Yeah that is a serious spring rate!! Now I am renigging on the poor spring rate comment. ( I think I may have been thinking of the MAX II's.

The increased harshness in ride is a very small price to pay for the increased handling over the stock crap! And the car is not supposed to feel like a friggin Caddy anyways rite?

Do you do any track events?(road track)

 

Sure, on the track where it's as flat and smooth as a pool table. Now on the street with potholes, bumps, and other road irregularities...

 

Wow, those coilovers are sexy looking They should be green for how much they cost, but gold is good too.
I'm looking and researching for shock's/springs/coilovers so let us know how it goes. If I got those I'd have one in each room of the house so i'd see them everywhere But seriously I hope they ride as good as they look.

 

they look awesome. hopefully the potholes wont be too bad

 

I recently researched coilovers and HKS did look nice but wasn't my choice. I personally went with the Endless (Zeal) function B6. www.endlessusa.com They have several advantages over the HKS kits I looked at and were about 1700. Rotary Extreme sells the HKS kits at super prices and has both your kit for 2600 and the next level up (PRO pfr) for $100 more. If you wanted the best HKS product that's the one you should have overpaid for It is ride height adjustable independent of the stroke. http://www.rotaryextreme.com/hiperdamper.html

This kit is probably better than anything some of the other brands like Tein offer but really isn't suitable for the street IMHO.

Anyway I have a write-up of the various brands I researched at the price point I was willing to pay, which was under 2K. http://www.silverbulletrx7.com/coilovers/coilovers.html

 

Yeah I talked to Chuck (Rotary Extreme) and I think he said that the one's I got were the top of the line. I did ask about the Pro Pfr. Oh well, they're still pretty good I guess.

 

Plan to eventually, some track similar to the ones Damian races on would be cool. I think we've all seen his videos.

 

So you spent $3k on coilovers that have insanely high spring rates, and even worse have EQUAL spring rates, and you have never even been to the track?

That's a huge waste of money, especially considering that a $1300 set of Tein Flex would handle/ride significantly better and have the same adjustability.

Sorry to rain on your parade but.....

 

ive been told by some very reputable people that the tein are not as good as a set of hks hypermax damper II's.

One of which was a guy who has had both sets on his 7.

 

Define "not as good". Not as good as what, draining your wallet?

The spring rates on HKS coilovers suck, period. ANY coilover running equal spring rates front/rear is very poorly designed for the FD. I don't care that almost all of the Japanese coilovers do that. It's wrong. If you don't believe me, you can ask Howard Coleman, who's got 22 years of SCCA racing under his belt.

Does your "reputable" source even run his car on the track?

 

I dont remember the specifics. but he used to work for aam motorsports, his name is jason and was in the process of building a 3rotor car. I will try to track him down and see what he said. Im not arguing this either way, im simply stating what I was told by a guy who had used and sold both sets... hell if the teins are better I would love to save some $$

 

My point is most people essentially buy coilovers because they think it will make their car handle better and/or to add it to their mod list. The fact is, very few coilover buyers actually even run their car on the track and have no idea what suspension changes do what.

I could go into great details about coilovers, but dis1 has a nice write-up on his site, from a layman's perspective. I don't necessarily agree with his choice of the Endless over the Tein but he used good logical reasoning when selecting his coilover set instead of "they look pretty in a box".

The Tein Flex and JIC FLT-A2, for example, do everything that the really expensive coilovers do, except they actually have spring rates appropriate for an FD. A coilover package with 800/800 will be VERY twitchy and will be balanced towards oversteer (unless running a big staggered tire setup and stiffer front bar -- it will still be twitchy though).

 

Thanks rynberg, I did my best. I even admit I basically know nothing in regards to tuning my car's suspension but I am doing all I can to learn. There is no point in spending a dime on coilovers unless you learn how to use them and go to the track. My first challenge is to get rid of my understeer I just created for myself by creating my setup. I think I may have lowered the rear too much so I'm going to get the car corner balanced. What better use of my new coilovers?

As for HKS vs Tein I liked HKS better despite the spring rates, which I agree are stupidly even front to rear. Their pfr kit I mentioned does actually have stiffer front rates but for the cost I'd go with something like Ohlins or Aragosta. In the end though I don't know for sure because I didn't buy both kits and put them through some sort of extensive testing regiment.

Personally I didn't get a good feeling about the Tein line. They seemed cheap and I read more complaints about them than any other brand.

dis1

 

A point that is lost on most....

Well, I'll be the first to admit that other manufacturers' coilovers certainly LOOK to be made using higher quality parts/finishes. However, I can put up with replacing parts more often if the things actually work better. There is no way I would spend $2000+ on a set of coilovers designed with equal rate springs front/rear, not to mention kits using 800+ springs.

