I have looked at the reviews here and on Nasioc and didn't find much. I am looking to buy either Megan (street or racing?)or BC racing coilovers. I would LOVE to get some feedback on how they feel and if they clunk alot.
Another thing is the spring rates, please teach me about spring rates and how they affect driving ie; compression and rebound. Should I be looking for 12/10 kg or 8/6 kg? I am not too concerned if they are rough, I'm looking for performance. I am not knowledgeable with suspension so any help is appreciated.


<---- suspension R-tard

 

also does anyone have any good/proper ways to dial-in a set of coilovers ?

 

tein basic is great... i parted out my car so i have it for sale. pm me if you are interested.

 

I already ordered a set of coilovers, thanks though.

 

no suspension knowledge to pass on?

 

Not sure what your question is Jake. Are you asking for advice on how stiff to go with spring rates? If so, I would highly recommend going with 8k/6k max, unless you are autocrossing and are trying to win your class with decent competition. For the track, moderate spring rates are just as good, because you don't have sharp transitions like you do in autocross.

Cliff notes: I'd recommend the off-the-shelf Megan Racings, although the reviews of the BCs are pretty much identical.

 

ohlins with DMS springs

the fastest guy in so cal runs that

i have DMS coilovers

 

laoba in so cal has megan

he said he thought his car was going to roll over at the track haha

 

Yeah I was wondering if I should be looking for a higher or lower spring rate. So you answered my question, thanks. I wound up getting the BCs and they feel very nice.

So here's a question for spirited driving. The car is evenly lowered at all four corners but the damper settings are different for front and rear (currently stiffer in the rear) Should the fronts be stiffer to keep the rear inside wheel from lifting during heavy cornering? I'm trying to find a setup that will make the car as neutral as possible or a little oversteer. Thanks for the help.

 

Aren't the DMS a little expensive? I B poor



Sounds like fun

 

You don't control body roll with damping. If you are lifting an inside real wheel, you either have zero droop travel in the rear (meaning, those coilovers suck and weren't properly developed) or you need a softer RSB and/or stiffer FSB. Stiffer springs would solve it as well of course, but that conflicts with your needs for daily driving.

 

You need to get an alignment from an alignment shop that does corner weighting. You want your cross weights set equal, and your ride height as low as possible. Remember, the lower you go the stiffer your sway bars will need to be.

When you go to get your car aligned make sure you have a full tank of gas, your tire pressures are set and if you want to be really accurate have them add balast, equal to your weight, in the drivers seat.

A proper alignment from a good shop will do wonders for your car's handling.

 

Cornerwighting is good, but not necessary. You don't want to go "as low as possible" either- even with coilovers, the sweet spot is still between 3/4" and 1-1/2" lower, unless you do something like ball joint exenders to correct the suspension geometry.

I'd recommend between 1/2 and 3/4 tank full, because you'll have about that much gas (or less) far more often than you have a totally full tank. But the ballast in the driver's seat is absolutely necessary if you cornerweight, otherwise it's guaranteed to be inaccurate when you're driving.

Absolutely! Don't be afraid of negative camber, just be conservative with toe, not more than 1/8" on either end and you will be okay.

 

The sweet spot you are talking about is due to the stiffness of the stock sway bars. When you lower a car you are affectively lowering the roll center of the car. the only way to correct the added body roll is to increase the stiffness of the sway bars. By lowering the car you are minimizing frontal area and decreasing drag. Lowering drag is essentially freeing up horsepower. Think about ANY race car. It will always be as low to the ground as possible.

One gallon of gas is approximately 6.5 lbs, so the difference between 3/4 of a tank and a full tank is about 20 lbs. 20 lbs of cross weight will not be felt by 99% of drivers. Most people don't have adjustable sway bar endlinks anyways. The swaybar preload will probably jack at least 100 lbs of weight into a given corner.
My point is that it is easier to fill your tank to full rather than to guess where 3/4 of a tank is.

 

No, it's because of the strut/LCA geometry and the crappy camber curve you get when you start lowering the car. The lower you go, the stiffer you have to go to avoid positive camber with body roll. The roll center issues are secondary on McStrut-equipped cars.


My point was that, felt by the driver or not, your cornerweighting will be more accurate more of the time with less than a full tank.