i have been looking around. seems like every manufacturer has their own coilover for the FD. so far i've only been in one car with coilovers. silver93tt has the M2/AD coilover it handled great but i want to spend under $2k. my car will be used for street,track, and drag use. i've looked at HK$,Tanabe,M2, Apexi, etc. any recommendations?

 

I am very happy with my GAB Super R struts / M2 coilover kit w/ Eibach springs. Hard to beat for the price.

 

I don't believe you can get the GAB shocks anymore .... if you can let me know where. The tanabe is a good setup ... Goodfella has it on his car and both he and RP have said good things about it. The M2/AD setup is like $2600 total so that is very expensive in my head. The tanabe is anywhere from $1450 to $1850 depending on what setup. The package from truechoice.com seem like another good setup. Stage II is $1150 and stage III is $1800. That price is the difference between single adjustment and dual adjustment. The single is fine for street use, but the auto-x people like the dual setup. There have been many post on this topic lately so do a search and see what you get.

 

what advantages do coilovers give over upgraded springs/shocks (for example an H&R/Koni setup) other than FULL ride height adjustability (as opposed to the Koni's 15mm adjustabilty) and more clearance for wider tires??? is the improvment in handling worth the extra $1000 in coilovers as opposed to better springs/shocks??

thanks.

 

You can corner weight balance your suspension which I think is very valuable to racers. I personally like the idea of a fully adjustable suspension. The adjustable ride height always seems to help out when you need it .... like moving into a house with too steep of a drive way.

 

These are the ones I want !! HKS HyperDampers

$1925.00 from Rotary Secret 7....Tony might be able to hook you up with a better deal.....

 

The A'pexi N1 coilovers are very nice (even better than the HKS) and offer full adjustability. A good set of coil overs that include an integrated strut cost a bit more than if you were to buy a shock/spring combo but give you greater flexibility when it comes to tuning the suspension. Theres as much suspension tuning tuning stuff you can do as there is engine tuning.

If you get a good coil over (as opposed to ride height adjustable ONLY) the spring rate and dampening levels will already be optimized to complement each other. If the springs rate is too soft and the dampening level is too hard, vice versa, the ride quality can really be messed up. So you gotta know what you're doing/be willing to do a lot of test driving if you're gonna fiddle with all the settings. Theres a bit of technicality when it comes to setting up and changing coil over settings correctly.

Best thing about it is that you dont need to swap out the springs when changing between setups.

TEIN also makes a pretty decent coil-over

 

The one thing I would like to find would be the springs rates for these different setups. I know the Tanabe are real close to 450/350 and the M2/AD & Truechoice systems are your choice, but what about the spring rates of the Tein, HKS, & Apex kits?

 

Another advantage of coil-overs is the abundance of spring rate choices. Popular choices seem to be 550/450 or 450/375.

I have read several good reviews of the MazdaSpeed coil-over setup, which is very complete and well designed for the $1600 price tag (available at rxecret.com, MazdaComp, and others).

I've got the GAB/M2 setup and I am happy with it, but I think the availability of GAB shocks makes that a bad choice for anyone looking to buy a set now. I think you can still get GAB shocks from MazdaComp, but they are like $300 each.

Tri-Point Engineering is a good place to talk to about Koni setups, too.

-Max

 

I was hoping you would jump in on this thread. Do you know the spring rate of the Mazdaspeed setup?

 

TEIN!

 

Double Adjustable Penskes?

 

notice i said under $2k NOT under $6k hehe

 

Aren't Tein coilovers just rebranded RS*R's?

 

I would want H&Rs, if they had an application for the FD (Where are thier priorities? They make it for the Supra, not for the FD? )

But instead, I think I would go with the Apex'i

 

Group Buy Center is offering it at $1755. (you may need to register to see the link). Anyhoo, here's the listing for you guys:

"Apexi N1 Coilovers, RX7 93-95
APX-245AZ002Regular price: $2,506.97 Sale price: $1,754.88"

Ends on Oct. 24.

PS. As WorkS2R sez...Penske DA w/ Hypercoils!!! That or Ohlins T44 (each damper cost more that the N1 kit in retail.

 

Damn... thats a nice price...


what should i buy.... daily driver...coil overs....daily driver...coil overs....

damnit. I think im gonna buy those coil overs. I don't think anyone can beat that deal. The daily driver will have to wait another month! ...the rampant cycle of FD spending continues

 

hahaha...Somehow I had a gut feeling that you had to have the coilovers.

 

IM WAITING ON MY TEIN RA

 

ek9220ps,

who did you get the Teins from? Thanks.

 

Dom>

Yup yup gotta have a good suspension to match with good speed

... i need a good turbo and good intercooler too :p

 

H&R makes springs for the FD.

 

heres my vote for the end deciding factor...one thats in stock or avable in 2 weeks when ur cars will be done (hopefully) no sense havin 500hp and base suspension....

now where are those damn bushings.....

 

I got Cusco Comp2's coming soon =) CUSCO!

 

I've got the Mazdaspeed Coilovers so I'll tell you what I know about them.

Spring rates are variable and are listed as:

Front Primary - 6.63 Kgf/mm or 65 N/mm or (374 lb/in)*
Front Secondary - 7.3 Kgf/mm or 71.6 N/mm or (412 lb/in)*

Rear Primary- 4.83 Kgf/mm or 47.3 N/mm or (272 lb/in)*
Rear Secondary - 5.1 Kgf/mm or 50 N/mm or (287 lb/in)*

* ( I did the conversion to lb/in so I hope it is correct )

First off the ride quality is much much better than the stock touring shocks. Stock touring was way underdamped on rebound but was still harsh when hitting sharp bumps.

Mazdaspeeds have much better dampening and are are only minimally harsher on sharp bumps. Elevation changes that would unsettle the stock touring shocks are soaked up easily by the Mazdaspeeds. This is especially appreciated at high speeds where the car now feels very well planted.

All settings except 4 (the Max) are too soft on both compression and rebound. I'm running all 4 corners at setting 4 and the ride and handling are great. Setting 3 is ok on the back if you want to improve straight line launches and dial out some oversteer.

Rear ride height adjustability is very generous.

Front ride height adjustability is a bit on the low side.

I have the front shocks set at their max ride height to avoid tire rub in hard corners. I have zero rub with 235-40-17's on front. An upgraded sway bar may be required to avoid rubbing in hard corners if you are running taller tires. Also, setting 4 is required on the front to avoid excessive wheel travel and avoid rubbing.

Upper mounts are a high stiffness rubber which helps with ride quality as opposed to pillow ball mounts.

I think this is a great setup since it performs really well and actually improves the ride quailty of the car. There are no negatives.

Some might say the spring rates are too low but anything higher would have to sacrafice some ride quality compared to this setup.

If I wanted a better setup than this I would go double adjustable, which we all know is way more $$.

Mabey someday.