Rotary_7

I was wondering when people said that changing ONLY the springs and not shocks for your car will result in bouncy (unpredictable/less grip) rides....
I was thinking of the TEIN S.Tech's ....if they are for dress up, will they still give your car a bouncy ride ...will those give me any improvement on handeling at all?
Or will they just blow my stock shocks??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...sPageName=WDVW

RETed

I would recommend you change your shocks first if they are original.
Changing the shocks makes the most difference in your suspension.


-Ted

midnight_7

im in the same situation now. i have some ST 1'' drop springs and planned to run them with my OEM struts. but ive never heard about this bouncy ride issue with juts a springs change.

ive ridden in alot of cars with just the springs replaced keeping the stock struts and they were fine.

i just want confirmation from ppl who have tried it themselves that changing my springs only will or will not affect the ride quality as much...

thanks

vaughnc

Most aftermarket springs fall into two categories:

- Lowering (Slammed Look only, no performance or worse performance)
- Performance (increase in firmness & sligh height drop over stock)

If you startoff with near OEM struts you shouldn't see much of a difference. If your OEM struts were shot, then you will see a more progressive ride (car rides & handles more solid).

If your buying good aftermarket performance struts in conjunction with aftermarket springs, the resulting firmness may be perfect or too much for you. You can compensate by buying adjustable firmness shocks.

As far as "bouncing side to side" while in a straight line on rough road, that may be because your magnifying the "swaying from side to side" effect as your swaybar & subframe end links are WORN OUT and need bushing/full replacement.

Any suspension changes over stock, you're suppose to do a full allignment. This may include you needing to purchase aftermarket adjustable pieces if the allignment fails due to "out of adjustment" with the stock pieces. I'm talking about tierod, laternal link, & sub-link adjustments in the front & rear suspension.

Putting on aftermarket springs or lowering the car without getting the allignment FULLY CORRECT can make your car handle like a POS. It's not the fault of the parts you installed. Same thing with wornout bushings on the car. Tires, struts, & springs will only help so much if the bushings are shot.

Hope that helps

Rotary_7

hhhmmm....so if i get the TEIN springs listed above....will it be in tha PERFORMANCE or SHOW category???

vaughnc

Details from their website:
http://www.tein.com/ti/m00.html

Looks like a pretty agressive height drop. Website says 1.5" drop, ebay auction says 1.75. To prevent constant scraping, you'll probably have to compensate with larger tires & rims. And with a 1.75" drop, it's going to be very challenging to get the CASTER and overall suspension geometry back into the correct allignment.

I'm not sure how to convert "Spring Rates" to "% additional stiffness" over stock. Tein does have some NICE coilovers, so I'd assume their springs are good too.

:: Body: FC3S

:: Spring Rate Front: 2.1/117 (gf/mm, lbs/in)
:: Spring Rate Rear: 2.4/134 (gf/mm, lbs/in)
:: Ride Height Front: -25 (mm), -1 (inch)

:: Ride Height Rear: -24.5 (mm), -1 (inch)