Commuter coils
 

Just rolled 100k and thinking I should buy some coils for my commuter.

Car is HKS supercharged, stiff 350 ft-lb clutch, and several Whiteline bit in the rear. These address the stiffer clutch, a bit.

If it ain't broken , don't fix it [emoji3]

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What kind and what size tires do you run?

What kind of drop are you looking for? Or do you want a drop at all?

At 100k, I'd inspect the condition of your shocks AND some of the rubber bushings on your car.

- Andrew

Shocks are boned at 100K miles. 60-80K is what I expect out of OEM shocks, depending on your local roads.

Just looking for good commuter fare. Maybe back to new OEM struts and swap out some of the RCE yellows for springs. I recall they're a near stock ride about an inch lower. I need to do the research again and resist the racecar urges.

Also looked at the Tein models and especially liked their kit to make adjustments in the car, and the g-meter in the control unit to auto adjust when you start laying into the corners. But I also heard Teins are on the stiff side too.

Reality check, I haven't ridden in any coiled 86 to comment. Full disclosure and all.

I have had the car up on the rack several times the past year. Bushings look fine. I'm in Oregon with little to no road salts when snow hits, so that helps. I did add rear axial diff bushings, subframe inserts and rear diff inserts from Whiteline. My stiff 350ft-lb stage 2 southbend clutch still flops the rear hard when not careful. Torque Solution motor mounts, whiteline trans mount bushing, and that's about it that I haven't already mentioned. Again, just full disclosure.

I do like the stock ride, but could go a little stiffer. And I now have the supercharger, time to give it more support via the suspension. I don't have to, or want to go wild. I do want to improve it's handling over the stock setup, but I don't want to have to wear a kidney belt either. This is why the Tein system impressed me so much with the adjust on the fly upgrade. That could be cross compatible if the thread is standardized when you pull the manual adjusters from other coil systems. Not sure on that.

Input on how I drive the car. I'm on my 7th set of tires in the 8 years I bought it. Three summer tires sets, three all season sets, and the OEM primacy set. Tires are fun to kill. My commute is rural roads. I get to run it pretty hard through the corners several times a week. And I can take several different routes to get there and mix it up.

Wheels are OEM and same spec RPF1s. Current tire config on OEM wheels are new Pilot AS4s in 225/75-17. Great wet grip, really impressed. RPF1s are loaded with Pilot S4 summer tires on stock size. With one summer season of wear, they'll perish this summer. Looking forward to it. Pilots top of the line just keeps getting better.

If you can grab some cheap OEM low mile take of shocks(2017+ are better) that can pair pretty well with yellow springs for the cost.
If you were buying new shocks; A set of Koni yellows or Bilstein B6s pair with a quality spring. Konis are adjustable B6 are not.
Flex Z are known as about the best budget coil you can get. Beyond that you'll want to spend some extra money. CSG flex A, RCE SS1 both deliver in that regard.

I run B6/yellow combo. It's a fun street setup that doesn't change the balance of the car to much. I've driven 86s with coils and wide track rubber and they have very different road feel. Handling feels less dramatic, point the car and it goes the direction with little fuss.

Depending on how you like your car to handle one setup may sound more appealing than the other.

imho German tuv rating appears to not sacrifice too much Street manners; bilstein or kw/st

Thank you. I was looking at the CSG spec Teins as well. But was wondering if that put me into something too stiff for commuting. RCE SS1s sound good too. Don't mind going to that price point. Those don't look rebuildable.

I would like some wider wheels and tires, but I have about two seasons of tire left on my summer/winter rotation. So bin that for later.

Any comments on the TireRack SCCA solo spec setup? I would like to try some auto-x events, but I don't see competing in earnest, just occasional events to rub shoulders with other car enthusiasts and thrash some tires and take notes from others.

The lowering springs in SSC will make the car ride deep into the bump stops, I’d pick up the SSC koni yellows and put them on stock springs and run street class if you’re not super serious, they’re good shocks, and if you get bit by the bug to autox you can go for the rest of the SSC parts which is a not insignificant commitment to fully prep for.

Edit; forgot the supercharger, that would have to come off for SSC so not really an option to fully prep most likely. If you want to be lower there are worse options then the eibach springs.

The problem is your supercharger and upgraded clutch. And then you're also out buying 17x8 specific SSC wheels (weight limitations) and specific 225/45/17 RT660 tires. If you're not being competitive and running a whole season and really getting into autox, don't build your car specifically for a spec class.


IMO, the RCE Yellows plus something like the 2017+ performance pack dampers for cheap ($300, many people take them off for coilovers with low miles) is a good street setup. A step up from there is going with Koni yellows, but then you're getting into base, decent coilover territory.


Getting into the coilover area, BC Racing are about the lowest you can go and still have a good ride and quality. Fortune Auto 500's and some their other options start getting up at $1200+, but are slightly better. A lot of suspension comes down to the bound/rebound characteristics and such between different levels of coilovers. Prices only go up from here.

I see Koni yellows are rebuildable, I like that option. But they don't appear adjustable, Not sure if I want that or not. I read of so many just dialing them in and never touching them again. I like this car for the options available, but am also overwhelmed with all the options available.

Okay, so no SCCA spec with the SC installed, got it. It isn't coming off either.

I see these and consider them the starting point.

https://www.racecompengineering.com/...ge-brz-fr-s-86

And these sound like what I'm after considering I want adjustment. 20mm of drop would be fine, but not much more. I do want to stay off the bump stops.

https://www.racecompengineering.com/...13-brz-fr-s-86


Can anyone comment on the CSG spec Teins Flex A's? They look on par with the RCE SS1 for spring rates. I lean to the CSG's namely due to Tein's hydraulic bump stop over poly/rubber based bump stops.

Appreciate all the input, been helpful. Research keeps taking me back to the CSG Flex A's since I like the idea of the hydraulic bump stop so much. Any others have this feature, I'm not seeing it, but I may not be digging enough either.

Jeepmor you can't go wrong with RCE-SS1 or CSG Spec Tein Flex-As. I run my SS1's and they are great for a street/track car.

Thank you for all the input and suggestions. No trigger pulled yet, but leaning to the CSG Flex A's due to the hydraulic bump stops being I live in the land of the sunken grade in the PNW coast range.

Now for the addition conversation. What else do I need to lower this car by 20mm. Do I need a roll correction kit, new rear lower control arms, etc, or am I good to start with just the coils?

Just Coils. The drop is not extreme. Now if you want to dial out some of the rear camber, get come Rear LCAs. Don't need anything flashy. I run SPC. I believe there is a brand on Rock Auto that's even cheaper made by SPC :thumbup: Both Sets of Coils have camber plates which should net about -2.5-3.0 degree's of front camber(which you want)