coilovers-best & worst

[Marty2529]

for the money what coilovers work the best for street & track use ready to buy , but dont want to spend alot of money. daliracing sells Megan coilovers for $850. are they any good ?

 

[Jeff@Carbon6]

Price = Quality + Safety + Performance

To reduce the price you are compromising one/all of the others. This has been discussed in detail in other threads.

 

[BATMANs]

The Mazda guys stay away from Megans.

I have Tien with EDFC which is the best in terms of ease of use.

With a flick of a button i can program and change the quality of the ride while driving it.

none of this getting outta the car and twisting knobs and such.

 

[FXMDBilly]

Not another one of these threads again...


If you want a poor quality, cheap 'coilover' that is under damped, over sprung, will leak within a year, etc... by all means there are many options out there under $1,000

If you want to truly *invest in your car, your suspension, performance/safety/handling/etc... (and probably spend less in the long run) get a good coilover up front.

Think about it. If you buy a $850 coilover, it breaks, it beats you up, you don't like the ride quality, etc... and end up buying a slightly better $1,500 coilover down the line. You could have bought a really nice coilover for that $2,300 you ended up spending anyway.


0.02

 

[NSXDreamer2]

i had a $4000 set up on my nsx and can't be more happier with the preformance. which is about 1/6 to 1/7 of the cost of my car.

I had bought a Megan suspension for my miata (used from a friend, for $500) which is also 1/6 of the cost of it. my suspension still working fine with no oil leak. In fact I quite enjoyed driving it with my thicker rear sway bar setup. (and yes the suspension is way over-sprung, it's not under damped though.)

I had a Tein RA for my nsx prior to what i have now, it only starting oil leak after 20000 miles. with prob. 20 track days.

**I will not put a Megan suspension in my nsx, well if I track my miata, I might have a different choice too.

To OP, you might want to explore your local area and get some ride from your local nsx owners and have some insight and get some seat on the pants feel. Billy, suspension is a steep hill and like i said before, more expensive they are, better they are... one might not want to try a $4000 suspension if they want to keep it under 1000.

 

[Marty2529]

thanks for your in puts, megans are out ,any thoughs on the SOS JIC's , I'm still would like a smoother type ride for the streets and $2000. is a max. will there be a notiable differents from the TEIN for $1600. ?
​

 

[Jeff@Carbon6]

thanks for your in puts, megans are out ,any thoughs on the SOS JIC's , I'm still would like a smoother type ride for the streets and $2000. is a max. will there be a notiable differents from the TEIN for $1600. ?
​

Yes, there is. The JIC's are a great shock for the money. Much smoother than the Tein's. We are running some special on JIC through September. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Jin1976]

I have Tein superstreet. More comfortable than the new oem shocks and more stable ride. My friend Supercar is ordering these coilovers as well.

thanks for your in puts, megans are out ,any thoughs on the SOS JIC's , I'm still would like a smoother type ride for the streets and $2000. is a max. will there be a notiable differents from the TEIN for $1600. ?
​

 

[HIJACKER]

On the topic of coilovers - my car has the JIC's on it and it rides fantastic. However, I do notice once I'm up at about 55 or higher, the car tends to float or pull, maybe even "sway" is the right word. The surface is standard highway, so it's not 100% perfect, but the "swaying" is much more noticeable at higher speeds or when acceleration from 55-70 or so.

What would cause this? Is it something with the coilovers and how the car is balanced - or are aftermarket sway bars a follow up mod that is required after coilovers. I haven't had this issue with any other vehicle before when lowering, so I wanted to get an answer from the NSX gurus.

 

[W]

Can you wait a little longer before making a decision? If you haven't tracked the car much, then you might as well wait until you're really sure what direction you want to go. Just throwing out different brands doesn't sound like a great plan. Figure out exactly where you want to be now and into the future then make a decision. Ideally, you'd want to do this once.

If you're going to keep the car for awhile, then pick a setup that you can rebuild/revalve.
How much street and how much track do you want in your setup? Track setups tend to be much stiffer unless you go with those uber expensive shocks.

If you want bang for the buck, then a used stock setup is the best deal in its price range. It's not an adjustable coilover system but it's cheap and works quite well.

 

[W]

On the topic of coilovers - my car has the JIC's on it and it rides fantastic. However, I do notice once I'm up at about 55 or higher, the car tends to float or pull, maybe even "sway" is the right word. The surface is standard highway, so it's not 100% perfect, but the "swaying" is much more noticeable at higher speeds or when acceleration from 55-70 or so.

What would cause this? Is it something with the coilovers and how the car is balanced - or are aftermarket sway bars a follow up mod that is required after coilovers. I haven't had this issue with any other vehicle before when lowering, so I wanted to get an answer from the NSX gurus.

Check your front and rear toe settings.

