Tim86

Let me know how you get on and what settings that you settle for. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot . I personally think that they are excellent value, but just be sure to set a reasonable amount of pre-load at the rear and have the fronts a little softer. They have a small understeer bias, nothing that can't be calibrated/worked around (i hope). For comfort vs function i found that 19 clicks from soft was a good starting point. Gives you a feel for how they perform on our roads fresh out the box. 16 is a little too fidgety at lower speeds and on uneven roads. Also lowered the psi in my rubber at the front a tad from 30 to 28. 17 front and 19 rear is still a little too bouncy at the front. I'm going to try 18 / 21 next. Hope that helps.

2.5 years ago i bought a 62 plate GT86 with in Silver 50k on the clock. I wanted a change and to be a bit different, plus i live in a city centre (Norwich) so i went for an Auto. Usually I'd avoid AT on most cars but I heard this box was actually pretty good with intelligent down shifting and whatnot. I paid 15k in the end (only 6k over original car budget). The car was advertised much cheaper than all the others at the time due to mileage, so the perfect culprit for a project build. The car also had a good service record (RRG Macclesfield & Bolton) and no initial issues besides an exhaust rattle that was fixed at 10k miles. As this would be my first build i did a lot of reading up on the car and various mods, and spent a good amount of time with it stock so that i could get to know the vehicle as a daily, and decide whether i was happy with my decision before i put any money into it! Flash forward one year and i had my first full service to take care of. Thanks to lurking on these forums and reading up about their race car, i then decided to pay the guys at Fensport a visit, only an hour down the road so would be rude not to . I had the service done with no issues, turns out this was the first time they had done a 60k service, so i was delighted to be the guinea pig! Everything went without a hitch. All the guys are super friendly and enthusiastic. First impressions is this is how a business should be run! I discussed with them my plan for NA tuning + FD mod. Also opted for the HKS panel filter and HKS spark plugs for the service. All good stuff! The plan now was as follows: 4.67 FD, manifold, remap and license. - FD for torque/improved 0-60 - Remap + HKS EL catless manifold to address the torque dip - Suspension to improve stability and handling This is the arguably the best bang-for-buck option and should be the go-to for anybody who wants a relatively low cost transformation. The next step was going to be new wheels, rubber and suspension. Happy with the service and eager to do more, we booked in the above for a couple months time, but unfortunately i had some personal issues pop up and we had to cancel . Turns out i would not get around to doing anything with the car until 2017! February: During February i decide to start looking around again for wheels as i can't stand the OEM any longer, that and I'd need wider rubber for more power in future anyway. Granted Silver is not a popular car color choice but it actually has potential to look really clean if you pair it with the right wheels & mods. This is by no means an easy task, anything glossy outside of black clashes in my opinion and most colors/finishes just don't sit right. Black is also just a little too dark in contrast to the silver imo and looks better on a black or grey car. After plenty of poking around i realize that I'm pretty much limited to Matte Gray, Gunmetal could in theory be an alternative option but can look cheap and tacky on some wheels in my opinion (Rota). I also saw a some forgestar in a dark midnight blue that looked really mean with a silver BRZ, so that color might be an option some day if i get bored. After a fair few restless nights browsing wheels and fitments i stumble across this on the usa forums: Gram Lights 57C6 18x9.5 +40 'Matte Graphite' Just what i was looking for. Looks like he decision has been made. However, i contacted the UK distributor only to find that these have been discontinued! I then spend a good couple weeks (!) poking around and come across a small lesser-known company in the USA and look what they have: Vordoven Forme 6 18x95 +38! There is a god! A very cruel one who will later sting me roughly £500 on shipping and fees . Although i decided it was worth it when i stumbled across a thread where a guy tried out four different made in usa 'replica' wheels over the course of a year and voted these to be the best by a long shot and turns out the weight isn't far off the Rays either, practically the same in fact. Also no cheap Taiwanese jobby here so i was sold. March: Wheels & Yokohama Advan Sport V105 245/35 square setup are ready to go on. Luckily I managed to take this all to the fitting place in one trip! As you can see below four new tyres and wheels of this size will only just fit in the car. TA-DA! All balanced and fitted by the guys at STS Tyre pros in Norwich, doesn't it look fresh. I can confirm that this size and offset will only just fit without rubbing on stock suspension, if it wasn't for the mild tyre stretch the front would most definitely rub against the spring. Also worth noting that the wheel caps actually match the color of the body paint too which is a nice touch. April: Suspension time.. So i did a lot of research here- I wanted a nicely balanced & silent coilover setup for fast road & track at a reasonable price. I also wanted a mono-tube damper setup rather than a twin tube, plenty of details online between the pros and cons for both types. The Tein Flex A was my second choice as it was a twin tube. I ended up opting for a set of MeisterR ZetaCRD+ mono-tube dampers and an Eibach rear LCA kit. If you want to go a little more track-focused then heavy duty anti-roll bars would compliment this setup very well, and i will be doing so in good time. So with these coilovers the spring rate is a bit more sensible than that of other popular solutions. With front at 5kg/mm, rear 4kg/mm These are designed to be a good fast road setup with enough damping adjustment for occasional track day use. Front top mount is spherical bearing with camber adjustments. The rear top mount is rubber insulated press steel to reduce possible road noise. These are 32 stage damping adjustable mono-tube dampers (compression & rebound combined). The spring rates of the ZetaCRD+ come out at 5/4 is because of the vehicle dynamic calculation that they do. On the GT86, when you are on the low end of spring rates for fast road, a 5/5 setup is a bit too close between the front and the rear so you could hit a harmonic frequency. The choice then is either 5/4, or 6/5. So they opted for the 5/4 in the end because it suits the requirements of a balanced fast road & track car better. Pictures of them fitted on the car below, 5mm pre-load at the rear and id say 35-40mm drop all round, i would not go lower as i've already had a few scrapes on speed bumps . Camber at approx -1.5 all round definitely gives the desired aesthetic (yes i do need SS lines). : It has totally transformed the ride! Tight, responsive, nimble and composed through the twisties. Feels like a totally different car in many respects now, the grip is insane on NA but doesn't feel bogged down at all once aligned correctly. For those worried about running a desired 9.5J aesthetic due to weight, just do it. I read a really informative article where different sizes and weights were tested and there was literally a couple tenths of a second difference on a track at most, and i know that most of you wont be building a fully stripped out race car ;). I'm running damping at 18 clicks from soft front and rear, 16 was a little too soft. Even though it is stiffer and lower I find the ride to be just as comfortable as stock in my opinion. Everything that I was told was correct, these are the coilovers to go for if you want to upgrade for occasional track without sacrificing too much comfort on the road. Thoroughly impressed. If you have any further questions be sure to hit up Jerrick at MeisterR, he knows his stuff. Coming Soon: FI and more!

