springs vs coilovers: I need help Options

[Greyform]

so I'm trying to decide on whether I should go with springs or full coilovers when I lower my celi, cause I've heard many point of views from both sides and I wanted your guys opinions. at the moment im leaning more towards springs because of the price factor as I only work part time so I don't make that much money but id like to see some opinions

also not sure how much to lower it with my setup, ive got 17" rims, invader rear and sides, with a varis airising Ii front. anyway id like to know what you guys think thx

[azian_advanced]

for such a low front bumper, i'd go with coilovers. if you just get the springs, your shocks are likely to blow sooner than usual and in the end you might as well get coilovers.

advantages of coilovers (in order of importance):

• height adjustability - adjust btwn looks (low setting) or functionality (higher setting)
• damper adjustability - can be set to a stiff setting to protect your invader front from bottoming out while going over sudden dips in the road
• may come with camber plates - reduces uneven tire wear (tires are $$$ so better treat them right)
• smaller spring diameter - will allow wider wheels/tires if needed (more beneficial to gt4 due to power to rear wheels)
• statically lighter in general (haven't measured but it's about a 5 lb savings per corner iirc)
• lighter = less unsprung mass so it transmits less vibrations to the interior (but the ride harshness sorta defeats that )

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Sep 24, 2011 - 11:40 PM

[Greyform]

so coilovers are great overall, but springs improve ride quality?

[azian_advanced]

well, if you can get coilover damper settings down to the point where they're the same as stock settings, then the ride quality is pretty much the same. in other words, ride quality mainly comes from the shocks or damper setting.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Sep 25, 2011 - 7:38 AM

[k-weaver]

for such a low front bumper, i'd go with coilovers. if you just get the springs, your shocks are likely to blow sooner than usual and in the end you might as well get coilovers.

Just to add to the low bumper comment...I've got a Veilside front bumper and Tein springs (lowers 1.4") on 18" rims. I scrape my bumper on every driveway I go into or out of. Having to turn the car at an angle to avoid it, really annoying. Having gone down the cheaper route I'd advise you get some really good struts (koni, billstien, etc) or get coilovers. Don't settle just because its cheaper.

[stephen_lee]

Get a set of adjustable coil overs. the adjustable height/dampening setting will make it WELL worth the extra few hundred.

[trdproven]

springs once you get your combo together it is what is that it. coilovers offer full adjustability and is equal or comparative to a good spring setup price.

[94_gt4]

having had both on several types of different cars, springs ride wayyyy better. ive had 1" to 4 inch drops and while a bigger drop looks awesome, its a pain in the ass, i currently have coilovers on my Acura TL.

ive also had springs while changing the shocks and some without. usually the rule of thumb when getting springs is if the dropp is going to be close to 2 or more inches, get new shoccks, anything less than 1.5 inch drop, you dont have to change, as its not that much of a change to the suspension.

that being said, i have tein s-techs ready to go on my GT4, mainly because it is cheaper, i dont want a huge drop on it, i want it to ride similar and i dont want to weld **** on the car. im not changing the shocks out as they are still very good and the drop is only about 1.5 inches. thats my opinion, do what you want, maybe this will help sway your decision.

[Lil-Joe101]

for such a low front bumper, i'd go with coilovers. if you just get the springs, your shocks are likely to blow sooner than usual and in the end you might as well get coilovers.

advantages of coilovers (in order of importance):

• height adjustability - adjust btwn looks (low setting) or functionality (higher setting)
• damper adjustability - can be set to a stiff setting to protect your invader front from bottoming out while going over sudden dips in the road
• may come with camber plates - reduces uneven tire wear (tires are $$$ so better treat them right)
• smaller spring diameter - will allow wider wheels/tires if needed (more beneficial to gt4 due to power to rear wheels)
• statically lighter in general (haven't measured but it's about a 5 lb savings per corner iirc)
• lighter = less unsprung mass so it transmits less vibrations to the interior (but the ride harshness sorta defeats that )

Actually azian the Varis Arising II isnt really all that low. I have the front n rear, riding on 17" with an inch n quarter wheel gap. The invader front actually sits lower, lower. But to op(sorry for thread snatching) considering ur on a budget, gather all the collected info from ur thread pick in pull the pros n cons from each suspension set up to help with ur final choice.

[trdproven]

having had both on several types of different cars, springs ride wayyyy better. ive had 1" to 4 inch drops and while a bigger drop looks awesome, its a pain in the ass, i currently have coilovers on my Acura TL.

ive also had springs while changing the shocks and some without. usually the rule of thumb when getting springs is if the dropp is going to be close to 2 or more inches, get new shoccks, anything less than 1.5 inch drop, you dont have to change, as its not that much of a change to the suspension.

that being said, i have tein s-techs ready to go on my GT4, mainly because it is cheaper, i dont want a huge drop on it, i want it to ride similar and i dont want to weld **** on the car. im not changing the shocks out as they are still very good and the drop is only about 1.5 inches. thats my opinion, do what you want, maybe this will help sway your decision.

its true springs ride better because they do not lower your car that much, decent spring rates, and the coils are more stock like diameters compared to smaller diameter coilovers. However, I'm not sure what type of coilovers you had, whether it just be sleeves, but Megans, BC coilovers run like stock, i mean all my friends say that my car feels stock still on bumps and in fact made them buy the coilovers for themselves. With the spring setup you'll need performance shocks plus lowering springs, plus possible top mounts, plus the disassembling and reassembling (labor/time is money), and not adjustable makes the price so close to coilover prices that you'd be a fool not to get coilovers these days.

