Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Lower priced coilovers that don't suck and have good travel

Since you only want a small drop in ride height, it seems like you would be better off with stiffer (and shorter) springs and adjustable shocks, such as Koni yellows. It would be at least $300 cheaper than coilovers such as KW V1. You could use the $300 for other suspension parts such as camber plates or sway bar.

 

Changing your progressive springs to linear springs while on the same valved shocks will cause some negative handling characteristics. The Koni's and generally any shock first mated to progressive springs, have lots of low-speed rebound built into them and less bump. So they control roll very well while still using soft progressive springs, which is why the are so popular with the stock class Auto-X crowd. As soon as you switch to a linear spring, your going to feel a difference that you might not want...it's not going to ride very well.

You could look at TSW springs mated to Koni Yellows...it would be to your benefit to also get them shock dynoed and valved properly. Dyno results have noted that even if you buy Konis in the same batch, they will be off on all four to a degree.

 

Yah, Konis (yellow or fsd) have the same exact amount of travel as stock (not much). He's looking to increase travel...so those aren't going to help much (especially if you team them with lowering springs).

KW's have a great amount of travel in comparison...though I'm not sure about the answer to your eibach question. I remember someone mentioning that they source their body's from KW, but I don't think they used the same specs.

Keep in mind that KW V1's all the way up are still substantially lower than stock. Even if you set it at it's highest setting, you're gonna get more than the .5" drop you mentioned.

 

I'm not sure. I just know my buddy has his "all the way up" for winter and it's still more than half an inch lower than stock. It's not slammed by any means...I was just giving you a heads up that it's still pretty low.

My guess is that it's the body, but I've never really investigated the springs. The bodies are a bit shorter than stock AND mounted lower than stock. They sit deeper down into the hub than stock with more of the body protruding down under the hub. This allows them to have good travel when lowered, but it also leaves you kinda low at the highest setting.

 

Have you seen this thread?
http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/suspension/1074-custom-kws-whatevah-you-want.html#post6262

 

That seems mostly about valving and spring rates

Seems to me the bodies of most struts/coil overs could be a bit longer at the bottom to gain some stroke, but no one has done this. (REally, with stock ride heigth, one could even INCREASE travel.....) Ryan made his 1" drop spindles so I know that there is room there.

Anyway, one way to go would be to see what you can buy used, and go with it. Maybe get better quality product at a lower price. Win win?

Matt

 

Like I said, the KW's (and VMaxx's) are both longer on the bottom. Neither of them could be much longer down there or they would contact and eventually rip the CV boots (I know this from experience experimenting with my custom drop struts...oops). Ryan's drop spindle was only about an eighth inch or so more and I'd imagine that's about as close as you can get to the cv boots.

 

FWIW, I run the equivalent of these coilovers on my RX7. Off the shelf Konis modified by Ground Control for an adjustable lower spring perch, combined with Eibach linear race springs and upper strut mounts.

Out Motoring MINI Cooper Coilover Suspension

I've had many years of great service from these with the ability to swap springs easily and inexpensively. It retains stock suspension travel and strut body lengths so it might not be exactly what you want but its a reliable option that has future possibilities nonetheless. After years of faithful service, I recently had the Konis rebuilt and revalved to my spring rates by Tri Point Engineering aka Pro Parts.

 

Probably the best way. I've tried 4 sets of springs, 2 sets of coilovers and 3 sets of shocks on my RX7. Its been fun. Kinda...

 

Dialing in a suspension

is a never ending series of black magic tricks and hope!

Matt

 

You may want to look at Outmotoring. Their coilovers use Koni yellows and are built to whatever spring rate you desire by TrueChoice, the guys from the old TrueSports Indy Car team. I ran them on my R53 with good success.

 

They don't have much more travel unfortunately. At least not compared to KW/Vmaxx.