This is not my dept. I'll tell you that straight off the gate.

The problem;
Tein S-tech's ate my struts. I have 38k on the clock, these have been on there from the previous owner of the car, maybe 20k? And the stock stuff is totaled.

Everything was fine until it got cold, then over the last month things went from just how they were, (fine) to game over in about 4 weeks.

Front passenger strut is pouring brown goo.

Front driver strut is about 5 bumps away.

Rear is feeling floaty. May have missed them pop, or they could be in the same state as driver side front.

Now the S tech's are coming off. But what to replace them with? I like the way the car presents itself with the S-techs, but they are a bit too low for PA roads.

The ride was totally tolerable.

This may also be a curve ball;
I do not care about handling. Not at all. I do not auto x, road race, or play with cones in any fashion. Nor will I ever. (why an evo then? simple answer; 4G63)

I need this s**t fixed, for as little money as possible. That does not equate to this same problem again any time soon.

Ride = or better would be fine.
Ride Height - needs to go up. 1.8 down in front plus .3-.5" of sag = too low.

Any slight improvement in handling over stock would be great. I'd hate to go back to stock springs, but I think it may be the best option for now.

Bilstein HD's? Or replace the VIII KYB's?
Is any coil over system going to tolerate 365 d/d and road salt? I'll tolerate a heavier spring if it keeps me from see sawing off the line. That's the one thing absolutely zero suspension travel was good for. Weight transfer into body motion / rear suspension compression. I had just about none. Am I a waste of the bilstein's? Should I just toss all new KYB's on it and find another spring that doesn't kill suspension?

Suggestions please. Car is a real daily driver. I put 16000 miles on it in the last year and a half. I don't drive far, but I drive it everywhere I go.

Thanks guys.
{thumbup**

 

Bilsteins and swift or gtworx springs...best thing I ever did. Ride is good, performance great, looks great.

If you need stock springs, I have a set up on e-bay at a great price.

 

Honestly I'm not the suspension guru, but I agree if springs are your game then I'd highly suggest some swift springs, but coilovers is always in my opinion the direction of choice, any high quality coilover will guarantee greater tuning of the suspension, as a coilover set up you have many different options and for springs, your handling is pretty much a controlled setup, no options here. Just my 2 cents

 

Disagree on running even expensive coil-overs in all weather conditions - the salt will kill them or make them non-adjustable for you.

Check out the Swifts Sports and HD struts. Awesome ride on the street and for what you were looking for - still looks awesome. I run my car 365 too, lots of ~800 mi trips, and on the track.

 

Swift def seems to be the way to go, I have a crazy expensive coilover setup and after a bit of reading wish i had done Bilstiens and Swifts and saved some $$

 

I have stock springs, though I appreciate the offer. I'm not really set on stock springs, or springs. I'll do coilovers.

I just think I will eat them alive with Pennsyltucky roads and winter. I like the idea of being able to go up / down with the change of seasons / winter summer tires/wheels. But I don't think they will take it. As far as performance is concerned. Not important. Maybe as an afterthought.

So I can't see bolting up a set of $3000 coil overs to go to the store and back in 5" of snow and brine slush salt mix. And then doing nothing but using them to raise or lower the car depending on the seasonal configuration. To me this is like taking $2000 more than I needed to spend, and using it to light cigarettes for the aroma of burning money.

This car will never see any kind of road course/auto X so long as I own it.

I like the idea of coilovers, I just think it is going to take a very good set to hold up to street (abuse in this case) still offer a decent ride, and not die in 20k miles. If they even last that long.

Aside from the occasional jaunt down a back road at speed. The car never has any of its handling ability tested. So tunability is about the farthest thing from my mind. Short of the convenience of ride height adjustment.

In this case, its cheaper for me to pick up a set of Megan's toss them on, lift the car up as high as it will go on them and leave it alone until it thaws out enough to even care about touching the car again. Than to buy springs, and a whole new set of struts to replace what has been destroyed by the S-techs. In fact its what I was going to do. But, then I did some reading... and I'm just not sure where I land in what would be best.

I'm not the typical Evo suspension modder. I couldn't care less about any of it. In fact, had it not been falling off of the car at this point. I wouldn't have touched it. (How little I like suspension work/parts etc) I have all the bushing sets here too - sitting in their box. No time or motivation to install them.

