Considering how long you've been on this forum, I would think you know by now that putting "no offense" before a post means dick all in this wonderful electronic wonderland. In fact most of the time I see it used to imply that someone's about to be condescending in their upcoming statement. Sorry for "yelling" over the internet, but I get a little pissy when people make assumptions about me, or what I know about my own car.

I guess I shouldn't have wasted my time writing a long-winded response and just simply said, "I had rubbing issues that I wanted to get rid of, and I was leaving for school, where I have no tools, and the coilovers wouldn't fit in the car with the tons of other **** I was taking." But, I felt that your question had absolutely no place in a thread about what coilover setup to run, and also that it was taking a shot at my intelligence regarding cars. Sorry, but there's an overwhelming population of ********* on these boards, sometimes I can't help but turning into one myself.

 

8800-series penske's with progressive rates and top helpers

 

I've heard that JIC have horrible customer service also and of many people after street driving them getting leaky shocks. Then fighting tooth and nail to have them replaced for free if at all... and it taking forever to accomplish.

Penske is coming out with some new more budget friendly double adjustable coilover that are supposed to be in the $2500 range. Typcial Penskes cost $6-8K!!!! Wide range of adjustability and they are rebuildable. That is one of the baddest streetable race car setups you can buy. They are having machining issues with the initial release and they should be available before the end of 2006.

If it is mainly a street car and you aren't going ***** out racing then spend $900-1500 on a set of quality coilovers and be done with it. As mentioned new pillow ball bushings and 18 bushings (either eurathane or delrin) should be on your list too.

I put 20K miles on my delrin bushings and they don't squeak.. but do ride a bit firm.

 

FWIW, I've tried various suspension setups:
- all stock
- stock shocks with H&Rs and PFS comfort springs
- Konis with stock shocks
- Konis with PFS comfort springs
- Konis with H&Rs
- the RSR coilovers that Howard Coleman recommends

Best compromise I've found are stock shocs with H&Rs or Konis with H&Rs. I drove on the RSR coilovers with modest 450/350 ish spring rates and hated it on the street. Especially in the wet.

Don't forget what a stiffer suspension does for traction in slippery conditions or cold weather... Stiffer ain't always better.

I got the coilovers for the cool factor and thinking I could corner balance the car and the handling would be amazing. The cruel reality is that on the street the higher spring rates made the car break away much sooner when the pavement was cold (winter) or when it was raining damp. On top of that the ride suffered considerably, especially over east coast expansion joints and pot holes. Put bluntly - I thought it ******* sucked.

Re-installed my Konis and mounted the H&Rs and was much happier. The ride height is where it needs to be at about 25.5" all around with the rear spring perches set to the middle and the fronts at the top. Bumps don't totally upset the balance of the car on the street. Wet traction is increased significantly - or back at normal in my case.

Think about what you are really trying to accomplish by switching to coil overs before going through the trouble and expense.

 

The popular choice these days is the Tein Flex and the Megan Racing coilovers. I sell 1-2 sets of the flex a week.

Jason

 

OK I've done a bit of searching & reading now...
I want the best I can get of both worlds. My car may see a track day @ VIR & be a dragon slayer a couple times a year at the most. So daily drivability is most important. I need the springs dia. as small as possible to allow the largest rims & tires. So I need the best bang for the buck in a small package.

mike