What kind of Coilovers?
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gvr4ever Forever Member 347/1000
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posted 04/12/20 02:49 PM
Quoting moduleunknown:
I hate my BC's. Cheap, no travel, stiff, bouncy trash. I have the off the shelf 8k/6k (F/R) setup. I've wasted more time than I'd like to admit trying to get them to work well (acceptable) on the street. I expected as much when I bought them, but with the limited GVR4 specific options and somewhat decent reviews from others, I gave the BC's a try. Junk (IMO)...
I have no experience with, but have heard good things about Feal - especially the customer support.
We can also use CT9A struts/springs or coilover options. This adapter kit makes it easier than it used to be. click
Eeek, glad I didn't get them. I ended up getting H&R springs and AGXs and I like the setup. I wonder how much the swift springs would make.. Sounds like no matter what coil overs you go with, the swift spring upgrade sounds like it's worth it.
If you don't actually need to adjust the height for racing purposes, a H&R spring AGX combo is a solid street setup. Completely modernizes the ride.
1992 Nile black w/sunroof
15xK miles. 2nd owner since 1998
Posts: 5993 | From: central Indiana | Member Since: 08/06/02 | IP: (199.168.78.42) |
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CutlassJim poop load of room 1799/2000 1788/2000 935/1000 912/1000
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posted 11/12/20 11:56 AM
I'm usually %100 percent against coilovers for a street car unless you are going high end (K&W, Ohlins, Nitron) and always go with uprated struts and lowering springs for my daily's.
Buuuuut, I have an 01 Turbo Beetle that I got for free and it had 4 blown shocks and a broken rear spring. To get stock stuff was going to be around $500 and this was a mega budget build so I picked up a set of Ebay cheapy cheap cheap $187 coilovers and have to admit they are absolutely perfect for the street. They are the best balance between handling and feedback and comfort of almost all my cars. They are non adjustable and I have the rears set to max height and the fronts are about in the middle to have a slight forward rake. Still holding up great after 2 years as well. Almost everything else I've ever been in with sub $1000 coilovers though has felt like absolute trash on the street. So bad I wouldn't even want them in a weekend car. I do see a very common trend of people thinking they need race level parts on their street cars though so that could be it. I went from Evo struts with Tiens to Evo K&W V3s on my Galant and it actually handles and rides better.
ALL DSM's are advanced and ALL Evo's retarded
I love my crazy mother!!!
Edited by CutlassJim (11/12/20 11:59 AM)
Posts: 1642 | From: Manchester, NH | Member Since: 07/17/06 | IP: (173.14.186.153) |
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gvr4ever Forever Member 347/1000
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posted 11/13/20 07:08 AM
Quoting idreamidrive:
I personally would go with gr2's for street and then just swap something in for track use, but I am getting older and wiser. I hate my FEALs for dd duty
With what springs? I found gr2's with the stock springs too floaty and soft.
H&R springs with AGXs are more comfortable in the Galant than TEIN H springs .08" drop and AGXs in my Celica. Part of me wishes I had gone with H&R springs on the Celica, but the TEIN H had the least aggressive drop and I didn't want to go too low. The ride height / wheel gap looks about the same as a stock Toyotburu. Perfect for the mid west with snow and pot holes. Galant setup feels higher end for sure. Firm, but zero bump shock or anything harsh.
1992 Nile black w/sunroof
15xK miles. 2nd owner since 1998
Posts: 5993 | From: central Indiana | Member Since: 08/06/02 | IP: (142.79.57.1) |
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Sburke Newbie
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posted 11/13/20 12:05 PM
The downside is there really isn’t a high end option for these cars, that’s off the shelf. I was just in this situation, and tried getting Bilstein and ohlins to make me something as they are somewhat local. Neither wanted to. Also reached out to JRZ, who said they could and ghosted.
Left me stuck with the Taiwanese three. Feal,BC,Ksport. I went with BC, because I found a shop who can custom valve them with Bilstein guts.
My stock BC setup is not without flaws. You have to run them incredibly soft, and the springs are not matched well to the stock valving. I would assume the valving is the same for the majority of the coilovers they make. I don’t have high expectations of them lasting over a year of street use.
I’ve read time after time, the AGX and H&R combo is trash. That those springs will blow out the AGX quickly. Who knows if that’s true, but it’s probably a better ride over the BC.
I’ll either go through with having mine custom valved at some point, or fully commit to someone redoing some of the suspension geo and fitting a custom coilover setup in the car.
Hate to break it to ya, but there just isn’t going to be a smooth ride on coilovers with what’s available for these cars.
Posts: 9 | From: Beachwood,Ohio | Member Since: 11/10/09 | IP: (2603:6080:9d07:a) |
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idreamidrive Member + 394/1000
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posted 11/13/20 01:14 PM
Quoting gvr4ever:
Quoting idreamidrive:
I personally would go with gr2's for street and then just swap something in for track use, but I am getting older and wiser. I hate my FEALs for dd duty
With what springs? I found gr2's with the stock springs too floaty and soft.
Floaty and soft sounds perfect for street use. You could even disconnect the front sway bar to get even more floaty for weight transfer. Oooh this sounds perfect! I would go back to this, if I didn't use my car to get to the local mtb areas and bombing down the gravel is fun in the FEALs.
Posts: 424 | From: Murray, KY | Member Since: 10/10/12 | IP: (72.14.101.101) |
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CutlassJim poop load of room 1799/2000 1788/2000 935/1000 912/1000
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posted 11/13/20 01:20 PM
Quoting Sburke:
Hate to break it to ya, but there just isn’t going to be a smooth ride on coilovers with what’s available for these cars.
Ummmmm............
Quoting CutlassJim:
I went from Evo struts with Tiens to Evo K&W V3s on my Galant and it actually handles and rides better.
click
click
ALL DSM's are advanced and ALL Evo's retarded
I love my crazy mother!!!
Posts: 1642 | From: Manchester, NH | Member Since: 07/17/06 | IP: (173.14.186.153) |
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ApexHunter Extreme Indoor Cyclist 1951/2000
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posted 11/15/20 03:29 PM
Wanted to chime in, I promoted the Feals here for a while at my last job. Best bolt on option then but i'm not really "in the loop" these days. Any new players bring a gvr4 specific option to market, thats not just another taiwanese manufacturer who can put together a whatever spring and cartridge with e39a mounting parts?
This was my experience: I started with AGX and some Eibach lowering springs. Mediocre at best. They finally died and I went to the BCs.
BCs on my gvr4- Ride quality was poor. Spring rates are not even really aggressive, just way overdamped and one size fits all valving. Overall build quality is fine for the price, generally their manufacturing is pretty consistent, meaning if you dyno all 4 of em they'll be close, and manufacturing defects are rare. At my last job, sold a shitload of em with next to zero warranty issues. Good stateside support from BC. Cons would be that their valving is super generic. How that manifests is a damper that doesn't really excel at anything. Too much high speed compression, doesn't absorb big hits great, too much rebound so the car feels like it skips over gaps, jumpy, crashes down over a big bump at speed, feels less stable in high speed bumpy corners. They can "custom build" with whatever spring rates you want, and then will supply a damper cartridge specific to that spring rate, but it's gonna be the same formula whether they are for a galant or a 350z. That's as deep as the custom valving goes (unless something has changed). 8k gets X, 16k gets Y.
Feals are different vs BC, because the valving is actually vehicle specific, netting better performance in any scenario I can think of. An off the shelf spec BC kit rides harsher than a OTS Feal kit all day every day, all other factors being equal. You'll notice Feal has way less applications than BC. They spend a lot of time on R&D with each application. The gvr4 kit was a derivative of the 1g awd kit. Similar suspension kinematics and weight dist albeit different curb weight, so tweaked accordingly. Then a gvr4 was brought in for validation, then the gvr4 part number was born. They couldn't use the 1g front upper mounts so they were having gvr4 specific front camber plates laser cut in low batches. They were steel and super sturdy but I remember one customer had a corrosion concern. It seemed like they never had a consistent rear brake line adapter but i'd like to think they figured that out by now.
