:-p That's why I love that track: it's EXTREMELY challenging.

 

If I'm gonna go to a drag strip, should I adjust my coilovers nearly all the way down, or leave them lowered at the level they are? Or does it even make a noticeable difference?

 

I just ordered these coilovers. Have you guys figured a way to soften up the ride, or are you just worried about being slammed. I am buying these for autocross/track days, but I do daily drive the car. Do you have any tips?

 

You can NOT run the car all the way down for daily driving. You'll just have to get used to lowering the car when you get to the track and raising it up before you leave. The pics that I took of my car is with the back ALL the way down and the front ones less than a 1/4" of the way from being all the way down. That is NOT acceptable for daily driving. You WILL break something. You're not going to get the 'show' drop with these coilovers and still be able to drive like that. Yes, the coilovers still lower the car drastically, even when set up on a high setting, and yes, it does still look good. But forget about driving slammed. You'll have to do what I do: get to the shows early, park where your spot for the show is, and slam the car. Then raise it back up before you leave. You can't have your cake (serious performance) and eat it too (serious drop) with these coilovers.

Note:
DON'T expect the stiffness settings (1-32) to make a difference when you're most of the way or all the way dropped. The suspension has to have some travel before you can adjust how stiff that travel is. Duh.
DON'T expect the ride to be like stock. I've said it a dozen times in this thread: these are not your father's coilovers. These are straight performance, no compromises. They are STIFF.
DON'T get these coilovers if you are unwilling or unable to spend 2-6 hours pulling your tires off, adjusting all four corners, testing, and repeating the whole process over and over. I spend 3 hours the first night, and 2 the next getting my ride height, stiffness, and comfort/performance balance to where I wanted it.
DON'T expect easy answers. I can't tell you how high/low to run your car. It depends soley on HOW MUCH COMFORTE YOU WANT. Thus, the hours of playing with them.
DO have someone help you if you've never adjusted coilovers before.
DO prepare for kidney pounding the first few times you make adjustments. Stiff means "pogostick without a spring" stiff.
DO ask lots of questions.

Gawd, I should write a book. Honestly, these coilovers shouldn't be sold to kids. *sigh*

 

Thank you. My point was that I will never drop on these, I am looking for the same height as my Tein H-techs. With a mild drop like that, are they fairly comfortable?

 

Yes with that kind of drop, you should be ok. At that point, you'll PROBABLY only need to adjust the stiffness at the track, and not mess with ride height. But that depends on how hard core you are. I use every oppertunity to take FULL advantage of what my coilovers can do. :-D
If you want, I'll take some pics later tonight of the height I'm running my front/rear at, and include the stiffness settings for front/rear too. I'm running the front lower slightly, and stiffer than the rear. (Keep in mind I have a rear sway bar to assist with the rear also).

 

Thanks for your help.

 

No problem. Sorry that I went on a rant. I just can't stress how serious these coilovers are. I also wouldn't recommend them if you have a girlfriend/wife that drives/rides in your Scion at all. :-p

 

yea please list the settings you have these on cuz i have the same ones and would liek to know what settings others have them on

 

Well, this is kind of what I was asking. Are they really that uncomfortable? Is it uncomfortable because you have them dropped so much?

 

The measurement of comfort is a sliding scale. I have mine set pretty low. Not as low as the pictures earlier in this thread, but low. But I don't mind the rougher ride that gives me. I don't have people riding in my car hardly ever, and I value performance over comfort almost to the point of insanity. They'll soften up significantly if you run the car higher and fiddle with the damper settings. I can't tell you how soft they are vs stock springs, because I basically started on the stiffest/lowest settings and worked backwards to what I could tolerate. I'm sure they're stiffer, but not uncomfortable at all if you run all the way up and the dampers on "32" on all four wheels.

 

Hey tekisui,

I was thinkinga about getting these coilovers,camber links, and maybe progress rear sway bar (or hotchkis idk about them though so many problems with front sway bar ... ) but I was viewing this article " http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/pr...ion_tc_part_1/ " and it said the progress team set up the tc with a 1.38 inch total drop so I was wondering if this would be a adequate setting for the tc with the megan coilovers?

Also would the front sway bar be essential or could I just get a rear one and expect the same peformance as if I had just got both.

 

Is it true that if you get coilovers with the upper pillow ball mount you don't need the camber links? If this is so why get them for the megans?

 

I have the front and rear bars on my car and not a problem at all, then again I installed them myself)

I am running the mid setting on the rear and soft up front but I also have 46lbs less weight in the roof and nearly 50 less for the seats so I do not need as much sway bar as some do.

