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George

Coilovers for Street car

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Hello folks

I'm looking to drop my car about an inch on coilovers. I also want the full adjustability of coilovers. My question is what are the best ones to go for with a budget up to £1000. I'd like to improve the handling a bit but keep the ride comfort. The country roads where I am are pretty bumpy and the stock suspension feels pretty hard on them so don't want anything that will make it way worse. The car is mainly driven on the roads but may see the odd track day. 

Iv read a lot of good things about tein flex A but most of the threads are now quite old and suspension technology can change a lot in a few years, companies that weren't that good two years ago my be great now. 

How are people's tein's, meisterR, BC racing coilovers fairing up after a few years and are they comfy to live with on a daily basis. 

I'd appreciate any advice on this.

Thanks all 

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Will that affect the camber a lot with that sort of drop? I was hoping to get something with the adjustable camber top plates so I can set it back to normal alignment without buying lots of camber arms and bolts. 

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Stock rubber top mounts .. IIRC list of coilovers that can be used with those was of KW/ST, Ohlins and struts like those of Bilstein B6, Koni yellows.

KW/ST have slotted lower mount bolt hole, allowing some camber adjustment too. Koni yellows IIRC have larger diameter hole also allowing some play/adjustment. And you can always use camberbolts.

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You want as much extra camber on front as you can get, with KW V1's you can get around -2 as slotted at bottom.

The rear is more of an issue, with a 25mm drop you'll have an undesirable amount of extra rear camber which really you should get adjustable rear lower control arms to fix.

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KW V1 imho might be preferable to eg. Teins. KW should have longer travel. Also imho you don't really need adjustability. More knobs may also mean more ways to set them wrong.

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Like others have said for street advise keeping the standard top mounts. I've got KW v3's myself with the stock top mounts and can confirm they still keep most of the ride comfort and are amazing coilovers in general, so KW v1's I would assume will do the same.

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Never drove mine on stock suspension but have KW V3s and it's much more comfortable and less crashy than my old Celica on stock dampers and TTE Springs. Not much help to you I suppose but I definitely found the KWs surprisingly comfortable.

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For daily ride comfort with a couple of track days a year, you want the Flex A. 

Have a look into the Hydraulic Bump Stop feature they offer:

https://www.tein.com/products/flex_a.html

I've personally ran a set for over the last 3 years without issue, including multiple track days.

Now they aren't perfect, they will rust (not excessively), they are possibly too soft for track use (it's a compromise I'm happy to accept due to their daily comfort) and mine are now at the stage where they could do with being rebuilt. 

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Great response! Thanks people. 

I'd have expected the flex A to last longer than 3 years. Iv got meisterR on my track civic and there 5 years old and only now looking tired. 

The KW's where high on my list aswell so looks like that will be the way to go. So if I go KW V1 I reuse the standard top mounts and can adjust the front camber to a good position with the lower slots. But I will need new arms for the back to get the camber in the correct place? 

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Yes, for camber adjustment in rear you'll need aftermarket control arms. (well, there is option for rear camber in way of eccentric bushings, but it's PITA to adjust with those and they are not that much cheaper). Cheapest LCAs are SPC/Whiteline/Eibach stock-like clones. In front one can get by with camberbolts and/or if coilover mounts are slotted. At least with stock shocks i didn't like NVH change on bad roads with pillowball camberplates, so won't suggest those.

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Cool thanks for clearing that up church. I'll take a look at the control arms. The suspension on these and being rear wheel drive is new to me as iv always had front wheel hondas and they are very different to set up. 

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Actually I'm quite torn between the tein and KW.  Surly the tein having the hydraulic bump stop will go some way to leaving me with pretty good ride comfort. And adjusting front camber on the top plate will be easier to adjust come alignment time. Faster for me to fit aswell as I won't have to get the spring compressors out. 

Hmm have to have a think. 

Lucas@PartBox,  best price for KW and rear arms and best price for tein and rear arms.

Thanks. 

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Teins A/Z are relatively good for low price and especially given that they have included in set camberplates. KWs can be used with rubber top mounts and have longer travel. Choose your own poison. Imho both are good price/performancy wise.

P.S. If you are not just about comfort, but more for performance (track) handling, pay attention also to areas of performance alignment, tires, brake pads & fluid.

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Thanks for the advice mate. If you recon they are both pretty good I'll probably go for tein as I do like being able to adjust damping aswell. 

I did the brakes straight away as they felt pretty rubbish. Put braided lines on and have ebc discs and green pads. Still need to do the fluid though, have had good results with rbf600 before so will probably use that unless you know a better one? Tyres wise will be continental pilot sport 4. Found them to be very good all round for road use in all conditions. 

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rbf600 imho is a bit on weak side for one going to track. Better then stock of course, but not that hard to boil it too, doesn't last too long. If one goes to track days, imho worth paying for even better brake fluids (but not pay more, due need to change/drain less). Previous two drains i went with rbf660 but am thinking to switching to endless rf650 or project mu gfour-355, or even to top, - castrol srf. .. but of course for daily driving only, even rbf600 is more then up to job.

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Oh rite. Funny you say that. Iv had rbf600 in my track civic for a while now and not given me any trouble. Never had them fade or overheat. Although it does have huge brakes and the car doesn't weigh much so this probably helps. Perhaps I'll try something different in the 86 as it's 300 kg heavier. 

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Well, all good track-worthy brake fluids absorb water at higher rates. So even if never overheated, probably would replace minimum every two years. Then again, for better fluids not just dry but also wet boiling temps are higher. And wet temps .. see, why i mentioned castrol srf despite it's mad price :).

pmu_gfour335_chart.jpg

For project mu's i like also how it turns from green to clear if absorbs too much moisture, or brown, if gets too hot.

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No Church, some aren't as bad as others.

Replacing fluid every 2 years is very basic minimal level dealer servicing.

Btw saying RBF600 isn't good enough for track work is without any basis. The OEM calipers will have fried themselves long before the fluid has boiled.

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Well all I can do is talk from experience and iv found it to be ok and a reasonable price. Hard to say if one is better than the other though as there are so many variables. Different cars, brake set ups, driving style and if your car ever sees bad weather. I'm sure my 86 will be very different to my civic and I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs when pushed. 

Thanks for all the info by the way, looks like this will be a good forum to learn from. :)

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