It should also be mentioned that the HAs are the only Tein coilover I've heard problems about it and it IS their bottom-rung model. The Tein Flex appears to be a little better made. Also, the JIC FLT-A2s look to be made very well and you can even order different spring rates if you don't like the standard ones -- still for hundreds less than the others.

 

imho can be offset with driver ability.. correction.. adaptability as well...
dont fret crazyjake.. you can swap springs if the control issue is via spring rates..

 

A car that oversteers is a car that oversteers, no matter who's driving it. As I said in my post, you can mitigate the oversteer by running a stiffer front bar, a staggered-tire setup, etc. In the end though, the springs are still too stiff. I'd hate to see how bad that setup will skitter on public roads.

 

I could easily learn how to drive my car at its limit around the track with the right front tire flat. Maybe I'm even the world's best driver.

...that doesn't mean the car is not seriously handicapped by forcing it to run on a flat tire.

Those spring rates are the same idea. Sure you can adapt to the car and keep it from spinning in every corner, but you're certainly going to go a hell of a lot slower doing it then you would if you set the car up halfway decently.

 

For the average FD owner the Tein flex is a great setup. Please dont **** money down the drain for an expensive set of coilovers that are a waste on the street. Take the extra money saved and buy something more useful.

Jason

 

<--- See No teeth left there...

I'm the proud owner of the Hypermax II system, and it is 20 or 30 way adjustable as well. The problem is none of those settings are "Good" for City Roads. Sure I can take any corner at 2X the speed of most other cars, but as soon as I'm out of the turn I hit a bump and loose my fillings...
This together with Diff Brace, Polyurathane Motor Mounts, make the car run like it's on rails and the stick doesn't move an inch, figuring acceleration, but oh my, it's not a "Comfy" ride...

On the track on the other hand... wow does it handle... If it wasn't such a PITA to swap out I'd swap it like tires for track days....

 

very true... If you are going to run street only, then upgraded shocks and springs are all you really need at most. If you autocross regularly or do lapping events etc, coilovers would be great...... or If you are poor and autocross regularly, like me,.......... dreaming is the next best thing hahaha j/k

 

Nice writeup on the Endless. I would have spent the money on Work wheels instead of the HKS coilovers or settled for Hyperdampers and special ordered different springs. It's too bad the shop you purchased from didn't question why you wanted the pro's. The do look beautiful but if you don't track the car you're not getting your moneys worth, you will loose money big time reselling them or get nothing selling with the car. I have a set of JIC's and I tried to sell them to get Endless and with them only being a few months old my offers were for less then half

If I were to choose again I would get Bilsteins with HKS white springs, then for coilovers i'd get Buddy Clubs, then for racing i'd get the Endless. I can only dream about Ohlins since I couldn't justify the price.

Before you mount them, get a ride from someone else. Mine are 10/8kg and too stiff for me on the street. I hope you get some good use out of them if you can't exchange them.

 

Yeah, good luck with that.

It's scary, but you have no idea what you are talking about but you spent 3k on shocks/springs because the name is known as a good tuner and you like to have things you need the "hook up" for.

Your car will be nearly undrivable with those spring rates. Additionally, unless you have a really serious front bar, you won't even be able to take advantage of those high spring rates.

For street use, the rates you listed are nearly 3x what you need. Most people run around 500ft lb in the front. Some run higher, but those are on fairly dedicated track cars.

I have personal experience with 800lb springs on the front of my car and though it was great at VIR, it was undrivable at low speeds and in quick transitions.

3k for useless, coilovers. What a shame. A $650 set of Konis and $300 in Ground Control would do the same thing and they would have sold you a properly matched set of springs.

 

Ok, here come the haters. Seems like the last 10 or so posts have been totally derogatory in nature. I do plan to do some road racing and regardless of what you may say, these are good shocks, end of story. I seriously doubt rynberg could feel the difference in spring rates from front to back.

 

You are calling it hating but there are people that are merely trying to educate or assist you.

It is similar to not knowing anything about guns and going out and buying a fully auto H&K. That wouldn't be the best choice for a novice and the coilovers you purchased shouldn't be used by a novice either.

Oh and I guarantee that any knowledgable driver (experienced with an FD or otherwise) could determine that the car he was driving had springs that were too damn stiff.

Before you ever move to agressive spring rates like that you must first be in a position to need them.

Sadly, it isn't function that is important to most people. It is he with the most cool tuner parts wins.

 

Yeah what's wrong with that. I doubt HKS would make a poorly designed product. As I said earlier, how many race teams use there products and their shocks in Japan? Alot.

Yeah, I might lose control and crash into a ditch.

I think I said I'd be going to the track.

Yeah I'm going to call RE Amemiya, Scoot, Apexi, and Pan Speed, and tell them they should switch to that set-up on their race cars cause it's a waste of money and could do the same thing.

What an