Time to upgrade to coilovers
 

I'm still running the stock suspension in my FD, and I want to upgrade to a nice set of coilovers. But I have a problem...

I need a set of coilovers that don't make my car running lower. What I mean is that I want a set that I can adjust in height, and the maximum height shoud be equal to stock.
In our cities there are thousands of obstacles in the road. They're put in order to make the cars running slowly inside the cities, but these obstacles are really high. I've to pass them very very slowly, and sometimes I can hear the sound that makes my front lip when grazing these f***ing things. And they're putting them everywhere. Besides, as soon as I go out of my garage I find the first one, and it's the worst of all them, the higher. It's like trying to jump in a sidewak!!
If I lower my car I won't be able to pass over them, so, do you know which kits will be the ones that will keep my car higher??

I forgot to mention. I have a set of Racing Beat springs at home from a Racing Beat suspension kit, but I've heared they really lower the FD so I've never installed them. Is it true???

Tein Coilovers and EDFC
 

Personally I went with the Tein Flex Coilover kit and EDFC. EDFC lets you control the damping force from inside the car. You can adjust it right from your seat and it's really convienant. Good for different terrains :D

Not too sure on the other kit though, I just decided to buy a quality set.

Can you explain why you "need to upgrade to coilovers"? Explaining the need will help in finding a solution for you.

My stock suspension is on its last days. I need to change it soon. I've thought about something better than stock one, cos I'm sometimes running on track days and I think the best choice is a coilovers set. And I need a coilovers set with the specifications mentioned above :)
These are the obstacles I mean. They're everywhere:

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1649/97028544om4.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7369/32687563tx2.jpg
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/5073/90384429zj3.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/3361/35362471ak4.jpg

Take a look at the white car. It's my daily drive car, a Seat Ibiza. It is almost touching the ground. With my FD and stock suspension it's almost impossible not to touch it, so if I lower the car maybe I won't be able to pass over it! That's why I can not lower my car even a bit...

IMO, I would just replace your shocks with Koni's and keep the stock springs.

What about other possibilities? Are there any coilover kit with the possibility of keeping the stock ride height and also the choice of Damping Force Adjustability?

err... in my experience most integrated coilovers have the adjustment range to retain stock (or even TALLER than stock) height

and most coilovers have damping adjustability, although its usefulness is often limited imo

koni yellows with stock springs is much cheaper and the shocks you get are on par if not better than the shocks in most jdm coilover sets. not a bad idea at all.

there's always koni yellows with ground control coilover springs.

^ that would lower his car's ride height, which is NOT what he wants

I agree with Mahjik completely.

Upgrade to Konis and retain stock springs. That's the only way you'll retain stock height unless you get some

Ground Controls with Konis and make sure you get proper spring lengths out of the GC Springs so that you can go to stock height.

Rishie

I guess you've never heard the problems the GC was having with their kits, their lowest setting was equal to stock height.

That is absolutely false on the FD. It might be true with their kit on other cars (I know a lot of BMW M3 owners who use GC and love it and they don't have a problem) but not with the FD. I know several guys who have run GC's with Tokico's (so not Koni's which have an adjustable perch) and they dropped their cars damn low.

As Rishie mentions, you'll have to make sure to have the proper spring lengths from Eibach to ensure that stock ride height is achievable with GC's.

Exactly. I know what's up.

If a stock spring length can go on a Koni then you should be able to order a proper spring length in the GC/ERS spring to acheive the same ride height as stock.

I agree with Mahjik also. :)

My bad, it's definitely a big issue with the FC and a bunch of other cars, I had thought it affected their entire product line.

I have the JIC magic FLT-A2's on my FD and can tell you they have an ENORMOUS range of adjustability in both spring and perch height as well as the bottom bracket...these might be able to give you the ground clearance you are looking for....and the handling is nothing short of spectacular!

-Jack

errr... honestly, i hate KONI.... and i recall everyone on the US turning down Konis several years ago... then all of the suddent, everyone loves them....

anyways, with almoust all coilovers i've seen (except usually the really race only ones) can adjust height. And preatty sure you can set it to stock height.
Tein SS/Flex, Cusco, Greddy, etcs... are good choices.

thanks man, really. This is the kind of information I'm trying to have. I think there must be some other coilover kits with a big range of height adjustability in order to keep stock ride height. These ones seem a good choice for me :)

I don't know when that was.... You should search around the web for shock dyno's of Koni's verses other shocks. They have better performance (shock wise) than what comes on the cheap coilover systems. This is why I recommend a Koni setup if someone isn't planning to spend some money on a real full coilover setup.

For the USA folks, they can also be easily rebuilt here in the US by many shops across the country as well as revalved to support much higher spring rates. Honestly, for the money there probably isn't a better, more versatile shock available.

Victor, if you aren't lowing the car, there is no reason to spend the money on a coilover system. You can achieve the same and probably better result buy just upgrading your shocks and keeping your stock springs. Using a highly sprung coilover but keeping the center of gravity raised to stock height will probably cause an adverse effect when you do track the car. I would recommend upgrading the shocks and keeping the stock springs.

i think he is intending to keep the car at stock ride height only for street driving and for the track he will be lowering....seems to me he already understands the consequenses and is only looking for individual experience with coil-over systems....i understand the stock springs with upgraded shocks will improve handling a bit and keep stock ride height...but for track performance and adjustability...you cannot beat a quality coil-over system...it is HANDS DOWN the BEST option for a person looking for the best performance(spring/dampening/CG) AND the adjustability to maintain a stock ride height while daily driving....

Touchè!!
Obviously there's a language issue :) I'm trying to explain myself the best I can but I recognize I should improve my English. This is exactly what I want!! For street driving I need stock ride height, but I'd like to have the choice of lowering ride height in track days :icon_tup:

While definitely possible, I don't think that's highly advisable.

Why do you think that??

Ideally, the car should be cornered weighed for the coilovers. Unless you have scales of your own to do it, you'll just be adjusting the coilovers by sight. While that can work, its less than ideal. Also, you said one of the largest bumps is right outside your place; so you plan to drive to your track event, do the following at the event:

https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/diy-how-adjust-coilovers-correctly-600868/

then after the event, undo the above and then drive back home? IMO, that's a lot of work for not a lot of benefit.

^^^^

Yup, unless you have access to a free alignment rack, raising and lowering your car for track days won't work... since the FD suspension has camber change built in, changing ride height hoses up your alingment.