This post has been edited by trdproven: Oct 21, 2011 - 6:25 PM

[Hanyo]

This is not 100% true.

for such a low front bumper, i'd go with coilovers. if you just get the springs, your shocks are likely to blow sooner than usual and in the end you might as well get coilovers.

advantages of coilovers (in order of importance):

• height adjustability - adjust btwn looks (low setting) or functionality (higher setting)
• damper adjustability - can be set to a stiff setting to protect your invader front from bottoming out while going over sudden dips in the road
• may come with camber plates - reduces uneven tire wear (tires are $$$ so better treat them right)
• smaller spring diameter - will allow wider wheels/tires if needed (more beneficial to gt4 due to power to rear wheels)
• statically lighter in general (haven't measured but it's about a 5 lb savings per corner iirc)
• lighter = less unsprung mass so it transmits less vibrations to the interior (but the ride harshness sorta defeats that )

advantage of springs vs coil-over set up:

• height adjustability - adjust btwn looks (low setting) or functionality (higher setting)
• damper adjustability - CAN NOT BE ADJUSTED. damper adjustibility is determined by the spring rate (lbs or newtons)
• smaller spring diameter - will allow wider wheels/tires if needed (more beneficial to gt4 due to power to rear wheels)
• statically lighter in general (haven't measured but it's about a 5 lb savings per corner iirc)
• lighter = less unsprung mass so it transmits less vibrations to the interior (but the ride harshness sorta defeats that )

Coil overs will never ride as good as lowering springs. Lowering springs have a progressive spring rates that allow the springs to absorb small bumps. Where as coil overs have one spring rate through out the travel of the suspension.

Notice the springs are closer together near the top of the spring and further apart at the bottom? That is the progressive spring rates that give you a smoother ride.


These are pretty standard coil overs. They have one spring rate through out the whole spring. They are good for racing applications to fine tune preload spring rate and height adjustment:

[czwalga]

If you can get the springs that make the car sit where you want it, get the springs provided you're not racing more than autox. It's not worth the extra money... People like to say they have coilovers just because its the cool thing on the internet. Unless you're racing (in which the cheapo coilovers are useless anyway) or having a very hard time adjusting ride height, the price just isnt worth it.

I have $1200 coilovers on my rx7, I haven't adjusted the height in 2 years or played with the damper settings since I initially set them. The reason I went with coilovers was because I couldnt get the rideheight. The springs I tried just didnt wouldnt work, between the new bumper and much bigger wheels it looked like a 4x4 even with lowering springs. My rally coilovers are a whole different ballgame and 3x the price, but its pretty much racing application only.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Oct 31, 2011 - 9:24 AM

[Cuts_the_Pilot]

I'm a bit backwards, my daily (the Chaser) has Cusco coilovers) and the 205 has a spring and shock combination (with adj strut tops, shocks are adjustable etc)

As a generalisation a good spring and shock combo (unless stupidly low) will have more travel, and will probably hold onto the road better (assuming normal not "perfectly flat race track" like roads)

If you have an aftermarket front bar and you want low then coilovers may be the way to go. If you intend on driving hard on normal roads (and if you had an aftermarket front bar you probably aren't) then something with slightly softer settings and decent suspension travel is the way to go.

[azian_advanced]

This is not 100% true.

for such a low front bumper, i'd go with coilovers. if you just get the springs, your shocks are likely to blow sooner than usual and in the end you might as well get coilovers.

advantages of coilovers (in order of importance):

• height adjustability - adjust btwn looks (low setting) or functionality (higher setting)
• damper adjustability - can be set to a stiff setting to protect your invader front from bottoming out while going over sudden dips in the road
• may come with camber plates - reduces uneven tire wear (tires are $$$ so better treat them right)
• smaller spring diameter - will allow wider wheels/tires if needed (more beneficial to gt4 due to power to rear wheels)
• statically lighter in general (haven't measured but it's about a 5 lb savings per corner iirc)
• lighter = less unsprung mass so it transmits less vibrations to the interior (but the ride harshness sorta defeats that )

Coil overs will never ride as good as lowering springs. Lowering springs have a progressive spring rates that allow the springs to absorb small bumps. Where as coil overs have one spring rate through out the travel of the suspension.

Notice the springs are closer together near the top of the spring and further apart at the bottom? That is the progressive spring rates that give you a smoother ride.


These are pretty standard coil overs. They have one spring rate through out the whole spring. They are good for racing applications to fine tune preload spring rate and height adjustment:

i was referring to springs as general lowering springs + oem-spec struts, as opposed to full coilover setups (Megans or D2's for example). not just the springs.
sorry for the misunderstanding.