Topic: Upgrade to Coilovers.

[Brazen17]

How much improvement would upgrading to coilovers give over the stock set up?

[Vanguard]

I recently upgraded to BCs over the stock setup.  They have 20 levels of adjustment...at full soft they feel really close to the stock blistens and at full hard the car feels incredibly planted.  The car is much more free now and doesn't push like a pig anymore.  The adjustable ride height is also a bonus. 

[Kelu]

I have KW V3, even I'm a power freak, I consider coilovers one of my favorite mods, I must thank once again to all the guys around here who advised me not to go with lowering springs. I was getting bored about my car, but after I installed these I felt in love again like in the first day about my car. They have independent settings for bound and rebound plus height .

I played with the setting, initially I used default (TUV certified) settings and was a completely different car. Than I went with them on full soft, my girlfriend asked me "you installed your stock suspension back?" this was pretty shocking to me  . Now I run them 90% of full hard and I love how the car reacts.

I put it from lowest possible height (I was scratching with that plastic from under the engine when braking), now I raised it up to almost maximum height because winter comes.

One thing I don't like, I have to put the car on lift or remove the wheels to adjust it.  

[LatinVenom]

When looking at the suspension, do not forget the Sway bars and the rear brace( ZOK, DDM Probeam, or Kappasphere) .
Then close it all up with the BackBone and a Chassis front Brace.(Mine, DDM or Werks).
You also need to consider the tires, this is extremely important.

[Brazen17]

When looking at the suspension, do not forget the Sway bars and the rear brace( ZOK, DDM Probeam, or Kappasphere) .
Then close it all up with the BackBone and a Chassis front Brace.(Mine, DDM or Werks).
You also need to consider the tires, this is extremely important.

The only thing I have left to install is the front anti-sway bar (have it just not installed yet). New tires would be nice but  I have a lot of tread left on the Hankook's. How many different choices do we have for the coilovers?
I hope the front bar goes on easier than the rear one did!

Edit - Don't have the front brace as of yet. Can't decide if I want one or not.

[Kelu]

Koni + Z0K springs - cheapest - around 600
KW V1 - doesn't worth the money, only height adjustment - around 800
BC - best bang for the buck - 1000
KW V3 -if you like to play with settings - 1500
HKS - most expensive - 1800
above that only funky staff for racers

[LatinVenom]

The Kappa Front Chassis Brace is less than a 30 minute install.
As far as coilovers, well it all depends on how or where you drive the car. Autox, lots of twist roads, some road course, etc...

[Brazen17]

Koni + Z0K springs - cheapest - around 600
KW V1 - doesn't worth the money, only height adjustment - around 800
BC - best bang for the buck - 1000
KW V3 -if you like to play with settings - 1500
HKS - most expensive - 1800
above that only funky staff for racers

 

Thanks for the list!

[Brazen17]

The Kappa Front Chassis Brace is less than a 30 minute install.
As far as coilovers, well it all depends on how or where you drive the car. Autox, lots of twist roads, some road course, etc...

I was thinking of trying autox since they do it at the Las Vegas Speedway just down the road from me.

[Brazen17]

I recently upgraded to BCs over the stock setup.  They have 20 levels of adjustment...at full soft they feel really close to the stock blistens and at full hard the car feels incredibly planted.  The car is much more free now and doesn't push like a pig anymore.  The adjustable ride height is also a bonus. 

With 20 levels of adjustment what is the range in inches? After the car gets aligned how many "levels" can it be changed before needing to be realigned?

[LatinVenom]

If you are going to try autox then you need to read snaponbob posts.

[Arabas]

i have the H&R springs with stock Bilstein shocks and i must say i m pretty happy with these.
handling is definetely improved over stock, car is more rigid.
since i m not a guy who will mess up with coilovers knowing exactly what i will be doing, i prefer a plug and play solution which has definetely improved the car's handling.
i can pretty much say, that in spirited driving, my fears set the limits before the H&R+Bilstein set theirs.
so i have the H&R and i m not thinking of going to a coilover.

If you know what you are doing or you have a garage that can help you customise the coilovers to your very personal way of driving, then go for it. if you don t have one, then you might want to rethink. stiffer doesn t always and necessarily mean better.

[Vanguard]

With 20 levels of adjustment what is the range in inches? After the car gets aligned how many "levels" can it be changed before needing to be realigned?

The adjustment is for the rebound and damper, not ride height.  SOB will tell you that single adjustable suspension units are the devil, but to be honest I have yet to develop the sensitivity to feel a difference. 

However, if you do get coilovers, it is pretty much a given that they will drop the ride height and thus you will have to get an alignment. 

Hope that helps!

[kennysabarese]

How much improvement would upgrading to coilovers give over the stock set up?

That's such a general statement. What are you looking for? If you want the car to be stiffer, get stiffer springs and swaybars. Stiffening the shocks to make up for springs that are not stiff enough is not the way to go.

[DragonSolGXP]

How much improvement would upgrading to coilovers give over the stock set up?

Looks like you have all the info you need here. But I'll give you my 2 cents... I have a 2008 GXP.

I installed BC coil overs, Z0K sway bars front and rear, and used the BC coil overs to lower the car 1/2 inch all around (maybe closer to 1 inch forget).

IT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE. The car really hugs the turns, the ride is bumpy on a bumpy surface, but you expect that from a sports car. It's really worth the expense.

[wspohn]

The adjustment is for the rebound and damper, not ride height.  SOB will tell you that single adjustable suspension units are the devil, but to be honest I have yet to develop the sensitivity to feel a difference. 

However, if you do get coilovers, it is pretty much a given that they will drop the ride height and thus you will have to get an alignment. 

The BC Racing struts have rebound adjustment and also height adjustment. I reset mine to stock height (I have a driveway the precludes going any lower) and you can lower them from there.  They are an impressive product and in combination with GXP ZOK bars made a huge difference.

Don't make the amateur mistake of setting the shocks too stiff - a few clicks from full soft does it.  I ended up with 5 clicks out of 20 from full soft on the front and 10 on the back.

[kennysabarese]

SOB will tell you that single adjustable suspension units are the devil,

Last I checked SOB is using Konis that are single adjustable.

[old goat]

The BC Racing struts have rebound adjustment and also height adjustment. I reset mine to stock height (I have a driveway the precludes going any lower) and you can lower them from there.  They are an impressive product and in combination with GXP ZOK bars made a huge difference.

Don't make the amateur mistake of setting the shocks too stiff - a few clicks from full soft does it.  I ended up with 5 clicks out of 20 from full soft on the front and 10 on the back.

Like Bill said, I run my HKS's 5 from soft up front really reduces the cars tendancy to plow through the corners, I did not do the Z0K front bar, the stiffer bar adds more plow. I have all the DDM stuff and the Z0K rear. Back set is set to just past the middle of the adjustment but I like the rar to break loose. Car is very predictable, and handles like I want it to. In winter I soften the back to keep it from sliding so much.