http://www.srt8oc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14624Sorry, can't say what manufacturer it is as of yet...
Reminds me of when me and my brother were teens and we would take the "new" cordless with us on drives and act like it was a cell phone...jeez we were dorks!
Wow. This thread is confusing. Some points: 1) There are no struts on an LX. 2) No one makes coilovers for the back of an LX. I'm confused about the argument of telling someone not to buy just springs, when they can buy coilovers? There are no coilovers. KW V2's are just a seperate shock in the rear to replace the self-levelling Nivomats, and a seperate spring in the stock spring location. I agree though - leaving that Nivomat in place is a mistake. To my knowledge, there's currently one pair of coilovers in existence for the rear of an LX. My post linked-to in the post above. By the way - Eibach makes springs, but does not make shocks. KW makes shocks. Eibach's shocks even still have the KW part # on them.
JMatt, First off, I heartily applaud your research into rear coil-overs for the LX platform. But why, functionally, are rear coil-overs better than the current shock and spring arrangement?
JMatt, First off, I heartily applaud your research into rear coil-overs for the LX platform. But why, functionally, are rear coil-overs better than the current shock and spring arrangement? If there are no struts, what would you call the front damper/spring arrangement?
The front is a pure coilover. As in - a "shock" with the "coil" mounted over the shock. A strut is a specific type of suspension where the shock/coil is the pivot point for the steering itself, and bears the steering loads. We don't have struts. There are tons of advantages to a true rear coilover. I'll list some: 1) ride height adjustability - without removing anything from the car. The best current option for adjustable ride height is the KW V2, which practically requires dropping the entire rear cradle just to adjust height one. 2) reduction in unsprung weight. Moving the spring further outboard allows a lighter spring to achieve the same spring rate at the wheels. I dropped almost 9 pounds of unsprung weight per rear wheel. This tremendously improves performance driving. 3) adjustability of spring rates. I can add a spring rubber - just like Nascar, in about 30 seconds, and increase my spring stiffness 10% - without removing anything from the car. It takes a bit more, but in about 15 minutes per side, I can completely change the spring. Different springs cost about $60 each. I already have 3 different spring rates I'm testing. There are about 9 different rates available in rates suitable for our cars, depending on where people want to be in the spectrum of suspension stiffness. Then distinct from being a coilover, is just the superiority of the shocks themselves. Rebound damping in about 30 settings. Compression damping in about 30 different settings. One is completely independent of the other. How's that different? Most shocks like KW V1's don't allow any adjustment at all. Then you get some like KW V-2's that allow rebound damping to change, but compression is fixed. Still others just have "damping" adjustments, where both settings get firmer or softer at the same time. None of those allow you to actually tune the suspension. The example that's relevant to my drag racing, is I need stiffer compression, and softer rebound. Only true double adjustable, independent shocks will do that. For road racers, they can tune handling behavior, and modify oversteer/understeer to their needs by modifying damping. This allows the experienced driver to tune early, mid, and late corner handling. Most of the benefits come from the shocks. Being coilovers just makes all the adjustments that much easier, and makes the suspension lighter. Finally - they will even set up the initial shock valving differently depending on if you want drag race performance or road course performance. You can't get any of this level of customization without true racing shocks. As always - here's my disclaimer: I currently have basically one-off pure custom suspension. I still don't know if/when it will ever be commercially available, but if it does become available, I expect it to be expensive. Think - $2,500+/-. Here's what drove my need: I like drag racing. I like nitrous - lots of it. But when my nitrous was kicking in, it completely overpowered the suspension. I got severe wheel hop. The kind of wheel hop that breaks suspension, breaks drivetrain, and causes wrecked cars. So I made some calls, and here I am. (Probably more than you wanted to hear?) EDIT: Here's a picture of the front lower mount: Note how the lower mount isn't actually the pivot that steers the car. Is it was, it would be taking all of the steering load. You could also adjust things like caster and camber with an adjustable top plate. Ours is just a shock mounted to a lower suspension arm.
I just found a decent site that talks about what a "strut" is: http://www.monroe.com/tech_support/tec_struts.asp No - my suspension is not made by Monroe. LOL
Awesome writeup there JMatt. Bravo! I think I remember that that the Tein's have double adjustment. Rebound from the top nut/screw and damper somewhere else. Is that true for the KW2's? or is the compression set and only the rebound adjustable?
Were, what do you mean were!!!!!!!!!! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE Your favorite movie, "NERDS REVENGE" is on special at Target.
Rick still does... except now he likes to strap a block of C-4 to it and leave it on people's car seats!
quick - yepper, i got the 1's and they are set full drop in the back, 3/4" from full drop in the front! rides like a dream compared to the stock set up..... ryan, buddy, DO NOT TRY SPRINGS ONLY!!!!!! listen to what momo and others are saying....... car is too damn heavy to put a lowered spring in. t shocks won't let you, but even it they did, imagine what would happen to a shock that is a constant state of compression, no longer has the needed travel distance, and is under the weight of two tons!!!! if you like eibach, their coilover kits are good (housing made by KW anyway) and they won't break the bank!!!!
well said tam....... i also heard drew complaining that this is the same statement that some of his customers were saying about momo......:hmm:
Chris, thanks for looking out for me! I never planned on buying the springs. MOMOITO was listing to a conversation I was having with my little bro and I mentioned something about springs. I will get coil overs, but which coil overs is the question. I do appreciate you looking out for me and most importantly my ride. I was hoping to take some pics of "SALLY" this weekend by the beach, but it is supposed to actually rain in SO CAL this weekend. Should buy some lottery tickets. Thanks again, Ryan. :deshade:
Hey, hey hey.... no degrading the goods Brudda! Just keep the corner warm on your side of the States!
Springs alone won't lower the car and eventually, those stock shocks will be toast because they will be riding at a compressed level for extended periods that will blow them out. Springs alone will not do the trick. C'mon...lots of experience here with that sort of thing. It's a no brainer, really. You have to go to a shorter shock to do this and there aren't any available. So even if you do replace the shocks, they will be too tall and will blow out within a short period. Do yourself a favor...get coil overs. KW makes a nice set, either their V1's or their V2's. Don't forget, the MOPAR coilovers are made by KW and they are the V1 model.
Are you kidding me! Every MOMO waste of time thread in here would take me until next year.....................................I was bored today and wanted to see how many post I could get in about half an hour to an hour time frame. My daughter was actually playing in her room and the oldest was at school, so I tried to get to 900! Dam my fingers hurt from the typing and some were a one word response. I can't believe Steveo is over 1500! Just CRAZY man. I was unaware of rules regarding past/present threads. I'm still learning here...........:help:
ryan - don't worry, after awhile your fingers just become immune to pain and blisters from typing so much....... trust me, i know......:thumb:
