Picked up a set of K-spec coilovers for the FD last week from a show, they were cheap but i thought hey ill try them (£580 as opposed to £990 for Teins)

Well, the build quality is very good, im very impressed with them. Adjustment is simple and precise, and i really love the preload independant ride height adjustment (you have two sets of collars, one for the spring platform and one for the lower suspension leg so you can raise and lower the car without affecting the springs at all!)

Ride quality is well...amazing, to be honest. It feels just like a set of coilovers should. Not bumpy or crashy, doesnt skit over bumps - and the handling has increased no end.

Was having some fun on round abouts earlier, i have it dialled in just right so if you begin to understeer you can just ease off the throttle and turn in and the back end begins to come around very slowly.

I'd recommend this kit to anyone on a budget! Years warranty too so hopefully they werent cheap because they break!

Before:



During:









After:

 

Hmm, that things sittin pretty low man, looks great. Watch out for rubbing

 

It does rub a little under braking over bumps at the front, rears are sweet though.

Im going to raise the front a bit. Current ride height is 35cm from centre of wheel to bottom of fender front and rear - so need to raise the rears too ideally if im raising the fronts!

im going to see how it goes...

 

looks good man

 

i notice you start in the day and then the "after" pictures are at night, how longs was the install and was it difficult?

 

looks good.

you really want to change the handling of the car...remove the decorative rear sway bar and install one that can prevent body roll.

usually the first thing to go when the tires rub thru the fender liner is the ignition.

 

Looks good!

 

Are those the RE-sleek headlights? If so, i was wondering how they'd look w/ the stock bumper.

 

lookin good but it does seems really low, remember over the next week or so the car/new struts will furthur continue to settle as well so you may wanna keep an eye on it and raise it up some.

 

I actually started around 10am, and was done by about 5pm. The night pics are because i was too busy driving it after that!

The install wasn't really difficult, had some issues with the bushing fitment at the front but that was a manufacturing defect.

Dubulup - where can i get one of these rear sway bars? does it use the standard mounts? because im concerned about the proximity of the sway bar mounts to the shock body at the moment. You can see what i mean on the photo...its only the rubber touching but this is oil filled is it not?

No, they are not RE-sleek headlights. They are a set i made because i wasnt about to spend £800 on a set of lights when i could make them for £200.

WRex, i know what you mean, the lowness is actually as a result of the settling. I drove the car round the block after fitting and before finalising the settings to get the shocks to settle, measured the ride height and the rear was lower than the front! So i've now lowered the front a further 10mm, gave it a hard drive and the whole cars settled about 20mm

 

coilover installs depend on your tool collection, experience, and surroundings... i've swapped many suspensions on many different cars, used to take me an afternoon, now i've got it down to an hour or two, using air tools and a floor jack/jackstands...

so you really like the way the k-sports feel? personally i was leaning more towards the tiens mainly because they are a more established company with a pretty good track record, but you can't argue with the pricetag on the k-sports... how many other people are running k-sports and what do they think? i did a few searchs right before i bought my FD for tiens and k-sports and didn't come up with to many opinionated threads...

 

I know what you mean Jhew, thats one of the reasons why i got them, to test them. They seem great to me! No complaints as yet at all.

Brilliant as a road car on softest settings, have yet to try them any stiffer for the track.

 

heres another pic:

 

Slammed

 

Damn dude. It took you 7hrs? Looks great though.

 

search google, there are many companies that sell upgraded bars. Most will bolt up like stock and usually the new bar will come with poly mounts. Might as well get some poly mounts for the front bar as well (which is plenty stiff for the weight of the FD). The poly mounts come with a lube for the bar.

 

If you know what you are doing not very long. My mechanic did my coilover install in about 2 hours. And thats including bullshitting and beer breaks.

It would had taken me about a day and half that's for sure.

 

The problem with time comes when you dont have a ramp or anything...

I also did other stuff like fitting a diff brace etc so it took me longer.

I had to jack the car up, remove the wheels, modify and fit my diff brace (needed 1 hr of grinding and test fitting) fit my coilovers, modify the lower mounts for he shocks (they were too large) drop the car down, check the ride height, jack it up again, remove all the wheels again, adjust the suspension, drop it down, check the ride height.

Jacking a car up on ramps and removing and refitting all the wheels is a half hour job. Jacking the car up on the street on its own is a half hour job!

 

Ha, glad to hear other people have fun jacking up their FD. Its definetly a process to perfect.

 

Indeed cgotto!

its hard now too because my car is sooo low lol

 

I noticed a post indicating problems with the mount/bushing, presumably on the lower end of the front shocks. This is a common problem with an easy but not-so-obvious solution. I am posting it here so that someone might see it and remember it when they install shocks or coil-overs.

The bottom of the front shock attaches to the lower control arm. Often, it is hard to get the shock bushing to fit into the opening on the lower control arm. It turns out that one side of that opening is a movable sleeve. Tap it lightly (bolt through hole, nut on bolt in the opening, tap end of bolt) to widen the gap and make it easy to fit the shock. It will snug back up when you tighten the shock bolt during assembly.

-Max

 

What rims are those?

 

I never knew that! I Filed down my bushings! Damn it!

Rims are Rays 57s pros.