opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light street.

tak209
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opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light street.

Postby tak209 » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:58 pm

hey guys i am about to get some gc front coilovers and was wondering for a car i daily and some track/street use what spring rates are best i was thinking of going the mr2 front camaro rear. so 8 front and 6 rear should be good correct? any ones opions with this set up would be appreciated.

thanks.
=)

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby assassin10000 » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:25 pm

Daily/light use 6k & 4.3-4.7k (excellent for grip/bumpy roads)
Daily/mild track 7k & 5.5k
Weekend only/track use 8k & 6k

Dependant on road conditions in your area. For daily & grip you can go even softer.

Andrew

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby tak209 » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:37 pm

cool thanks for the input Andrew, so i will be using it for a daily and sometimes take it to the track on the weekends and compete with some friends. and the occasional friendly street session in our industrial area. lol so im thinking the 7k and 5.5k should be tolerable for that in mind.... but the roads in my area are horrible lol so that 6k and 4.3 sounds tempting lol

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby tak209 » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:40 pm

do/ have you ran the mr2 camaro gc set up? opinion on shocks?AGX kyb koni HTS?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby totta crolla » Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:14 am

I run 3.5 front and 3 rear with TRD dampers on a tarmac road rally car so Andrew ^ is right, you can go softer.
This suits all road conditions in the U.K and make for a very nicely balanced car.
Most people would say these rates are too soft for them though.

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby assassin10000 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:35 am

With what your describing go 6k & 4.7k. Add larger swaybars to compensate for roll.

I hate agx. After experiencing other better shocks.

Koni or Trd blues are my top choices.
Hts just behind

With the 6k/4.7k you could get away with some tokico blues for a little while. Not ideal but not terrible, my friend had that exact setup on his car for a while.

Andrew

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby tak209 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:47 pm

totta crolla wrote:I run 3.5 front and 3 rear with TRD dampers on a tarmac road rally car so Andrew ^ is right, you can go softer.
This suits all road conditions in the U.K and make for a very nicely balanced car.
Most people would say these rates are too soft for them though.


ok i would like a nice balanced ride where its a good daily and a decent street/ track. i know you cant have it all though lol

assassin10000 wrote:With what your describing go 6k & 4.7k. Add larger swaybars to compensate for roll.

I hate agx. After experiencing other better shocks.

Koni or Trd blues are my top choices.
Hts just behind

With the 6k/4.7k you could get away with some tokico blues for a little while. Not ideal but not terrible, my friend had that exact setup on his car for a while.

Andrew



thanks man. and what konis would you recommend? yellows?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby assassin10000 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:59 pm

Depends on your budget.

Sw20 fronts & camaro rears for drift/grip
Sw20 fronts & mustang rears for grip only

Or if you have the $
Single or double adjust 8610 fronts and double adjust camaro rears (don't remember if mustangs are available in double adjust)

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby totta crolla » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:48 am

Do Koni not make vehicle specific dampers for the AE86 then ?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby Duy- » Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:19 am

they do but it's not short stroke nor konis "race" 8610 series.
definitely would agree with everything Andrew said as far as spring rates go
shock choice wise, I've found
Trd / hts very similar but both on the expensive end compared to how reliable and available they are
agx makes a good door stop but I wouldn't use it for anything else

koni is my number one choice because:
it has high speed / low speed dampening for daily / track purposes
rebound adjustability
lifetime warranty on the koni yellow sport
rebuildable koni race shocks

I'm currently running
front: 8kg koni 8610 series
rear: 6kg koni camaro yellow sports

I find it very drivable although some would say a bit on the stuff side, honestly I want something stiffer for the track and have considered buyin hts again. but why spend 550$ for a shock that might explode on me 6 months down the road

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby 4agewin » Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:36 pm

Anybody used cx coilovers ? all these shock and spring rate is overwelming mane..just want something ready out of the box

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Wed Sep 18, 2013 2:41 pm

really?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby BoRoYaSui » Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:06 am

assassin10000 wrote:Daily/light use 6k & 4.3-4.7k (excellent for grip/bumpy roads)
Daily/mild track 7k & 5.5k
Weekend only/track use 8k & 6k

Dependant on road conditions in your area. For daily & grip you can go even softer.

Andrew


I agree. Ran both setups. 8/6 too harsh for the street

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby Jimmee1990 » Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:16 am

What do you actually want to do with the car? If your cars going to be super low it will make little difference what dampers and springs you have because it will drive like crap anyway. If you want it to grip well get some bilsteins and springs around 4.5-5kg on the front and 3-4kg on the rear and adjust from there, if you want to drift and nothing else go 6kg on the front and 4.5-6kg on the rear depending on how much effort you want to put in to get it sideways. If you're fast enough you will be easily able to get the car to slide with the sensible spring rates and bilsteins anyway.

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby -zenki- » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:16 am

I'm running 7.4k front & rear 6.2k with toyo t1r's for daily use. On normal roads it very grippy but once you get on bumpy tarmac it sometimes acts a little nervous.
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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Sun Oct 06, 2013 1:02 am

Alot of good stuff here, i came up on a good deal on brand new agx camaro shocks, how should i tackle the stuff for the front springs or coilovers?

use?
- Daily/light

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby chohdog » Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:04 pm

There's a path you take, and a path less taken. The choice is up to you my friend.

