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Back when I was a kid in high school and broke as can be I bought some rev9 Hyperstreet 2 coilovers. The spring rate is 8k/6k front to rear and yet I still find myself smashing my head against the roof on the freeway and I feel like its turning my spine into a question mark. I'm in Tennesee so I want to have this car to be fun for mountain carving but mainly I just need it to be comfortable so I can use it for long hauls (4hr+ drives)
I was looking through the forums for hours and most people seem to think the 8/6 setup is perfect for street use, so is it the shocks? I have them on the lowest possible setting but Idk where to see what that setting is as it could still be stiff as hell. rev9 does make softer springs that would be 5/4, and the rev9's I bought years ago still seem to be in pretty good condition so I'm not sure if I should just swap it out for softer springs or go for new shocks entirely. I'd rather not have to get new shocks but if I dont have any other choice I guess I'm gonna have to stomach it.
spring rates are meaningless if the shocks have nonexistent damper function. in my experience there is no such thing as a compromise with coilovers, they all ride harshly no matter what. that includes the most expensive ones with proper damping.
i've driven in hundreds of FCs and never once did i think to myself "these coilovers feel great" and look under the car to see what was there, that includes rather expensively set up SCCA competition cars.
my car is manageable on the street but i still avoid big dips and even small potholes to save what's left of my back. i never had to do that with modified stock fit struts. i do miss my KYB AGX however they do limit wheel sizes, my car currently has 245/45ZR18 front and 285/45ZR18 rears which wouldn't fit without coilovers.
i have my HKS HiperD set at the softest setting as well, and it's still bone jarring at times. now that i have spinal compression issues i have to be overly cautious when i drive the car.
Last edited by notanymore; May 1, 2025 at 11:51 AM.
spring rates are meaningless if the shocks have nonexistent damper function. in my experience there is no such thing as a compromise with coilovers, they all ride harshly no matter what. that includes the most expensive ones with proper damping.
i've driven in hundreds of FCs and never once did i think to myself "these coilovers feel great" and look under the car to see what was there, that includes rather expensively set up SCCA competition cars.
my car is manageable on the street but i still avoid big dips and even small potholes to save what's left of my back. i never had to do that with modified stock fit struts. i do miss my KYB AGX however they do limit wheel sizes, my car currently has 245/45ZR18 front and 285/45ZR18 rears which wouldn't fit without coilovers.
i have my HKS HiperD set at the softest setting as well, and it's still bone jarring at times. now that i have spinal compression issues i have to be overly cautious when i drive the car.
so with that in mind, would it be best to just go back to stock shocks? Or if I custom ordered some shocks from fortune auto coilovers would they be able to make it work to fit my need?
so with that in mind, would it be best to just go back to stock shocks? Or if I custom ordered some shocks from fortune auto coilovers would they be able to make it work to fit my need?
if you're wanting a combination of sporty feel without the harshness of performance suspension, i personally loved my KYB AGX with Tein S Tech lowering springs. But these days building that setup costs almost as much as a semi reputable entry level coilover setup. I just take it with a grain of salt, any of these coilover companies will be yes men and say they can build you a streetable setup, whether you want to gamble $1200+ on their word is up to you.
I'm simply a firm believer that you can't make a 4" round spring perform like a proper 12" round coil spring.
ive got a set of Tein HA's, which are old, with 8/6, and the ride is pretty good
i had tried 8/6 with a set of AGX's, and it was awful.
the shocks matter a lot, however the softer the spring the easier it is to get a nice ride.
7/5 is pretty good, or like 350/250lbs/in for a street car.
The more expensive Pbm coils are way softer than the lower cost pbm coils. I remember my buddy jumping in the hatch and how much the car squatted. Just my .02.
my main problem is going over bridges. Theres also a section of freeway whenver I go into town that has waves in the pavement. basically its nowhere near smooth and it goes on for miles and all the while your bouncing up and down and your heads slaming into the roof. And then whenever you go on and off a bridge you hit the lip where it transitions from the asphalt on the dirt to the bridge and does the same thing.
So since Its seeming like I kinda have to get new shocks which ones should I go with? and would I need to get new springs too or are most coilover springs interchangable so long as the diameter is the same? I tried looking up PBM's but couldnt find anything. couldnt find much on tien either.
