why fit coilovers to road cars?

[lofer]

why do people do this?

I’m guilty of this but the answer is simple!

I wanted to improve the ride, handling and achieve a lower ride height. Now I drive an lcr which has issues with clearance as standard so if I were to find my new ride height too low (with coilovers fitted) I can simply take it up!

With fitting coilovers I have achieved everything I wanted so………………..

How can you say I didn’t make the right decision?

 

[RobT]

I'm not saying that - just wondering why a lot of people spend a ton of cash when a lot less probably would do the trick

ride and handling improvements are achieveable just as well with a quality non-coilover unit

lowering the ride height more than maybe an inch generally spoils the handling and this can be achieved without a coilover

but yes, if you want to fine-tune the ride hight for that perfect stance, I guess you need them

 

[Fl@pper]

why do people do this?

asked a similar question to a Yokal recently too as he stated he would never drive a track day ???

i can see the point if it's lowering and/or wheel clearance etc

day to day commuting (round here at least) is nothing but a waste of time

 

[lofer]

Yes, if you want to fine-tune the ride hight for that perfect stance, I guess you need them.

Lowering the ride height more than maybe an inch generally spoils the handling and this can be achieved without a coilover

That’s a decent answer right there! Lol! Well for me it was more fear of the car being too low and denying me access to car parks and such like!

My car isn’t much lower than standard (15-20mm), I feel over all handling hasn’t suffered but improved! The car in your sig looks like it’s lowered more than an inch over standard

 

[RobT]

the car in my sig doesn't even have ibiza suspension

that has coilovers but I use them to corner weight the car on scales to get optimum weight distribution - thats really what they are for / originally designed for

 

[RickC]

only reason i did was to go low, if you buy a 60mm lowering springs and shocks you might want 68mm of lowering then what would you do?

 

[lofer]

lowering the ride height more than maybe an inch generally spoils the handling.

Just reminding you of what you wrote!

But then you did use the word “generally” I suppose yours is the exception!

 

[RobT]

looks like you need coilovers then - is it worth the money (in some cases £300-£500 extra over a fixed drop kit) for the extra 6mm?

 

[m0rk]

Just reminding you of what you wrote!

But then you did use the word “generally” I suppose yours is the exception!

honestly, if you read around the subject you'd realise that you're making yourself out to look daft....

 

[lofer]

honestly, if you read around the subject you'd realise that you're making yourself out to look daft....

Really?

How?

 

[F2 Stu]

Interesting enough I agree

Got a Sach's Sporting kit on the Ibiza which comprises of Eibach springs and gas shocks, blinding little set up, good stance and makes it handles rather nicely, infact I would say its as good as the coilovers on the cordoba perhaps even better

 

[lofer]

looks like you need coilovers then - is it worth the money (in some cases £300-£500 extra over a fixed drop kit) for the extra 6mm?

Not Trying to start an argument just making a point, my weitec coilovers Cost £ 475 wetiecs suspension kit (also for my car) Cost £288. That’s a difference of £187


Just throwing that one in there!

 

[m0rk]

Really?

How?

Challenging RobT's choice of suspension when the only car you're looking at is his Ibiza race / sprint car running pretty much bespoke suspension components to optimise 'everything'

vs

pretty much boggo road car's where people fit low quality suspension units that look like expensive ones

Like I say, read around the subject before trying to 'win' by quoting him (view his threads he's started for a hint)

 

[RobT]

a cars suspension is designed to work at a certain ride height. If you lower the car, 3 things happen

1. You ride looks well wickid *****
2. you run out of suspension travel so when you hit a bump you crash
3. your tyre is no longer in the optimal orientation to the road

2. Can be solved with suspension units that are shorter than standard so you retain some bump (upward) movement after lowering. However.....shorter units also have less droop (downward) travel which is really important for bumpy roads and drive traction

3. is hard to solve and needs fundamental changes to the suspension design - the tyre will no longer be optimally orientated on the road and 'generally' the grip will be reduced.

Lowering a car also lowers the center of gravity which is a help to handling. You will be able to get away with lowering maybe an inch but any more will likely start to have negative issues associated with it, unless you do additional mods to counteract this

but this is for performance/handling - thats my bag - others have other interests and priorities like getting the car low for looks etc - fine, I'm not knocking it, but dont expect the car to handle well

 

[lofer]

Challenging RobT's choice of suspension when the only car you're looking at is his Ibiza race / sprint car running pretty much bespoke suspension components to optimise 'everything'

vs

pretty much boggo road car's where people fit low quality suspension units that look like expensive ones

Like I say, read around the subject before trying to 'win' by quoting him (view his threads he's started for a hint)

Mark I don’t doubt that RobT’s suspension is perfect for his cars intended use, its just he said “lowering the ride height more than maybe an inch generally spoils the handling” ( no mention of road or track use) and his car is clearly lowered more than an inch! It’s a contradiction in itself!

No need to try and insult me
I’m sorry Mark I was just trying to post constructively and add a little humour.
Sorry

 

[antnee]

Not trying to argue with you rob, but on point 3, if you lower the car say 60mm, but still have the same camber and toe settings how does it effect tyre orientation to the road?

I don't think caster would be effected from lowering, although camber roll points may effected, I can't imagine this effecting it too much if you are already running ARB's


Back on topic, I will be getting coilovers as it will annoy me if I get dampers/springs and its sitting a few mm 'wrong' and I would end up spending more to get the right height for me. Also I will be able to adjust height if I change wheels or will be carrying a lot of weight in the back for a while.

 

[RobT]

eh no offense taken, this is christmas, just trying to have a bit if a discussion here

'generally' for a general purpose road car, lowering too much is a mistake IMO

 

[RobT]

Not trying to argue with you rob, but on point 3, if you lower the car say 60mm, but still have the same camber and toe settings how does it effect tyre orientation to the road?

I don't think caster would be effected from lowering, although camber roll points may effected, I can't imagine this effecting it too much if you are already running ARB's


Back on topic, I will be getting coilovers as it will annoy me if I get dampers/springs and its sitting a few mm 'wrong' and I would end up spending more to get the right height for me. Also I will be able to adjust height if I change wheels or will be carrying a lot of weight in the back for a while.

your car has 'static' geometry settings - what you are referring to - but also 'dynamic' geometry settings that come into play when your suspension is moving

if you lower a car past a certain point, the RATE of change of the static settings increases and can lead to settings that are far less than ideal

camber is a good point in case. negative camber is good for cornering grip yes? well on a lowered car, it can actually go positive when the car is rolling when you are on it in a corner - this is what knackers the outside edge of the tyre

castor is unaffected by lowering though.

 

[RobT]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1363022

good read

 

[jenk]

As said, coilovers are used to gain the correct stance by many. Its the reason I had them on my mk2, for how low I wanted to go it was my only option.

With my mk4 im more than happy with the H&R cup kit as my wants and needs have changed, the stance is not great but the way I see it, it must be one of the best kits out there to improve the diesel barge like handling........its expensive enough.