suspension set-up

[Nick]

I had ireland stage 1 springs and bilstein HD's. It was a great set-up for a lowered daily driver, but not stiff enough when doing some twisties. I want a more aggressive set-up. Has anyone tried bilstein sports with the ireland stage 2 springs? Is there any other spring out there that can get my car down pretty low? I've seen some pictures of other cars, and the front is down lower than mine. that's how I want mine. any suggestions?

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[peteinjp]

with sports- but in the front I am running coilovers so as to be able to adjust the camber. The reason is that I run soft tires most of the time and without the camber plates up front the outsides of the tires get chewed up pretty quickly. So i recommend getting the rear stage 2 with a coilover setup in front with camber plates. Or you might try the stage 2's with ireland big bar setup to keep the car from rolling as much in the corners. That may be just right even without adjusting the camber. I wiil be adding adj pickups in the rear to reduce the camber as the tires do wear on the insides when i can't find any corners to play on. In terms of the ride i use it every day about an hour each way to work. I probably would not go much stiffer for a daily driver but for me its fine. Many would not like it but if thestage 1's are not too harsh for you go for it. Corners great- or at least as fast as a road going car probably needs to (within the bounds of safety)

[Nick]

wow, your set up sounds nice! how do you go about setting up the coilovers? I've seen it on the ireland website. do you buy the kits and then just send them your struts to have them welded on? and do the springs come with the coilover kit already or did you buy them also? many people have told me that the coilover set up is way too harsh for a car that you drive around town, but i dont really mind it. I actually like the feeling of driving a "race car" around town.

[peteinjp]

No welding or anything. In terms of coilovers vs. regular springs the rates I have are the same as the stage 2 ireland springs so no difference in ride quality. My setup is not so unusual- but it is fun! I'll be putting on the new sways and the adjustable camber rear soon.

[Nick]

no welding huh??? that sounds do-able. and you did use the ireland coilovers correct?

[winstontj]

no welding huh??? that sounds do-able. and you did use the ireland coilovers correct?

Pete r-u serious? It'll work but that's sketchy... I guess if you think about it it's really not - but it kindof is.

Nick, the spring perch will still absorb the same load with or without the coilovers. As Pete describes you'll litterally slide the coilover unit right over the tube and it will sit on the perch. It would only be an issue if you were to get major air and your suspension was allowed to get to full travel as the threaded tube could raise up - or maybe not if the shock keeper nut is used in this scheme.

If I were you I'd weld up a set of old strut housings that the perches have some rust and use the more traditional method. Pete's way is cool though.

[peteinjp]

I got my setup from ground control and they are the ones that said that I could set it right on the original perch. I thought that I would just try it out but it has been fine so I haven't bothered. I have an extra set of tii struts and I'm on the fence (finacially mostly) about going to a 50mm strut tube.