mcduck - none of the setups allow for the. the Flex allows you to do dampening adjustments from in the car with the EDFC.

Bixby - before recommending anything, let's start with basics:

What do you plan to do with the car? What are you trying to achieve?

 

I want a softer, less bouncy ride but do not want to sacrifice performance. I don't really plan to track the car much, if at all but I may do an autox or 2 just for fun since I'm so close to Sears Point & all.

 

I second Bixby's desires. My upgrade would be to reduce bounce without sacrificing performance. Secondary would be the ability to drop my car .5-1.0" but have the option to put it back to stock ride height if need be. (If I can only do the latter by manual adjustment outside the vehicle that is fine)

 

Bixby,
All this is wonderful FYI...STUFF. Remember what I told you>>
You can set the ride where you want it. Caddy to Race. Don' t confuse the harsh pounding for example, of a bad set of springs and how that feels and how it sucks and rattles the entire car_ vs, a so-called >> rough ride with coilover. A major misconception in thoughts. A rough ride with coilover is still an eye-opening moving experience you will never forget. Forget about springs for a minute, and accept the new idea of suspension that will handle anything you can throw AT it. A racy ride forsure, but rough and racy, only if you set it up to the highest level to where your wives ovaries are shaking. She would not like that.

So, yes and no. Coilover is without a doubt the $ for $ best thing you can do. They are not expensive if you consider the cost of getting a bad set of springs you hate and have to keep replacing them till you get it comfy. Comfy sucks too. Reliability is top-notch and you get race car technology here. You can actually install this stuff yourself with a friend helping you if you need.

TEIN, CUSCO, JIC, HKS all are in the ballpark here. I haVE decided to go JIC as of yesterday. Tein is a pain to adjust and I don't want that control box inside. I would rather do it myself. I had the 1st set of BILSTEIN PSS9 on one of my bimmers and had to do the setting on each wheel. Not a hard thing. jic is a small hole to drill to do the rear adjusting as to dampening. Ride height is on all these sets, a thing you will adjust in your garage on a level surface to your liking, and most likely leave it there a long time.
a.

 

Alrighty....
Let Me Bring My 2 Cents into this. if you don't mind...
You guys are all talking about jic/tein/hks... Great coilovers mind you...
But have you guys thought about endless/zeal coilovers
Put it this way. i've put coilovers on a miata that once had jic's Female driven (No offense) And she loved the ride compared to her old jic's
also.... we had a lady with a is300 with tein's go to zeals and the ride quality went from bearable to better than stock...

So might i suggest you guys the zeal v6 coilovers. 6 way adjustable. spring rates f/r 10/8
they list for 2855..
Albeit a bit pricey... they do come with 6 month warranty. also if it ever needs to rebuilt. endless has rebuilding capabilities in souther california.

and these are very streetable..
also here is a horror story from my friends 350z... formerly the signal auto 350 drift car...
back when he was out east he had bought a set of jic flta2r's with custom rates...
within a few months all 4 blew out at a bf goodridge event.. causing him to crash into the wall... SUCKS!!!!
well anyways... if you are interested or need more info on zeal/endless products feel free to talk to me.

 

2855? OUCH! And they're only 6 way adjustable? Granted I know next to nothing about coilovers but the TEIN are 16 way adjustable, I can adjust dampening from inside the car and I think the warranty is better than 6 mos too.

I have no interest in tracking the car, and I realize that 16 settings is way over kill since I'll probably find 1 or 2 that I like & thats where it'll stay. So why are Zeal's better?

 

ok... honestly.. adjustablilty in coilovers... one can have 15 and one can have 6. its not the number that counts.. its what each one does. now if you cant feel half of the adjustments in the 15 way then does it really mean that 15 way is better? if you can feel each adjustment in a 6 way isnt that a little better? also.. zeal has done their research in japan. they waited 1 1/2 years before releasing their system so that it was perfect. also. the tein are a twin tube setup.. while as the zeals are a monotube. here is a little thing from bilstein's website

"Shock absorber performance fades away when the oil in the shock cavitates (foams). Conventional twin-tube shocks that are called "gas charged" contain a small plastic bag holding a minuscule amount of gas under little pressure. This design, while low in cost to manufacture, is ineffective on the track.

Under extreme G-forces, on rough tracks and in high heat conditions, "gas charged" twin-tube shocks do not resist cavitation as effectively as mono-tube gas pressure shock absorbers
"

in other words.. monotube is better on the track.. and more expensive than the twin tube damper to produce.

now.. if you can. ride in someone who has zeal coilovers. now ride in someone who has tein' coilovers. the ride quality... the low speed damping is better. you can actually feel each adjustment in terms of suspension. also. to not be all narcacistic or anything. The zeal coilovers are very pretty. Nice Chromoly coated and partially aluminum. with Navy Blue Springs.


and if i recall correctly... You said that your wife/gf did not like the ride. And if you were to go to a ride that was worse than stock. Wouldn't you get the bitching of a lifetime?

