Coilover make and setting comparable to stock

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by ap5512

I can understand what Venom is saying with wanting to lower the car without sacrificing ride comfort and characteristics but I also agree with everyone else that it will not come cheap. I also want some coilovers but waiting a while since it is a big investment and I am still on the fence about all the inner workings of a coilover system and just the whole suspension process in general. I want to be educated enough to make a decision first before I go throwing money away..no matter how big or small.

Any reputable vendor that wants your money should be willing to educate you a bit on suspension; I do however suggest reading up on things like http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html which explains the structure of a shock.

[asia_minor]

this thread restored my faith in humanity. :happy0180:

[86_ZN6]

i got RS*R and they ride just like stock.

and they're just under 2k

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by VENOM~

agreed. ^^

I'm not going to track my car. I was just hoping to lower it around 2-2.5 inches without destroying the handling.

the KW v3's are out of my price range...

REDFRS got it bang on.. wish more people with experience with budget end coils would chime in and either say they are good and can compare to oem at xyz settings or they plain suck and dont waste your money.

Its a freakin econo box car, daily driving it and spending 3 grand on suspension is nutts if you ask me.

the oem suspension cant be so incredibly amazing that nothing above 2k can compare?

its not even like the evos which come with the bilstin struts stock..

i dont think its that the oem is so amazing but really think about it. who has more money or time to spend on the frs/brz than toyota/subaru? its not an econocar. if you wanted to go from a to b, spend 2000 on a used civic. instead think of it as a budget sports car. if another 3 or 4k can give you borderline supercar handling and you still come in at under 30k, how is that nuts? if you ask me, spending 25k and then calling 3k cheap is nuts.

my advice would be to be honest with yourself and expectations. a 2-3" drop is going to cause something to compromise. you need to pay for a)the quality of the product and b)the components required to fix the things that youre ruining by dropping that low.

[bgibbsunc]

Originally Posted by fatoni

i dont think its that the oem is so amazing but really think about it. who has more money or time to spend on the frs/brz than toyota/subaru? its not an econocar. if you wanted to go from a to b, spend 2000 on a used civic. instead think of it as a budget sports car. if another 3 or 4k can give you borderline supercar handling and you still come in at under 30k, how is that nuts? if you ask me, spending 25k and then calling 3k cheap is nuts.

my advice would be to be honest with yourself and expectations. a 2-3" drop is going to cause something to compromise. you need to pay for a)the quality of the product and b)the components required to fix the things that youre ruining by dropping that low.

I am right on with you. If I didnt go with ground control I would have most likely went with kw. I can honestly say that if i hopped in a friends frs right now I would not be happy at all with the handling. spend the money get the look better handling and be happy with your investment. Here is a pick of how Im sitting now. I would go lower on the back but not until I figure out what Im going to do with my exhaust I have a mean little downward bulge where it connect to the mid pipe.

[thebear21]

^^^are those 18" 40 on the tire hight? looks good man. more on the ride/handling

[JoeBoxer]

Originally Posted by bgibbsunc

I am right on with you. If I didnt go with ground control I would have most likely went with kw. I can honestly say that if i hopped in a friends frs right now I would not be happy at all with the handling. spend the money get the look better handling and be happy with your investment. Here is a pick of how Im sitting now. I would go lower on the back but not until I figure out what Im going to do with my exhaust I have a mean little downward bulge where it connect to the mid pipe.

Glad to see you are happy with the GC's!!! I hope i can get them or the Eibachs pretty soon but financially it doesn't look good.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by VENOM~

I'm not going to track my car. I was just hoping to lower it around 2-2.5 inches without destroying the handling.

the oem suspension cant be so incredibly amazing that nothing above 2k can compare?

For that amount of lowering you need decent spring rates and decent valving if you want stock ride quality. Cheap valving and the spring rate isn't controlled very well, low spring rates and you bottom out. 2k dampers aren't even on the high side, hell many would consider them budget dampers.

The budget dampers simply take what they've already used a million times and make it fit the car. That's the end of the R&D process. Well besides the marketing to determine which other brand names and colors they should sell the part under.

The OEM suspension likely has thousands of hours in development and testing time during this cars long development cycle and it surprises you that 2 hours of fitment development on poorly valved, occasionally misconstructed, not at all matched budget threaded body coilovers could make it worse?

Having said that, do whatever you want to do with your car. Lower it a bunch on the cheaper stuff. Turn up the dampers a bit for that sporty ride, or turn them down for that softer bouncy ride. :happy0180: Honestly these budget threaded body coilovers work for most people as it performs exactly like what most people think they should feel like.

[bgibbsunc]

Originally Posted by thebear21

^^^are those 18" 40 on the tire hight? looks good man. more on the ride/handling

Yes 40 tire height. The handling is amazing on this setup. The car dives into corners and sticks even better. I am still adjusting and haven't got my alignment done yet and it still feels great. I'm not sure how much I'm lowered right now but I would guess between 1.5-2 inches.

[mrlewistan]

thanks everyone for scaring me away from coil overs! lol. i wanted to lower my car but i cant afford great coil overs and was looking at the megan ez street ones tonight. but most of you made some pretty good points so ill just keep the suspension stock