Another "Which Coils to get?" thread
 

As the title suggests, I'd like to add my own thread to all the others, so ill get right to it:

Price range: up to 4k

Reason for wanting coils:Titan 7 T-S5 18x9.5 wheels on 265/35. kinda need coils for this setup.

intended use: Daily driving predominantly, lots of spirited driving through yarnel, PCH, plus track days up to 5 times in a year

Desired Camber: only as much as is needed to make the wheels fit without rubbing on full lock, and so that the wheel is flush with the wheel well when looking straight down (i.e. i dont want the wheels poking out). Granted, I really dont know much about this subject, nor how much i need. But I am going more for performance than looks in this area, so whatever would suit the build from a performance standpoint (first sentence notwithstanding).

Desired comfort: To preface, this bullet point isnt a priority. Close to stock for the PP 2017, but i wouldnt mind going a bit harder than stock.

Drop height: around 1.5" .. I dont want to fully slam it, but I am going for this type of look regarding drop height:

http://i.imgur.com/OzXDkl5.jpg

Shout out to spicyricecake for his above build. He said its a 1.7" drop.

Now, prior to the communities feedback, KW V3 coilovers seem to be the ones everyone veers towards, and the ones im considering. I've also heard great things about RCE ohlins.

With that said, what coils do you guys suggest?


Another question i would have is, do i need anything else along with coils for this specific setup? rubbing is an issue, so is fender rolling needed? or anything else that i might be missing?

Cheers :cheers:

What tires are you planning on running?

People typically opt to go with aftermarket lcas after coils to tame the rear camber.

Tire choice is very important.

Do you have other suspension mods?

- andrew

265s are huge. What tires do you have now? I am running 245/35/18; A perfect size IMO.


I would suggest, as @tyler_win_photo has already, getting LCA to help with the wheels and tires you have chosen.


After doing some research and reading what others have used; I ordered a few other parts to "dial in" my coils. LCA, Adj. trailing arms, adj. toe arms, adj. sway bar end links front & rear, and a bumpsteer kit.




If I had that kind of budget, I would consider custom Olhins or KW3's. I just read this thread...


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130755






Good Luck!

If you get 265 tires, you'll rub on the rear near the bumper. I have 18X9.5 +38 with 255 MPS4 with -2 in the rear and I slightly rub when I am turning into a driveway or anything like that. To fix this, you will need to sand part of the bumper. I highly recommend rear LCAs because the lower you drop, the more negative camber you will get in the rear.

For the front, any coilovers with camber plates should be fine.

Also -- 4k for coilovers is a huge budget -- You can buy the Tein Super Racing Coilovers and still have money left over. 10K/12K springs are really stiff FYI.

http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/tein...l#.W9CTGHtKhhE

MCS or wait for the 949Racing Xidas?

JRZ RS1 would be my vote with your budget, for a car that is primarily daily driven.

https://www.counterspacegarage.com/jrz-rs1-brz-frs

PM me for more details.

to respond to everyone, my car currently is bare-bone stock (suspension wise). I have the performance package 2017 BRZ. Lookie:

https://i.imgur.com/0Wh0ALe.jpg

Now regarding tires, i didn't fully research what exact tire to get, but prior to the 2017 BRZ, i was going to go with the continental extreme contact DW tires, but i know continental discontinued that specific one, and now has a one up from that. I just don't remember the name

If dropping down to 245s/35s prevents any rubbing without having to buy LCAs, i may opt for that route.

So to reiterate, if i went with 245/35, would that still require LCAs in the rear? or could i get away without those with that tire size? Side-note, any specific tire recommendations are welcome for our car. I live in phoenix, so no need for winter tires. summer performance all year round. :)

I am really glad i asked the question, because suspension has never been my forte, and reading all your responses made me happy, ha. Thank you all for your feedback.

You could probably run a 255/35 and not rub... depending on the offset of your wheels. The point of LCAs is to correct camber, not necessarily to prevent rub.

What's your rear camber now? Mine was -1.2/-1.7 stock. I think a 245 will fit, depending on wheel offset.

I went with RacerX upper real control arms and 255's on 17x9 +40 clear easily at -2.2 camber.

Most 200 treadwear tires (except RE-71R) will be good for spirited driving/occasional track day -- Hankook RS4, Direzza ZIII, Azenis RT615K+, etc.

Honestly I dont know what my camber is on this car as I havent needed to take it into a shop at all yet. With that said others have reported close to your #'s on the 2017 as well, so i wouldnt be surprised if its not far off.

genuinely curious, if you haven't taken it into a shop how do you know that it's good?

sorry, let me rephrase. I have taken it to subaru for a checkup when i initially bought the car. I bought it in Seattle, and drove it down to Arizona, and requested that they take a look. They said it was fine overall. I took their word as i dont feel or see any issues regarding alignment while driving, so i left it at that.



What i meant is i have not asked for a print out of the alignment for the BRZ, so i dont know actual numbers for the toe and camber.

