brianw90

iTrader: (5)

k so i met this guy once with a fc that lives kinda close to me. he bought the car as a project but it never ended up running. the guy before him was building it to be a track car

hes now parting it out. it has a set of coilovers on it that i am interested in (since i had originally planned on getting springs to drop it) he wants $350 for the coilovers which is not much more than the springs.

1) what should i look for when i am buying them (if i buy them lol)
2) car is only a daily driver...worth it? hows the ride?

they are height adjustable, he wasnt sure what brand they are b/c they came with the car when he got it but said they have less than 2,000 miles on em

im really lookin to close some of the wheel gap (more so in the back than the front) while adding some more handling in there as well. and with them being height adjustable it grabs my attention a little more rather than just lowering springs

he also has a gp front bumper for $100 bucks was wondering how high it would eventually be off the ground without having to scrape everywhere in combo or without the coilovrs

w0ppe

Well, if you're going to go with coil-overs, you're leaving the "Daily-Driving" area. Coil-overs are built to have supreme suspension stiffness and unless you feel like having to feel the road literally, you would be better off with a new spring and dampener set. NOW, that's only if the coil-overs are really stiff (most likely) as you have to look at the spring rates and dampener rate.
I've no idea much on the front bumper since I have yet to see pictures. I can only say is to measure yours from the ground, and measure the new one and align it. Just be careful going over speed-bumps!

jackhild59

iTrader: (7)

Coil overs ride like ***.

Have you ever ridden in a car with coil overs? Do you think that if you look cool enough that the ride won't matter?

Alex Rodriguez

iTrader: (137)

coilovers- win

gp sports front bumper on stock body fc- FAIL

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

Good coilovers ride well. My Kei Office are absolutely fine to drive on the street and I put 10k on them in 6 months. Shitty over dampened coilovers with 10k rates probably feel like *** on the street but there are other options out there.

Black91n/a

That MIGHT be a good deal, it all depends on what they are. Look for signs of leaking around the shaft where it enters the shock body, if it's leaking there, they'll definetely need a rebuild. I've got reasonably soft coilovers, but I wouldn't reccomend them for people who don't take the car to the track, because IMHO the ride, while not too bad, isn't worth it on the street. Anyway, on the street, especially on rough roads, you'll probably get more grip from a spring/shock combo due to the extra compliance.

KhanArtisT

iTrader: (2)

You could just get the GC coilover sleeves and get a mild shock/spring combo with soft springs. I don't even know what "soft" in an FC feels like, even the stock suspension is hard as hell. I would have to live in an area with some nice *** roads to justify daily driving one.

Hypertek

iTrader: (3)

Ok that is really cheap for coilovers, .. remember they are USED, so the life expectancy could already have been shortened. My first set of coilovers was used because i was excited and thought it was a good deal *hey this was back in 02 and one of my first big mod purchases, and coilovers werent as common yet*. But you can always sell used coilovers and make your money back.

Try to find out the name of the coilover, name,brand, and spring rates. Also, look to see if the lower perch can be adjusted *the proper way to adjust ride height*
example


compared to these

Adjusting the spring perches should be done only to balance out the car since it can effect the spring rate and dampening travel.

Also see if they are damper adjustable, majority of mid-high end coilovers are, but some budget coilovers will not have this option.
If they are Tein coilovers, you may be ok with getting used ones, provided if they are a US spec coilover and not discontinued, Tein offers a rebuilding service at a charge, if one of them happens to be blown.
Some people dislike coilovers. When i first installed coilovers, the handling is night and day. First time taking the car out, had to get used to everyones headlights in my face lol. I used to commute to work in that car over 60 miles total a day. It was ok, not the most comfortable, but on short drives, around town etc, i think the feel you get from them will balance it out.

The whole GP sports kit will be pretty low.. When i remove my gp kit, my car is at a fairly moderate ride height. For $100 get it, if you dont like it, you can always slang it back on the forums and help out another member.

Black91n/a

Yes it's better to be able to adjust the shock position and spring seat, you're 100% wrong on the first point and partly wrong on the second one. Adjusting the spring won't change the rate, all it does is change the pre-load, and unless you've pre-loaded them A LOT, you won't change the rates. Also, changing the shock body changes the effective travel, since it changes where the bump stop engages. Changing the preload with the spring seat, unless you're coil binding at full compression, doesn't change the travel, all it does is change how much is compression travel and how much is droop travel. Often times if you set it to a minimal pre-load and adjust height with shock body only, you'll have very little compression travel, which is bad.