Path 1: Your AE86 just needs to go low so you can make it to shows. You buy Megan, BC, CX, anything made in China. You dump it, get bored after a year and sell the car. Your journey ends here.

Path 2: You street drive your AE86 and want to try some road race/drifting. You hear Chinese stuff isn't that great, so you want to do a custom coilover or T3 made set. You buy AGX. You're pretty happy, but even your 6/4.3. feels stiff. Car is a little unpredictable and you start feeling crappy because you're not Takumi. Your journey ends here.

Path 3: You went down path 2, but you are willing to spend some money to try what a few of the "old timers" are talking about. You buy HTS (congratulations! You're not a douche now, just mentally challenged for buying $700 shocks for a $200 car). You suddenly realize that all the other shocks you played with in the past were pretty bad, including AGX and any other Chinese BS. You question whether buying something so expensive is worth it when people can't even see it on your car. Then you realize that the best parts for the AE86 (and most expensive) are the things people can't see. You enjoy having real short stroke shocks made for the AE86 and your eyes are open.

Path 4: you completed path 3, but you're hungry for more. At this point, you're beyond retarded and have spent too much $$ on your AE86 so there's no turning back. You have multiple choices now: TRD (yellow, blue green), Koni (custom or 8610 front, ?? rears), Bilstein (possible E30 M3 front, ?? rears) or other reputable suspension manufacturers. This is one of the fun parts of the AE86, finding what works for your application.

Most people make it to path 2, and don't go any farther. Keep in mind path 4 is full retard, and you know what they say: "you NEVER go full retard". Unfortunately some of us have gone full retard.

Almost forgot to answer the original question: spring rate up to 8kg is ok for some street application. I think it depends more on what shock you choose. If you get AGX and 6/4.3, it won't feel that great as opposed to a Koni with 6/4.3. The Koni with that rate will almost feel "luxurious".

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby jondee86 » Mon Oct 14, 2013 2:31 pm

This man ^^^ speaks the truth....

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:52 pm

gona skip step 1 mane..
heading to step 2.

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby yoshimitsuspeed » Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:06 am

I am trying to offer more products specific to the Corolla chassis and would like to get more suspension bits on there.

I can get BC coilovers if anyone is interested in those. Thought I had them up but I guess I didn't yet. I should be able to match any price online.

Are the HTS something I should offer?
I see there is a long stroke and short stroke version. Would it be worth offering both?

Any other ideas on what are the more commonly run and sought after setups out there both on the more stock side and on the higher end side?

Would it be worth offering shocks for any of the hybridized setups like the SW20 fr Camaro or Mustang rears? Do they have any notable advantage over the HTS or other quality Corolla specific shocks?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby chohdog » Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:40 pm

BC are a good off the self coilover for those that just want to lower their car. People will buy them.

HTS as you probably know are made by Tokico. However, Tokico USA got bought out by Promotion distribution, which went out of business. Tokico USA is currently on hiatus. HTS can be had if you have an independent distributor from Japan or another country that can get them. Basically they're hard to get right now. They have both long stroke and short stroke variations.

The problem is as you've found, people don't want to pay. For an off the shelf set of insert and rear shock, Koni part no 8610 and Koni rear Camaro would be fantastic to keep in stock. However, this set will probably be around $700. It'll be a tough sell.

If you really do have machine work available to you, make a custom gland nut to hold the front insert for the E30 m3 in the AE86. This works as an AE86 short stroke application while being an inverted strut (hence the need for a custom gland nut with a larger hole) or just make the custom gland nut. A nice alternative would be to use the E30 M3 front, custom gland nut, and rear camaro made by Bilstein. They're cheaper than Koni, but still a very high quality part.

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:35 pm

e30 m3 front? has anyone tackeld this ?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby ApeterE » Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:08 pm

What do people think the pros and cons of the Megan coilovers are?

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Wed Oct 16, 2013 7:57 am

I had the same question, but as i have seen throught out the forums, they do their job, but are too damm bouncy on the street/ If you are going to spend 1000 for a coilover set from Megan just get some Max s, better quality. I heard they ride like if you had airbags..

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby oldeskewltoy » Wed Oct 16, 2013 8:34 am

ditn wrote:true but they also have to start from koni's or bilstein so should be findable for the ae86 :)

How about these numbers
Toyota Corolla Corolla GT-TC 16 Coupé (AE86) Sport 83-87
Front Left 86 1991SPORT
Right 86 1991SPORT
Rear Left 80 2437SPORT
Right 80 2437SPORT

also someone on ae86 irl is selling b8 bilstein front and rear for 450 €


current thread over in aeu86.org
OST Cyl head porting, - viewtopic.php?f=22&t=300

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby MisterJerk » Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:18 am

miswuevos wrote:I had the same question, but as i have seen throught out the forums, they do their job, but are too damm bouncy on the street/ If you are going to spend 1000 for a coilover set from Megan just get some Max s, better quality. I heard they ride like if you had airbags..



They smooth out some, once the dampers break in. plus i set my front and rears about 3-4 +\- clicks up from all the way soft, and set the height for a more level stance. If that makes any difference.

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby miswuevos » Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:38 pm

bump

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Re: opinions on coilover spring rates for daily/ light stree

Postby PT86 » Thu Oct 17, 2013 10:00 pm

Went from 8F / 6.5R with HTS to 6F / 4.5R with Konis. Much better ride on street and on track it actually gave me better rotation for agility.