@will300Just found it again, 20.5lbs (9.2kg) for the Vordoven Forme 6 18x9.5 +38 (only size they do in 18) so 0.1 kg heavier than the stock 17" wheels. Heavy for Rays? Maybe, still light for 18x9.5? Definitely - Source: https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-tires/611052-replica-wheels-do-they-deserve-the-bad-reputation-i-aim-to-find-out-2.html

I have the weights somewhere i'll try dig them up. Be warned they arent light, the original Rays 57C6 are known for being heavy (for a Rays wheel), but i'd say don't let that put you off unless you're building a fully forged track/competition monster. I think @rob275 might have bought some from another member.

Loving the input. Both a great setup imo, I paid 715 for my coilovers so quite a bit cheaper than 1k for the Tein. Still feel a huge improvement and i'm happy for now. Throw in the ARB and it'll hold up fine. Maybe it sounds odd to some but to me it most definitely feels more comfortable than stock on the road, and if i have lost any unnoticed comfort factor, i have most certainly and undoubtedly gained more confidence and mobility. As for having a small bias towards understeer without an ARB in comparison to stock: Always safer and more predictable on the road than going further in the opposite direction . @Cerastes I'm confident you'd be happy with both, each being a noticeable upgrade. Just depends on your budget as with most things. @Lauren due to budget constraints i'll probably stick with these coilovers until i've done everything else, i'd imagine it would be hard for me to get a refund at this point even if i did change mind. And there's more, much much more other stuff to come..

