Any GT86 owners from Belgium?

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by Guillaume

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9836
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12422
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8678
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9837
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9686

Great! Thanks man

Grtz

[elBarto]

Originally Posted by Yrr

Most of the time I refill my gastank at BP and only use RON98.
But last week I had to stop at some local gasstation and filled it up with "Super plus" and unfortunately i'm hearing crickets under the hood the last three days.
Maybe it's caused by the combination of bad fuel and the "hot" weather the past days in the Netherlands?

I hope they will be gone after after the next refill

Still counts as "nobody in Belgium has crickets"

[JoeHK]

Anybody of you guys have experience with ST Suspensions?
I'm debating wether to get their ST X or ST XTA coilovers... They're basically KW V1 (X) and KW V2 with adjustable top mounts / camber plates (XTA).
I'm looking for a +/- 4cm drop (function>form) but with our bad roads i don't really know which to get... scared that V1 is going to be risky since i can't adjust dampening/rebound...
It's not for right now anyway, but wanted to see & get your opinions

Grtz

[elBarto]

My car is lowered with KW Var3.



In the front I don't have any thread left, at the back I'm somewhat at the middle.
Setup is a tad stiffer than stock.

I think that the V1's going to be a little bit higher and the stiffness is going to be around the same as stock.
You could also lower with stock suspension.
I saw a topic here somewhere from some dude that used "lowering knuckles" (or something like that).

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by elBarto

My car is lowered with KW Var3.

That looks good!
Although KW V3 are quite a lot over my budget i still would like a coilover system, i'm not gonna mess around with the stock suspension... First of all i don't have much knowledge and/or experience with lowered cars & second: it still has to legal for our roads, and not much is legal here sadly

Think i should go with the STA XTA's then! for their "tweakability"
I'm still young so if i have to give in a little comfort i don't mind as long as my stuff in the car isn't hitting the roof on a bumpy road then i'm all good :p

Thx for the reply!

Grtz

[elBarto]

Originally Posted by JoeHK

That looks good!
Although KW V3 are quite a lot over my budget i still would like a coilover system, i'm not gonna mess around with the stock suspension... First of all i don't have much knowledge and/or experience with lowered cars & second: it still has to legal for our roads, and not much is legal here sadly

My advice is: don't cheap out on suspension-parts, save up for a decent coil-over system, you will enjoy the ride more. Springs could be okay but you don't have any adjust-ability, they also tend to wear out the stock shocks faster. And they never seem to go low enough. You will say "if only they went 1cm lower, then it would be perfect"

On my old car (Opel Astra GTC '07) I had a Vmaxx coil-over. Price-quality wise just perfect, but very stiff suspension (driving on 18" wheels and completely bottomed it out wasn't helping either ) and after 4 years one of the shocks just lost all of his oil.

I'm not implying that you have to buy KW's, just saying to stay away from the cheap chinese crap.

Theoriticly all suspension-mods are illegal in Belgium. But thank god it's Belgium because there are loopholes in the law
Just make sure you are high and dry and with a good allignemt when you go for a lowering-inspection (keuring voor verlaagd voertuig / keuring voor wagens na ongeval). you need to be above 11cm officially but above 9.3cm is also okay. But I Recommend to be as high as possible otherwise they will scrape your vehicle.

Think i should go with the STA XTA's then! for their "tweakability"
I'm still young so if i have to give in a little comfort i don't mind as long as my stuff in the car isn't hitting the roof on a bumpy road then i'm all good :p

Thx for the reply!

Grtz

I find This thread about them.
They appear to be comparable to the KW V2's with camberplates.
The big difference between the ST's and the KW's is that the ST is zinc coated where the KW is inox. Meaning that the ST's are prone to rust easilier.
That's also the reason why they are cheaper.

I think they are comparable to stock setup. The biggest change in a 'harder' ride is going to be when you change from 17" to a 18" wheel.

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by elBarto

My advice is: don't cheap out on suspension-parts, save up for a decent coil-over system, you will enjoy the ride more...

Completely agree, but since ST is practically = KW i'm not exactly cheaping out, i'm just not gonna (and just can't) put down over 2000€ on a coilover system, so i'm probably just going to go with ST XTA's They seem like perfect entry-level coilovers!
My car is mostly a daily drive, with some yanking once in a while and the roads i take aren't the best so price-quality for me the ST's are great! As for the zinc-coating part, they might be more prone to rust, but i don't really count on switching height of the car often (i prefer just 1 perfectly adjusted height) and it'll be function over form Also i will probably be able to put my car in the garage by late this year, so not to much rain or snow or cold will be seen
For the legal inspection (keuring en al dat gedoente) there shouldn't be any problems either since i'm getting the install done by KEAN or RW&S probably who'll be able to give me all necessary documents

Thanks for the complete answer btw! Was really useful!

