93redFD

i dont know anything about suspention ok,, please excuse the dumbass ???s... I want somthing that will keep my fd on the ground and stable and lower too... what are the diffs of struts , shocks, and coilovers ?? what will be something good for a street car??? I dont want to spend alot of money!!! What about springs ,,will they do me any good???

Johnny

koni yellow... ~500 bucks
Ground control (eibach) coilover kit ~500 bucks..

my springs rate are 450(f) and 375(r)
riding on 18's with 35 series rubber...pretty stiff, but alot of ppl go stiffer..like a 550/450 or something similar...personally I think this is too much the koni yellow's to handle...might need to move to GAB Super R's..which run you over $800 for shocks.

Hope that helps

maxcooper

The FD uses shocks at all four corners. Struts are like shocks, but they are for MacPherson strut suspensions (like the front of the FC & BMWs).

While any shock/spring setup for the FD is technically a "coil-over" because the shock is surrounded by the spring, the term coil-over in this context refers to having adjustable spring perches and standard-sized springs. The stock setup uses FD-specific springs with fixed perches. Coil-overs typically use standard 2.5" springs and have threads on the shock body (or a threaded sleeve around the shock) that allows you to change the position of the lower spring perch (by screwing it up or down the shock body).

Johnny's recommendation sounds good to me. I like soft springs in the rear to increase the grip back there, so I might recommend 450F and 300R for 18" wheels. For 17" wheels, something like 550F and 350R might be good. The numbers are the spring rate in pounds per inch. The general goal is to be as soft as you can without rubbing at the ride height you want. To do that with a lowered car with 18" wheels you'll need much stiffer springs than the stock 280/200 setup.

Coil-overs are nice because you can choose whatever rates you want. And perhaps just as important, you can change the ride height to avoid rubbing, change the look, or adjust the CG of the car. You also get more room for wide wheels and tires because the spring (and perch) diameter is smaller.

Koni or Bilstein shocks will be good for the street. GAB super-R shocks are too rough for street use, IMHO. Plus they cost a lot more.

-Max

Johnny

yes I agree with Max...GAB's are too rough for the street..I had them and went to koni...

also one more note of the length of the eibach springs that come in coilover kits from ground control...the front could be 1 to 2 inches longer...I have my koni on the top thread and the collar all the way up to the top...would be nice to have a spring that was 2 inches taller in the front...the rears are perfect

ARD T2

iTrader: (22)

I have the same suggestion. Koni Yellows and GC's or H&R's. Depends if you want tunability or rideability. GC's get bouncy sometimes on the freeway.

Let me know if I can help. I am a w/d distributor for GC and hook up Konis as well. Hope I can save you some money.

I'm used to seeing the Konis for around $575.00 shipped and GC's for around $550.00 or so shipped.

Thanks, rishie

SpeedRacer

I disagree with you about you wanting as soft of suspension as possible without rubbing. I admit that there is a common misconception that stiffer equals better and more traction, when that is completely untrue. The stiffer your suspension, the LESS mechanical grip your tires will have with the road. However, with a stiffer suspension weight loads will transfer more quickly allowing the car to respond more quickly to driver input. Depending on the type of driving you do and driver preference you may want a stiffer suspension setup than is required for maximum grip without rubbing.

93redFD - Here is just some general information on how different suspension components effect the handling of your car.

Springs - When your car is at rest, springs are what are holding you car up. So obviously shorter springs will make your car sit lower. When you accelerate, weight shifts to the rear of the car putting more weight on the rear spring, forcing the rear spring to compress which lowers the rear of the car. The opposite is true for braking. When you are cornering, weight is shifted to the outside springs compressing them.

Struts/Shocks - Often referred to as Shock absorbers or dampeners, act as a hydraulic to control the oscillations of the spring. You know how doors have those thingies(forgive me for not knowing what they are called)on top that make them close slowly? Well thats essentially what a shock does. Without a shock when your car went over a bump your springs would compress, and once the spring is compressed it is storing energy. That energy must be released in the form of the spring uncompressing(or rebounding). Without a shock your spring would oscillate up and down several times before stopping. Imagine your car bouncing up and down several times every time you hit a bump, accelerate, brake, or turned a corner. Your car would be undriveable.

Anti-roll bar - An anti-roll bar is essentially a spring that acts laterally only. Meaning that when you accelerate or brake it doesn't do anything, but it resists lateral weight transfer that causes body roll when cornering.

In conclusion - Springs will affect how quickly load is transferred under braking, accelerating, and cornering. Stiffer springs will give you less mechanical grip by making your car react more quickly to driver input.
Shocks, also effect how quickly load is transferred under braking, accelerating and cornering. The difference is shocks really only effect your cars handling in transitional states, meaning the moment of braking, or the moment of acclerating, or the turn-in point of a corner. Once the transitional stage is over, the springs effect steady state cornering. In general stiffer springs require a stiffer strut to handle the oscillations of the spring.
Anti-roll bars, stiffer makes load transfer to the outside tires during cornering more quickly allowing the car to react more qucikly, but have less grip. They do not effect braking or accelerating. If you already have upgraded springs and you want your car to have less body roll, you would want to get a better, or adjustable anti-roll bar, rather than stiffen the cars springs(as springs don't just affect cornering)

Anyways, sorry I went off there, I do that sometimes.

93redFD

ok thanks everybody,,, so i guess i will go with the koni yellows.... but does anybody use coilovers in rear and stuts in front or somethng like that????
thanks SREEDRACER for the long post..

newRX7fan

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SpeedRacer
[B]

>The stiffer your suspension, the LESS mechanical
>grip your tires will have with the road.

How stiff the suspension is doesn't affect the amount of mechanical grip (at least not directly), assuming the road is smooth. Its the front/rear balance of stiffness that matters, not the overall value.

As a side effect of body roll and camber change in the wheels, a stiffer suspension can improve grip by lowering the amount of roll which then may prevent the wheels from getting undesirable camber.

SpeedRacer

[QUOTE]Originally posted by newRX7fan
[B]Actually, that is incorrect. The stiffness of your springs and struts does DIRECTLY effect the amount of mechanical grip. The front to rear balance of stiffness will effect whether your car has a tendecy to oversteer or understeer, but still more stiffness equals less mechanical grip. For instance say on a given car, your front to rear spring stiffness is a 1:1 ratio for neutral balance. If you were to double the front and rear springs maintaining the same 1:1 ratio the car will have less cornering grip(although still handle neutral). I am assuming that nothing else in the suspension changes, ie camber, bump steer, etc...

The reason for the loss of mechanical grip is because the load transfer happens more quickly with a stiffer suspension. This means the car reaches its maximum cornering potential faster. It is a known fact that the coefficient of friction(CF) is decreased with increases in download. So with a stiffer suspension the CF decreases more rapidly(because the weight transfer, and therefore download on the tires happens more quickly) allowing the lateral G-forces caused by cornering to overcome the cars traction force.

What you said about stiffer suspension causing less body roll and therefore less camber change is correct though. There is a comprimise between losing mechanical grip due to stiffer suspension, gaining responsiveness by stiffening the suspension, and yes body roll and camber changes also effect how one sets up a cars suspension.

SpeedRacer

Coilovers have a strut IN them(although not all coilovers come with struts/shocks, such as Ground Control Coilovers, which require you to buy struts to go along with their Coilovers. So to answer you question, no. If you get coilovers, you get them for all 4 corners.