Austarion

HSD Coilover kits - From Otomoto $299 a pair.

Are these any good?
http://www.otomoto.com.au/HDSystems/sleevekits.htm


Also, what size diameter would be needed? 45mm, 48mm, 51mm and 55mm internal diameter

What spring rates? for Front and rear? 4kg/mm and 8kg/mm (except for the 55mm kit, 6kg/mm only).

What are the alternative kits avaliable?

Thanks... what inner diameter do you need?

55mm :)

so could you just buy 2 sets of these and cut and weld them to the original struts and put in mr2 shocks?

yep, if you're happy with that level of shock adjustment..

this may seem like a dumb question to most, but it's very important.. why are you getting coilovers?

who was that to? moi, ix, or tom?

anyone who's considering getting coilovers. You already know what I'm trying to get at Redzone.

yeah for sure, i've been thinking of starting a thread asking why people want them..

honestly to me the LEAST important reason is height adjustment. sitting the car at the legal minimum (100mm from lowest point other than brake backing plates) is decent enough to make the car look nicer but still be able to traverse speed bumps without ripping your exhaust off, and also the control arms are still at a good angle. i REALLY dont know why people get hung up on height adjustment when 9 times out of 10 they stick em at one height and forget about it (coulda done that with king springs etc)..

one good advantage of height adjustment is the easier ability to corner weight, but not many people here will do that. ditto exchanging spring rates, although it's hardly easier than conventional springs.

main reason i want them is so i can have a true multipurpose car, that rides nice on the road (with shock settings would down) and by noting down track settings can be turned into a capable machine on a circuit in a few minutes.. bigger bore struts are another decent advantage of a proper coil over setup. bump AND rebound is also a very nice tuning option.

4 way adjustment of shocks just isn't enough IMO. alright on the street i suppose, but it can be a very big difference between them. 8 and up is good! shame the factory KYB SHP shocks are so long in the body length though. if only they made them 30mm shorter from the factory..

I guess my point is, most of the people I've met change to coilovers for one of 3 reasons.. first being they wanna have something to say when bench racing their friends.. "I have coilovers".. Second reason is because everyone else is doing it.. Third is because they have some problem with their suspension and think switching to coilovers will solve it..

First reason, I guess is worth it if you're that vane a person lol..

If you're doing it cos of the second reason, then you're just wasting money..

And if you're doing it for the third reason, then your suspension may actually end up worse. Coilovers are a tool. a tool is useless unless in the hands of someone who is skilled with it. Coilovers will not solve your suspension issue(s) unless you have knowledge on how suspension works and know what changes to make (or are willing to experiment) to tune the coilovers to eliminate your problem. But this is still a big expense to go through to solve a problem that may be caused by just a single shock absorber, or worse yet, by a suspension bushing, that will still be causing the problem after you've spent a lot on a coilover system that you now think is shit and blame the brand because it didn't solve the original problem..

My friend who is a self confessed know it all revhead, switched coilovers on his car from teins to HSDs, and he was astonished by the better ride and no more axle tramp. So he went on to say teins are shit and HSDs are SO much better etc. Except those teins had been on his car for a good 3 years now, and who knows how long they were on for before he owned the car. Plus he never bothered to change any of the settings to see if he could eliminate that axle tramp.. It's like replacing an old jigsaw with a new one and being amazed at how well the new one cuts.. you've missed that you could have just changed the blade on the old one and it'd cut exactly the same as the new one..

Bottom line is, coilovers should only ever go on your car if you need to make those fine tuning adjustments to your damping rates. If you aren't doing that, then there's a very expensive tool that you've paid for to do nothing. The most common reason to need to change those damping settings frequently is if you actually go racing regularly - or if you plan on doing regular racing once your car is complete, for example. And on that note, to add to Redzone's point, if you're gonna get a tool, you get one that does what you need. You get decent spanners because your car deserves it. If you buy cheap crap from Repco, then woe to you, you deserve the rounded bolts and anguish those cheap shit spanners will cause. The same goes for coilovers. Don't buy a half arsed attempt at a coilover, because you'll only have a half arsed tool that won't do what you need it to.

For the people who will only ever drive on the steet and not change their suspension settings much, save yourself money and get decent shocks and springs, or service your current ones.. If there is a problem with your suspension, stop looking for a miracle cure in the form of coilovers and find someone who knows enough about suspension to solve the problem you're having.. hopefully on the cheap eh :beer

So.. Tomsun.. what's your reason for getting coilovers? :P You've gone racing more times than I have, so if you do get coilovers, you'll eventually put them to good use :) Just don't get cheap crap ones that you'll have to change for real ones down the track because the cheap crap ones didn't end up having the settings and tunability you need ;)

I really don't see a need for coil-overs for street use, however, we have put coil-over struts on all 4 corners of our JB project. BUT, this car is 100% track car, which requires regular suspension adjustment depending on whether we race on gravel or tarmac.
Yes they can be a very expensive exercise, but we have fabricated everything 'in house', like the adjustable camber tops, coil-over struts, platforms & tops, with the only biggest expense being the Koni shocks & Eibach springs.
This has been about 6 months tinkering in the workshop to complete, so we don't wish to do this again.

panda

panda wrote: This has been about 6 months tinkering in the workshop to complete, so we don't wish to do this again.

hahahaha damn :P

thrash wrote:So.. Tomsun.. what's your reason for getting coilovers? :P You've gone racing more times than I have, so if you do get coilovers, you'll eventually put them to good use :) Just don't get cheap crap ones that you'll have to change for real ones down the track because the cheap crap ones didn't end up having the settings and tunability you need ;)

#1 Reason. My current suspension is gone.
#2 Reason. The appeal of the coilover it the height adjustment.
Eg. I want to have the car sitting level (not having the back or front sitting hight er or lower.) I want the height so that the guard covers approximately 1/2 of the sidewall of the tyre. I don't think that the king springs will be low enough to do that. And I still need to get new shocks.

Still tempted by a set of koni's and get mt struts shortened.
But some thinks I'm not sure about.

1. If when they shorten the struts it the spring perch becomes lower? This will be a problem as the spring perch will then hit my wheel/tyre combo (at the fronts at least)

2. If not does the spring become too short and I lose spring travel?

3. Does this become an issue with the springs no longer being captive?

4. How do they Guarantee the ride height that I'm after?

5. How much can I expect them to sag and over how long? If the sags to below the leagal height clearance do I have to get a new set of springs?