Rick

 

Yes, get the camber links. Get the front sway bar if you're feeling brave and have the time/means to tinker with it , but DEFINITELY get the rear one. It's worth every penny. As for the ride height question, have you READ the last 2 pages of this thread? :-p I went on a rant about that exact question. No one can tell you how high/low or soft/stiff you want to ride. You'll have to determine that, based on how much comfort you're willing to sacrifice. Better handling means less comfort. I would install them, set them all the way up and on the softest setting, and work lower/stiffer as you go, adjusting in small increments and testing in between. I'm actually going to raise mine again tonight, because the rear is still hitting much too hard when I go over rough spots. It requires alot of time to play with, but I can't think of a much better way to spend the evening.
As for the sway bar settings, I suggest your set your rear sway bar, when you get it, to the medium setting and see how you like it, then put it on the 3rd (stiffest) setting later if you're feeling adventurous. I might try that tonight, too, though. I actually have the Hotchkis front sway bar, if you're interested. I bought the front/rear as a set, but didn't install the front one. It's new.

 

Nope. You still need them. The Megan coilovers have the mounts, and my camber was still (well, still is) off, though only fractionally.

 

To set a few things straight, make them a bit more clear, etc;)

1) the Megan coilovers come with pillow ball mounts front and rear but only the front has adjustable camber plates and they are more than sufficient for our needs. To much front camber can reduce grip coming out of corners and getting on the brakes and induce excessive tire wear.

2) the rear coilovers are not adjustable though there is a bit of adjustability in the stock suspension design but not really enough so the Hotchkiss rear camber links are a great solution, I have them as well.

3)though you may or may not like this info, I have proven it with testing and an exact demensional plotting of the suspension geometry in full scale. Go much lower than 1" of wheel gap and your handling performance starts decreasing at an alarming rate. Most all slammed cars handle horribly but the owners are not well enough informed on the suspension dynamics and geometry to realize this and their butt dyno/handling meters are way out of calibration.

4) setting the rear camber to nearly a verticle position will greatly assist in reducing understear as well as using a rear sway bar. BUT, if you go to far and do not have a front sway bar then you can start inducing oversteer at high speeds. That is fine to a degree but if you get to hot into a corner and hit a bump, lose grip for any reason, etc, you can have what is called snap oversteer that may not be correctable in time, crashing is the result in many cases.

5) setting a rear only sway bar to full stiff can do the same as #4 in the oversteer situation. #4 and #5 need to be addressed together.
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What should you do? There are so many variables, your actual driving skill(versus your percieved skill level), how agressive you drive, perfer cornering or drag racing, tire and wheel package, general road conditions where you live,
your preference of looking fast or being fast which are not often mutually compatible when it comes to suspension settings, carry passengers or luggage often or not, willing to make major adjustments for certain events(drags, autocross, track days, shows), etc....

_________________________

For the person that wants a great all around handling, riding, predictable, fairly neutral with just a bit of push (underteer) at higher speeds(what all race cars go for), quicker turn in at lower speeds, a car that is not scraping the ground, not tearing up the tires, etc.:

With rear sway bar only, approx -1/2 degree rear camber, if shocks are adjustable then on medium for the street, full stiff for autocross, sway bar set to medium postion, to stiff can be dangerours at high speeds.

If you have both bars then medium on the rear, soft up front, test it in a safe place, then try the siffer settings and see how it works out. But, you can lose traction up front with to stiff a setting but do not go full stiff in back and soft up front, at least without testing, again in a safe place.

Front camber, a good all around setting for most would be -1.5 degrees for decent tire wear and not losing grip in the rain, out of tight turns in autocrosses on the dry, etc. If you are a very agressive corner carver then -2 and possible -2.5 will be ok as long as you remember the loss of wet weather cornering grip and tight corner dry weather forward grip that can occur.

Ride height, I know many do not like this but I have tested it extensively and have gone to the level of having an estimate done on building me some custom CNC steering knuckles to correct the geometry if I lower the car more that it is now. At 1" wheel gap above the tires the car handles a magnitude better than just lowering it another 1/2" and if I slam it, the handling goes completely out the window, from a very well sorted out and easy to drive car to one that is just plain slippery and unpredicatble.

Terms like roll center, roll couple, center of gravity, bump steer, and about ten others all come into play and they all interact with each other a great deal. Susupension is far more critical to all forms of motor sports than most imagine, sure HP is nice and fun to talk about but if you cannot use it effectively, then it is not going to win races or keep you on the track or street for long.

For those just into drag racing, you are not being left out, you do intend to drive your cars daily, to and from events, etc, at least in most cases, there are many issues with hooking up a drag car and they all a centered around the suspension and tires, which are a part of the suspension package in all cases.

Those that just do not care and want the slammed look, go for it, just know you will easily be handed a loss in handling over another car setup properly and your tires and the entire chasses will wear out alot faster, another area I could go deeper into
but this is enough for now.



Rick

 

Thank you, you have anwsered alot of questions on my mind!