuneability of the suspension.

You will completely loose the Lexus feel, and the car will rattle noticably, but as long as you are on a flat surface, the car will handel better. Car will handle worse on uneven pavement too.

Manaray

Not necessarily true. Depending on who you ask, systems like the Tein CS and Tein FLEX are either "softer than stock" or a little bit stiffer than stock....not all coilover systems are bone jarring suspension components.

And I don't feel that they're "pointless" for street use...they no more "pointless" then STB's, LCB, Sways, etc...

I think they're useful because they're designed to be run low so you're not overpressurizing the shocks (like you do with just a "spring" drop on stock shocks) and the height adjustability is great because you can choose how low you want to go. You're not stuck with some manufacturer's set lowering rate...

DriftGirl

iTrader: (6)

in this order:

-full damper system (looks / feel / function)
-traditional shock&spring (looks / feel )
-coil-overs ( for looks)

London Bill

My car arrived with Bilsteins fitted (coilovers), it handles well, steers poor and rides like a brick, if I cant find more forgiving springs I will change to standard struts and modified springs.

Manaray

Wanna sell your Bilsteins?

I don't know what the spring/dampening rate is for your Bilstein's, but maybe you just have stiff coilovers? Bad tires can give you a bad ride also...I just swapped out the original tires on my SC with fresh set and the ride quality is SO SO different!

Hey Bill, can you send me a decent size photo (like 800x600 or more) of your stereo setup (the head unit...) I want to see how it looks with 1 DIN and storage box (I saw the picture on your website but it's really small)...thanks!

You can email me at gs430@mac.com

carnal_c30

It depends on what exactly you get

first of all most people see 'coilovers' as the crap you by from Ground Control and slam your Civic with
GCs are in fact not true coilovers, all the do is reduce suspension travel like lowering springs and offer adjustablilty- the trade off? stiif ride, tendency to bottom out and all the clunks rattles and bangs that everyone hears about.

true Coilovers are amazing and are suitable for use on both the street and the track. My car has GCs (yea I know haha) and my friends car has true coilovers from JIC. his car rides smoother, doesnt bottom out, AND offers the same handling and stiffness as mine+ they dont mnake a single sound they are top notch coilovers.

ghetto 'coilovers' along with springs leave the stock suspension partially compressed all the time, resulting in reduced travel, shorter suspension life, and a less than decent ride.

Coilovers include specifically designed components for the suspension that are designed form the start for a lowered car. the also offer a huge range of adjustability for camber, damping, caster. and height.

true coilovers from JIC or Tein or other reputable companies are like a night and day difference from cheap 'coilovers' and springs

Manaray

Carnal, I think most people here imagine REAL coilovers when they think of "coilovers"...the ones you described only exist in the ricer Honda market...

No one even makes one for Lexus applications...thank God...that's the last thing the Lexus market needs, is ricer crap from the Honda market...

carnal_c30

well my first run in with coilovers was on my friends Hondas and ish like that... they were wannabes... my experience with true coilovers like JICs have been amazing, amazing quality, amazing handling, amazing adjustability, and amazing looks

when most people have bad experiences with coilovers its the cheap ones or the fake ones like GC

its all good... well if anything my experience with true coilovers is overwhelmingly positive

DriftGirl

iTrader: (6)

GC , dropzone, etc. Make coil-sleeves not coilovers.
I think they just jacked the name over time

So now people refer to coil-sleeves as coil-overs.

~Em

SCV8

Our cars have a coilover design already,and since springs with a larger coil diameter have a tendancy to ride better when compared to a smaller dia. spring of the same rate(different action),they're kind of like going backwards for a street driven car really.The main reason I've seen the smaller coilovers used is for extra tire clearance on ricer cars.
They look pretty slick though.