But if I'm tearing it all down, then I will.

Small drop, decent spring rate that I can tolerate. Durability.
Where does that put me?

Is there a coil over that is liveable that will last in 365 PA weather?

EDIT- FYI you guys were posting as I was typing responses to the other posts.

 

Your input is appreciated. 'You' are the reading I was doing.

Ok wait, that didn't sound real good.

That looked like the plan. Just wasn't sure if I could get away with coil overs or not. Ride height adjustment might allow for the wheels I would like to get for summer time without mangling sheet metal. (My version of body work)

But I hold just about all coilovers suspect in adverse weather conditions over time.

Sure about the Swifts? Or should I go for a kinder, gentler spring with less drop for the added clearance? (I'm still on the original front lip... but its now fixed ver 2.04)

1.4/.8 isn't much better than the 1.8/.9 of the S-techs at getting this pig back up off the ground. Which I think is the primary problem with PA bombed out roads wreaking havoc on the suspension.

Is there another quality option for those who aren't really after dropping the car / handling benefit.

Trying to sort this out asafp. I need to figure out which way to go and move on this in the next day or 2. So thanks for the input so far guys.

 

Thanks.

Also check out the GTWorx springs if you are worried about height. They are not as low as the Swifts, but still will give you what you are looking for. I am from MI/OH. We get a lot of snow. I also have a front lip that puts me 3in off the ground. Never had issues unless its a real steep incline. 4in of snow it does snow plow some. But it loads the FMIC with nice cold snow - extra cooling effect. Nah, not really, but never had any issues in it.

 

Coilovers will generally have shocks valved for high spring rates, which means they ride like crap, and will ride even worse if you put soft springs on them. Expensive coilovers will hold up (the KW V3s are actually stainless steel) and are rebuildable if the shock blows, but like I said, the ride will suck. Cheap coilovers (most of the Asian brands) which have really stiff valving and low travel = blown shocks on PA's atrocious roads. And you have to ship them back to Taiwan to get a rebuild.

Your best bet is a set of MR bilsteins (check the for-sale section) and Swift or GTWorx springs. It will ride nice and you won't blow the shocks.

 

3" of running ground clearance is ok if the road is flat. Add a 3" deep pothole and things get not so interesting, as they do expensive.

Like the camoflaged chunk of asphalt that just so happened to be .5" lower than the front lip, but .5" taller than the lower tie bar... that turned that thing into an upside down U. Which subsequently jammed my down pipe into my spinning drive shaft...

I thought I hit the "eject drivetrain" button at 40mph... it sounded like a hurricane hit a pipe factory. Except it wasn't that quiet.

I later realized the "eject drivetrain" button isn't so much a button as it is a automated procedure that only activates when you launch above 6200rpm on a 100* day at the track.

Its directly related to the "what input shaft bearing?" task that runs simultaneously.

Its not so much the incline, I'm not unaccustomed to navigating those. Its the uneven - no road portions that pass as driveways etc around here that kill me. And some portions of the road that are 3"-4" deep. When I can barely get a pack of cigarettes under that lower tie bar. So it also acts as a carrion catcher... not real fun to spray that kind of stuff off.

These?

They are about half the drop of the Swifts. But do not list spring rates... any idea where these are in terms of rate? They say they use the extra travel of the suspension to allow for a stiffer spring rate. I would assume to do that they would have to be a progressive wound spring.

Hmm... suspension travel... is that what the car is like when it doesn't go skipping across the road on uneven surfaces when you lay into the loud pedal? In that case I have none. Flat road, power awd = win. Uneven, = pick a direction 120* in front of you at random because that is where it is going to skip as wheels load and unload.

 

Ya, I find those potholes here and there too. Or those giant road humps. Hit one offal when I was back in MI over TG.

I want to say 290f and 330r for rates. About 10% stiffer than the Swifts. PM Andrew at GTWorx.

 

I ended up finding the rates in one of their threads somewhere. I think that is the right choice for me. No offense to Swift. I just think I'll take the ground clearance this time instead. Springs are not that expensive as to change them out it would kill me.

I appreciate the help SmikeEvo. If there comes a time later when I can return the favor let me know.

Thanks to all who chimed in with suggestions. This is not my area of expertise. (As I'm sure you all can tell)

 

No problem, anytime! Ah, thanks