This is what i was told Lauren, interested in what you guys think to that : The FlexA have this hydraulic bump stop because of it's twin-tube design.Not that it is a bad thing, but certainly isn't something new, been around for decades.The ZetaCRD is a mono-tube damper, so it is in a completely different performance category.Having high pressure charge gas makes a huge difference in the dynamics the damper provide.Not to mention having much more control over smaller damping movement.Generally speaking, you try to keep off the bump stop than to ram into it.We haven't had any bottoming out issue because there is almost 5 inch of travel in the front and just over 4 inch of travel in the rear.Damper stroke travel is something that the 86 lack, so it was a very knife edge design in what will work and what will not.

I was told the hydraulic bump stops are not needed in those mono-tubes, that only benefits a twin tube design. I guess that's a reason why the flex A's are a fair bit more expensive. Fair play though, a great choice from what i've heard.

Interesting, as stated I too was interested in the flex A but they weren't mono tubes and £300 more expensive. I believe those are a 6k/6k setup?

I'd actually go so far as to say that if you want comfort on British roads, this is still the setup to go for, as you can rely on a stiffer ARB to get the desired handling characteristics. Yes it's an old school rally style approach but you have to bear in mind that we have terrible roads in the UK whereas in places like the USA market (where the majority of performance coilovers are sold) the roads are mostly flat and smooth. Hence the tendency for insanely stiff rates on many 'fast road' coilover setups today.

You just pointed out a typo actually, I'm 18 clicks from soft, not stiff (doh). Although it's interesting to hear that anything on that side of 16 isn't going to do much. Thanks for the tips, looks like my next step will be a stiffer rear ARB. Assuming I'll have to get tracking done again on the rear once fitted. Just out of curiosity, what setup did you opt for when coming from MeisterR? And were you on Zetacrd, Zetacrd+ or their GTs?

They do! I had the same problem with those so I opted for these. In my opinion it was well worth it and I'm very satisfied with them. Being carbon they are a little more expensive, but entirely worth it imo as you'll stare at them all the time.

Journal entry added: Interior bits 9/5/14 @ 14:10

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April (continued): Interior bits! Now that the wheels and suspension is on it's time to add some subtle touches to the interior. Thanks to the taobao asian markets i settle for some brushed steel AC knobs & gauge trim, 'T-Carbon' flappy paddle extensions and steering wheel badge. The latter is discontinued but luckily some dude in asia was selling one that he had never installed. The gauge rings were the hardest to install due to a little bit of brute force being required to remove the top section of the dash. However, it was relatively simple, only requires a screwdriver and there are several videos on youtube. Although this is just the start for my interior, the result already transforms the feel inside the cabin.

The forge one is silent then?

Sorry to be a pain, I also bought a used avo kit that came with this valve and i was wondering if you could enlighten me as to why you decided on making the switch?

I might be able to make this, will have turbo on by then too. keep me posted guys.

You say it's a year old, was this a used vehicle or new? I have stop tech pads on my oem disks and they make the same noise, on the stock pads they were fine. Something similar could have been done to yours mate. I'm going to put the stoptech disks on with a new set of matched pads next, as this will eliminate noise as confirmed by many. I'd imagine if you only just picked the car up then it's less likely , but worn discs and pads is a common culprit of those noises.

I'm in Norwich bro, about your age by the looks of it. PM if you want to do any meets. Also welcome and enjoy the car! I've had mine a couple years now. Turbo goes on in a few weeks. p.s - get rid of those OEM wheels asap

As the title reads, Here's what i've been told: Apologize for the delayed reply. Unfortunately we do not offer a paint code for our wheels. Companies who refinish our wheels just go based off of the factory color name ‘matte graphite’ or end up just color matching. Not very helpful. The problem is there are different degrees of matte finish and i swear there is a slight metallic flake in the paint. A real hassle as i wanted to do it myself. Just how good at colour matching are wheel refurb companies, anyone with experience?

Here's what i've managed so far off taobao: Gauge cluster rings, AC knobs, Steering wheel badge, real carbon fiber flappy paddle extensions. Most definitely adds a touch of class. AT trans knob is next, any recommendations?