From my very limited experience it depends on the coilover as too how bad they are on the street. It may be that all off the shelf ones are harsh and beat you to death. I was worried about this very issue when I started this thread a couple years back. Any Coilovers livable on the street. - RX7Club.com - Mazda RX7 Forum I ended up finding theRedshift Competition ones mentioned above and went with them. Due to some of the spring rate talk in that thread and my conversations with Redshift I went with 6k/ 4k spring rates for the street. I have been very happy with them and they haven't beat me to death. They do ride rougher than stock, but most(not all) things aren't bone jarring. That said I can imagine the 8k/ 6k springs most off the shelf coil overs come with must be pretty bad.
I haven't hit my head on the roof yet, but I do tend to avoid potholes when I can. I don't drive the car on the interstate much except between exits on I-40 around Cookeville TN but the overpasses there sound worse than they feel. I am also in TN but Google maps has me a little over 2 hours from your location on your profile.
Not fully relevant but on my Subaru sti I run Tein flex coilovers which are really soft, with the thickest sway bars from whiteline.
lets me mob around town and take crappy California road bumps like a boss, but still corner hard. Turned it into a street rally car.
now that I think about it, a lot of the formula d drift cars were/are set up that way. Soft suspension with a lot of travel since they have so much power, then literally thick straight pipe used as sway bars.
so goes back to saying it’s really in the damping & spring setup, and combination with sway bars.
Last edited by DR_Knight; May 2, 2025 at 12:45 PM.
Not fully relevant but on my Subaru sti I run Tein flex coilovers which are really soft, with the thickest sway bars from whiteline.
lets me mob around town and take crappy California road bumps like a boss, but still corner hard. Turned it into a street rally car.
now that I think about it, a lot of the formula d drift cars were/are set up that way. Soft suspension with a lot of travel since they have so much power, then literally thick straight pipe used as sway bars.
so goes back to saying it’s really in the damping & spring setup, and combination with sway bars.
so your thinking I should get a stiffer roll bar and softer springs? I may actually end up doing that as I'm doing a manual steering rack swap on my FC and had to take the sway bar out anyways. Can anyone else confirm if this setup would work on an FC?? and what was the spring rate on those coilovers?
Here is a post I made in a thread last month where someone was asking about Megan Racing coil overs.
I haven't hit my head on the roof yet, but I do tend to avoid potholes when I can. I don't drive the car on the interstate much except between exits on I-40 around Cookeville TN but the overpasses there sound worse than they feel. I am also in TN but Google maps has me a little over 2 hours from your location on your profile.
Yeah I'm gonna need to drive interstates frequently. my mother has a cabin thats about 30 minutes from the tail of the dragon and I frequently want to go over there but the 3 hour drive KILLS me ;_;
but back to the forum post you refrenced, you said you ran with 6/4 spring rates right? then do you think it is the springs that are my problem? cuz I'm running the 8/6 and i think your correct in that they are reeeally hard.
Yeah I'm gonna need to drive interstates frequently. my mother has a cabin thats about 30 minutes from the tail of the dragon and I frequently want to go over there but the 3 hour drive KILLS me ;_;
but back to the forum post you refrenced, you said you ran with 6/4 spring rates right? then do you think it is the springs that are my problem? cuz I'm running the 8/6 and i think your correct in that they are reeeally hard.
It's hard for me to say as I only have experience with these coil overs and the 6/4 spring rates. I did choose those rates partially because of some things j9fd3s said in my old thread I linked and from talking with Redshift. I also don't know how much of a difference the different valving has, as I have no other coil overs to compare to. Only the stock stuff. Also I am only lowered 1" below stock.
As for driving on the interstate I think it would do fine I just haven't had it on a long trip since installing the coil overs. I do drive it to work 2 or 3 days a week. 20 miles each way. Half of that is on Hwy111 which is a 4 lane divided highway like an interstate with on/ off ramps, overpasses etc. Some ramps I have to pick my path as there are spots that make the transition a rough one. It's not really bouncy, more like a hard hit then it's over. Other half is two lane state road, but it's been paved in the last five to ten years.
It's hard for me to say as I only have experience with these coil overs and the 6/4 spring rates. I did choose those rates partially because of some things j9fd3s said in my old thread I linked and from talking with Redshift. I also don't know how much of a difference the different valving has, as I have no other coil overs to compare to. Only the stock stuff. Also I am only lowered 1" below stock.
