Lowering the car and a comfortable ride

[etherealfall]

Hello guys

I have a reasonably broad question but with a couple of specific goals in mind.

I'm hunting for a coil over set that is comfortable. Not soft. But looking for a set that doesn't bounce around a lot.

I don't have a specific budget but would rather not break the bank.

My goal is to lower the car to about 1 finger gap all around on 235/40/18 tyres and fitting 18x9.5+34.

Some questions:
- are there any coil overs that would provide a smoother ride relative to stock?
- will I need anything for the rear to adjust for the camber and toe?

Thanks in advance.

[boredom.is.me]

You can't reduce your travel by so much and expect to be as comfortable as stock. It's just impossible. Lower REQUIRES stiffer springs. There's no if, ands, or buts, unless you want to hit your bump stops on every penny. That would be even worse than a tiff ride.

And yes the rear will need either lower control arms or upper control arm camber bushing. The LCA's are the easier route.

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

possible, but it requires realistic (stiff) spring rates, the right tire sizes, dampers with a lot more bump travel, and you're going to have to remove the wheel liners and possibly clearance the unibody inside the fenders.

if you want it to not ride like **** you want 2" or 3" of bump travel up from whatever you want the static ride height to be, so imagine your finger of wheelgap travelling 3" up into the fenders and that'll give you an idea of what you need to cut out.

IMO, do something custom-ish with bilsteins, or call somewhere like fortune and ask them for coilovers with relatively high spring rates (like 2k higher front and rear than they come stock), but valved for street driving. you'll need aftermarket LCA's to get enough bump travel in the rear for sure

[cjd]

Originally Posted by boredom.is.me

You can't reduce your travel by so much and expect to be as comfortable as stock. It's just impossible. Lower REQUIRES stiffer springs. There's no if, ands, or buts, unless you want to hit your bump stops on every penny. That would be even worse than a tiff ride.

And yes the rear will need either lower control arms or upper control arm camber bushing. The LCA's are the easier route.

Stiffer springs simply require very different valving; most cheap coilovers seem to have trouble with this.

For super low on a coilover that seems set up right (spring rate, valving) to handle it I've been seeing the RS*R Black-i recommended a fair amount lately.

[edeekeos]

I know you mentioned "coilovers" but I've been running RS*R SuperDowns for a while now, and they are about perfect imo. The ride quality is almost on par with factory springs and I can barely get a finger in between the wheel gaps. As far as camber, I'm at -1.25 front with white line bolts and -2.2 rear with natural camber no adjustments. The springs obviously are stiffer than stock, so there is a tiny bit of bounce, but it's not bad. I'll put it this way, my wife didn't even notice a change in ride quality, and she would be the first to bitch about it!! This pic is right after I did the spring install, sorry for the shit quality..

[Superhatch]

Oddly, see my latest blog post on the B8 setup I'm using, might be worthwhile to you.

Eibach pro-kit, Bilstein B8's, front sway, roll center kit, end links = $1570. Much better than a just buying a budget coil over only and nothing else imo.

On 245/40/17 in this pic.

[etherealfall]

I was looking at coilovers by Endless (Zeal) and was wondering how these would fare.

I've had them on my DC5 before after using Tein SuperStreets and the difference in comfort was night and day. I'm not after a soft ride but less of a clunky and 'bouncy' ride.

I had the Zeal Function X previously. I believe they have rebranded them a bit. I'm currently looking at the Zeal Function 7's with their springs set at 8kg/7kg i believe.

Does anyone have experience with Zeal with the ZN6 chassis?

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by etherealfall

I don't have a specific budget but would rather not break the bank.

You know the size of your bank, we do not.
It has been said by knowledgeable people on these forums that one can have relatively high spring rates and comfortable ride but you have to pay for quality damping.

[Digitalanalog]

Penske should get you what you want but you're looking in the neighborhood of 6k for shocks alone

[troek]

Originally Posted by edeekeos

I know you mentioned "coilovers" but I've been running RS*R SuperDowns for a while now, and they are about perfect imo. The ride quality is almost on par with factory springs and I can barely get a finger in between the wheel gaps. As far as camber, I'm at -1.25 front with white line bolts and -2.2 rear with natural camber no adjustments. The springs obviously are stiffer than stock, so there is a tiny bit of bounce, but it's not bad. I'll put it this way, my wife didn't even notice a change in ride quality, and she would be the first to bitch about it!! This pic is right after I did the spring install, sorry for the shit quality..

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79504

[edeekeos]

Really excellent deal^ someone buy that!!