 

Intense motorsports has the zeal v6 coilovers for $2,392. I believe they are the same ones mentioned above. Check it out.

http://www.i-m-racing.com/enzefucosusy.html

 

yeah... call them up. they are not a dealer of endless. and that is old retail pricing before this year.. when the japanese yen rose and everything and anything from japan got a price hike.

 

Good info. And yes, she'd be extremely pissed if I spent 2+ K on a solution that didn't produce a smoother ride. Geez, now I gotta look a twin vs mono tube. Way to much info for me. I agree that my best bet is to take a ride in a Z that has coilovers.

 

The link shows it is for RSX

 

i just ordered a set of HKS LS+....adjustable dampning/height....i will give a review when they are installled. these are supposed to be more of a street coilover vs race...they just came out so they might be hard to get. from what i have read their coilovers are of high quality and performance

DJK has a set if you want details

i'm lookin at about 2100 installed with an alignment

 

Honestly for 99% of the people on this board, coilovers are a complete waste of money

 

So what do you recommend? I've upgraded springs & struts in my z31 (eibach & tokico) and the ride is very rigid and pretty much all body roll is gone, which is exactly what I was going for. Unfortunately I don't think this solution is what I want for the 350. It's already very rigid and for the type of driving I do, handles fine. I'm not looking to track it (well maybe a few times ) but I would like some flexability in ride & handling and eliminate the bounce. If coilovers provide that then they're not a waste of money in my book.

I'm still trying to sort all of this info out and will be looking for a ride in a Z with coilovers (as someone here recommended) to make my final choice. I do think I'm leaning away from the TEIN Flex /w EDFC. Although I love the idea of adjusting the dampening from inside the car, I really don't think I would change the setting much, if at all once I find the setting I like.

 

FYI, I just learned today that you can order the original Tein Flex coilovers setup that came with the 10Kg/10Kg spring rates, not as harsh riding as the 12Kg setup they superceded them with. They would be a special order from Japan, any authorized Tein dealer can get them, dealer cost is the same as the current Flex system.

Also Tein SS adjustable coilovers with 9/9 rates are in the final stages of north american developement. They are the same as basic's, but with adjustable dampning. They will undercut all other dampner adjustable coilovers in price if other SS application pricing is a guideline. I estimate $1000 to $1200 @retail.

 

if you don't plan to adjust the setup, either get the Basic's, or just get springs. the basics are best considered a nicely matched set of springs/struts that ride great, and are height adjustable (but not dampening adjustable)

 

Sorry, i'm not meaning to hijack this thread but i also have few questions about coilovers. Now i may be wrong in some of the stuff that i've been told but do coilovers need adjustment and maintenance? What i mean is do they need to be tightened and stuff during service intervals? The reason i'm asking is i've seen my mechanic tightenning a coilover before and he said that's the thing with coilovers.

Also, again i may be wrong on this but why don't cars like M3 CSL or porsche GT3, honda nsx and many others have coilovers (these cars are great at the track as well as on the street)?

Are people underestimating what good quality shocks and springs can do? Wouldn't it be wiser to upgrade to for example bilsteins shocks valved to required specs?

Finally are there serious weighsaving benefits with coilovers over stock suspension?

 

why do you say that?

 

Two things:

1) The Tein's with EDFC are actually 32 step adjustable, or 16 step adjustable. You can setup the controller either way. 32 steps are just half steps, so its the same range of adjustment as 16 steps, but just allows for finer tuning

2) Coil overs are NOTa waste of money for 99% of the people on the board. I honestly can't understand why you would lay such a blanket statement out there like that. To me, the best feature of the coilvers is the EDFC. On the fly adjustment is worth every penny. While on the freeway, I go full soft, which give me a slightly stiffer than stock ride, but no boucnyness...very stable ride. For canyons, and usually setup right in the middle of the adjustment range, and body roll is totally gone. Perfectly flat ride.

 

Coilovers are a spring/shock combination which are tuned to work with each other and typically give you the ability to adjust height and/or damping.

There is no more maintenance involved with coilovers than with any other spring/shock combo.

And last time I checked they made coilovers for the M3, NSX and GT3

I didn't weigh my coilovers but I'd imagine they are similar weight to the stock suspension.

I agree that coilovers are not necessary for everyone- but I'm pretty sure that more than 1% of the members of this board can benefit from a good coilover or spring/shock setup. There are numerous members here that track or autox their cars regularly.