Suspension Question/Recomendation

[sfwilliams@comcast.net (Scott F. Williams)]

Craig, you pretty much nailed the important points right on the head.
Coilovers on the street are fairly pointless for "normal" people for
technical reasons. So, innstall them for looks if that's what you're into.
That's my .03 (two cents adjusted for inflation).

People assume that such systems will provide more suspension travel. They
don't. There is an assumption that they'll ride better. That is determined
by the spring and damping rates. In short, they ride no better. Then, there
is the pipedream that raising and lowering the car can be done willy nilly
without realigning the suspension. You can't -not unless you're happy with a
totally-effed, tire-scrubbing, foul handling alignment problem, anyway. How
about the the misconception that even after the ride height is set coilovers
magically provide other tangible improvements in handling or ride. They do
not. In fact, once the ride height is set they function identically to
conventional equipment.

Coilover springs do tend to be smaller in diameter. So, you may potentially
be able get away with wider tires/wheels or those with more backspacing.
There may be room for more negative camber, too. Of course, for general road
use you don't need or probably even want such a set up.

So, what's the real point? The point is that every tuner in America wants
your money. Spend it with them if keeping up with the Joneses is your goal.
Keep it in your wallet if you are more thrifty.

P.S. I have installed coilover sleeves and perches on my Bilstein Sport
struts and rear Koni shocks! Custom-tuning my spring rates was my first
priority. Secondly, I expect to corner balance the car. And, of far far less
importance is the means to raise and lower the car for track events and
backroad driving. Do what you like, but don't be fooled into spending big
bucks unless you know precisely why you're doing it.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
'99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."

> Most fools that I see with coil overs on the street use them merely to
> adjust the height of their cars for no more then visual reasons. In fact,
> I'd say the majority of people I've seen with these use them to
> park their
> cars at a car show and lower it as much as possible for that
> o-so-cool car
> show look.
>
> AFAIK, the best true advantage to having coil-overs is so that
> you can have
> your car coner balanced. By adjusting the height at each corner
> you transfer
> the weight of your car. This is most effective for track and auto-x
> purposes. Not something that can be done in a home garage unless
> you have 4
> digital scales you can drive your car onto, so you'll have to
> bring it in to
> a race shop.
>
> Scott has some opinions about the usefulness of coil-overs on the street.
> He'll probably chime in with a more technical view on this.
>
> -- Craig