Hey guys,

Lately, I've been driving in some poor condition roads and my stiff suspension has been killing me. Currently Im running on tokicos with GC coilovers. While they are great on good condition roads they are just plain awful when the roads turn to crap. I need something better. Any recommendations?

I've read that tein flexs would be better but not much better and that stock suspension would be the softest. What I need is something that will give me a smooth ride. I drive in brooklyn and manhattan alot so that should give you some clue about how bad things can get.

 

Keep your shocks (unless they are blown) and just throw on some Eibach springs. If you really want/need the adjustability of coilovers, then go with Tein Flex with the EDFC.

 

you're underestimating the craziness of new york streets mahjik. think uneven pavement with holes in it exposing either a 6 inch deep pothole or cobblestone. actually a few sidestreets are simply cobblestone with no modern pavement. if that doesn't get you the randomly raised manhold covers will - they are like 2"+ tall. and don't get me started on the highways and bridges.

being a local new jersian i can tell you flex is soft, but it's definitely not new york city soft. i would never drive my car into new york city. you can do it but you'll be playing pothole slalom and getting bounced around 24/7 anyway. i honestly wouldn't even drive a spring shock combo into new york city.

realistically, the roads are absolute ****, even for stock suspension. i would recommend stock, but really, nothing is going to make the ride comfortable.

 

I had Teins on my FD and at the softest setting it was not as stiff as the stock suspension.

 

Nope, I'm not underestimating anything. I ran Tokico's and Eibach springs for years. On the soft setting it was much softer than the stock damper/spring combo. Heck, I bottomed out on places where I never did before with that setting.

Aftermarket setups can be softer than stock. Most likely he's running some fairly high spring rates with the GC's (probably 500/400 which is common). The Tokico's (FD version) don't take well to spring rates over about 400 lbs/in which causes the ride to be jarring. Simply putting on some springs which are more compliant with the damper will give a huge difference in ride quality.

 

azn speaks the truth. I was just explaining this in the tein flex FS thread that I successfully hijacked!

The roads are really just that bad. My suspension is at the softest and highest right now and I can tell you, the car is to low and rides to hard. I constantly dodge things but once in a while you just can't.

Thanks for the info azn. So far, it seems like stock suspension is the softest. I'll look into that. If anyone else has more info please let me know. My car and my butt will appreciate it, along with my passengers.

Also thanks for the info mahj. I'll look into that to.

More info please!

 

What are your spring rates for the GC's?

 

Pothole slalom. That is pretty good and very true.
It gets much worse when you head to parts of Brooklyn and Queens where they get less money for roads than Manhattan does. I've driven over some roads there that literally make me think I'm driving into a crater. It was so bad in some parts that even my old e36 BMW would have problems with some potholed roads.

 

I partially agree with you M

Konis and Tokicos at the softest setting are similar to the stock shocks valving. The difference is mainly in the response time of the Koni or Tokico. they react faster than the stock shocks to road irregularities.

The Eibachs and other springs like the H&Rs are stiffer than stock but are slightly lower, shorter springs. This results in less suspension travel and a little less ride comfort. The decrease in suspension travel alone is noticeable on some of the types of road irregularities you have in NYC where you can have large changes in road surfaces. The usual answer to bottoming out is more suspension travel and/or increased spring rate.

I compared many different setups back to back over the course of a few months while I was in NY. My opinion with regards to ride quality on NYC streets:
Totally stock shocks and springs provided the best ride quality. Assuming the stock shocks were in good condition.
Next was Koni shocks with stock springs (I used middle perch for some lowering).
Konis with PFS comfort springs was quite good too.
Stock shocks or Konis with H&Rs were quite good too and provided less body roll and increased performance over the stock springs.
The bottom of the line RSR/Tein coilovers I tried sucked IMO - much worse ride quality than Konis with Ground Controls.

All of the above was with new upper shock mounts and everything else in good condition. There was also a noticeable difference when switching from stock 16" rims to a larger setup with less sidewall.

 

Woah alot of info. Thanks man.

I'll check what my spring rates are from the guy I bought the car from. CHAAARLIEE!

 

Shameless plug, but I might have a set of good condition hks hiper d coilovers for sale soon, springs rates are f: 7 r:6, softer then the tein super streets. Definitely would make a good street coilover. Probably going to sell them for around $750.

 

Thanks for the shameless plug hahaha. I'll let others chime in before I jump.

You know that since you posted here about them I get first dibbs before anyone else right?

 

What I observed was a softer ride with Tokico's on their softest setting than what I had with my touring shocks. As I mentioned, that softer ride caused the car to bottom out on dips where I didn't before. Some of that was due to the lower stance of the car with the Eibach springs, but it was corrected but running a little firmer setting on the Tokico's. The softest I could run the Tokico's without the bottoming out was 2. Granded, even on 5 my car now bottoms out on some dips at the track when at speed, but I'm also using the Tein S-Tech springs which are very low.

 

Thanks for clarifying.

I had the same experience with the Konis and H&R springs on track at speed. Never really experienced it on the street.

 

My experience is with an fb, but I'll back up Mahjik on this one. Tokico Illuminas on their softest setting, combined with Racing Beat springs, was noticeably softer than the fully stock parts that they replaced. Total snooze fest. lol. I never ran under a setting of 3 on the shocks for road use....

 

Did that lower the car a bit? On my setup, I think the car is a bit TOO low.