On the budget spectrum, CSG Spec TEIN Flex A would effectively allow you to perform other modifications to improve overall response of the vehicle. JRZ RS1 would be the higher end of the spectrum to provide the high end setup. Let us know some more information on your driving requirements and experience and the setup will be tailored accordingly. :thumbup:

Up to $4k and you give him something that is $4370 before another (potentially) $300+ in taxes... I’m assuming free shipping. Come on now

First priority is making sure you have wheels and tires fit, and choosing the right tire. 18x9.5 wheels and 265s are very large and not ideal for most people. Yes, they can work, but life will be a little easier even with just 9 inch wide wheels and 245s or 255s.

To help choose the right tire....how much track experience do you have? Is your car NA or do you plan to turbo?

- Andrew

c'mon, with a statement like this do you have to ask?

I know, but the 5 desired events a year....trying to figure out what all of this means and level of commitment....

- Andrew

well, the coils are built around the wheel in this instance. Due to the PP, i have limited options on wheels that will fit on the car and look good (...imo, naturally). Since i am going with titan 7's, I am stuck with a 9.5" width.



Now, the tire size is more a point of contention, and after reviewing other peoples builds and statements, i'll just stick with 245 based on others comments and further review.


The car will not be turbo'd, but kept NA.


Track experience is negligible. I go every so often with friends to beat previous times, but it isnt a commitment. I just want to ensure i have a setup that will perform well under harsher conditions and spirited driving including the occasional track run. Safety and long-term durability are the takeaway points that are desired as this car will remain the DD, and road-trip car.

Do you have a better suggestion?

Something tells me the RS1 fits in his stated budget.

Am I able to list the dozens of coilovers that are less than $4k? Of course. Anyone could have; anyone not hustling for a paycheck or impulse buys ;) Considering he mentioned the KW V3, which are half that budget, I'm assuming maxing out his budget isn't his ideal choice.

I'm of the mind, like others, that he would be better off spending some of that $4k on LCA or other supporting suspension components than burning it all on a set of coilovers, or worse, going hundreds over budget unnecessarily.

+1 tein flex or something single adjustable + lca good alignment and good coaches, have fun. Kw v3 can teach you something too I think if you want to spend a bit more, dive on in make mistakes, learn, shred some tires.

I didn't ask for cheaper solutions. I asked for *better* solutions. The RS1 is the best damper that fits in his budget. There are tons of cheaper options.

@Daedex
This is an interesting topic and I am sort of in the same shoes as you. I think my car rides fine stock but I want some wheels that won't fit and I don't want to make it pokey with spacers. Suspension is one area in which it seems like the usual rule of higher $ means better doesn't necessarily apply. It looks like to me there's a cliff where suspension under a certain price point has quality compromises, but once you're past that point, you're starting to trade off decisions in how you want the suspension to perform.

I too have a >$4K budget for suspension but in my research it looks like the higher the $, the more track-oriented the suspension becomes, which I am finding most likely means compromises for daily driving. I think the idea behind adjustable suspension is that you can personalize it to you, but there are only so many toggles you can have on a suspension setup, those most often mentioned being rebound and compression damping. Then there will be some other aspects that are less easy to adjust, like the physical qualities of the spring installed like length and spring rate. All of these things need to work together to provide you a good driving experience.

The only thing I've figured out so far, is that it's important to pick a shop that is willing to help you figure out how you want to change your ride from stock, and to understand to what lengths will they go to help you. i.e, what if you buy something, and it sucks (to you) no matter how you tweak it. Are you SOL? Can you exchange for something else without too much hassle? I think that with a suspension purchase, you're effectively rolling the dice until you have it mounted on your car, with the wheels and tires you will use, and given some time to tweak settings. Sometimes you'll get lucky and you'll be happy out of the box with recommended settings, sometimes it will be hard to describe what you don't like about it, relative to what you previously had as suspension. This is why you want to work with experts that know what they're doing and want you to be happy, and will be willing to spend HOURS with helping you, versus those that are just selling stuff.

Fortunately for us, RCE and CSG seem like they're invested in helping 86/BRZ/FRS drivers, but we as customers too have to do our part to figure out how to qualitatively and quantitatively describe what we want. Both have been mostly responsive to me over email but unfortunately I've yet to buy anything.

I'm personally leaning towards trying the "new" Ohlins R&T with softer spring rates. This is because I have a 2019 86. I don't know if all suspension has been updated to match the 2017+ chassis updates but it seems like the Ohlins is most likely. I also like that it's made of aluminum and that I believe it's the only thing on the market with "DFV" which is patent protected which makes it a bit more unique. I don't know if it's any better than any other valving. I don't believe they licensed the technology to anyone. I have no idea if I'll like it or what it will be like vs stock.

Sure would be nice if there was a way for shops do suspension rentals or something like that.. lol. obviously easier said than done but there probably is a business plan and price point that could make it worth it.

We had a huge meet like 10 years ago with a lot of volunteers giving rides in their cars. We had almost every suspension set up available covered at the time.

- Andrew

antmit: expert suspension shop workers often also have waste experience of how to ask/find out in layman's terms what change car owner actually want/need (which in reality might be very different of what it seems to customer that he needs/wants :)). Gathering nfo from non tech-savvy customer also is a skill, that needs to be developed :)