Coil Over City

[resevil83]

I am getting new rims... Now I need a drop. I want to be able to adjust the height of the car for the winter so I think I should get coilovers. What companies make coilovers for our car? Can someone tell me the better brands? I know billstein makes some I think. I want nice ride quality. Close to stock would be nice... If it was smoother I won't complain.

[mfuller]

If you want a nice ride quality, forget about coilovers. I'm not kidding.

[PACE]

Unless you want to spend $2000 just get some H&R's I have had eibachs too and I think the H&R's are not only lower...but a softer ride as well.....However the eibach's were tighter and may have handeled a bit better.

[n43210]

I thought coil overs were just show showroom use only

[SpyhunteR]

sorry.. but BUZZZ WRONG!!!!

A proper coil over setup can help in many ways which I believe mfuller can elaborate on.

[resevil83]

hrrmm ok.. so I can sacrafice ride quality... but what would be the best company anyways? I've ridden in a coilover car and its bumpy as hell... ok whatever... Is my handling going to be good? As good as the h&r or eibachs? What's the benefits of coilovers besides being able to adjust the ride height.

Most importantly I want my car to be lowered about the level of H&R's maybe a bit less like a quarter of an inch... I want the car to handle very well... and it'd be awesome if I could raise it for the winter... Suggestions? Money is not much of an issue.

[PACE]

If money is no issue Bilstein coilovers are for you !!!! Thats what I'd get!

[mfuller]

Originally posted by resevil83
hrrmm ok.. so I can sacrafice ride quality... but what would be the best company anyways? I've ridden in a coilover car and its bumpy as hell... ok whatever... Is my handling going to be good? As good as the h&r or eibachs? What's the benefits of coilovers besides being able to adjust the ride height.

Most importantly I want my car to be lowered about the level of H&R's maybe a bit less like a quarter of an inch... I want the car to handle very well... and it'd be awesome if I could raise it for the winter... Suggestions? Money is not much of an issue.
Well, no-one really makes coil-overs for our cars, really your only option is to have something custom-made (even the Bilstein coilovers from Mantapart are custom).
Anyway, if you set up the car/suspension right, the handling is outstanding. Going from coilovers to a KYB/Intrax setup on my car was nothing short of shocking (pardon the pun)....the car's handling was drastically different. I do miss the handling....a lot. But the coilovers beat me up so much that I didn't look forward to driving my car on a daily basis (Oh, the horror!).
Benefits to coilovers? Tunability. You can usually adjust damping rates, you can fine tune corner weights for better balance, the springs/hardware are typically smaller and therefore weigh less, promoting better handling, you can choose just about any spring rate you want (you want a 1000# CART spring? No problem!)......those are the big advantages.
Now, you should be aware that most coilover setups are not meant for street cars. They are stiff and noisy - they creak, clunk, squeak and groan on a regular basis. They also put a bunch more stress on the car's unibody, so you have to worry about fatigue failure particularly in the strut towers (although this isn't a big issue unless you use uber-stiff springs.

[2002GT]

www.alero-performance.com sells coilovers for our car for $250...

[AMRAAM4]

K, resevil...do you listen to what people suggest or are you the type who gets something fixed in their mind and just does it anyway. It took you awhile to catch on in the wheel thread as well.

Coilovers aren't a suspension you are gonna want to run around with on your daily driver. Listen to MFuller, I spoke with him about my RX7 plus read up a lot on deciding what to go with on my other ride. Coilovers are BRUTAL for street driving. Not only on your ass, but your other suspension parts. A shock/lowering spring combo is the way to go on a GA. Not to mention I don't think you are gonna want to shell out the dough for the custom setup when you don't even autoX.

[sound_xtreme]

i have coilovers on my daily driver and have had them for quite some time now. Now that I have KYB's to help with the damping some the ride improved drastically. I wouldn't recommend you use a stock strut anymore unless you have a special spring setup. and my buddies sunfire with coilovers rides even better than mine and he is using his stock struts! so a good NON RACE setup should ride ok. I think mfuller was kind of going for handling and everything.

[Silver02EX]

Ok coming from a person who HAVE coil over for my car right now. I can say that my Skunk2 on my Civic ride just as good as the H&R's on my GA. It's a factor how low you have the coil over set up

resevil83-- How many cars have you ridden in with coil over? 1? and what kind was it? the brand and the height of the coil overs has a lot to do with it... You can't say all coil over are bad becaue of a bad experience. And no you do not sacrafice ride quality, because like I said.. My skunk2 is just as good as the H&R and when I have it set to stock height it rides just like stock.

[resevil83]

ok well I rode in a 95 camaro with hadgekins coilovers? Well the car rides really bumpy, but I don't care that much. I just want to be dropped like I said to about where the h&r's are. I would really like some kind of special setup or really nice springs so the roads ride smooth. If they don't that's ok. I just want my car to look good... be adjustable and handle well. Are there any struts that I can put on my car that are infinite times better than the mantapart sensa treks or the kyb's?

[blckgagt]

Im probably planning on getting the custom bilstein coilovers. Right now I have eibachs, but they don't lower it quite enough, i would get h&r's, but i'd like to be able to adjust the height from daily usage to whatever. I plan on getting the *** kit, so im not really sure if i have a lot of room to play with if i get the coilovers.

[speedtrialbrian]

Originally posted by Silver02EX
Ok coming from a person who HAVE coil over for my car right now. I can say that my Skunk2 on my Civic ride just as good as the H&R's on my GA. It's a factor how low you have the coil over set up

resevil83-- How many cars have you ridden in with coil over? 1? and what kind was it? the brand and the height of the coil overs has a lot to do with it... You can't say all coil over are bad becaue of a bad experience. And no you do not sacrafice ride quality, because like I said.. My skunk2 is just as good as the H&R and when I have it set to stock height it rides just like stock.


Keep in mind that Honda's have (only in the back on some) double wishbone suspension set-ups which give the suspension a lot more leverage against the spring. This allows you to run higher spring rates without the harshness.

On cars that have struts, a softer spring is required. You can run springs as soft as stock on coil-overs, or as Matt mentioned, you can run all out race springs.

Unless you are planning on dropping the car more than 1.75" then don't bother with the coil-overs. The best set-up I have experienced on these cars thus far for the street are H & R's with custom Koni's or the KYB's with Intrax springs.

Ultimately, you should do what you want. But at least consider the experiences that others here have to offer.

Brian.

[3rdTimesAcharm]

i have intrax and kybs on my aleros....... look awsome and rides well. my 18's are what is killin the ride now.

[resevil83]

how exactly would I go about in getting custom konis?

[Aleromi]

^^ ask matt fuller .... And have about 1200 $$ to spend...

[Aleromi]

Originally posted by 2002GT
www.alero-performance.com sells coilovers for our car for $250...

Um that links doesnt work....wtf

[speedtrialbrian]

Koni North America will custom fit adjustable inserts into the OEM housings. Go to www.koni-na.com for contact information. It is expensive, but you get double adjustable dampers with tons of adjustability.

Brian.

[resevil83]

can you explain a bit into detail about what you mean with this adjustability? Ride heights/spring rates/ etc?

[mfuller]

You can adjust the compression and rebound damping of the strut....it changes the valving to make the strut compress or rebound slower......thus changing ride stiffness (somewhat), but ride quality is not what adjustable damping is meant for - springs do that (mostly).

[resevil83]

so would you reccomend getting koni struts with h&R springs?