Need your input for my first suspension setup

[EquiFox]

Alright so first, I may some noob I know but it's my first car ever, so I don't know much but I'm always aiming to learn more and more.

I'm planning to drop my car when it get out of storage but I don't want to it wrong.

What about my car ?

- I don't track it, only street (I can do some hard pull tho)
- It's supercharged.

I ordered a new wheels setup that's why I want to get the right info before starting to swap everything.

I will put Gramlight 57Xtreme 18x9.5 +40 on 245/35/18 tires.

So I ordered Eibach Sportlines Springs, but now I'm not so sure about going this way.

It seems I would need to eventually order new Struts if I run these (Considering our roads are pure shit) and to correct the excess of negative camber I would need some LCA.

Now my question would it be better to switch to coils right now instead of going the springs way.

I looked at Apexi N1 EXV but i'm not even sure that's what I need..

Honestly I'm kinda lost atm.

[gramicci101]

How much do you want to lower? What numbers are you looking for regarding front and rear camber? What kind of ride do you want?

[finch1750]

Your probably better off fitment wise running coilovers due to the smaller spring perch. a17x9 barely fits, no sure how well a 18x9.5 will fit without an offset in the mid 30s. Im am just speculating so check out the wheel and tire forum for threads to check others with similar fitment to see whats needed.

Beyond the questions above what is your budget?

[EquiFox]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

How much do you want to lower? What numbers are you looking for regarding front and rear camber? What kind of ride do you want?

I can't even tell to be honest, I liked the 1.4 inch of the sportlines, but I don't mind going with what you guys will recommend. As for the camber same thing.

Originally Posted by finch1750

Your probably better off fitment wise running coilovers due to the smaller spring perch. a17x9 barely fits, no sure how well a 18x9.5 will fit without an offset in the mid 30s. Im am just speculating so check out the wheel and tire forum for threads to check others with similar fitment to see whats needed.

Beyond the questions above what is your budget?

The offsets of the wheels are +40 all around.

As for my budget, I don't really care to be honest. As long as it doesnt end up costing 2000$.

[gramicci101]

To fit those wheels with springs and struts, you'll need a 3mm spacer on the front. These are cheap and you can find them on Amazon. Otherwise, you'll need coilovers.

First, you need to define your ride height. If you're looking to put the car on the ground, get either Stance or BC Extreme Low coilovers, with Stance or PBM rear lower control arms.

if you're happy with 1-1.5 like you get with your Sportlines, that works too. Some people say they've never had a problem with Sportlines and OEM struts. Others say that they blew their OEM struts pretty quickly. Let's assume they'll need to be replaced so we can get a worst case scenario. Bilstein's B8 struts run $915 for a set of four, and they're designed for lowering springs, so they'll suit you just fine.

For camber, you're already going to be gaining some camber just by lowering the car. You'll want the ability to at least adjust the front though. You could run camber bolts in the front, but you're already extremely tight on wheel to spring clearance. Let's assume camber bolts won't get you what you want and get some top mounts. HVT makes very nice top mounts; they're $435. For the rear, we're on a budget, so SPC rear LCAs; they're $208. Assuming you can't get the camber you want just from lowering. I did with mine, so I didn't need rear LCAs.

Right now we're at $1350 for struts and top mounts. I'm not including the cost of LCAs and I'll get to that in a second. Let's set $1350 as our general target for coilovers, if you decide to go that direction. If you need the LCAs, you'll need them with coilovers too, so that's an additional cost.

This is where you need to do research. $1350 is not a great budget for coilovers. You can get decent stuff, but not great stuff. You can also get crap stuff masquerading as decent stuff. You need to dig into reviews and forum posts and see what's good. Around that price point I'd probably get Bilstein B14's ($1099) with the HVT top mounts (total $1534), Fortune 500's with the upgraded roller bearing, which already come with camber plates ($1250), or Tein Flex Z's based on @CSG Mike's review. Racecomp Engineering Tarmac Zeros and KW v1's are about 16-1700 and they're very nice, but they would require top mounts as well, which runs the price up quickly.

So, Fortune 500's run $1250 and SPC rear LCA's run $208, which brings you to about $1458. Versus Bilstein B8 struts, HVT top mounts, SPC LCA's, and 3mm spacers ($26 on Amazon), totaling $1584. It's up to better men than I to determine which setup is better. Some people say high quality springs and struts are better than budget coilovers; others disagree.

Read this thread before deciding which way to go.

*Prices taken from @FT-86 SpeedFactory

[finch1750]

Tien Flex Z, RCE T0, ST, Bilstien B14 is top choices. That is a pretty thorough rundown by gramicci. $2000 isn't a whole lot for suspension IMO especially if you need LCA and camber plates. The Time Flex Z are all in one and have camber plates. Probably worth it to wait for those. And if you do run a spacer staying with stock diameter struts get a slip on. You can run the 3mm on stock studs, anything longer you need extended ones.

