Mcphersons V's Coilovers

Keira

New Member
DavidGTiR said:
For the majority of people yes you are correct but this is only because people buy coilover kits and let other people or garages fit them and never adjust them to suit their own driving style. This can cause issues under certain circumstances i.e braking incorrectly into corners or lifting off the throttle too sharp which can easily be dialed out using spring rates, adjustment on the shocks or setting the corner weights up.
im in 100% agreement with everything you are saying for any car that goes on circuits or is used for some sort of sprint event, hill climb or any other sort of motorsport where you may actually need to mess about with changing settings and what not, but im yet to meet anyone with coilovers that winds up or down their ride height, changes spring rates or damping/rebound settings depending on what road they fancy going for a drive down or whether they'll be coming home with some shopping in the back so i really cant see the point of having them on a mainly road driven car.
 

Animaldaz

Active Member
I think the majority buy coilovers as there isnt many alternatives. You cant really get uprated KYB's GAB's or Nismo stuts new anymore and there is nothing more annoying then buying a 2nd hand set to find after a few months one has sprung a leak and you need to replace all of them because you cant get spares. Koni inserts are the only new damper available and they are over £400, so when you can buy coilovers with all there adjustability for £600 then they seem damn expensive. I too think that most coilovers are too stiff for road use so hopefully the new apex ones will be more suitable.
 

Trondelond

Active Member
Got this from Whiteline :

> Hi Trond,
>
> Thanks for your Whiteline enquiry,
>
> Unfortunately we don't sell shock absorbers any more.
>
> All the other parts are available to order separately as we no longer do
> the handling packs either.
>
> Regards John.
 

davey red.r

New Member
i was considering a koni set up,
but there is nothing listed on their website,for our cars:cry:
ive emailed them 7 times regarding an application for the gti/r,
and the cash is waiting,
no reply, now thats customer service yar.:oops:





davey
 

Trondelond

Active Member
I got a pretty swift reply, but they don't do the dampers anymore. I've asked Koni as well, I'll let you know what they say if they get back to me. :)
Whiteline do have some stuff for the gtir though, if you look in the online store.
 

Trondelond

Active Member
Ok, I've received an answer from the Koni distributor here in norway wich is roughly as follows :

Koni just supply universal inserts for the Sunny N14.
They are hydraulic twin tube designs that are adjustable for stiffness.
Front : if KYB OE struts with a 45mm diameter, item no : 86-2463
Rear : if KYB OE strut with a 51mm diameter, item no : 86-2464

Sooo.. anyone know the dimensions of the RNN14 ones?
 

youngsyp

New Member
Animaldaz said:
I think the majority buy coilovers as there isnt many alternatives.
That's exactly why I went down the coilover route.

That and the fact that if you did manage to source a set of Koni inserts, with the added cost of new springs, it would easily cost more than I bought my (tailored) D2 coilover set up for.
Then you need to go to all the hassle of butchering your old damper struts to get the inserts to fit. You'll then need to get a set of unreliable camber adjustment bolts to get any decent level of negative camber at both ends......

I agree in the most part with Kieron but, with coilovers, you can still tailor the set up much more extensively, for the roads you drive on (lets face it, these don't differ a huge amount) and how you spend the most time driving.

Lets face it, any suspension set up for a road car is a huge compromise, it always will be but, more so with the GTiR, because of the lack of options.

My own view is that if you can get a coilover set up, with a sensible set of spring and damper rates, go for it. That's what I did and, the improvement and adjustability was/is huge.

Paul
 

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
I think Kieron is being a little cheeky/entertaining and looking for an excuse to get in his 6000th post ;-)

If you need to ask if you need something then you probably don't.

When our cars were made, Nismo made some non adjustable springs and dampers that I've not used but on paper are the optimum suspension upgrade for Joe Bloggs GtiR driver who wants to buy a shiney bit, get someone else to fit it and feel an improvement. No great surprise that the same people who rallyed the car sold the most rounded road upgrade.

Whiteline springs are 10mm too low IMO for wet roads, Koni dampers are still adjustable so Joe Bloggs will probably put them in the middle or on full stiff, neither of which are very scientific.

Having adjustable ride height/damping give the option of setting your own compromise. There is nothing magical about a "coilover" that will make it work any better or worse than non-adjustable suspension.

I've had some intersting discussion with Fubar Andy from here whose set his car up in a similar but different way to mine. The reason for the difference is because he drives differently, there is no right or wrong.

The reality is as Paul says that these options aren't readily available so Joe bloggs then goes and gets some coilovers and puts them on the stiffest and lowest setting. Then complains about spending a load of money on bits and the GtiR being the worst handling car ever so goes off to buy an EVO.

There is nothing intrinsically right or wrong about coilovers on a road car but if you buy them then make sure you get them setup correctly with known working settings otherwise they are more likely to be wrong than right.

For the record, when setting up my car, I still find more awful settings than good ones

Jim
 
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Keira

New Member
Trondelond said:
Ok, I've received an answer from the Koni distributor here in norway wich is roughly as follows :

Koni just supply universal inserts for the Sunny N14.
They are hydraulic twin tube designs that are adjustable for stiffness.
Front : if KYB OE struts with a 45mm diameter, item no : 86-2463
Rear : if KYB OE strut with a 51mm diameter, item no : 86-2464

Sooo.. anyone know the dimensions of the RNN14 ones?
i can have a look at the weekend
 

Keira

New Member
youngsyp said:
That and the fact that if you did manage to source a set of Koni inserts, with the added cost of new springs, it would easily cost more than I bought my (tailored) D2 coilover set up for.
i'd put money on the konis lasting far, far longer than the d2's tbh which, when if you had to replace, would then mean they were cheaper ;)

You'll then need to get a set of unreliable camber adjustment bolts to get any decent level of negative camber at both ends
forget the sh!te bolts from whiteline and get some k-macs, problem solved 8)
 

Braveheart

New Member
Trondelond said:
gabs seem to be a mythical strut noone has ever actually seen :p
Great thread with lots of interesting information and thoughts....:thumbsup:
GAB may well be mythical in a few years as you can't get spares for them but here they are fitted:


 
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