my main choices are: Tein basics, Stance GR+ and GR+Pro and maybe even the BC Racing.

After hours of research and reading review I still cannot make up my mind.

Wanting a coilover set up, Mainly for street/daily driving and 1/4. dont mind a stiff ride with in reason just want something to lower the car and improve traction/handling... (the 1.1 rear that the basics provide is BARELY enough could go lower a tad) would like to keep the price below 1500.

are the stance a good enough make and worth the little more money for the dampaning.. +is there a limit on how much they can drop?


In a nut shell, "what would you pick out of the ones I mentioned?"

 

I would not run any of your choices.

Why?

Because of intended use and how you brought up a single word that we don't see brought up hardly ever,....."damping".

Bilstein Pss10 $1595 shipped from this board sponcers ad.
https://my350z.com/forum/suspension-...vers-here.html

 

those are priced higher then what I want. +no real reason was given to why you wouldnt run the choiced i listed...

anyone else have an opinion on the set ups I listed and which would be best for handling/quality ... quality being more important obviously.

 

i have the stance gr+... i absolutely love them. my favorite mod i have done so far. mine are on full stiff and i dropped my car all the way around about 2.5". there's still a lot of room to lower it as well.

a lot less body roll now and the car just handles so much better. i couldnt believe it either considering i thought the stock suspension handled well . you will definitely need the rear camber arms, i did not need the front ones though.

hope this helps

 

I have the bc's and I like them a lot

but I rode in a car the other day that had KW V2's and I think ill be upgrading in the spring time

check out KW Variant 2 people have nothing but good things to say about the KW suspension set-ups

 

So you want to dump the car to the ground and expect it to work better for the 1/4?? Great idea.

 

Forget the drag racing idea. Just lower the car for looks and call it a day.

 

weird . . . I dont recal saying I wanted to "dump" it to the ground.

as for the others, thanks for your help. its down tot he stance or basics. just have to now figure out which is the better quality

 

The Z sits pretty low from the factory, a drop of over 1 inch would actually be considered dumping the car. We don't have much up travel to begin with at stock ride height, if your drag racing you need that up travel for weight transfer, not to mention you don't really want the stiffer spring in the rear.

 

that was usful thnaks... i assume that either the stance or tein basics are not that stiff anyways and eaither will be good for me... not just wondering which are better i.e.better quality/last longer

 

"Dumping" or "Slamming" the 350 really screws up the rear suspension geometry -resulting in unwanted bumpsteer and camber-gain. Most of the fast road-racing Z's sit a lot higher than show cars.

If you want a better ride quality and 1/4mile traction, don't slam the car. Damping (shocks) GREATLY affect ride quality.

Can't go wrong with KWs, their philosophy is to utilize the softest spring rates possible. Softer springs generally yield more grip. KW's also have a lot of droop travel (reverse bottoming-out) -which most 'generic' coilovers don't have a lot of. Droop travel keeps the tires on the ground to generate more grip, and won't upset the car when cornering or cause a rough ride from slamming into their droop limiting (lack of rebound travel).

I'd check into KW V2s (rebound adjustable) since they are less expensive than the double adjustable (compression and rebound) KW V3.

INVEST in your suspension, you will feel the effects of investing or cheaping out on a low-quality system every second you are in the car. Even if it takes you 2X longer to save for it, it will be worth it in the long run.


0.02

 

you would be well served to search the countless posts G35sedan has contributed over the years to this community as far as suspension goes. He's not someones advise you can afford to ignore if making a good decision is important to you (that goes for whomever you actually purchase your setup from). Unlike alot of people who contribute to suspension posts, he is one that actually knows what he is talking about.

Bilstein also offers the PSS (non dampening adjustable) that will allow a bit more drop than the Basics, vastly better build quality and valving than anything mentioned here, and a terrific ride - and priced well under your budget

The Basics work well enough with stock tires (read...not with very low profile sidewals) and slight height reduction vs stock (1/2- 3/4 inch). Beyond that and they get quite bouncy

 

Basically Boorad, the members of this forum have been enlightened over the past few months it seems and now realize that MOST of the shocks out there have poor or VERY poor damping characteristics. If it's not Bilstein, Koni, Moton, Penske, and depending on who you talk to Tein (I know I've forgotten at least one of the other good manufacturers), then the damper is most likely crap. From one shock to another they won't be matched and the adjustment factor will be way off. The damping may not even be right for the springs if it's not a quality manufacturer.

If you were on here a year ago asking the same question most likely you would have gotten a few replies saying to go with X coilover because they f'ing rock! Not so today. Information on this forum has become common knowledge, almost, that most coilovers/shocks suck. If it's not from a select few manufacturers then you don't really know what you are getting.

