Can we talk *comfortable* coilovers for a second?
I've been on the search for a comfortable coilover package that is adequate for street tires with enough adjustability for the occassional trackday. The car will never be on anything stickier than RS3s and even then that'd be a rare occassion. I will mostlikely just drive it to the track in the same trim as how I'd drive it to work (year round, summer tires).
I rode in a prototype CSG Spec Tein SRC and the suspension was
amazing but it may have also been Mike's inhuman driving skills. With that said, I still prefer something more compliant for the street. I've had the RCE Yellows on the stock damper. Spent a good amount of time on the KW V3s and now i'm on the RSR Sports-i setup. These are not what folks consider high end coilovers and I'd have bought "expensive" coilovers by now but I want my final decision to be final. I'm also not yet convinced I can find a good coilover for this car in a single adjustable format. I'm even considering just dropping down to a Koni insert or whatever Bilstein comes up with or going back to stock.
I am thoroughly convinced this car has either
A. very limited suspension design (mcpherson, multi-link rear vs. say double wishbone) (why is the rear shock travel so damn short???) OR
B. few have put in the R&D into a proper suspension package for this car
I've also noticed that the label on the coilover is not nearly as important as the amount of effort given to tune that coilover specifically for that car. In other words, i've been in cars where say.. a KW V3 was crap but on another car a KW V3 was pretty darn good. Both were adjusted by "professionals". I have to correlate that to the amount of tuning effort allocated for that platform.
Am I incorrect?
Not sure how many folks here know of Tsuchiya's previous suspension company(s) (K-Office > DG5). His philosophy for tuning was not to sell race car level suspensions but instead to build a properly balanced sporty car that can be adjusted for a fun day at the track but also incredibly comfortable for daily driving. This resulted in a broad range of adjustment but via just one knob. Guys like me don't want to tinker anymore with adjustable this.. adjustable that. I'd rather have a company find the critical damping point for the car in an easily adjustable suspension.
Which coilover system out there employs this philosophy?
Also to add to my previous point, it's my understanding the DG5 coilover is overrated - fine. I can see that happening on platforms were there wasn't enough R&D allocated to the car (say the S13). On the NSX the DG5 is absolutely amazing. I heard its pretty awesome on the original 86 also. On the NSX it rides like a sporty sedan on the street but can be dialed up to perform better than a Type R on the track all via a one-knob, easy to get to adustment. It also ships with stiff spring rates (11k/14k) so I know spring rate isn't the only factor to a comfortable ride. Tsuchiya himself uses this suspension on his NSX-R which can likely explain all the R&D attention this coilover has gotten.
Do we need some cocky Japanese "Drift King" ex JGTC champion to design a coilover for our 86? I sure hope not!
I'm hardly a DG5 fanboy but on the NSX i've tried many coilovers including the KW V3s (not bad), Motons (too many adjustments), JRZ (R/R1s), Tein (mono, RAs), and Bilsteins. I prefer the DG5 and it's not even the most expensive of the bunch.
Maybe i'm asking for too much here and I should just go back to the stock suspension.
SIGH