Still have my Feals on my evo 8, had em 5 years now. No issues. No it's not a gvr4, but the two cars have similar suspension kinematics and they were born of the same development process. Compared to the stock evo KYB damper, they were a big step up in stability on track, particularly when hitting curbing and general mid corner stability. Smoother ride on the street- less harsh on the sharper hits. Less travel though so when you hit the bumpstop it's more harsh. US based support including overhaul and custom valving. Custom valving at Feal was/is actual custom valving instead of an approximation like what you get when you "custom order" BC BRs. Higher end BCs I suspect get a more nuanced, user specific valving spec.
Swift spring options are mostly good for a slight (practically imperceptible) weight drop and the springs in your set will be more precisely matched. Not sure how much this matters in a street car, honestly. The Ohlins cars i've ridden in feel a bit better, but not enough to cover the ridiculous rebuild costs. Seriously, no thanks on that for a street car.
K Sports I haven't experienced on gvr4, heard mixed reviews regarding performance and longevity.
If you are trying to preserve a stock like ride, gr2 and stock springs are probably the best bet. Aftermarket coilovers have what, half the effective stroke?, way more rate and valving to kinda sorta match.
I think i'd like to try some KW V3s or maybe club sports next for the Evo. I was never really a fan of the twin tube stuff for track use but KW seems to have anti-cavitation pretty well figured out. Not sure if the cost justifies the added performance though, i've just been super happy with the Feals for what they cost up front, and economical rebuild cost.
Edited by ApexHunter (11/15/20 03:33 PM)
Posts: 1968 | From: Marysville, WA | Member Since: 04/25/07 | IP: (2601:601:9900:6d) |
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raptorWagon less than one year to my birthday 1350/2000 362/1000
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posted 11/15/20 06:13 PM
Quote:
Any new players bring a gvr4 specific option to market, thats not just another taiwanese manufacturer who can put together a whatever spring and cartridge with e39a mounting parts?
As far as I know, nope. Just FEAL and they now make their own springs, so you need at least the "441+" to have the swift springs.
Edited by raptorWagon (11/18/20 03:10 PM)
Posts: 2787 | From: Oak Harbor, WA | Member Since: 05/17/07 | IP: (2601:601:4500:52) |
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gvr4ever Forever Member 347/1000
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posted 11/16/20 09:14 AM
Quoting KiNgMaRtY:
I currently have Robispec Street KW V3's with 8K Front and 9K rears. I've had a number of suspension setups. I would rate them like this:
Most comfortable spring/strut aftermarket in order: Koni Yellows with H&R springs GR2 with OEM springs Bilstein MR's with Swift R Springs On even pavement, AGX with H&R's were almost okay but the AGX's could not handle the H&R's
Coilovers: KW and Ohlins are on par with each other with their own differences. I've had both and both at the same time to do side by side. The KW's absorb the smaller stuff better and are 2 way adjustable. than the Ohlin's. The Ohlins are easier to adjust as they are only one way but you have to adjust them from the bottom for the front because they are an inverted strut. The bodies of the KW's are stainless so they will hold up better to weather. You can use the OEM tophats on the KW's so it adds the rubber on top and it helps.
Muellerized -JIC-FLT2 - Better than anything today offered under $1,500 new. Now discontinued and not easily rebuildable, Mueller really massaged them to make them that much better. Regular off the shelf might not be as good.
K-Sports: Rode well but had 3 blown shocks within 1000 miles
I may be selling my KW's if you are interested. They have about 5K miles on them and come with 2 7K springs as well.
I wasn't able to find the Koni Yellows when I did my setup, so I went with the AGXs.
I know KYB only warranties the AGXs with stock springs. Another option would be AGXs with stock springs. I've had AGXs on my Celica for 3-4 years now and no failure issues with a .08" drop. I haven't driven them long enough for say how long they will or won't last on the Galant, but I know that setting them stiff as they will go will likely cause a early failure. I think both my cars are setup 1 click firmer than the softest setting on all 4 corners.
For those who had failures, just curious as to how stiff you had the AGXs set and what driving style was used. I know they are for street use, not race use.
I was also thinking that H&R had revised the springs over the years. I got mine about 2 years ago, so they are the newest version. That might make a difference if they changed the spring rates.
1992 Nile black w/sunroof
15xK miles. 2nd owner since 1998
Posts: 5993 | From: central Indiana | Member Since: 08/06/02 | IP: (142.79.57.1) |
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