Jump to content
SAU Community

Coilovers Too Stiff

KrazyTurk
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hornet2572 Collaborator

Hornet2572

Posted
Posted

I have recently put a set of K-Sport Coilovers on my R32 GTR. I have had real issues trying to find a good adjustment to suit driving on the street. At the drags, I put the fronts 4 clicks off full hard and the rears 2 clicks off full hard, and ran a PB and found it to feel very good during the run. At the motorkhana, I have them all set to full hard because I want it to hook up wheel spin on the wet concrete and it feels great... But I haven't found a setting I am happy with on the street yet. It's either bone-shattering hard over the bumps, or wallowing over them and bouncing up and down for too long. I have pretty much put it down to the springs / spring rates. When I bought them, the K-Sport guys said different spring rates were available if required, so I might give them a buzz and run it past them to see what they recommend.

At the end of the day, they are a budget coilover, and so the performance leaves a bit to be desired. I will probably only use them another 12 months before moving on to a more substantial set up.

When you get a chance to adjust them, have a good drive on all settings and see what you like / don't like and let us know. I'm interested to get someone else's view on them.

GTScotT Grand Master

GTScotT

Posted
Posted

Run the dampers at maximum and work your way back until it doesnt feel like a rock.

Cheap coilovers don't have good dampening ability so you generally need to overcompensate with the damper settings. Running them too low will make the ride a lot harsher as the heavy springs will be doing all the work.

KrazyTurk Enthusiast

KrazyTurk

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

spring rates are "70.5 - 180 - 10kg"

its currently at the 1st click for dampening (lowest/softest) but i think rides pretty hard because its too low of a setting ill have to play around with it right after i put in this catback

also could i change the springs with kings or would that just mess the whole thing up?

Edited by KrazyTurk
GTSBoy Grand Master

GTSBoy

Posted
Posted

Yes, you can change the springs. No you can't do it with Kings because Kings don't make springs for coilovers.

You can buy replacement 60mm diameter springs for coilovers from many vendors however. Eibach, Tein, etc etc. Lots of different springs from lots of different manufacturers. What you do need to get right though is make sure you have the correct spring internal diameter (there are a couple in use) and you also need to get the free length correct. The free length isn't necessarily the same as the length of your existing springs because as you reduce the spring rate they will make the car sit lower (less kg required to make each mm of spring compression). Realistically because your coilovers are height adjustable you can probably get away with buying the same length.

I was trying to work out what your "spring rates are ...." numbers meant for a few seconds. Then I realised that the 70.5 is probably the diameter. But it seems like a strange internal diameter. It also seems like a very strange external diameter - I'd expect a 60mm ID spring to have something more like an 80mm OD. So let's assume that it's the ID. You'll need to check it before you did anything anyway.

The 180 is probably the free length and the 10kg is of course the spring rate. 10kg is bloody stiff. For a streeter I think 6kg is a bit too stiff (at the front - the rears will want to be even less again - perhaps 4-5 kg/mm on most Skylines). Trouble is, if you were to buy some 6/4 springs to replace these 10/8 (guessing the 8 here) springs then the dampers might be a bit too firm for the softer springs. It's really hard to know what you can get away with. If you went to a proper suspension specialist for advice, they'd probably tell you to bin the lot and start again.

  • Like 1
MrStabby Grand Master

MrStabby

Posted
Posted

10kg is horrible. My car had 10fr 8rr when i got it. I then went to 8/6 which was better but still very rough, and then to 7/6 to reduce understeer, but this car is not a daily and the suspension setup is for track. The rear is pretty horrible ride wise at 6. IIRC Tein super streets are 6/4 or similar, and that sounds like a reasonable setup for mostly street with the odd track days if you not that concerned about ride comfort.

V28VX37 Veteran

V28VX37

Posted
Posted

I'm running F:6kg, R:5kg with my BC BR's and it's good on the street. I went with these custom rates rather than the standard F:8kg, R:6kg that they normally come with.

I'd say 10kg spring rates are for track only, it's never going to be good on our roads unfortunately...

simpletool Mentor

simpletool

Posted
Posted

yeah 6/5 or 6/4.5 is about right for street.

Normally with cheap adjustables the best place is start is the middle setting, or slightly below. Due to quality issues it is sometimes the case that the best setting will vary set to set.

  • 3 weeks later...
Cxxo Apprentice

Cxxo

Posted
Posted

How olds to old to bring a post back from the dead?

Anyway, General rule of thumb (from what I've been told) you can change your spring rates 2kg before it starts wearing your shocks out at a faster rate/they cant match up well enough with the spring rates/rebound rates etc. Just buy a 2kg softer spring for the rear and move the rear to the front. so you only buy 1 pair not 2. cost me 120? I think or was it $80? for 1 pair of new springs.

Make sure you check if they will work first, spring size/length etc.

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
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • MBS206
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By MBS206 · Posted

      Even more fun, leave all the ADAS stuff plugged in, but in different locations, hopefully avoid any codes!   And honestly, all these new cars with their weird electronics. Pull all the electronics out Duncan, and just shove an aftermarket ECU and if needed a trans controller in, along with a PDM. Make it run basic but race car styled!
    • Duncan
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By Duncan · Posted

      To follow up a question from earlier too since I had the front bar off again (fking!) This is what is between the bumper and the drivers side wheel And this is the navigator side, only one thing but its a biggy! So basically....no putting coolers in the wheel arches without a lot of moving other stuff. Assuming I move to properly race prepping this car I'll take that job on and see how the computers respond to removing a whole bunch of ADAS modules
    • Duncan
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By Duncan · Posted

      So I prepped the car for another track day on Wednesday (will be interesting to see coolant temps post flushing out and the larger reservoir, with a forecast of 3-14 being 20o cooler than last time I took it out). Couple of things to mention; since I am just driving the car and not taking a support vehicle, I took the rear seats out and just loaded the back up Team Trackday style. Look at all that space! To cover off removing the rear seat....it is weird (note the hybrid is probably different because it wouldn't have folding rear seats) Basically, you remove the lower seat base, very similar to a r series but it is a clip that pulls forward to release the base rather than it being bolted down. Easy Then, you need to remove the side section of the rear seat on each side. There is a 14mm head nut at the bottom of the side piece, the it slides upwards off a hook at the top to release; you also need to unhook the seatbelt from the loop at the top. Then the centre piece is weird. You need to release/fold the seats forward with the tab in the boot on each side From there, there are 2,x12mm headed bolts holding the rear of each seat to the folding bracket, under the trim between the rear seat and the boot (4x christmas tree clips there, they suck). The seat is out but you can see where the bolts attach to the bracket
    • RP1421
      S15 Spec R

      By RP1421 · Posted

      As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • joshuaho96
      R32 GTS (RB20DE) Injectors Replacement

      By joshuaho96 · Posted

      I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
×
×
  • Create New...