A good coilover setup has several advantages over lowering springs that fit in the stock struts.
The first, and really most important feature is adjustability. You can set the height of the car, within a range, without removing the suspension. Second, In a properly designed coilover system, the shock absorbers are designed and valved to operate optimally at whatever height setting the driver chooses. When a simple lowering spring is installed in the factory strut, it may cause the factory shock absorber to operate improperly, sometimes causing the suspension to smash the bump stops on rough roads. That can be bad for both your handling and your wallet. Third, because of the narrower wind of most coilover springs, the camber of the wheels can be adjusted, either using camber plates or hogging the mounting holes in the strut mounts (the budget racing solution).

 

What setup you got on your evo ? Links pics welcome.

 

RCE/GT Worx Springs

 

Correct. Setting ride height where you want it, and better yet, having the corner balanced is a huge plus.


Coilovers are usually designed to operate within a certain range of ride heights. Too low AND too high are both no good.

This is more important with coilovers that are not dual height adjustable, like KW's and Bilsteins. For Ohlins and others, since you can adjust ride height at the spindle, going too low is not as big of an issue, but going too low will have negative effects on your suspension geometry.

Correct. Many lowering springs lower the car way too much, and some of them put you on the bumpstops AT REST. Springs that drop the car 2 inches and barely increase the spring rate is almost like running no springs at all. Almost.

Not all lowering springs are like this. Good springs will not put you on the bump stops at rest, and only lower the car a mild amount with an appropriate increase in spring rate. There are a few springs out there that do this.

You can still put camber plates and camber bolts on stock struts and get a ton of camber.


The drawbacks of coilovers are that they MAY be noisy, harsh riding, and require increased maintenence. Generally, the more you spend, the better they get in this regard (not counting motorsports level coilovers which can go for 5k per corner.....)

Advantages of coilovers are the adjustability, tuning ability, lighter weight, and the ability to support much higher spring rates then stock. And less shock fade.


Good idea for a post! We see these questions a lot and having the information in one place is defnitely helpful.

I can add more if you like, and I could write a whole coilover/strut FAQ.


- Andrew

 

yeah and lets close that subject what to do struts vs. coilovers vs. lowering springs.

 

So if you all about look go with the springs or struts
if improving handling go with coilovers

 

^ Well....some springs actually do improve handling. And some coilovers, to be totally honest, are so incredibly crappy that they probably make handling worse then stock, especially if they are not set-up correctly.

It's important not to generalize ALL springs and ALL coilovers together. There's a wide range from crap to awesome for both.

- Andrew

 

i would say coilover, It might cost you more but you could always adjust the setting the way you want. Coilover you could set it on different setting for different purpose ex. track, drag, road circuit, daily drive... etc

 

Is there any concern with running coilovers in the winter up here in the northeast? Does salt/potholes/generalyl sh!tty roads cause one to fail sooner than the other?

Also GTWORKX, you mentioned increased coilover maintenance - is this in terms of fine tuning or in actual recurring maintenance procedures?

This is a great topic and something to get us engine guys started with. Thanks!

 

Some coilovers have some nasty corrosion in salty winter condtions. These came in our shop, we're in Maryland and get more salt on the roads then snow. These were fairly old, and actually still performed decent. They were just impossible to adjust.




Some have protective coatings and don't have any issues. KW's are especially known for their stainless steel construction and are tested in a salt spray blast for like 250 hours without any effects. Ohlins have a decent coating as well.

Maintenence is really just cleaning the threads off and keeping everything nice and clean. This is more important on coilovers that are more susceptible to corrosion.

Also, coilovers usually require rebuilds anywhere from 1 to 3 years. Struts wear out after around 3, all this depending on usage.


- Andrew

 

Advantages and disadvantages to both. Most people are probably better off with a good spring/strut combo. Ride quality is fine, mild to medium increase in handling, and they're inexpensive.

Key word is "good" since there are a lot of crap springs too.

People who take their car to the track obviously would benefit from good coilovers. And there are crap coilovers out there too.

Only a few coilovers have the range to really let you adjust from track, daily drive, auto-x, etc. Swapping out the coilover springs lets you change how the coilover feels even more, but still, the damper itself has a set range. For some coilovers it's actually very small.


- Andrew

 

Would Swift springs and MR Bilstiens = a Good setup for non track, everyday driving??? Or is this a harsh set up on the suspension??

Thanks.

 

One thing that I find shocking is that there is no off the shelf products from Koni for the Evo. Koni Sport "Yellows" are one of the best "bang for the buck" dampers on the market and is offered for virtually every performance vehicle except the Evo.

In the autox world they are an affordable solution to use in stock classes since shocks/struts are a wearable item. They offer fixed compression set to each specific vehicle with adjustable rebound. There are countless shock dynos floating around that show consistently wide range of usable rebound adjustment (unlike many coilovers). Combine them with linear Eibach ERS springs via the Ground Control application and you have a great setup.

Anyone know why Koni doesn't make anything for the Evo?

 

Swifts are GOOD springs. With Bilsteins it's a really great set-up for your uses.

They have more of a drop then our springs, so I would recommend cutting the bumpstops up front.

- Andrew

 

The EVO strut is inverted....I think that's most of the reason they don't have an insert. Same reason they don't have one for STi. It's a shame really, they're good stuff.

zzyzx uses koni inserts in his coilovers. They look pretty good.


- Andrew