Coilovers vs. Uprated Springs and Dampers

[Road_Rebel]

Hello all,

I have been building my car with the aim of it being a grand tourer. Nice performance but not uncomfortable to drive great distances in.

The question i have is:

For road use which is better?

Coilovers (Tein Monoflex with EDFC possibly) spending limit £1500
or
Bilstein shocks (again possibly) and springs to match Spending limit £600


This is probably a very open ended question but i thought i'd ask and get some peoples opinions on it.


Regards,
Daniel

[Donato]

If you want long lasting suspension, go for the shocks and springs. If you want a more refined ride go for coilovers.

Personally i wouldn't go for Teins, they seem to be way over priced and over rated. KW V3's are in that price bracket for coilovers and have much more R&D in them. But that's just my opinion

[Peter Gidden]

with the aim of it being a grand tourer ... but not uncomfortable to drive great distances in.

IMHO, springs/dampers.

[CalMac]

Most would agree that coilies are best for track, or if you don't mind a stiffer ride

I'd have gone shocks and springs, because from what I've read these are the tried and tested route for MR2s, but am fitting WIDE wheels so needed the coilovers for their smaller diameter.

Managed to get hold of some JIC's a few months ago for £200 having been assured by the seller that they were all working fine - turns out two of the shocks were gone and the lock rings and one of spring seats that connect the springs were missing. Of course they weren't standard size.. so £130 of machining and £360 of refurb with Gaz Shocks later and I now have them working

Lessons learnt :

a) don't buy used coilovers
b) bypassing ebay and paying direct through paypal isn't worth it sometimes

[Road_Rebel]

so what are some of the better brands of shocks and springs?

[Rosssco]

Koni Adjustable Dampers (inserts) + Eibach Pro-Kit Springs = Excellent Road Suspension

Add in some uprated ARB's for improved cornering control and response(e.g. TRD, Whiteline)

[Road_Rebel]

ARB's being anti roll bars yeah?

Daniel

[Peter Gidden]

Koni Adjustable Dampers (inserts) + Eibach Pro-Kit Springs = Excellent Road Suspension

Add in some uprated ARB's for improved cornering control and response(e.g. TRD, Whiteline)

Agreed. 100%

[Race Idiot]

If your going to spend £1500 on coilovers then KW V3s would probably be the best bet. Also the standard spring rates are pretty resonable compared to most mr2 coilovers and KW do a tonne of r&d compared to most other companies who make coilovers for our cars.

My car is polybushed, with yellow billes, trd springs, topmounts and arbs. I've also got a Pacific Works front underbrace!

I did have konis but after around 60,000 miles of daily use they didnt seem to be doing much damping anymore, but when they were new the ride was pretty damn good.

If you can get hold of TRD springs do it, but if not eibach are pretty simmilar. Infact the trd springs are made by eibach but to trds specs. Also iirc tanabe make a decent spring for road use, when I was doing research, they came up on the USoc a bit.

I'd go look on the us oc because they have a nice thread on all the different makes of springs with known springrates.

[vishpish]

Bilsteins and eibach pro kit all the way for what you want the car for. B8 bilsteins are impeccable and faultless for everything from daily driving to backroad fun.

[Loque]

with the aim of it being a grand tourer ... but not uncomfortable to drive great distances in.

IMHO, springs/dampers.

This.

Sounds like black billies would be what you're after. I'm still deciding between B6/8s..

[andrew77]

I've got the hsd mono pro kit and I use the car daily to drive round roads covered in holes and speed humps and they are mega comfy once settled and set up on a medium/firm damping,

[mrturbotom]

I'm going to sell my tein super streets and hope to replace with adj. Shocks and -30mm springs