why fit coilovers to road cars?

RickC

BUILT NOT BOUGHT
Dec 23, 2004
1,621
0
Lincoln
the main reason people do stuff on here is because they are sheep, for instance they ask what dv for my car, the answer usually is 007p so they get it dont know anything about what they are buying they just get it,


but buying the lowering only coilovers cant be criticised because like i said earlier its for the freedom to have alot or adjustment, now the kw v3 s for instance are a waste for road setup and for what people are going to push theur car to on the road, so this shoud be the aim of your question.
 

DIFT

Torquing all the Torque
Oct 8, 2004
1,546
0
Kent/London
I think it's an very interesting discussion. I think I can 'just about' justify them, (I've only got the ap ones so very cheap in terms of coilovers). How they will stand up to british winters, trackdays etc I don't know. Will be interesting to find out.
 

RobT

Full throttle trip
Nov 30, 2001
2,558
10
Congleton
y'know its not my place to say how folks should spend their dough, if you want em then thats good enough, its just that there is so much misinformation on tinternet, its handy every now and again to have a chin wag about simple issues

and its too cold to go outside and i'm bored :)
 

antnee

Guest

Haven't got time to read that now (will do later on though), so only read the first few posts. I understand that increasing the castor angle makes the car handle bumps better.

I'm going to have to research into it, but I would think that by lowering the car you would get a bigger camber change, so therefor better handling though hard cornering (when the suspension is compressed alot) but also making it more stable on the straights too.


Ive got to go off to work now, but Im going to research into this when I get home.
 

Oj 89

Senior junior member
Aug 19, 2008
1,747
5
NW Kent
Hang on, hangover from when? you had Christmas... 4 days ago and new years tonight! Or is every night in between a night to get uhhh, 'slightly tipsy' as my friends say ;)
 

Chris Eyre

The Voice of Reason
Apr 2, 2003
219
0
researching
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I remember the day Jamex coilovers turned up at Inters. Jim Cotton brough them along, I think they were on that turquoise Mk1 of his. Show price was £500, thereafter, a bit more £600 (prices IIRC).

This stuck a marker in the ground. No longer was a suspension kit £400 for a set of fixed pan Koni dampers, but it was £600 +.

From that point onwards, or whenever anyone clocked the things, they became the 'next thing' on the list.

They're expensive, achieve nothing more than a standard kit, 'cept saving an agonising debate over ride heights, which would be the scene-points headache of non-adjustabiluty.

I happen to have a coil over kit on my estate '95 Passat. Wasn't looking for them, they came up, I had them. 18 months old, FKs, adjusted once by the former owner - and seized :cry:.

Freed 'em up, raised so no droop on them, they're at max height and it's acceptable, but low. Lacks travel, so it's compromised on rough Bs. Interesting to drive with no droop - restricts roll more.

But it turns a vehicular sponge into something respectable. Did a 300 mile cross country twisties convoy to Le Mans with an Impreza and and Elise and a BMW - and it never got shown up, because the cornering is so much improved. It's done nearly 30 laps of the 'Ring, when called up as a reserve (twice now).

I'd never go back to squeally squeally standard boat spec, but if a set of fixed pans had come up, I'd have taken them, though I doubt they'd have been this good.
 

Owl

cheesy quaver
Aug 21, 2008
148
0
sheffield
i only want coils for the ability to lower it to a silly height when at shows or what not... so some nice and cheap ones will do for me then i can have it a more subtle lowered height with everyday driving....
 

ibizacupra

Jack-RIP my little Friend
Jul 25, 2001
31,333
19
glos.uk
coilies.. blinging..... and when sat on the deck look nice :p
and after a couple of cracked sumps... can be used to raise the car back up to a higher ride height where the sump does'nt get smacked so often.. In the case of MrsB's lupo 1.8t :lol:

want suspension to reduce roll... then start with arb's forst imho, retain some road damping and travel for the oh so great uk roads, else be prepared for pogo stick ride.

interesting comparison of the clio 182 i have currently, ride height is "high", roll is minimal, handling is superb out of the box. runs 25mm front arb and 24mm in-beam rear arb as std... :think: ;)
 
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