Grtz
Joe

[elBarto]

Originally Posted by JoeHK

Completely agree, but since ST is practically = KW i'm not exactly cheaping out

Yes, I know. I put it there as a general advice for anyone.

My old Vmaxx coil-over was also zinc-coated and I never cleaned them. Every winter I raised the car (otherwise I was shoveling snow with the nose) and "cleaned" them with WD40, in the spring I lowered the car back and they were sprayed again with WD40. That was the only "cleaning" I did.

So spray them with WD40 every 3 months or so and you should be okay for DD in every weathercondition.

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by elBarto

So spray them with WD40 every 3 months or so and you should be okay for DD in every weathercondition.

Awesome! I'll be sure to do that routine WD40 respray once i get them!
Thanks for the advice! This made me less worried abot the quality of zinc coated coils!

Grtz

[remme]

JoeHK,
if you're on a limited budget (most of us are I guess), and your main intention is lowering the car, perhaps you can consider some decent lowering springs, and combine it with a tower strut at the front. You'd spend something like 450-ish € on parts then. Basically, the stock dampers are Showa's, and I can't say I find them really bad. I'm on full stock suspension as it's already quite low with the aero kit I have, but combined with (reinforced side) 18" 35's the ride is not exacly 'soft'. As ElBarto said, a lot changes when you change the tyres and rims.
If you're no planning regular track use, fully adjustable shocks are perhaps a bit overkill when you actually only want lowering. On top of that, it does require a bit of 'feel' to properly set them up (of course you can find settings for them on an 86 forum, but efficient track setup isn't always the same as 'fun' and nice for daily use).
When you want a performance upgrade, cheapest and best value for money you'll get it from the tyres. Increases cornering speed massively.

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by remme

JoeHK,
if you're on a limited budget (most of us are I guess)...
When you want a performance upgrade, cheapest and best value for money you'll get it from the tyres. Increases cornering speed massively.

Hey man! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, i don't really have "feel" for adjusting my own suspension, i'm still pretty new to the performance sports car scenery!
But you might be right that fully adjustable coils are a bit overkill for me...
I know if i want to go for eibach sportlines it'll be around 450€ and if i go for the basic ST coilover (X --> KW V1) it'll be around 730€, i prefer going with the coils then just so when i upgrade my wheels & tires to 18 i can adjust the ride height to make sure for no rub and such, and so i can set it up exactly to a functional ride height for my daily driving (i guess that's not a bad option, and for the 300€, i don't mind saving up a little longer, i just got some work anyways so i can start saving from now haha!)

Btw: your car looks real good man!
Thanks for the input!

Grtz

[remme]

Hey JoeHK,
Unless you go for something extreme in 18", they won't rub.
I have 18x8 rims (vs std 17x7) with an ET of 45mm (vs std 48) and 225/35's on it, no rubbing and pretty 'grippy' and firm. Ride height remains as stock, balance remains unchanged and the wheel wells are symetrically filled. They do cost me well over 1-1.5L of Euro98 per 100km but as L'Oreal says ... they're worth it !

[projectXTR]

Originally Posted by remme

Hey JoeHK,
Unless you go for something extreme in 18", they won't rub.
I have 18x8 rims (vs std 17x7) with an ET of 45mm (vs std 48) and 225/35's on it, no rubbing and pretty 'grippy' and firm. Ride height remains as stock, balance remains unchanged and the wheel wells are symetrically filled. They do cost me well over 1-1.5L of Euro98 per 100km but as L'Oreal says ... they're worth it !

Fuck I underestimated the impact it would have on gas mileage! What kind of tires are you running? Maybe the compound is stickier compared to others resulting in more rolling resistance?

[JoeHK]

Originally Posted by remme

Hey JoeHK,
Unless you go for something extreme in 18", they won't rub.
I have 18x8 rims (vs std 17x7) with an ET of 45mm (vs std 48) and 225/35's on it, no rubbing and pretty 'grippy' and firm. Ride height remains as stock, balance remains unchanged and the wheel wells are symetrically filled. They do cost me well over 1-1.5L of Euro98 per 100km but as L'Oreal says ... they're worth it !

I do not fear
My plan is actually to go for 18x8,75 (ET 35 or 38, not sure) XXR 530's!
I can live with the extra 1-1,5L since i don't do many long distances! So no problem there!
Tires will probably be 235/40/18!
It's not for right now tho, wheels will probably be for AFTER winter, still got some rubber on these stockies to burn

Thanks for the advise dude!

Grtz