Zzyzx

I would say that pre built "coilovers" came about exclusively as a Convenience. As in they removed thought from the equation. So you are trusting said companies to have done their homework and built a "coilover" that best suits your needs.... Even though they have no idea what your specific needs are, and thus build for the "lowest common denominator" AKA average joe street driver. Ensuring they are OK for the vast majority of drivers and marketable to the widest group possible.

In competition, you'll find that pre built coilovers are far and few between. the vast majority of drivers I've seen in club racing & autocross are running Koni, Bilstien, Penske (If they have the cash) or some other stand alone Damper, tied in with typically Ground control springs.

Pre-built setups are decent for the majority of drivers, but if you are trying to set the car up for a specific application like autocross or open track, you are by far better off piecemealing the suspension together.



I usually link this http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html
as a reference on why you shouldn't be looking at prebuilt "coilovers" for competition.

metalviper

iTrader: (13)

i had to trim the bearing washer to get them to fit on the konis. and the top mounts dont adjust like teins do. they are set with increments and yould have to uninstall to make adjustments on them. i just set them to max caster, and im running 4 camber bolts as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8A27JXThVE

bomerman19

iTrader: (1)

GOOD INFO!!!!


nice vid!!! see the bar takes the flex the endlink for the most part just goes up and down

mrplow123456

Yeah I have to agree with you. Even with as much physics info I have I never thought about applying it to suspension. I realize that it is important but never realized how crude the adjustments were. On another note, however, I have changed my outlook from getting coilovers to getting a quality pair of struts/shocks.

Now another question arises, what is the difference between struts and shocks? I thought they were one in the same. Plus whats a quality brand at around $75 per strut as I alrdy have the springs I'm going to be using. I'm looking to get this done soon so help would be nice.

bomerman19

iTrader: (1)

basicly a shocks goes up and down you have shocks in the rear.

were as a strut goes up and down like a shock but also turns or has some sort of steering arm attached to it. the fronts are struts Hence the name Mcpherson strut
the older generation civics with the double wishbone front suspension had shocks cause they just went up and down and were not actually connected to the steering

mrplow123456

Ok so in that case, I am going to need to buy 2 front struts and then 2 rear shocks? I assume that when you buy a package, they sell them that way correct? I need new suspension at all four corners and since I have some Weapon R lowering springs already, I just need some new shocks/sturts. The only other question is, which setup would work best and without breaking the bank?

Zzyzx

Actually a "shock" (the better term is damper) in this case is a non-load bearing damper for the spring (the A-arms bear the load and lateral forces of the suspension), where as a Strut is a Damper that is load bearing (the strut does the job of both the damper & the upper A-arm) It doesn't have to be attached to the steering rack, Such setups are called MacPherson struts, where no steering struts are called Chapman struts.


Effectively you could say that all Struts are shocks, but not all shocks are struts.