 

[Jin1976]

Check the front inner tie-rod. Cheap to replace.

On the topic of coilovers - my car has the JIC's on it and it rides fantastic. However, I do notice once I'm up at about 55 or higher, the car tends to float or pull, maybe even "sway" is the right word. The surface is standard highway, so it's not 100% perfect, but the "swaying" is much more noticeable at higher speeds or when acceleration from 55-70 or so.

What would cause this? Is it something with the coilovers and how the car is balanced - or are aftermarket sway bars a follow up mod that is required after coilovers. I haven't had this issue with any other vehicle before when lowering, so I wanted to get an answer from the NSX gurus.

 

[FXMDBilly]

On the topic of coilovers - my car has the JIC's on it and it rides fantastic. However, I do notice once I'm up at about 55 or higher, the car tends to float or pull, maybe even "sway" is the right word. The surface is standard highway, so it's not 100% perfect, but the "swaying" is much more noticeable at higher speeds or when acceleration from 55-70 or so.

What would cause this? Is it something with the coilovers and how the car is balanced - or are aftermarket sway bars a follow up mod that is required after coilovers. I haven't had this issue with any other vehicle before when lowering, so I wanted to get an answer from the NSX gurus.

What's your alignment, and what wheels/tires do you run?

 

[HIJACKER]

What's your alignment, and what wheels/tires do you run?

Alignment is fine. Wheels: Roja 5 with Toyo Proxies, 235/35/18 Front and 275/30/18 Rear.

Today it seemed much better on different roads that were much smoother. But on the rougher roads, it REALLY pulls occasionally - more so that I think would be normal. Maybe the road just sucks that bad and the steering is this sensitive. I would just rather be sure at less than 70 on the highway than 100+ on the track.

 

[W]

Sounds like the rough roads and wide front tires. How much toe are you running up front? If you having a skinnier front setup, you can put that on and drive the same roads to see if there's a significant difference.

 

[swerve2007]

^+1
at those tire sizes you have virtually no sidewall flex- great for smooth track surface, nightmare on the street. i have experienced this steering behavior (sometimes called 'tramlining') on my other cars in the past and it 'helped' me decide to stay away from overly agressive setups. it is obviously up to you to decide what is acceptable.

 

[Hrant]

Per your profile, you have a 2004-T and the T tends to have this tendency but to varying degrees depending on what was noted by others. What is your toe alignment - we know you said it is fine? What tire pressures are you running on the fronts?

Stiffer sway bar and/or the Type R will help but it is best to make sure the other variables are addressed so you can pin this down.

 

[FXMDBilly]

Alignment is fine. Wheels: Roja 5 with Toyo Proxies, 235/35/18 Front and 275/30/18 Rear.

Today it seemed much better on different roads that were much smoother. But on the rougher roads, it REALLY pulls occasionally - more so that I think would be normal. Maybe the road just sucks that bad and the steering is this sensitive. I would just rather be sure at less than 70 on the highway than 100+ on the track.

I didn't ask if they were fine, I was asking for your F&R camber and toe -which greatly affect the handling, characteristic, and reaction of your car.

As HRant said, also what is your tire pressure? The more information you can provide, the better and more accurate responses people can give you. Without it, the replies and possibilities are endless and not accurate.

I agree with Hrant that a larger/stiffer front bar will reduce front grip and make the car oversteer less. I don't have the JIC spring rate numbers on hand since i'm not at home right now but I think they have much higher rear rates relative to front which can make the car oversteer even more...

I also agree that a 30 sidewall is pretty darn low. I'd recommend a 275/35-18 for your next tire.

 

[HIJACKER]

When I get a chance, I will get an updated charge from alignment and post up the chart.

Tire pressure is 32 in all four tires, checked this evening.

 

[CL65 Captain]

When I get a chance, I will get an updated charge from alignment and post up the chart.

Tire pressure is 32 in all four tires, checked this evening.

32 is pretty darn low for the rears. I run 33/38 for the street.

 

[Hrant]

32 is pretty darn low for the rears. I run 33/38 for the street.

^ +1 !

At 32 in the rears, your car should be dancing its rear any time you go through the gears with some gusto ......... are you sure that is not what you are feeling?

 

[FXMDBilly]

Ive never been a big fan of such huge tire pressure splits. But I agree that pressure is pretty low for such a small side wall. You might try ~36 to 38psi ALL AROUND - also to get rid of more front grip.

 

[HIJACKER]

Update - I figured out what was causing the issue. Details on event:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1227230&postcount=49

After that close call - I have sinced replaced the bolt and performed a complete check of every bolt on every piece of component on the underside of the car. It now drives like it's on rails, no issues like I was having before.

 

[A.S. Motorsport]

I'd recommend KW and JIC there very good coilover kits with great quality

Tien is also very good.