MCA Blue coilovers - Now with first impressions and install pics!!!!!!!!

[Juvenile]

Still happy with them? Looking at these myself, convince me

[major quicknap]

Originally Posted by Juvenile

Looking at these myself, convince me

1/ Both Murray and Josh are happy to talk to you for ages, not just about their dampers but suspension in general. Seriously, if you have some questions don't be surprised if you're on the phone for 1/2 hour or more.
2/ Their product would seem to be good/great value for money. I say "seem" because I/we only have internet opinions to go by; I have never seen independent testing and I have nothing to compare them against.
3/ This was the deciding factor for me: MCA are based in Aus. If you have a query/want a rebuild you can get on the phone and have a chat and you don't have far to send them for a service.

[Juvenile]

OK cool, I have heard and read a lot of good things about them. I'll email them what my needs are and hopefully work something out for me

[Wayno]

Thought I might as well bump this with my impressions.

My setup is:
5Kg wheels
RE002 225/50R16
Grimmspeed tower bar
Camber (FL, FR, RL, RR): -3, -2.75, -1.75, -1.75
Toe (F, R): 0, 1mm

I got the latest blue series (non-inverted fronts).
Front and rear both have the adjusters at the top of the piston - takes 30 sec to adjust all 4.

SPRINGS

Josh's recommendations are currently F = R + 1. I.e 5Kg,4Kg or 6Kg,5Kg or 7KgF,6KgR.
My selected spring rates: 5kg F, 5kg R

HEIGHT

Stock height: 365mm F, 372mm R
Recommend height: 355mm F, 350mm R (-10mm F, -22mm R)
My selected height: 353mm F, 353mm R (-12mm F, -19mm R)

I have no idea why Josh would recommend having 12mm less rake than stock.
It seems to me like less volume / more pressure / lift under the rear wheels is a bad idea.
The only thing I could think of is that testing has only been done on cars with after-market front splitters
OR that he prefers this so that you don't get feeling of the rear getting sucked back on to the road after going over a bump.

I didn't want to preload the rear too much so I made front and rear the same height.

DAMPERS

Default damper settings: 5F, 6R
Current damper settings: 5F, 7R

If I set the front to 7, the front wheels don't stay in contact with the road and the ABS goes berserk under moderate braking.
6 is a lot better than 7 under moderate braking.
5 is noticably smoother than 6 under hard braking.

That pretty much just leaves you the 1 setting for the front, and then adjust the rear for balance.

On the old inverted fronts the comfort setting was 7F, 9R on 6Kg springs.
7 on the inverted struts must have been much stiffer than 7 on the new non-inverted for it to have been safe, so much so that they're not comparable.

COMFORT

For me, at low speed the damping is either too steep or the springs are too stiff.
When you go over a bump under 70km/hr it feels like the front springs don't compress at all.
My instinct was to get 4Kg F, 5Kg R to keep more in-line with the factory rates of 2.3Kg F, 3.3Kg R and the American trend of F = R - 1.
Josh's recommendation was for greater front spring rate though, so I compromised and got equal. The only time it feels oversprung at the rear is when the road is cold.

I added a front tower brace and it reduced some of the smaller lower speed NVH.
The reduced chassis flex must cause the spring to compress faster and the damper is forced into the superior high speed compression zone.
I would be happy to swap the fronts down to 4Kg I think. I don't need fast weight transfers. The front of the car was perfectly predictable to me before with the stock 2.3Kg springs. It's just one more compromise so I won't bother.

GRIP

The high speed damping is gravy. The rear especially has much more headroom than stock, so now there's ample grip on bumpy corners where there was none before. Fixing the lack of travel in the rear was the only reason I updated the suspension and that's accomplished. The MY15 dampers fix a lot of what's wrong with the original rear dampers, they settle much faster than the originals, but they're still sitting on the bumpstops.

If you're in Brisbane, there's no better value (besides MY15 dampers) and no better service.

Side note: MCA are releasing a new purple/X series soon that will be priced between blue and red and will include a "comfort" option.

[drift86]

@Wayno

Thanks for the detailed review. It seems the stock rear struts have a common issue with leaking and I know of 3 cars with this issue. Mine's getting replaced under warranty but my warranty will run out soon so MCA suspension are definitely in my future plans.

What made you choose the Blues over the Reds? From your review, it seems like you had an old version of the Blues already before?

[asnatlas]

Updates ?

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by asnatlas

Updates ?

The op hasn't been here since

• Last Activity: 08-04-2015 07:41 AM

[solidONE]

Interesting that the techs at MCA also recommend a lower spring rate for the rear than the front on the 86. This seems to reflect Ohlins, AST, and many Japanese tuner's OTS setups designed for the 86. Too bad none of these guys are on the forums. I'd love to hear their logic with their spring rate selection and why it differs from some of these other companies.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

The op hasn't been here since

• Last Activity: 08-04-2015 07:41 AM

stalker! lol

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by solidONE

stalker! lol

Stalker?
The info is here:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/member.php?u=45616#

Given the age of the original post checking details like that is relevant.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

Stalker?
The info is here:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/member.php?u=45616

Given the age of the original post checking details like that is relevant.

I'm joking...

[86•BRZ]

Originally Posted by solidONE

Interesting that the techs at MCA also recommend a lower spring rate for the rear than the front on the 86. This seems to reflect Ohlins, AST, and many Japanese tuner's OTS setups designed for the 86. Too bad none of these guys are on the forums. I'd love to hear their logic with their spring rate selection and why it differs from some of these other companies.

I can tell 100% that MCA springs rate are developed through actual use on race-tracks. Josh Coote of MCA has and continues to test both customers and now his very own 86 (now wide bodied and turbo).

Josh holds the records for local Queensland tracks in the 98, E85 and no doubt soon the forced induction categories (on e85 he's faster than all but 1 from memory anyway).

As mentioned above it's not correct to base spring rate stiffness as a ratio of factory cars oem rates. The factory car is set up to lean on bump stops so initial spring rates aren't as important.

Have a look at the results from our local 86 sprint series, you can see everyone has switched to MCA to keep up.

Most common MCA spring rates are 6F 5R and the two fastest below are on 7F 6R to make better use of the sticker Hankook Z221 rubber

[solidONE]

^ No doubt about MCA along with these other well respected and established companies and tuners all have done their research and development on spring rate selection for the 86. I personally know of a certain turbo specialist company in Japan that run 8f/6r on their race winning shop car. But hey.. what do they know, right?

[Northwest86]

Give him a call. Josh has tested with 8/7kg rates and didn't get any improvements. For the Reds that we run he valves and springs them to your uses. Give him an email at redblue@mcasuspension.com or give them a call. He's happy to talk, though it does start to grate on his nerves when all the keyboard warriors tell him he lowers his cars wrong by using "spring preload" and not the bottom mount method. Those people need a good slap in the face.