I don't have experience with Fortune Auto but the I customer service and posts on here gave them respect at least. Seems like a lot of people are happy with the Fortune 500 which include camber plates as well. Just get the swift spring upgrade

[Captain Snooze]

Have a read of this on what not to do to your suspension.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67345

[EquiFox]

Thanks for all your inputs honestly it help a lot guys !

The thing is that since it's my first car, I never had a dropped car what so ever, so I couldn't tell exactly what is the drop i'm looking for. I def. know I don't want it slammed to the ground tho. The roads here are eaten alive by canadian winters (The car doesnt see winter tho)... so it would be pretty stupid to do that.

Bilstein B14 looks great, but I'm still not sure its better to have aftermarket struts with my sportlines or coils that's where I am at (Your explanations were awesome don't worry).

Tien Flex Z looks promising, but can't find any release date for these and sadly I don't really like waiting (Don't judge me).

What is your input on KW V1 or Apexi N1 EXV ? It looked great also.

Last question, if you would run the same wheel setup, what personnal drop would you aim for ?

[gramicci101]

@Tcoat, @wparsons, could you lend your knowledge in aftermarket suspensions on Canadian roads?

[gramicci101]

Originally Posted by EquiFox

Tien Flex Z looks promising, but can't find any release date for these and sadly I don't really like waiting (Don't judge me).

What is your input on KW V1 or Apexi N1 EXV ? It looked great also.

Last question, if you would run the same wheel setup, what personnal drop would you aim for ?

The Flex Z is supposed to be released to the public mid-Q2 of 2015, so within the next month or so. Talk to @CSG Mike about that; he's the distributor.

I haven't read any reviews on the Apexi coilovers, so I can't speak intelligently about them. However, KW is a top notch brand, for both consumer level and motorsport level products. The reason I didn't include it initially is price. The v1's are $1500, and they don't come with top hats. So you're adding an additional $435 on top of that, which gets you real close to $2K, and you haven't gotten rear LCAs yet.

Look in the classifieds, both vender and member. You can save a decent amount of money buying used parts. Keep in mind that coilovers with high miles on them might require servicing soon.

Personally, I'm happy with my drop. I've got RCE Yellow springs (20mm drop) on OEM struts. I've got camber bolts up front and nothing in the rear, and I'm at -1.7 front and -2 rear. Not ideal, but I'll be adding top hats soon to get more camber up front. If I were running 18x9.5's, I would probably get KW v1's, RCE Tarmac Zeros, or Bilstein B16's with the HVT top mounts, and SPC rear LCAs. That's over $2K though.

[Mad_Mike]

Originally Posted by EquiFox

Thanks for all your inputs honestly it help a lot guys !

The thing is that since it's my first car, I never had a dropped car what so ever, so I couldn't tell exactly what is the drop i'm looking for. I def. know I don't want it slammed to the ground tho. The roads here are eaten alive by canadian winters (The car doesnt see winter tho)... so it would be pretty stupid to do that.

Bilstein B14 looks great, but I'm still not sure its better to have aftermarket struts with my sportlines or coils that's where I am at (Your explanations were awesome don't worry).

Tien Flex Z looks promising, but can't find any release date for these and sadly I don't really like waiting (Don't judge me).

What is your input on KW V1 or Apexi N1 EXV ? It looked great also.

Last question, if you would run the same wheel setup, what personnal drop would you aim for ?

This visual might help you though these are 17" .

Stock:


1" drop:
[IMG]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7463/16065815902_2***4fb9b4_c.jpg[/IMG]

[8R6]

for that much drop (not that 1.4 is "a lot") i would recommend a set of ST coilovers. AWESOME adjustable coilovers for the money and also has a slotted upper strut/knuckle hole to dial in some negative camber with stock bolts. The new and upcoming Tein Flex Z's seem to be great coilovers too but you'll have to wait a couple months for it to be in the U.S., or you can get someone in Japan to get it for you if you dont want to wait. These dont have slotted holes, but do come with adjustable camber plates on top. Also awesome for the budget price.

[cdrazic93]

The top of the line ST's seem to be awesome too, although no one has tried them yet. ST TA's $1427 and single adjustable. Basically just adjustable versions of the ST incase you were looking for adjustability. They dont come with top hats, so thats something to take in mind.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

@Tcoat, @wparsons, could you lend your knowledge in aftermarket suspensions on Canadian roads?

I have stock shocks with swift sport springs, probably going to need new shocks soon though. I'm at almost 100k km's, I can't imagine the shocks will last another year.

Mine is definitely more firm than stock, but I wouldn't call it harsh. The only time my wife complains about it is on rippled pavement if she's trying to drink a full coffee.