Performance Suspension

[fubar andy]

I want to get an idea about what people currently use suspension wise on their cars.
My car sits on awful D2 suspension and quite honestly I've had enough of it.
While the car is in the garage I have been looking at upgrading a number of areas, however I am struggling to find a good quality, above average range (track/road) suspension kit for our cars.

I have no intention of using BC, k-sport or meister version suspensions as they are crap and after experiencing high quality suspension from bilstein and ohlins I have a better understanding of the word "quality suspension".

Now let's be realistic not everyone has 1000's of pounds to spend on suspension however I have currently been speaking to a number of quality suspension manufacturers about producing a coilover kit for our car.
It will be a 4 figure price however the value of that product and investment you would pay for such an item I feel could be quite justified in the long run. The maximum price for a full suspension kit would be no more than £3,000 however I would like to keep that price realistically between £1,000 to £2,000.
Don't ask me don't ask me about group buys because I haven't even bothered to ask.
This is purely an investigation to find out whether people are willing to spend decent money for decent suspension.
You would have the option of 2 way or 3 way adjustability and the possibility for external reservoir kits.

I'd like some realistic feedback from people about this and also a list of what suspension you currently use on your car and the overall feedback you have.
I want to get feedback I can pass on to a potential manufacturer that could produce a coilover/suspension kit that would be suitable for our cars however I understand that people have their own idea of what they would like from suspension.

If you have anything to add or any questions or anything that you may feel is worth mentioning to the manufacturers certainly let me know and if this price range is not really realistic.

 

[Makaveli_se7en]

I know you've said its the very top of your budget but £3k does start to get you into much better hardware; custom KW's, custom Ohlin DFV's etc.

I was lucky in that I was able to pick up a set of Intrax for a very good price. I am yet to test them though.

 

[keastygtir]

I have purchased the crap Meister coilovers after not finding any reasonable alternative in my price range. My hope is that it will be an improvement over worn out standard stuff, at least I will have a sensible spring rate and enough suspension travel when lowered.

I would be interested in your findings for a potential purchase in the mid term.

 

[fubar andy]

£3k does start to get you into much better hardware; custom KW's, custom Ohlin DFV's etc.

Totally agree, there are some really good kits from £3k onwards, but budget is the main factor and some of the potential products I've seen/discussed, offer far superior levels of suspension to what I currently have.

 

[astarozna]

Have driven gtir on proflex's 2 way adjustable, not made anymore and still expencive when come up for sale. Currently on tein's, bit stiff for our crappy roads. Sweeds do to order as well you could ask them might not be to expencive either
http://www.sellholm.se/en
It really depends on what do you want the car to be used for? Good all rounder's would be bilstein b6 and not expencive at all!
http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/high-performance-shock-absorbers/bilstein-b6/

 

[lakeview]

ive proflex on one car
kyb special sr on another(probably the best ive used on a road car)
ive some gab adjustable on another car but effectively the same as the kyb
i had nismo shocks on a car once that were good
also had a few sets of teins and a set of leda and other unknown sets
by far the best coilovers are the proflex

 

[keastygtir]

They seem to have B6's for the GTiR!

 

[Mr B]

^ no it custom, ideally you use B6 R36 inserts in old set of gab stut bodies, use gabs as fronts are also 50mm tubes & can take the R36 (36mm piston) inserts & valving on R36 is far more tunable than R30 series. to get good stroke you need order custom sizes off Bilstien, springs can be custom on standard perches or adapted to 2.5 spring platforms.
Valving & springs can be to user requirements & are easily changed/rebuilt if needed (loads of motorsport shops can set/rebuild bilstein inserts). The result can be better than the jap ohlin sets & can be done for under the mentioned 1,500gbp budget.

 

[astarozna]

Another thing that people neglect is setting them up properly. A decent set of shock and not set up correctly equals crap! Shocks themselves don't do magic.

 

[johnny gtir]

Where did I read recent about tein active controll ones. Takes abit of driver out of it but sure someone was going to try them. Anyone used these or similar ? I don't mean the old version. I think these self adjust during driving or something

 

[lakeview]

Isn't that just to top end edfc unit

 

[fubar andy]

A decent set of shock and not set up correctly equals crap! Shocks themselves don't do magic.

Absolutely agree on that.

What's the overall consensus of spring (kg/mm) rates for our cars; for fast road use and track use?

 

[johnny gtir]

Isn't that just to top end edfc unit

Probably just remember someone mentioned it and self adjusting due to different speeds and factors

 

[lakeview]

Probably just remember someone mentioned it and self adjusting due to different speeds and factors

it is self adjusting but only using top of the range edfc units
to be honest that sound ok to me but not sure which model of teins they fit though id guess itll be a lot of a lot more reliable using that than whats fitted to a lot of modern high powered car

 

[astarozna]

It fits all shocks wich accept top mount motors, all you need is new edfc and gps unit and G unit. About £400 extra

 

[fubar andy]

What's the overall consensus of spring (kg/mm) rates for our cars; for fast road use and track use?

 

[Signous]

I've been looking into my engine rebuild for way too long without even a thought about suspension. I understand how to set up my engine (I think) but this suspension talk is blowing my mind. Am I about to forget spending £700'on on BC coilovers?

 

[Goose_Oki]

What's the overall consensus of spring (kg/mm) rates for our cars; for fast road use and track use?

I'm pretty curious about that as well.

 

[campbellju]

Depends on your roads, weather and style of racing on track and if you're using slicks. For a road car with bumps, pot holes etc 5/4 or 6/5 kg/mm tops. For a track, 5/4 works and is fun but is too lively for fast lap times so I wouldn't suggest going lower. Track focused cars with full slicks are closer to 10/8 kg/mm and I've seen as high as 11/9 though this seems too much for me as the chassis could be bending before the suspension!

 

[mreguest]

I've got bc's 5k/4k and really like them. Adjusted to 0%, ie. Soft enough for daily driving and then for the 1 or 2 track days per year I wind up the dampers to about 70% and I feel the the handling feels great.
I had teins once which were 8k/7k. Daily driving was horrific, the rain terrifying, and around a dry track was great.
GABs I had were lowered too much and soft, good daily but on track I didn't feel great but I never had geometry set up on them...
Ride height makes a lot of difference too. Tein recommended 34cm hub centre to arch front 35 rear, but before I found that out I was at 31cm where it was even worse. GABs were 32ish.
BC don't say so I've set them to 34/35 like the teins... So far so good.

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