I have searched lots on the coilovers topic and have read that the HKS are a very good coilover. Has anyone recently installed these and how do You like them. They sure look nice and I have found them for a reasonble price with the solid pillow mounts.

Steve

 

My friend has this set in his car. They are very very nice. You can adjust the stiffness from the top of the shock absorber so you don't have to get under the car and jack it up like a lot of other shocks. They are about 30 something way stiffness adjustable so you can go from virtually near stock comfort stiffness level to hardcore track stiffness. The build quality is excellent as well, among the best i've seen. The only problem I have with them is that it takes a lot of trial and error with the suspension settings to determine your preferred handline characteristic

 

I've had them for 2 months, and will say the quality of the shocks is outstanding...lots of levels of adjustment. My only complaint is the spring rates they chose...7.8 kg/mm front and back. No matter what damping level I choose in the back, the car wants to oversteer, even off throttle. I have had the car sideways on at least 5 different occasions where I have taken circular onramps aggressively...def a bit worrisome. The 7.8 kg/mm springs correspond to a rate of around 440 lb/in...so I will swap out the rear springs and go with a 325 lb/in 60mm spring. Any 60 mm spring about 9-10 inches in length should work fine.

 

RotaryKnight used to run those and he knows alot about HKS, try asking him.

For the spring rates, I personaly think 8kg/6kg is perfect for street. HKS is pretty close and Custco has those rates. You can also lower your shock settings to compensate if you think the rears are too stiff.

Don't you mean understeer if your rear end is loose? I beleive wider rear wheels create oversteer and the softer rear spring rates help compensate that. If your running the same width F/R then you may want the same spring rates.

I am running 10kg/8kg and will either go softer or add helper springs. This is just my personal experience an opinions. I'm not an expert on this.

 

I really do not know much about suspension tuning, but assuming the front and rear tire widths are identical you would want a factor of around 1.2-1.4 difference as a ratio between the actual front and rear rates. This comes from the fact that the car has a 50/50 weight distribution and the fact that the front and rear suspension geometries are different such that the effective spring rate is changed by about a factor of 1.2-1.4. The stock springs have a stagger (ratio F/R)of 1.4, and the Mazdaspeed coilovers are a factor of like 1.35, the Tein HAs like 1.3. The 8/8 on the Hiperdamper IIs just feels wrong. I have tried softening up the rear to no avail, since in steady state it's the spring rates which determine the oversteer/understeer tendencies. This is no big deal since I'll just swap out the rear springs.

 

Aren't the spring rates on the HKS 8kg/7kg? ...I think they should be 8/6 like Custco but maybe they are assuming the same width F/R tires?

Anyhow, I thought the R1 rates were 300lbs F/R and R2 296lbs F/R?

Are the stock springs softer in the rear?

Anyone know the rates for the touring springs?

 

All the springs for the R1, touring and base are the same rates (I think like F280/R190). The HKS hiperdamper IIS have the same rates front and rear (7.8 kg/mm). The older verion hiperdampers from 2 years ago (with less adjustability) did have a slight stagger (8/7 I think).

 

You can't beat the quality of these. If you guys are truly interested we can setup a group buy on these or the Endless coilovers which are of equal quality.

Rishie

 

Yes, endless coilovers look very nice too, but too bad i haven't had the chance to try them out

 

I have had hks coilovers on my car for the past 6
months of daily driving. I love them and they have been
great. i have not really had any problems of oversteer
other then when i really get on the gas in a corner. I
think its due more to the hp of my car than the rear
spring rates. i thought the 8kg = out to around 600lb
springs? I don't remember for sure.


the hks are a quality setup, but unless you get a really
good deal it's hard to beat the JIC coilover setup.

I was going to get the top of the line JIC's untill I got
a really good deal on a set of HKS. I have been very
Happy with them so far, but if i had to pay around 1400-1600
I would have gone with the JIC's just for price.

James
93 mb

 

I'm really eyeing the Endless coilovers. The have so many options it's crazy. Aluminum casings, Steel casings. Then HKS is just always the ****. I could never comlain about any HKS product. They are on top of their game, but yes they are expensive.

Rishie

I'm hoping to get some Endless coilovers pretty soon. I know my buddy got some B6 for his IS300. I'm looking forward to a drive in it.

 

Rishie,

Does Endless have an application for the FC? The last of which I knew, they had it only for the FD. (I know they have a rotor/caliper combo for the FD)