D2 coilovers fitted !!

[youngsyp]

Chaps.

I fitted my D2 coilovers yesterday and set the ride height, to within 2 mm's side to side front and 1 mm side to side rear, I just wanted to give my first impressions of the set up.

I took the car for a quick test drive and have to say, the ride comfort is on a par to what it was with my standard shocks and lowering springs set up. It's not harsh in anyway but, does feel very well controlled and tight.
The spring rates that I went for were 5.3 Kg/mm front and 4 Kg/mm rear and the damping settings were 5 turns front and 3 turns rear. I've upped those this morning, to 8 front and 6 rear, just for comparison. In the end, I went for a ride height of 325mm front and 340mm rear (all heights measured from wheel arch to wheel centre, as usual) as this seemed a good compromise when setting up.
I'd thoroughly recommend this set up as, not only is it cheaper than replacing with Nissan OE parts but, gives you all the adjustability and spring matching options. Now I've just got to go off and get the alignment set up !

Just for info, I weighed the new units, to compare with the old, here's my findings:

Old front (with Cusco Pillowball topmounts) = 7.0 KG's
Old rear = 8.2 KG's
New front = 4.4 KG's
New rear = 4.4 KG's

As you can see, quite a weight saving over the old set up !! Now I just need to get lightweight wheels to replace my Compomotive MO's !

Cheers

Paul

P.s. Rob, you have PM. And, the Cusco topmounts are now for sale, PM me for details !

 

[PaulB]

Cool, nice little review. My only reason for not going with coilovers would be comfort, my car is only a slip road racer really, not roundabouts, altho i might do the odd track day.

If there as good as you say coming from nissan oe gear then i might have to get some.

What size wheels and tyres are you running ?

 

[youngsyp]

I'm currently running a 16 x 7 with 35mm offset. These are wrapped in 215/40-16 Toyo T1-R's.

I seriously wouldn't be worried about the comfort side of things. I was a bit apprehensive when I first to the car for a drive but, they are really quite supple. You can still feel that the better damping and body/weight control is there though. Having said that, my brothers Evo 8 has a Cusco set up with spring rates that resemble the 'normal' D2 rates and that isn't overly harsh either. Of course, that car is quite a bit heavier though !

Once I've had the alignment set up this morning, I'll take the car for a proper little drive and see how well they behave.

 

[Odin]

You wouldn't be saying how nice it was if you'd gone for the 7's front and 5 rears lol.




Rob

 

[youngsyp]

Got all the alignment set up and the car feels great.

I tried 8 turns front and 6 rear but, the ride got noticable stiffer and front end bite seemed to drop away. I dropped the front back to 5 turns and left the back at 6 and it seems good again.

Just need to renew the bearings in my bumpsteer kit I removed now as, I seem to be getting power understeer round bends still ?!

I guess a further fiddle with the damping settings could remedy that a bit though ?!

Anyway, once again, a very good kit for the money !!