As for driving on the interstate I think it would do fine I just haven't had it on a long trip since installing the coil overs. I do drive it to work 2 or 3 days a week. 20 miles each way. Half of that is on Hwy111 which is a 4 lane divided highway like an interstate with on/ off ramps, overpasses etc. Some ramps I have to pick my path as there are spots that make the transition a rough one. It's not really bouncy, more like a hard hit then it's over. Other half is two lane state road, but it's been paved in the last five to ten years.
ok so while I was waiting for a response I ended up calling rev9 and asking about springs. they told me if I was running the softest shock setting (which I am) and I'm still having a rough ride that it would be due to the 8/6 springs. I asked him what a set of 6/4's would run and he said it would only be $200 so I think I am just going to swap the springs out and see how it handles. while I have the sway bar out I may as well get a stiffer one if thats what yall recommend.
Honestly, the best ride you're going to get will be shocks with digressive valving. Which you can get with coil overs, with any springs you want with adjustable damping. Be prepared to pay though.
ok so while I was waiting for a response I ended up calling rev9 and asking about springs. they told me if I was running the softest shock setting (which I am) and I'm still having a rough ride that it would be due to the 8/6 springs. I asked him what a set of 6/4's would run and he said it would only be $200 so I think I am just going to swap the springs out and see how it handles. while I have the sway bar out I may as well get a stiffer one if thats what yall recommend.
It's worth a shot. Not sure on the sway bar. Opinions seem to vary. I didn't change mine and I'm happy at the moment. The coil overs alone reduced body roll significantly.
Honestly, the best ride you're going to get will be shocks with digressive valving. Which you can get with coil overs, with any springs you want with adjustable damping. Be prepared to pay though.
You mentioned digressive valving and I thought I had read that term somewhere when I was looking at coil overs. Sure enough the the Redshift Competition ones use digressive compression valving. They use linear rebound damping. Maybe that's why I seem to not suffer from some of the complaints of other coil overs. They are more expensive than most off the shelf coil overs though.
It's worth a shot. Not sure on the sway bar. Opinions seem to vary. I didn't change mine and I'm happy at the moment. The coil overs alone reduced body roll significantly.
yeah I'm deciding to ditch it for now (for cost reasons) so when my steering rack is rebuild I'll slap it back in. I just got the new springs and I'm removing the coilovers right now so when I get the car all back together I'll let you guys know what the results are.
yeah I'm deciding to ditch it for now (for cost reasons) so when my steering rack is rebuild I'll slap it back in. I just got the new springs and I'm removing the coilovers right now so when I get the car all back together I'll let you guys know what the results are.
it is totally fine to disconnect the bar and tie it up out of the way. race car people do it all the time, its a quick way to tune the car.
it depends on the rates of the bar and the springs, but the bar usually is making a pretty small difference, so it kind of falls into the driver preference bucket. if the driver likes it with no rear bar, that is what we run.
pretty much anything else on a race car is; are we faster or not?
it is totally fine to disconnect the bar and tie it up out of the way. race car people do it all the time, its a quick way to tune the car.
it depends on the rates of the bar and the springs, but the bar usually is making a pretty small difference, so it kind of falls into the driver preference bucket. if the driver likes it with no rear bar, that is what we run.
pretty much anything else on a race car is; are we faster or not?
yeah I've heard a fair few people here run their FC's with no rear sway bar so I might just remove that eventually but I'm not touching it till I have to. Just the front for now is what I'm worried about since I had to remove it to get the steering rack out.
Small update: Really glad I decided to do something about the suspension because I noticed the lower bushing for the left rear shock tower had completly come apart. Rev9 is closed on sunday but they do have replacement parts. hoping I can get just the 1 instead of having to buy a pair but if I need to I'll also mention how their shocks arent as "drop in" as they advertise as there are signs they've been rubbing up against the knuckles. Nothing major, the threads inside havent deformed at all but may as well mention it since I'm reaching out to them anyways.
As far as the front shocks go, they came apart and went back together with the new springs perfectly and I'll have them back into the car when I can get some new mounting bolts for the towers because when I installed them as a stupid highschooler I used 2 different kind of bolts and my OCD now wont stand for it!
Could be this be a source of the harshness of the ride?
if it were multiple springs, possibly but since its just one I doubt it. and there was still some bushing left in there I just pulled it all out for the picture so I could send it to Rev9. As far as the grinding concern, they told me the coilovers come with spacers from the factory. I was a stupid teen when I installed these so most likely I just didnt notice they were in the box or just didnt install them. "if it isnt the consequences of my own actions" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
