Coilover softness/stiffness range

[bucketfoot]

I have zero experience with coilovers and am wondering if a good set at their softest setting will give a ride as soft or softer than the OEM non-performance setup?

I don't know that I will do anything, but I wouldn't mind an option that would make the ride softer for when my wife rides with me, yet can be adjusted for when I do HPDE events.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Very much depends on the coilovers.

- Andrew

[cmiovino]

First, it's highly dependent on the coilovers. Look, a set of $800 Racelands on full soft is probably still going to ride like trash. $1k+ coilovers are usually getting into the better valving ranges. Something like a $2k RCE Tarmac 2 could feel "comfortable" on the softer settings.

Spring rates play into it too. Coilovers vary in spring rates between brands. Even with the same brand of coilovers, you can typically swap out spring rates with replacement ones made by companies like Swift, etc.

Also factor in that usually these damper adjustments aren't supposed to be used to create soft and firm rides. They're mainly used from a performance standpoint to match to your spring rate and also the conditions, track layout, surface, or type of event (autocross vs HPDE, etc).

To answer your question in layman's terms, you're probably going to need to buy a set that's upwards of $1200, keep the stock spring rates (or maybe even lower them), and play around with softer settings. You can create a ride that absorbs bumps and dips better than stock. And also realize "soft" doesn't always equate to a better ride - the valving and ability of the damper usually does and this can happen even with stiffer settings.

[bucketfoot]

Thanks for all the info. I know that there are no simple answers here as there is a whole lot that goes into the ride of a vehicle.

As I said I honestly don't know that I will do anything, but if I do I think my starting point will actually be just to try out a 16" set of wheels. I know from experience how much of a difference tires alone can impact ride comfort.

[churchx]

Unfortunately higher sidewall can not just improve ride comfort, but also make steering less sharp/more mushy for same more sidewall flex that absorbs road defects better. As to which matters to whom more, is subjective, but some may not willing to go for that compromise in car they bought as "drivers car".

[bucketfoot]

I would still have my 17" wheels/tires to use for the track or solo driving fun.

Changing tires is a piece of cake. I swapped between daily, track and winter tires on my BMW on a regular basis.

Ultimately I probably won't do anything and will just take the Pilot if we are taking a drive that I need to be concerned about my wife being comfortable on

[SCFD]

My recommendation would be to consider getting lowering springs instead.

[Code Monkey]

My MCS on the softest setting are very tolerable around town. On track, once I forgot to stiffen the coilovers and the car was all over the place, I thought some suspension components got loose.

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

eh honestly I'd say spend as much as you can and also do some research into mono- vs twin-tube coilovers. It's not so much the stiffness but the quality of the damping that you're paying for with the high end ones. Also to get the most out of them a corner balance and a quality alignment are highly recommended.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Making the damping softer than ideal won’t make it more comfortable because the spring rate is still the same.

I’d say if you want something with better than stock performance but you still want a comfortable ride, you’ll be better off with a set of mild lowering springs (like Eibach pro kit or RCE yellows) and Bilstein B6 or Koni yellow dampers.

[Decep]

It doesn't make it more comfortable per se.. maybe slightly. It certainly makes the front end a lot floatier at least on my coilovers.