Coilover dilemma/question.

[Brody_Howell]

Hey guys, so I have a set of Tein Basic Damper coilovers. They're only height adjustable, not dampening adjustable. Not the greatest set of coils ever but I got them for 400$ almost brand new. My dilemma is that I just bought a set of Work Emotion CR Kai's and in the rear ( 18x9.5 +12) you can imagine they rub on my gtst a little.

My question is, could I purchase stiffer springs to eliminate the travel of the wheels to the fender/quarter-panel or would I have to purchase new dampers also. I'm going to start saving for some GR+'s but due to school, funds are limited.

Any response is a great one. Thanks guys!

[Brody_Howell]

Bump bump bump

[frankiman]

yes.. you could simply put stiffer springs in there to limit travel, but ride comfort would be compromized

you can order custom springs from Swift in japan, or your best bet, Eibach springs in California makes custom springs all day for any kind of vehicule,
give them the dimensions of your springs and the spring rate you want, and voila, and they're not expensive too

[markc32]

ifu want less rebound/jounce u need atleast 10kgmm n set the wheel opening just above the tires say .5" ive gottem away with it

[frankiman]

ifu want less rebound/jounce u need atleast 10kgmm n set the wheel opening just above the tires say .5" ive gottem away with it

sry but thats got nothing to do with spring rate
thats all the damper's job

[Skym]

Expanding, contracting of spring is controlled by the shock valving (stops springs, car bouncing too much) and is matched to spring rates. Basically the valving restricts fluid transfer from top to bottom and bottom to top of shock which makes it harder or opposite (more fliud transfer) which makes it softer.

You can fit slightly harder or softer spring rates than you have currently, as they don't go outside what people call "the window" with the valving. But once you dramatically increase the spring rate, valving in shock needs to be changed to match. Also there are other area's that need to be sorted on car to match the higher spring rates.

I would just raise the rear of car a bit, cheapest way.

[Chewy]

I'd suggest rolling the fenders a bit more. You're going to want the full travel of your suspension anyhow and getting new coils so you can set the valving stiffer is just going to blow them in the long run anyhow in a daily driver. Your other options are, get smaller sidewall tires, or pick up a set of rucas and pull in the cambar like .5 and you should be golden. Either way, in my opinion, new coilovers aren't going to make it better, at least not in a functional sense.

[markc32]

sry but thats got nothing to do with spring rate
thats all the damper's job

umm the more rock solid the springs the less the dampers have to work but mite not handle the stiffness.. im not stupid man

and the guys need a stiffer spring so he wont rub when the car hits dips bumps pot holes n crap wit the tein he has...

[frankiman]

umm the more rock solid the springs the less the dampers have to work but mite not handle the stiffness.. im not stupid man

and the guys need a stiffer spring so he wont rub when the car hits dips bumps pot holes n crap wit the tein he has...

wrong, the energy taken by the spring is the same, but in a smaller travel, so the damper is going to have to work much "faster"
if the damping rate isn't matched to the spring, you'll blow the damper pretty quickly and ride quality will be shite

[M13]

lol @ this thread.

Go read up on mountain bike or Motor cross forums for suspension dynamics.

Brody, just raise it up for now and roll your rear fender until you get STANCE GR+.

[Shane_H]

Then sell them to me!

[markc32]

wrong, the energy taken by the spring is the same, but in a smaller travel, so the damper is going to have to work much "faster"
if the damping rate isn't matched to the spring, you'll blow the damper pretty quickly and ride quality will be shite

wow so technical i dont understand it im just a 17yrs old with a gtr and owned it for a week.....dampers work less....less travel up down....and i said it, damper mite not handle the spring stiffness n leak...roll eyes

[RHDskyline]

hes not trying to be technical. Hes defending himself. He made a point and he knows what hes talking about. Just read up on his build thread.

It really doesn't matter how old you are or what you drive. If you don't know what you are talking about. Don't suggest stuff.


For example. I know a little about suspension but not enough to help this guy out. I'll leave that to Skym and Franki.

[Skym]

I'm far from an expert on the subject. An expert knows the formula's, has the equipment to measure spring rates and what spring rates to use for what application (I have a basic understanding of this, but there are so many configurations, that I don't know them all), test shock damping and understand what the result's on chart that shock dyno creates mean (something I have to learn), etc. I know about the orrifices on valving, fluid transfer, because suspension pro (works on racecars, owned part of a suspension company) showed Bilstein valving on SAU forum and explained how it worked.

Also I know Monotube shock is better due to bigger valving (diameter of shock, valving is bigger), so provides better control over spring. I noticed Bilstein, Koni shocks are big in diameter and don't have a indent near bottom of shock (means it's a Multitube shock, not a Monotube shock). Factory shocks are multitube shocks (indent in shock, small diameter) and don't perform as good past 30,000km and is when you have to replace them. Monotube when setup properly for road use can last 150,000km before it leaks at top of shock and needs to be rebuilt.

Can understand why Nissan use Bilstein on stock R35GTR, more expensive version on 24 hour R35GTR, R33 400R, etc. And why Supra's, some Subaru's have Bilstein shocks as standard equipment.

This link explains basically the same thing I was trying to explain in post above and part of what I learnt with valving, but explains it better than I can -

http://www.tootechracing.com/how_does_valving_work_by_too_tec.htm