Hi all, i've just gone through 100 pages of taobao search and compiled a mega list of items on taobao. Expect considerable savings and some bits you can't find in the west. If you haven't heard of taobao, it's basically one of the largest asian market websites. There are plenty of guides online explaining how to order from them, but i'll give you the lowdown. The most common way to order is to open an account with a third-party taobao agent, i use basetao.com. What they will do is purchase from the sellers, then hold your items in storage for as long as you like. When it arrives in their warehouse they will send you multiple images for quality control/confirmation, at this stage you can then decide whether to keep or return the product(s) to the seller (beware: usually within 7 days). This is all done via your account login/online interface. Once you've bought a nice selection of things, they will then consolidate it all into one package, and you can ship via Air Economy, EMS or DHL. Make sure to add a note to your order with your desired deceleration value once you have 'sent to ship', because otherwise they will declare it as a gift under $25, which is obviously risky with customs. Money can be transferred into your basetao account via credit/debit card, there is a 3% fee, lower for various other payment methods (WU etc). They will also charge a very small handling fee on items, to be expected as this is how they make their money. Obviously there is an element of risk involved when buying Chinese products, some of this stuff is pretty funny imo. Best to be sensible and avoid any performance parts listed, as mileage will vary (literally) . PARTS LIST Metal AC knobs (Chrome,black,red,blue) £24: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=537008960739 Colored interior vent rings £23: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=537008960739 Same again, but £6.50(!): http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=525663313679 'Fuel Force' Turbo Kit £2922: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=521082976753 LIGHTS: Genuine Toms £345: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=41858996701 Some led tail lights that i've never seen before £515: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=546867386418 BRAKES Brembo big brake kit - GT6, GT4, 18z, F50, F40 kits - 2x18z £759, GT6 £818, F50 £642, F40 £584: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=540297197134 Brembo big brake kit - Another seller, slightly more expensive - various size/price, £819 for 2x 18z 6-piston: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=539589579683 Front/rear HAWK 5.0 pads, set of four? £100: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=527786870588 Some generic rotors £54: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=536235059855 CARBON INTERIOR: COMPLETE carbon fiber interior set £503: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=35976026172 Carbon fiber AT Trans flappy paddle extensions £47: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=546474317725 Same from another vendor £46.50: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=546822975447 Carbon fiber passenger side 3-gauge mount/surround: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=544784493822 More carbon interior parts: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=534022905383 CARBON EXTERIOR: Carbon fiber vented bonnet (check listing for unpainted) £316: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=41821031828 Vented carbon fiber bonnet 2 (check listing for unpainted) £325: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=544272754579 Carbon fiber wing mirror covers £46.60: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=544559060022 Carbon fiber wing mirror covers & side fenders £50 for both, also priced individually: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=537197490706 Same again: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=36648681561 Carbon fiber front splitter £173: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=36654107660 VIS AMS Style Carbon Fiber Trunk/Spoiler £244, theres also a cheaper unpainted option: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=541307379021 Carbon fiber trunk £328: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=523363357522 WALD Spoiler £314 - Carbon. £197 - Resin: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=546159725506 MORE CARBON VIA THIS SELLER (GT86 store) https://shop115290840.taobao.com/p/toyota.htm?spm=a1z10.1-c.w5001-12647286082.11.QX6zxG&scene=taobao_shop WHEELS At your own risk! Replica 17" RPF1's Silver/Black £64 each : http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=39467473240 1:1 Replica Work Emotion Kiwami Replica , various size/finish, priced up to £90 per wheel: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=39447646626 MISC BRZ / STI / 86 lower door interior trim £11.50: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=524677820306 Door mounted floor emblem projectors '86/Scion/BRZ £9: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=540038237788 Same again from another vendor £6: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=535955228586 Black gt86 piston fender emblems, gloss/matt £8: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=535963890013 JDM tow bar - blue red & black: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=537153857237 'D1 Spec' wheel lug nuts (pack of 20??) £7: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=533044871841 GT86 hanging mirror mascot £2.50: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=523091270208 GT86/AE86 hanging mirror mascot £2: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=544480420189 Tyre valve caps GT86/TRD etc £3.30: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=39234356354 Some GT86/TRD Emblems 60p: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=542668274457 More GT86 TRD Emblems: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=531592180554 MODELS/COLLECTIBLES GT86 model car (Team UP) £42: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=42199317393 GT86 model car (Hachiroku style) £115: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=545844163428 GT86 model car (YOKOMO Racing) £39: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=535915741884 GT86 model car (TRUST) £29: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=524169654528 GT 86 model car (1:18) £51: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=525069738284 GT 86 model car (Rocket Bunny v2) £44: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=530845116596 LAST UPDATED: 20/3/17