So I'm not happy w/ anything coming out of japan that I can really afford.

I want a reasonable daily driver w/ some very good handling.
So I always see that the shock makes the car. So I was looking around and came up w/ this
AWR makes front strut mounts for the bilstein and koni inserts, so thats a non-issue


1) Koni Yellows revalved for the cars spring setup w/ some coilover sleeves and camber goodies
+adjustable
+affordable to buy and revalve
+can have converted to double adjustable later ($1200 for all four corners, ACK)
-no definition in adjustment
-rear adjustment on top so can't adjust once stereo is put back together w/o a big hassle

2) Bilstein revalved for the cars spring setup w/ some coilover sleeves and camber goodies
+heard that theyre more consistent after a few laps than the konis, think someone mentioned the fluid heating up to be a possible cause.
+non-adjustable (simplistic)
+affordable to buy and revalve
-non-adjustable

3) Ohlins 32F/24R adjustable struts w/ coilover sleeves
+32F/24R single adjustable w/ defined clicks for an idea of what im doing
+ has the rear adjuster on the bottom of the shock
+pretty rare (would have to buy out of japan as they dont offer them anywhere else)
-super expensive to buy
-looks to be about 2x expensive to revalve or rebuild. havent got a definate rebuild quote from ohlins usa though. so hopefully my springrates would be hunkydory with it from the get go.....


DISCUSS!


-Ben Martin

 

currently im looking at a full setup from AWR Racing w/ custom valved bilsteins and some hypercoils and the whole shebang

 

for what its worth:

i have spent many hours sitting in an ex-friend's itR with bilsteins and custom rate eibachs and gc sleeves. the ride was very firm and did not bounce at all (and these are jersey roads!). iirc the driver was running 500ish springs. tire was the older azeni 215 with a decent sidewall on lightweight mazda millenia wheels. it would be quite uncomfortable or daily though... but thats very subjective. some people are more hardcore than others.

 

I'm digging my Stance coilovers I picked up for like 1300 shipped or 1200 shipped. Whichever. I got the spring rates 8kg front 6kg rear. They might be alittle bit more expensive but they are getting the job done. I just wish I had camber adjustment for the rear. Guess I'll just have to make do until I can buy something for that.

 

FWIW, in the Miata world anyway, the Bilsteins are considered to be much harsher than the Koni Yellows. I've seen data plots (accelerometer) of a bumpy road on the same car with both shocks, the Yellows soften after the first bump, leading to a better ride. The Bisteins are better for pure track use though, better, more consitent damping. Many have switched and not looked back, some have gained a bunch of time in autocrosses by switching.

 

The Ohlins are pointless for a car that will see some miles. Cross those off the list.

I think you have a solid handle on the pros/cons of the Koni and Bilstein. They're both good products, you have to decide which one will serve you best.

 

Good choices I might add and i agree with above comments, I run koni's on my FB with Eibach 400 lb fronts and drive 1000 miles a week on them, they ride very nicely, great handling yet not to harsh.

This may add something for your FC (I think)

 

cehck out the AWR rear camber links. They even match the stance coilovers, black and gold
awrracing.com <---good ****

 

http://www.flatout-motorsports.com/c...59cab4fe2db61f

Same AWR stuff, but cheaper. They have the cheapest on car adjustable camber link I've seen. I've got one, it looks like a quality piece.

 

thanks for the link
I want the individual adjusters because you can make them the same. I remember seeing the single piece links would make them a little off from side to side.
I'm **** retentive for attention to detail I guess. Overkill is the motto!
-Ben Martin

 

[completely off topic post follows:]

I'm lovin' your new sig Node. I take it it's modeled after that old animation: 'I don't want to hold your hand, I just want BOOM BOOM BOOM. I don't want to be your friend, I just want BOOM BOOM BOOM!'

[/off topic]

 

IMHO the individual adjusters should ONLY be used IF you're only correcting the wheels to be equal (adjusting them equally) after adjusting the camber using the rod, AND you've got stock bushings in there. Using them to adjust the camber is asking those bushings to deflect, and if you try to adjust them too much then you'll get increasing amounts of binding in the bushings. That's a bad thing, it'll hurt your handling. By keeping the adjustments small and even (but opposite) side to side with the individual links will keep the effects on the handling to a minimum. The only other viable option is to run the AWR bearings in the control arms.

The rod's only $100, if you're getting the individual ones you might as well buy it at the same time and save yourself the problems associated with excessive bearing binding. Besides, I don't immagine that the individual ones have a huge range of adjustment anyway.

You're right though, all the alignment numbers I've seen with the camber rods have been uneven, as it's not centered on the subframe.