Gene

iTrader: (1)

I don't quite get what you're getting at. If you lower the ride height by adjusting the spring perch you definitely affect suspension travel, as the damper is partway compressed before the spring begins to take any load, and when you unload that wheel with cornering force the wheel will droop without the spring pushing on it. Then when the cornering force diminishes, the car will "fall over" onto that wheel as there is no resistance to compression on that side until the spring hits the perch.

For the OP: Need to find out the brand and model, if they were for a race car they might be super harsh for street driving. I personally drive my FC on the street with Tein Super Drift coilovers installed and they're a pain in the ***, (and I had a pretty hard K2RD kit on there before) but I only drive a couple days a month so I deal with it.

MAXFC3S

buy brand new coilovers. get the right rates. hook 'em up and fck everyone. dont listen to these people. just do what you want. theyre just coilovers. stiffer doesnt mean better. so just watch out. stop the non sense street, track talk bullshit weekend drivin around cones bullshit. hook em up and get done with it.

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

Do everyone a favor and shut up.

Omixeo

iTrader: (1)

Jeez, it seems like half the people on this forum have never even driven a car with coilovers. Everyone assumes they are super stiff and impossible to drive on the street, when in fact its quite the opposite. Once you drive a car with good coilovers you'll never want to go back to a crappy spring/strut combo.

If they are legit coilovers and not just those universal ones that go honda owners buy, the sleeve overs or whatever, then I say buy them. Just make sure the strut isn't blown out or leaking any oil.

Black91n/a

Adjusting with the spring seat changes how much bump and droop travel you get, but it doesn't change the total travel, that is bump plus droop. Having the spring go loose doesn't diminish your droop travel, it's just no longer giving you any more spring rate at that wheel, which is less than ideal. The only ways to affect total travel would be to have droop limiters to stop the spring from fully extending, have the wheel/tire or suspension hit the body to stop it from compressing, or to have the spring coil bind and stop the compression.

Having too much of one and too little of the other is bad, but on the other hand if you drop the car too much with the shock body alone you could end smashing the tire into the fender or something along those lines. If you're running really low it'll be best to have the bump stop fully compressed and supporting the weight just before there's any contact.


Ok I admit I've never driven it on a spring/shock combo other than stock, but I have coilovers and I've daily driven it with them. No it's not that bad, definetely tolerable, but it's only really worth it if they're there for a reason, like better performance at the track. THAT'S my point. What do you know, you live in Arizona, you don't get winter there so the roads will be much better than elsewhere. Try driving over pot holed, frost heaved, heavily rutted roads and you may change your mind. No coilovers aren't THAT bad, but they're definetely less comfortable than stock.

brianw90

iTrader: (5)

could you just take a pic of coilovers and draw a couple arrows where i would look for the oil leaking or any other pointers to look at?

yea a couple of my friends cars really didnt feel too bad.

yea but so would lowering springs....anybody ridin on just lowering springs? hows that ride?

kinda what im thinking (minus the brand new part). if i dont like them, theyll be up in the parts section for someonelse lol


is there a website to get more info on coilovers? you guys are all talking about springrates, dampers, etc
just tryna gain more knowledge/background

so changing the ride height changes the rates?
not tryna slam it, just close up the wheel gap and such

MAXFC3S

if you lower the car by compressing the springs, it will change the rates.
usually you leave that alone with a nice preload and thats it. adjust the ride height using the shock body. it goes up and down when you turn the locked perches that set the preloads. Get it?

Go to the Suspension section. Look for Coilovers.

wvumtnbkr

Changing the height or preload of a spring does not change it's springrate!

Black91n/a

Unless you preload the coilovers to more than the corner weight, it doesn't change the rate. All it does is change the force that's required to start the shock compressing from full extension, so it will ONLY affect things if you unweight a corner entirely, which will almost never happen on the street or at the track. Running too little pre-load can make your car handle and ride badly because it'll be hitting the bump stops constantly.

So unless you do something radical, pre-load doesn't affect rate.

The thing is with the ride, even the soft coilovers have more than double the spring rate of lowering springs, so it'll ride worse. Now if the lowering springs lower the car too much and you're on the bumpstops a lot, then it could well be worse.