[Mk2] [Generic] ride on 18's and coilovers

[nick200]

I have KSPORTS & 18's and i dont like the ride. I even retrofitted stock toyota top mounts which gave an element of isolation but still not too my taste. ( so possibly some Ksports <200miles coming up for sale soon ! )

My requirement is lowered with 18's and an 'ok' ride as a dd.

Doing much searching, the Tein superstreets £740 all seem to have
good reviews, as do BC £700. The KY var3 £1500! suggest they are the business but almost no forum comments from mr2 users

Just wondering, to those that have 18's and coilovers - who is happy with their ride as a daily driver ?

....... also if anyone who lives surrey area, would mind taking me for a ride in their configuration of above - i would be most grateful !

Thanks, Nick

[Nails]

ive found in the past the ride quality depends just as much if not more on the tyre profiles rather than the suspension, on another car I had quite a few different wheel/tyre set ups aswell as everything from just a set 0f lowering springs(2 different sets ), a set of matching springs and dampers, standard setup, and 2 different types of coilovers, 1 being the height adjustable only and the other being height, damper aswell as the the whole shock moving instead of the platform.
what I found was with 18"s and low profiles the ride was awful with coilovers, and with lowered suspension it was ok ish, with coilovers with 15"s and bigger profiles the ride was spot on

my current mr2 is running 16"s with 225/45 and tein coilovers and the ride is a good compromise between comfort and handling, although it can get a bit skippy on rough b roads which makes you lack confidence when pushing it, my last mr2 had lowering springs and dampers and 17"s with 255/40s and the ride was harsher on that.

[MRV6]

I have 18's on my car and tein superstreets. I don't mind the ride, it's not too harsh. I also order a lighter spring rate for the rear of the car. Having said that I do not use it as a daily driver.

[Super_red]

When I went to 17's I hated the ride, I swapped the suspension out for UK spec (supposed to be softer) and still no good so I changed tyre pressures to the lowest recomended and bang, still firm but nice and still handles well, 4k later I have no uneven tyre wear either so its worked well for me.

[Race Idiot]

KW Variant 3s are the only coilover i'd buy, the springs have resonable rates and i'm pretty sure they are the only widely available mr2 coilover to have adjustable compression and rebound. There are allot of us guys who swear by them.

Plus KW do their r&d at the nordschleife, god knows where companies like bc or k-sport do theirs even if they actually do any.

If you dont want to spend money on a decent coilover then go with koni inserts and eibach/trd/swift springs.

I run a koni/trd setup with 17's and the ride is pretty good. Although I also have thicker arbs which makes it a bit stiffer, with the standard arbs its probably a nicer setup.

[nick200]

thanks for the input. Some interesting points mentioned.

Yes things like tyre pressure will have an effect, super_red what was yours originally set to - was it really high, or have you lowered the pressure loads, looking at 18's the consensus seemed to be 29psi was the lowest you'd want to go.

I actually emailed KW about the spring rates, and got no reply - so wasnt so impressed with a potential spend of £1500 - but i hear what you say race_idiot i'm sure they are a quality set especially having dual damping adjustement. I wouldnt be surprsied if the none of the budget coilovers actually road test them on the car. Its just a collection of modular parts with different mounting pickups.(in my opinion )

Nails - i think valid point with tyre PROFILE, and also interesting how 18's > 15's with coilovers was fine. Generally coilovers get bad press for ride quality, but maybe this is because 90% of the time this is coupled with putting larger wheels ( smaller tyre profile ) on at the same time ?

MRV6 - what rear spring rate did you go for ? I found that while a softer spring theorerically has a softer ride, it can be worse on the road since you run out of shock travel and are hitting the bump stops (as i found out !)

Out of interest i am looking to get hold of a set of 17's to try on the front and compare these back to back with the 18's on an identical route. Will post back results !

[dantheman]

This topic surprises me as you seem to have a reasonable level of technical knowledge yet do not grasp the basics of ride quality. You cant remove most of the suspension travel (thus requiring stiffer springs) and remove virtually all the compliance in the tyres by fitting 18's and expect a decent ride quality.

Can i suggest you re-evaluate what your want from your car? If its looks ie low stance and large wheels, you have to suffer the consequences. If its comfort because its a daily driver, well you simply wont beat toyotas factory setup. If its handling then you will find that ride and handling are largely opposed to each other.

Also you might want to be more specific about what you dont like about the ride? If its feeling every bump in the road, weaker damping and springs, if its bouncing a lot, increase damping, if its pitching, well try a (relative to weight) lower spring rate on the fronts.

[nick200]

This topic surprises me as you seem to have a reasonable level of technical knowledge yet do not grasp the basics of ride quality. You cant remove most of the suspension travel (thus requiring stiffer springs) and remove virtually all the compliance in the tyres by fitting 18's and expect a decent ride quality.

Can i suggest you re-evaluate what your want from your car? If its looks ie low stance and large wheels, you have to suffer the consequences. If its comfort because its a daily driver, well you simply wont beat toyotas factory setup. If its handling then you will find that ride and handling are largely opposed to each other.

Also you might want to be more specific about what you dont like about the ride? If its feeling every bump in the road, weaker damping and springs, if its bouncing a lot, increase damping, if its pitching, well try a (relative to weight) lower spring rate on the fronts.

Hi Dan,

fair enough, i understand the contradiction. Toyota started off with much smaller wheels and higher profile tyres and basically did their R&D on this setup , and by fitting larger wheels and stiffer suspension the ride can only go down hill. I think what i'm trying to guage is - by how much. Which itself is difficult to quantify. None of the cars i've owned or been in have had anything but stock suspension - so maybe the only issue here is me expecting too much !

With my ride its fine on ok roads, but tramlines and is skitish on poor roads.

Some people rate Ksport coilovers some dont, some prefer 18's some dont, and yet some people find their ride acceptable with 18's AND stiffer suspension - so i was just interested on people's views who were also running the 18's with coilover combination.

[dantheman]

Indeed, but what people find acceptable is against what they expected. I find the ride on my car acceptable, even though its dire beyond belief, because i designed it for track not road. If this is the first modified car you have been in, perhaps try the standard suspension or the black or yellow bilsteins which are slightly stiffer. If these are acceptable then you have found your solution.

Also if the car is tramlining, are your tyres wider than standard? Wider tyres will make the wheel follow the road contours more. Increasing camber can reduce this. If by skitish you mean the wheels dont seem to be in contact with the road much, your setup is too stiff, but i guess you know that already.

Like i said perhaps ask someone with standard suspension on 18's to take you for a ride then work from there.

[MRV6]

MRV6 - what rear spring rate did you go for ? I found that while a softer spring theorerically has a softer ride, it can be worse on the road since you run out of shock travel and are hitting the bump stops (as i found out !)

Hi Nick, sorry I can't give you any further info as I just asked the guy who I ordered them off to go for a lighter spring rate. Thus far I have found the ride acceptable. But you have to take my very low mileage per annum and our crap roads into account.