ok guys, i need to change my shocks and springs. but i know nothing about suspension set ups. i am fairly sure i want to run progressive springs so i can maintain a simi comfy ride.
my car is a daily driver, but it has no ac or ps or most other luxuries, i removed them, so im not too concerned with comfort.

now my biggest problems are

1- lowering, i dont know what stock hight is, so i dont know how much i want to lower my car.

2- what set ups are the best for your money? ill have 500-700 to spend max i believe, what should i try to buy?

3- used parts, how many miles is to many on a suspension component. say i find a good set of springs with 25k on em or 50k or 100k. at what point is it not worth getting

thanks guys

 

I would say, do not get used springs at all. Springs get old, sag, and then dont work as well, to me, it would be a waste.

While I too am wondering what I want to run, I know some of the advantages of parts, just curious what would give me the best "bang" for the buck.

Lowering your car between .5" and 1.2" SHOULD be alright. Not quite enough to bottom you out everywhere you go (driveways should be taken at an angle...), but enough to improve your handling and lower your center of gravity a bit. Progressive springs will allow you to run a nice soft rate when youre on the highway, but will stiffen up when you enter a corner (because they are now compressed more, and the spring is wound closer in the center). That is how they are progressive. Pretty neat actually.

To do full suspension on your car, youre looking at more than just 500-700 dollars though, I do know that much for sure.

Possibly upgrade springs, and shocks (Ive heard good things about KYB, Tokico, and Koni, but you might want to do some research on your own before you make a decision) but even that will run you over 700, if not over 800 dollars. (249 for springs, and 570+ for struts)

Ask a couple of the people that have done more suspension work to their 7's, but you might want save a bit more before you try to upgrade.

 

buy new for sure. really a nice set up is the racing beat suspension package. otherwise, you could save a bit more and go coilovers, but it all depends on what your try to do

 

So even if the springs and shocks have 1 - 1000 mi. on them and the price is a good $300 under new, you still say that's a waste. I don't think so.

.5" to 1.2" WILL be fine. You should pick up the rear camber adjuster while your at it. After dropping it you will have neg. camber issues.

Not true. You can do springs and shocks for under $500 if you are patient. You can most certainly do springs and shocks for under $700. This is, of course, assuming that you will be doing the installation.

Yes, do some asking and searching. I'd be very very careful who you listen to though. ^

 

ok guys looks like according to ebay i can pull off ebach springs for 265 shipped and kyb agx shocks for 366 so around 650 shipped that gives me adjustable shocks with a .8 drop all around.
this sound like a fair price/ good setup? and should i be scared of ebay parts? ive heard a good deal of stuff about suspension scams. what should i look out for?

and this will sound stupid, but i thought i read something about having to cut your old shocks for some reason. is that true?

 

dude, run kyb agx with tanabe gf210, i JUST checked, its 180 plus shipping for the springs. i dont know why people keep says, "OH, 230 is cheap" ya sure, if youre rich or something, jesus, dont people shop around anymore?
****

</rant>

peace

 

re: Eibach springs...

I ordered a set from a reputable EBay Vendor a MONTH ago, & still havent received them, as Eibach currently does not have any in stock, & they're currently tooling thier next production cycle to fit FC RX7's... I have verified this w/ Eibach, just to be certain that the vendor wasnt ripping me off.

Point is, if you order some Eibach's right now, you're probably gonna wait for them. Unless that vendor just happens to have some on the shelf.

 

I cant wait to do RSR Race springs and Konis on my car


You can always call up Eibach and get custom rate springs that will match with whatever shock you want to use.

 

got my agx's off of ebay, and tanabe off of somewhere else... awesome little setup. also did the bushings and a rear camber adjuster. my car dropped an inch after install from what it was.

*edit* oh man, i just noticed it was you who posted this!!! dude, you've seen the car and you know what i do with it.

 

It depends on where you go to buy them, and how hard you actually look. Without using ebay, 700 isnt unrealistic.

As for be careful who you listen to, yes, you are partially correct that he should watch out who is on this forum since not everyone knows what they are talking about. But, as in my case, I tell people that I am not a god, and I do not know all. I didnt say do anything for sure. I only suggested things, and gave general info.

Anyways, good luck on everything man, hope it all works out for you.

 

Tanabe gf210's with 1.5" drop, KYB adjustables. Here a pic! I paid 300 bucks off ebay for shocks from jdmwerks(back in 2003) and got the Tanabe springs from autoparts warehouse if i remember right for 150 shipped Plus my bushings for 100.00 plus labor from my shop 4hrs at 59 bucks per hour I didnt have the time to do it myself, would of saved 236.00 but oh well.

 

Don't go with progressive, if you don't care about comfort. Progressive will make your car handle like a boat. With linear street springs, the ride semi-comfortable, not many people complain about the linear part, in fact, some people would like street springs to be stiffer than what's actually out there.

That being said, I have a set of GF210's, 10K miles on them 130 + shipping. I got a set of Suspension Technique Sway Bars with 600 miles as well. Don't know what I want for them yet, if interested, please make an offer.

