Coilovers

[lucmor444]

Piqued my interest - what's the other well known brand?

[KevGoat]

... the new owner asked for the factory suspension to be put back on ...

... ummm what?? Did you sell the SE??



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[wasp47]

Hi
I was offered too much money to resist, paid a deposit, then he backed out
Cheers
Steven

[pdsman53]

Hey Guys,
I'm in the market for a set of Coilovers, for my '94 NA8.
$1300 seems to be the minimum in Oz, for a descent set.
I can't find anything cheaper than AU$1065 landed for the V-Maxx Exxtreme coilovers...from U.S. (not sure, but presume Customs will want GST...once landed).
Anyone know of a better deal....or, the GST situation.
Cheers.

[Magpie]

I'm in the market for a set of Coilovers, for my '94 NA8.

What is the purpose?

1. Daily
2. Track
3. Hard parking
4. Spirited driving
5. Lowering
6. Drifting
7. Rally
8. Other

[pdsman53]

Hi Magpie,
The Car is registered.....but only to get it to Track Days at Eastern Creek and Wakefield.
The current setup is:-
Lowered Springs, standard Clubman Bilstein shocks and large front and rear sway bars, ELBJs (max camber)....so it's a pretty harsh ride to the track on street tyres (swap to Federal RSRs at the track).
It's a little unknown....because I don't know what the spring rate is, nor the condition of the Bilsteins (215000k's)??
So I'm hoping, with coilovers and corner weighting....I might get a better understanding of the handling characteristics, with the adjustability.
Cheers.

[shirtz]

I have a simular question. my reading form the guys here is that MCA blues at 1600 is everyones first pick followed by BC Br's which are a bit less.
Yellowspeed usually down the list and minimal people here running Vmaxx. ive been looking at Tein Flex Z at $1200 with pretty positive reviews but apparently not track focused.

[Magpie]

I have a similar question.

I have only heard good reports from MCA's (I have dríven a MX5 equipped with them), BC Racing seem to have mixed reviews (mine has BC ER's). Xida of the one person I know who has them (and I have dríven their car) great feedback. For the purposes of discussion sway bars are not considered. I'm not advocating any brand (well yes BC's from Just Jap get my vote) rather making an informed decision.

One of the single BIGGEST decision/impact is the spring rates. When you consider for an NA the stock springs are (F/R) 2.9/1.8 changing from this will change the ride no matter what dampers you put in! Do not confuse 'harshness' with 'sporty'. If you run on rough roads low spring rates help the wheels stay in contact, whereas if the road is smooth (track) you can use stiffer springs.

Another consideration is the valving on the dampers, these are withing a certain range for spring rates. My BC ER's can handle up to about 12kg/mm springs without the need to be re-valved. Ask the supplier what are the valving limitations. For what it is worth I'm running 10/8 springs.

Number of 'clicks' of adjustment. Whatever the number the thing to know is are the clicks linear or progressive. That is the closer you get to full hard the less a 'click' does (progressive) or if linear each 'click' has the same impact. Foe discussion purposes 'clicks' are normally always measured from full hard.

How will you set them up adjust ride height from the lower collar or from the spring perch (setting the damper length first)?

Alignment, tyres (pressure/side wall 'stiffness') and suspension bushes (rubber, poly, delrin, spherical) can impact on the damper as well as spring rates. There is a reason that with OEM/Poly bushes the recommendation is to torque up the bolts with the car supporting its normal weight.

Do you want the car to be critically damped? This will require analysis of the dyno plot for the dampers and how it reacts to low/med/fast velocities. Also, how much time does your dampers spend in each 'zone':

1. High speed velocities (above 150 mm/sec) are caused by bumps and kerb hopping
2. Medium speed velocities 50 to 150 mm/sec are associated with braking, hard direction changes and ride 'harshness'
3. Low speed damper velocities (0-50mm/sec) are associated with sprung mass (body movement). This is where the damper should spend most of its time

From my car, the good part is that the majority of the time the damper is at zero velocity! But it is under damped in the low speed part. A tweak of the damping knob maybe required. I will post an update to this picture soon...


I have only scratched the surface....

A bit of data analysis... The below covers just 6m of track. At 2,591.8m the kerb was contacted The LR wheel goes into compression, but the RR ride height stays stable (sway bar control). 1.3 m later the LR has compressed by 20.2 mm and the shock velocity has peaked. 0.5m (1.8m since contact) the damper has gone into rebound. 0.2m (2.0m since contact) the damper is back in compression. Confirmed by the ride height. 0.4m (2.4m total) again the damper is in rebound.
What needs to be confirmed was if this was bouncing on the kerb or lack of damping control?
What needs to be achieved is critical damping, not oscillation like in this data!

[93_Clubman]

nor the condition of the Bilsteins (215000k's)??

Just in terms of condition, advice from Heasmans, the NSW Bilstein specialist, is that Bilsteins allow for 5% wear in their product for every 100k kms. Jonosx, in following, who works for Heasmans has similarly indicated that they'll be within 10% of the original rate as long as they aren't leaking: https://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 30&t=48651

[shirtz]

nor the condition of the Bilsteins (215000k's)??

Just in terms of condition, advice from Heasmans, the NSW Bilstein specialist, is that Bilsteins allow for 5% wear in their product for every 100k kms. Jonosx, in following, who works for Heasmans has similarly indicated that they'll be within 10% of the original rate as long as they aren't leaking: https://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 30&t=48651

hmm this is interesting. mine have 225 on them and I assume they would be shot. dust jackets are in pieces. could some lowered springs be a better option then full coil overs perhaps? (for you and me!)