Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

Just a quick question.

I replaced my shocks and springs for my R32 GTR Skyline a few days ago, and replaced them with a very good pair of Apexi CoilOvers (they looked to be about 3 months old).

I compared the height of my old suspension units and adjusted the height accordingly (and it sits perfect in terms of heights, 2cm from the front, 3cm from the back on stock wheels)

However, it is the hardest ride I have ever ridden in. Its actually harder then super low cut springs I have used in other cars.

I know these are damper adjustable, so I got my alan key and started twisted the suspension counter-clockwise about 3 turns, but it stills feels the same.

How long do I need to keep turning until the suspension is super soft, also how soft is the softest setting? will it eventually feel like a normal car, only lowered?

Also, when I am turning the alan key, do I need to hold the nut below it so that it doesnt spin?

Im just a little confused on how exactly to adjust these

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/375652-coilover-suspension-question/
Share on other sites

You do realise that if the spring rates are much higher than your old springs then it will be much stiffer, regardless of what you do with the damper settings. Do you know the spring rates of old and new?

And also, within reason, more damping stiffness usually feels a lot better with stiff springs than less. The whole point of springs and dampers is that the springs absorb the energy of impacts and motions, and the dampers control how fast that absorbtion is allowed to happen (as well as absorbing and dissipating some of the energy also).

You do realise that if the spring rates are much higher than your old springs then it will be much stiffer, regardless of what you do with the damper settings. Do you know the spring rates of old and new?

And also, within reason, more damping stiffness usually feels a lot better with stiff springs than less. The whole point of springs and dampers is that the springs absorb the energy of impacts and motions, and the dampers control how fast that absorbtion is allowed to happen (as well as absorbing and dissipating some of the energy also).

Thanks for the reply,

I am not sure about the rates, I just know that the old back suspension was leaking and it felt rather like a boat to drive.

I am not sure about the CoilOvers either, I just thought that once you adjust them to be lower you could adjust the damper setting to make the ride more soft.

I expected the ride to be stiffer (because its closer to the ground), however it shouldnt be excessivly hard, its about 15cm away from the ground and on regular rims and tyres.

So what do I do to make the ride softer? Surley if I keep adjusting the damper setting it should be comfortable to drive.

Regards

So what do I do to make the ride softer? Surley if I keep adjusting the damper setting it should be comfortable to drive.

Regards

The harsh ride is directly related to the springs. Damper is the oscillating you get on a bumpy road (ie if it bounces over bumps rather than absorbing bump). I have the nismo s tune shocks which are brilliant for street use, however in their case the damper adjustment gets softer as you rotate the lug clockwise (not sure if you have the manual for your suspension or know which way to turn it, just thought its worth mentioning).

Apexi make quality equipment but many of the JDM brands are biased towards the perfect surface of a race track or japanese roads, which are infinitely superior to our own. That said the S-Tune's are absolutely perfect for aussie roads... I can heartily recommend them to anyone with a streeted vehicle

-D

  • 2 weeks later...

Coil overs=rough ride.

It's what they do. Transfer every little bump in the road to something you can feel.

I have tein ha in my 32gtr, on the softest setting.

Thought it was pretty stiff. One day I thought is give firming them up a go.

There were bumps in the road I had never felt before.

Couldn't believe the difference.

On rough suburban roads, you either put up with them, or start playing with spring rates.

For the track, I THINK mine would be great.

Good luck, which ever way you end up.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • For DBA, check out their guide table here. https://dba.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Direct_Replacement-Guide-2021.2.pdf   Additionally they have some other guides and info on how to make sure you choose the right pad.
    • Sorry, just assumed that talk of coloured pads meant EBC red/green/yellow/shit stuff. I don't know the DBA pads, but it's a reasonable bet that they will be OK. DBA make good stuff generally. Those 4000 series rotors I linked to are very good. I may well replace the RDA rotors I have with those when required.
    • The average previous owner for these cars were basically S-chassis owners in the US. Teenagers or teenager-adjacent. I often tell people that neglect is easier to fix than something that was actively "repaired" by previous owners.
    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
×
×
  • Create New...