For shocks, I'm more partial to Koni Yellow than KYB AGX for the following reasons.

1. Koni's have an infinitely-adjustable system, you rotate the adjuster on top with the supplied ****. Each front shock has 2.5 turns, the rears 1.75. Functionally speaking, the minimum resolution for the adjusters is 1/8th of a turn. That pretty much gives you 20 points of adjustment in the front, and 14 points in the rear. The front's really only have a 1.5 turn adjustment in the middle, as the bottom and top half turn shock valving can't really be used on the street or the track. (The bottom half turn doesn't really adjust any softer, and the top half adjusts excessively). That being said, you end up having 12 points of adjustment in the front and 6 points of adjustment in the rear, which is still more than enough.

2. KYB AGX adjusts both compression and rebound. Koni Yellow adjusts only rebound. While you might think this is in the favor of the AGX's, it really isn't and here's why. The AGX's suffer from what we call crosstalk of adjustment. A lot of times, one setting is set perfectly, while the other needs to be changed. If you move the adjuster on the KYB's, you change both compression and rebound properties of the shock, throwing off whatever balance you may originally have. Also, repeatability of settings is an issue. Did you know that for some settings, coming from the clockwise direction will give you a different setting than coming from the counterclockwise direction? These things may seem small, but definitely impact the handling of a car. When you're trying to dial in your suspension, there's really only a fine balance of settings that is optimal. Because the compression on a Koni Yellow is set, you can adjust the rebound to find the optimal setting for each track. And it doesn't matter which direction you come from, you can repeat that setting for that position. On the AGX's, you have to hope that one of the 8 combinations of compression and rebound is good for the track, but unless the setting perfectly matches the ideal setting, you'll never be able to configure a perfect balance.

3. Koni's can turn into a professional suspension later on, if you choose to do so, via rebuilding, revalving, and the addition of a compression adjuster. I'm not aware that KYB's can do that. Koni's can be upgraded into a serious coilover, with optimal valving for excessively stiff race springs (think 12 kg and up), when paired with something like the Ground Control Coilover Conversion Kit, or one of Koni's own coilover kits. The shocks can also be rebuilt, if they start to suffer from wear and tear on the track. Finally, you can install a compression adjuster which does not suffer from crosstalk with the rebound adjuster. Therefore, you can set the balance of the car exactly where it needs to be.

The one downside of Koni Yellow's? They're more expensive initially. I do think that coming from the factory, the Koni's outperform the KYB's when it comes to handling stiff springs. The ride quality nod goes to KYB, as the softer setting is more enjoyable on the street. In my DD though, I use Koni's.

Here's a link that has a very in depth discussion on how to set up a suspension properly. While it focuses on autox, the basic theory lies the same whether it's street, autox or track.

Autocross to Win

 

You can get tokico blues off ebay for $260.
Here you can find the springs for $161 Tanabe GF210s.

http://www.istoreparts.com/advanced_...b9e7160a1065f4

This is what i'm doing + strut tower bars.

Actually this places has the blues for even less.

http://www.matrixracing.com/p-9399-8...ce-shocks.aspx

 

I'm going to hijack this thread. through google and search, it hasn't helped me.

What's a coilover, and what does it do? I know it has to do with suspension, but that's all I know.

 

If you can find a good set of Tokico Illumina 5 struts and racing beat springs kicking around, they make for a great set up for road of autocross use. I use that set up on my 10th AE autocross/street car and they work great. And i think that even if you went new you would only spend maybe $100 or so more than your range.

 

I just looked at the Blues at matrixracing, and they want $84 shipping to 97405. The seller on Ebay has free shipping to the continental United States, bringing the price lower on ebay

 

Eibach prokit + the KYB will be a fine set up. It will ride better than stock and handle better too. You can make the setup as firm/hard as you want with the adjustable shock damping.

I have Eibach prokits and tokico blues. It is a fine handling setup that is much easier to live with than the stock springs, but is also much firmer. Yes, you can have both firmer and less harsh. My car feels firm and planted yet doesn't have a harsh edge.

Harsh doesn't mean better handling. Firm doesn't have to mean harsh. Progressive springs don't make a car handle like a boat unless you also have soft or worn out shocks.

My drop was about 5/8" over the oem springs. The car is pretty low. I can't slide a regular floor jack under the chassis, so I can't imagine how I could live with another 1.5" lower.

 

Eibach springs lower the car .8", front and rear.

 

Eibach springs lower the car .8", front and rear.

 

Not a big fan of progressive springs, I had some for a while and didn't like the inconsistency of them. I also like to drive at the track and found they are too soft.
Nice for the street though.
Save your money, get some nice coilovers (or the Koni yellows as mentioned above), do once, do it right.

 

I'd take a converted, revalved Koni yellow coilover over all the J-spec coilovers under $4k any day of the week. At least I know I can repeat adjustments and that my shocks are propely valved for my springs.