EDIT: But, if you are set on something from what you have selected I would go with the Stance. I don't think I've heard anybody be upset with them. Personally I would go with the Bilstein's. For drag racing you need weight transfer, thus you need softer springs. I believe the Bilstein PSS has the softest springs of coilovers on the market. If you don't do competitive racing you probably don't need the adjustability anyway. Most people set it and forget it. Bilstein has already done the work and set the damping properly for 90% of circumstances.

 

um, i fyou take the time and actually do some research into his other threads you will find that Gsedan35 has done a lot of suspension testing and reviews on this forum, so if he says he would not choose those you listed, he has very good reason and will be best to take his advice, especially if you got no clue what you are doing when it comes to suspension.


then again, you can just do what you want.

 

Its not that I didnt trust him of think he didnt know... I just wanted him to elaberate a little to as why. like ride like crap, need to be rebuilt after xxxmile and so on.

 

Bilstein, Moton, JRZ, Penske, Ohlins, Sachs, Koni, and KW.




KW is OEM suppier for the Dodge VIPER SRT-10 ACR, Merceds CLK63 Black Edition, and aftermarket suspension supplier for the: Ford GT, Ferrari Enzo, F430, Porsche GT3, 911 Turbo, 911 GT2, Carrera GT, Nissan GTR, and much more. They are also the supplier for Ferrari-tuner Novitec Rosso and have won many 24 Hours of Nurburgring, many FIA GT races/championships, supplier to Flying Lizard ALMS GT2-classed factory Porsche GT3 RSR, and more...

Personally, I like KW's philosophy of using the softest spring rates possible. Generally, softer springs yield more grip anyway. The internals of the KW allows for a reduction in highspeed bump/compression (which is pre-set by KW) which makes for a much more comfortable ride over broken up road on the street. This also results in a much more compliant ride that is more stable and keeps the tires on the ground when going over bumps or hitting apex curbs on the track. A more compliant and stable car = a faster car. (FYI - some Grand Am GT cars run spring rates as low as 200lbs with large swaybars).

This is in contrast of many other coilover options whose damping curves are linear whose ride becomes exponentially stiffer (and harsher over bumps - more highspeed compression) as you stiffen up the lowspeed compression and/or rebound. The ride quality of the KW's is called by many as the best of any coilover option that they've tried.

KW offers suspension options ranging from non-adjustable V1s, single (rebound)-adjustable V2s, to the double-adjustable V3 for applications ranging from Dodge Charger/Magnums, BMWs, VW, Porsche, Corvette, Viper, S2000, 350Z, and much more.

 

All I could think about when reading that was the part in Wayne's World when Chris Farley is telling Wayne and Garth all of the details about that big time music producer.

Good information.

 

Or when Alice Cooper is explaining Milwaukee to them.

 

Just one little problem and I understand that you sell KW so you have reason post what you did. I avoided recommended the KW V1 and V2 for a reason.

Kw's choice of using licensed Koni twin tube internals, they aren't going to have the same design specs that Ohlins TTX40/44's have to overcome their twin tube limitation's.

Seeing actual shock dyno's for the V2 350Z application (both type's of plots exactly like the one's I post below) would go a long way to support what your saying about having a digressive curve on compression and prove or disprove the presense of hysteresis. Of course as you know it's not just about being digressive it's about how the knee is shaped, how quickly force builds to the blow off point and what happen's after that point. Lot's of twin tube products end up with compromises because of the limited about of fluid their relatively small piston's can work with. The average shock dyno only shows the 'average' force vs. velocity, not the true curve of how the force changes for the entire stroke. So you do not see where twin tubes always have more hysteresis because the pressure build asymmetrically, causing pressure imbalances. Imbalanced internal pressure leads to a lag or delay in how the shock responds to the road, which is the definition of hysteresis. Not good for performance, predictability, grip or ride quality. That grip comes from controlling the tire/ground wheel interface with the lowest variation in tire load. Twin-tubes can be made more comfortable than monotubes because (ironically) they cannot control the car over small undulations. Real comfort comes from managing the suspension from start to finish, not allowing the damper to be 'out of control' which again, is what hysteresis is. Except in situations where you want blow-off to occur. Yes, bump needs to blow-off before rebound. With a monotube ability to pass ample amounts of fluid in both bump and rebound, you will ALWAYS achieve better overall ride quality than a twin tube.

Hence my recommendation to the OP to go with the Bilstein Pss9.

Front Koni OTS yellow Max rebound adjustment is 2 1/4 turns, plot I have was run at 5ips or 3 ips vs the 10ips.




Below show's exactly what I'm talking about, notice the blue lines, notice how much variation in force their is between them and where it happens.




Max rebound setting is 11 sweeps, I either don't have a graph at the max setting or it was done at 5ips or 3ips. I will add that I did not find settings above 6 sweeps productive


Hysteresis isn't as bad as the fronts, however, dial in more rebound control and it will become worse.

 

^ Good write up, very technical. Im gonna try and soak up us much of that as i can.