Hi,

​​​​​​I currently run old tein flex coilovers (i think they have 10/8 spring rates Front/rear) on my fd and lowered the ride height a bit. With this setup, i can feel any bumps on the street which is just uncomfortable. Would the Ohlins road and track coilovers be a good improvement in this regard, despite the stiffer spring rates (11/11)?

Regards,
Ica

 

I don't have time for a lengthy response but suggest you look at some of the recent threads in the 3rd gen section on this topic.

 

Short answer: Yes. They'll feel better than old Flexes, but you'll still feel bumps. The O'hlins feel a lot like a stock R1.

 

I went with the Sakebomb special FPspec Touring. Had your concerns, and opted for this.

 

I had a look but didnt find anything. Which threads are you talking about?

Still feeling bumps is absolutely OK, but i dont want to be jolted with every road imperfection

 

There are some in this:
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...nsion-1149308/

 

Thanks for the link. I read through the 9 Pages. Dale went with the tein flex z instead of the Ohlins. I currently have the old "tein flex" not flex z. Is there any comparison between these two?

 

Well, its not many who have had either and then changed i think, having tried both. And going from what people are saying, most of those who spend 1500+ on suspension have cognitive bias and will tell you its awesome no matter what
Seeing you are located in Germany, you have the same issue as me: Its very far to the nearest other FD owner, and they dont have Öhlins that you can test.

But, given Öhlins reputation i dont think its possible to get it (very) wrong with a setup of them. They are after all OEMs to Swedish supercars Also, the Porshe guys who do track days seem to like them also. One of the few Öhlins dealers here in Norway is one of the larger Porsche dealerships

 

If comfort is your primary concern, coilovers aren't your best option.
That said, an FD with coilovers is pretty darn comfortable compared to strut-based cars with coilovers...

 

These cost me $250 delivered to my door from Japan. 4000miles OEM Bathurst coilovers. around 2-2,5 inches if adjustment. Said to be pretty comfy. Can be refurbuished using the OEM strut tops and spring perch rubber.
Its worth a shot if you want to give them a test. Pops up from time to time on Yahoo.jp. Jessestreter.com did all auction work and shipping. I used seafreight and had them after 4 months. They also offer UPS shipping for around $200 extra.

 

Lowering the car is a must have too. The newer Type tein flex z seems to be an option too. But i need to find out the difference between old Flex and Flex z.

 

I got an answer from tein UK, saying the flex and flex z have the same spring rates and same damping force on the hardest settling, but the flex z can be set softer. Can anybody vouch this?

 

How low is your car?
You might actually just be hitting your bump stops because your shocks do not have enough stroke at your ride height.
10/8 is actually not that hard.
My 2500-pound track car is on 10/10 and its a fairly smooth ride.

 

I dont think thats the case. My car is just slightly lowered. What suspension do you have?

 

I have some crappy Taiwanese coilovers with pretty weak damping, come to think of it...

 

How much shock travel / space do you have between the top of the shock and the bump stop in the rear? Difficult to tell with the wheel in the way but this is a big source of an uncomfortable suspension - irregardless of shock and spring rate

 

Oof, that's..... not enough stroke, even with bump rubbers.

Coil binding might also be an issue, but probably not with a bog standard set of street coilovers from a fairly reputable company, unless the springs have been preloaded to within an inch of their life.

For full length tapped coilovers like the Teins, you only need enough preload to keep the spring from dangling on droop.

 

Yeah, that was the starting point on a Spec Miata where someone had set ride height per "recommendations" without truly understanding the impact of the ride height measurement on the suspension functionality. I fixed that afterwards.

 

Observation, a LOT of FD coilovers are too long, or at least the body to shaft ratio is too long, so at the ride heights a lot of people use (25" or so at the lips), there's not much travel left before the bump stops. On my JRZs, I've run with NO bumpstops at all, after previously shortening the standard manilla colored ones quite a bit. I have zip ties on the shafts, and in the rear there's MAYBE 1/8" left to the hat, and probably 1/2" or so in front, after years of tracking with 14k springs. The lengths are such that I can get max droop with the car in the air.

ALSO, there's only so much you can do with really stiff springs, but good control is essential. Bad control, even with relatively soft springs sucks. I'd rather have stiffer springs in that case to at least keep the car from crashing over every bump. My prime example for that is Koni Yellows. I absolutely hated those shocks.

 

Hey, how's it going! Our shop is an Ohlins engineering partner, located in Fremont CA, and we developing custom Ohlins kits for over 10 years. We do a lot of different chassis, but our bread and butter is the FD. We have some off-the shelf custom kits using the raw dampers bought straight from Ohlins, or we can do something custom specifically for you, depending on your wants and needs.

As far as your initial question goes, upgrading to a Road and Track kit will have a few different benefits over the Teins, including ride comfort and performance-driving-pradictability. Because of their DFV damper technology, they're able to damp out smaller bumps like road imperfections MUCH better than pretty much anything else on the market, including the Teins you've currently got. Although the Road and Track kit comes with 11/11KG rates, it rides closer to a 9/9KG because of how effective the dampers are at smoothing out the road below you. One of our employees had a set of Flex Zs when he started here, and after going for a quick test drive one on of our shop cars that has a Road and Track kit on it, he bought a set the same day. They're THAT much of an improvement. In addition to that, they're fully rebuildable in the USA!

Also, as a heads up, if anyone is interested in some suspension (or anything else that we make), our Black Friday sale is going until the end of this week! Use code BLACKFRIDAY23 at checkout for big ol savings!

If you've got any other questions, we would be more than happy to help get you sorted! Please shoot us an email at info@sakebombgarage, and we can help you find exactly what you need.

 

I installed flex z coilovers as a stop-gap on my latest FD, thinking I'd get OEM like performance and save on labor (they're about $600-700/set here and coilovers are slightly easier to install). That's basically what they are, but the springs are so soft that the car bounces around on the highway if you have them set to halfway to softest or lower. Near the stiffest settings they work alright, but then they start feeling slightly less comfortable than stock springs & shocks. Previously I've had an FD on Ohlins (rebuilt a set of DFVs at roughly the original spring-rates iirc) and another on stock OEM suspension. The Flex Z coilovers are the worst experience of the 3 IMO, but very similar to the stock setup. Overall my thoughts are that the spring rate is way too soft on the Flex Z's and I think they could've gone slightly stiffer and had a better product. Oh, the Teins are also quite a bit heavier than the ohlins fwiw.

The ohlins you felt more of the road than stock, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Sort of a magical feeling. However, you need to rebuild them more often, so it's more expensive in the long-term.

 

My FPspec GTs feels like a modern car. They are no less comfortable than my bone stock VW Golf 7.
I have not pushed them very hard, but so far they get a huge thumbs up from a guy who is very sensitive to NVH.