Suspension Heresy?

[Chuckable]

I've been researching FiST suspension lately. There are a half a dozen or more coilovers available, not to mention various lowering springs. To make the most of a coilover the car should be corner-balanced and then aligned. That costs about $250-$350 in my neck of the woods. One shop I called (Apex Alignment in Miami) was very forthright in telling me that if I only did a few track days per year that corner-balancing probably wasn't worth the effort, and that they'd take my money to do the work if I wanted, but that they didn't recommend it. I asked about their experience with various coilover brands, and they said that BC Racing coilovers are fine for street and occasional track days, but aren't likely to hold up for more than a season for serious race car use. The guy even said, which I thought was quite funny, "If your damper is 32 way adjustable, then that's 31 chances to get it wrong."

I daily drive my car and do some track days and autocross here and there, maybe like some of you. Do any of you think that coilovers are unnecessary for what the majority of us do with our cars?

Perhaps a nice mild lowering spring matched with the right dampers is the way to go? But no one even offer this combo for the FiST as far as I know.

Just some food for thought.

 

[2006ser]

Mountune are the best bang for your buck and are ment to be used with stock struts

 

[WhiteFords]

I enjoy coilover spring technology because I can dial in my ride height. With a traditional type spring, you get what the manufacturer decided was a good ride height. Want something different? Now you get to change/cut springs. With a coilover kit, ride height adjustments are much quicker. The springs are also smaller and cheaper than most conventional springs, so you can change springs rates.

A true performance alignment is essential to get the most out of your car. And alignment settings can change with time, due to road conditions and hitting rumble strips, pot holes, etc. At the same time the car is on the alignment rack, why not do a corner weight check and adjustment? The shop I use does not charge a flat fee, but by the hour. My car was very close, so the cost was minimal. Now I know that my suspension is optimized.

The guy is correct in stating that adjustable kits can be a challenge. Adjustments are great, so long as you are making the right ones. But the coilover manufacturer should be able to provide some baseline settings which you can tweak as you tune the car.

 

[Wimp Lo]

A really obsessive racer will string and corner weight his car before every event and after every suspension change.

For a street car, I don't see much point, you just want to make sure you don't have one of your cross weights a lot higher than the other. If your coilover spring adjustments look even side to side and the car is sitting right, you should get reasonably close without any weighing.

If you are going to be doing it a lot, investing in a set of scales and a camber/caster gauge will pay for itself pretty quickly.

As for adjustability, he is right, one setting is going to be ideal and most are adjusted improperly. Some are adjusted right and then never touched again.

The ideal is four post shaker testing with a team of suspension guys re-valving coilovers and corner weighting your car at each track event but that is a hair impractical.

 

[eleven]

Now you get to cut springs.

No. Never.

 

[WhiteFords]

No. Never.

Please share from your experience why cutting a specific rate spring is such a horrible thing.

With some spring designs you can get away with it.

 

[LilPartyBox]

For the most part, dampers (shocks & struts) are built to compliment a given range of spring rates. When shopping for a setup, a common question is whether a damper will "work" with a certain spring. In the most simplest of terms, this is essentially asking will the damper be able to do it's job and properly control the movement of a given spring. Now when you cut a spring, you randomly increase the spring rate (stiffer). This is turn has the potential to go outside of the range of the dampers ability to control the spring, or dampen the forces of the increased spring rate. This is why you will see Civics on a budget, dropped to the ground, bouncing around like they sometimes do. This is a consequence of a cut spring boinging around on a damper that cannot control the increase in spring rate. Therefore, the spring is practically free to do what it wants - and what do tiggers do best? Bounce!

Another problem with cut springs is you will undoubtedly cut different amounts from each corner, creating a different, and random, spring rate at each corner. The resulting imbalance will be proportionate to the differences in spring rate at each corner. The bigger the difference, the worse the impact will be on handling, braking and even accelerating. During any sprited driving, the car would end up moving about randomly as each of the different spring rates exert and handle the forces in a seemingly random fashion. The only time you would "get away with it" is if the damper happens to operate within the range of the increased spring rate AND your cuts were measured to near perfection. Otherwise, BOING!

I'm personally saving up for Bilstein coils. I always run coils for the height adjustability. I just KNOW that if I get a damper/spring combo, i'll hate the height lol

 

[GoMax]

I'm personally saving up for Bilstein coils. I always run coils for the height adjustability. I just KNOW that if I get a damper/spring combo, i'll hate the height lol

Which Bilstein Coils are you looking at?
-- Max

 

[GAbOS]

Springs are cheap, please don't go cutting any just for height. Springs are built for specific rates and some are progressive. Removing any amount is going to jack these rates all up and in most cases leave you without a completely flat resting point for the spring perches.

To throw out a second option; I have always had great luck with either re-valving the shocks/struts to the OE springs or a set of after markets.

 

[LilPartyBox]

Which Bilstein Coils are you looking at?
-- Max

These beauties right herrr

http://www.modbargains.com/bilstein-PSS-b14-coilover-suspension-ford-fiesta-st.htm

 

[GAbOS]

I would love to see a coil over option that could raise ride height. I'll be fine with a 1" over to 1" under adjustment range.

 

[LilPartyBox]

Maybe D2 Racing?