rynberg

Now that I've put some miles on my new suspension, I thought I would post a review. This review covers the HKS Sport springs and Koni Sports (Yellows) shocks.

First of all, my car is a daily driver (19k miles in the last 20 months of ownership). I also use the car for monthly auto-x and am getting into road circuit track events.

Springs:

I bought the HKS springs because they have less of a drop than other springs on the market (about 0.6" front/0.8" rear) and they are also stiffer than most other springs. They are progressive with a rate range of 370-445 lb/in up front and 260-320 in rear. This works out to an average of roughly 400/290, which maintains the stock ratio front/rear.

Shocks:

I bought the Koni Sports because of the adjustability and because so many people are running them. Unfortunately, the adjustment only increases the rebound and not the compression. More on this later....

Road Opinions:

With the Konis set to full soft, the ride is actually about the same as stock. It rides a little better than stock over small bumps (Bott's dots) and road ripples, but rides worse over the bigger bumps. The downside to this setting is that it is obvious that the shocks cannot fully control the springs. There is a little more body motion than with the stock setup over bumps. It's not terrible but it IS noticeable. I have struck a daily driver balance of having the Konis 1/2 turn up from full soft.

The car does corner significantly flatter now. However, I am having a hell of a time with driveways and other situations (due to the lowering). In fact, there's a 90 curve (not a true corner) by my house with a dip in the middle. I have either scraped my lip or my anti-roll bar mounts on the pavement there several times. I really don't know how people run lower ride heights with the R1 lip (I have the touring lip).

Overall, it IS an improvement in handling over stock but I wouldn't do any serious driving with the shocks this soft.

Track Experience:

Auto-x: I have gone through one auto-x with the new setup but was still learning the new characteristics, so..... In any case, with the Konis set to a full turn up from soft, the springs were much better controlled. The car cornered flatter but gave me less confidence about where the limits were. This was a good learning experience. I look forward to the next auto-x.

Road Circuit: I went to a track day at Buttonwillow with Speed Ventures. This was the full track including the Bus Stop and Lost Hill (track config #1, CW). I set the Konis to 1-1/2 turns from full soft. After having had more driving time (and a full alignment) since the auto-x, I was much more comfortable with the car. The suspension felt great! It never felt too stiff or too soft, just right. The car turned in sharply and felt very, very neutral. I only had the rear drift on me a couple of times and it was easily catchable. The only time it understeered was when I blatantly overcooked the hairpin. Oops! I am very happy with the new suspension for road circuits.

The only negative I can express about this spring/shock combo is the Koni's non-adjustable compression damping. It seems obvious to me that some of the ride harshness is due to the fact that the springs compress quite a bit and then are controlled very well on the rebound. I think the ride quality might actually be better with more compression damping. This also manifested itself on the track where I scraped something (again, either the front lip or an anti-roll bar mount) EVERY single time going into the Magic Mountain section of Buttonwillow.

Needless to say, this just proves that for optimal handling, the shock must be tuned for the spring it will be used with.

To sum up, I'm pretty happy with my new suspension. The car is nicely lowered but not slammed into the weeds. More importantly, the handling is flatter and has remained neutral. I would recommend this setup to anyone who tracks their car occassionally and does not want to get into the aftermarket coil-over situation.

roadsterdoc

Nice writeup and good info.

Question: Do you have the Koni's on the stock spring perch position or lowered?

DamonB

Stock front sway bar? Next time out try full hard on the front and leave the rear at full soft. If you have a very small, tight course dial the rear in as hard as you need to rotate the car, no more than half a turn. The stiff front will hold the car flat through fast transitions, the soft rear will help put the power down.

With nothing but Konis my car seemed to become a rocket through slaloms. After adding the Tripoint front bar and going back to square one on setup the car is much better, especially in the faster stuff.

rynberg

They were supposed to be installed at the stock spring perch position but the fronts seem lower than the 0.6" claimed by HKS for the front springs. I'm going to double check this weekend but I haven't had the time lately (painting the house..... )

rynberg

I still have the stock 95 PEP front and rear bars.

Maybe I'll try that but I have noticed that my 95 seems to understeer a bit more than 93s and R-models. The slightly smaller rear bar on my car obviously has a noticeable effect. So far, I really don't like the feel of the rears at the softer shock settings. The rear feels "funny". Maybe it's because it's rolling a bit and taking a "set" through the corner. I'll give your suggestions a try at the next auto-x though...

The car is definitely under more control in a slalom situation. I was actually thinking about upgrading both bars to the Racing Beat setup at some point. I haven't really done any research on sway bars for this car yet....

Thanks for your advice.

EviLPeNeviL

iTrader: (2)

So that's what you've been up to..... Time for a ride in your car again man!!

-Dan