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Reply With Quotefully adjustable race dampers.
lowering springs are progressive.
so they are soft until they are compressed by suspension travel.
race dampers use set rate springs.
so they are responsive all of the time. regardless of the shock setting.
I want to know as far as performance is concerned, what is the better setup, coilovers or lowering springs??
Car is sold, no more G.... Moved on to something a big more sporty.... lol
fully adjustable race dampers.
lowering springs are progressive.
so they are soft until they are compressed by suspension travel.
race dampers use set rate springs.
so they are responsive all of the time. regardless of the shock setting.
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1994 Galant GS-Turbo
skunk 2 coilovers or megan springs(not coil overs).. which one?
Mods:
2 tone leather interior, touch screen navigation, 7inch headrest tv's, 17" Driftz Black and Polished rims, 215 50 17 Goodyear Eagle Nct5 tires Tein s lowering springs, kyb gr-2 struts, rearview mirror camera, diamond black paint custom front and lower grill, Chrome door pillars., and chrome door handles. Powder coated my wipper arms wet black, exhaust heat sheild and my valve cover. 2nd gen led taillights
i know this is an old thread but this not true... (yes i know OP probably choose his setup already, but this can be used for future searches)Originally Posted by DOHCstunr
No matter what option you choose, coilovers or a non-coilover system,you will be using springs. Additionally no matter what form the dampers come in (threaded bodied struts/shocks or "regular" struts/shocks) their main purpose is to control the springs.
There is absolutely NO "inherent quality" in a coilover setup, that has anything to do with spring rate, or spring control capabilities – period. Spring rates are spring rates, no matter what diameter the coils are wound. Shocks/Struts/Dampers all do the same thing no matter what they look like.
In short: All setups use springs, and to a point higher spring rates = stiffer ride and better handling. All setups have something to control the energy of the springs - either in the form of shocks/struts with or without threads on the outside – and there is a VAST selection of valving – adjustable or nonadjustable - one can choose from. The precise match between and spring rate and spring control is what makes a particular suspension setup handle better or worse, or the ride more or less comfortable.
Coilovers by themselves provide no performance, performance is in all the details such as spring rate, travel, shock bump rate, shock rebound rate, likelyhood of shock fade...
The only advantge coilovers have besides the obvious height adjustment is the ability to corner balance them which most people don't do. (they should)
sorry for the rant but i was up and bored...
2 aditionnal advantages which you overlooked is the short body dampers that are included in full coilover setups, and the elimination of the huge stock spring perches. lowering reduces the available suspension travel of the stock body dampers, since stock body dampers would allready be more compressed at a lower than stock ride height. short body dampers restore some if not all of this available travel up to the actual suspension geometry's limits. short body dampers will allow more travel before the damper itself bottoms out... of course if the chassis and supension arms bottom out, no damper will increase that limit. additionally, short body dampers included in full coilovers survive living at lower ride heights significantly longer since they are valved/built to control the high spring rates of performance/lowering springs that they are matched to. stock body dampers seem to only last a few months at any ride hieght lowered past 2" on our patform. the only readily available short body damper solution for our platform, other than those included w/ full coilovers, are the KONI inserts which involve cutting open the stock dampers, shortenning the body, swaping the internals and piston rod, then rewelding the unit back together... not cost effective, and not adjustable. even the KYB AGX for our cars, thought adjustable for damping, will not survive long at ride heights lower than 1.5" from stock; they are still full length dampers and lowering past 1.5" voids their warranty (as stated in their documentation/installation instructions).
aditionally, by eliminating the stock spring perches and using the narrower springs assemblies of full coilover units, the clearance from wheel/tire to suspension parts is greatly increased allowing the fitament of much more aggresive wheel tire combos that still fit under the fenders. for example my tire combo (19x8.5 +48 235/35zr19) lowered 3" would likely not "fit" if i had not gone to full coilovers, the tire would almost certainly be pressed against the stock perches.
i guess for this platform since parts are somewhat limited thats true, but in general a spring/shock setup can handle just as good as coilovers...
coilovers are the same thing as lowering springs and dampers. however on coilovers, the lowering springs are adjustable for ride hieght and preload and the dampers are designed to match those lowering springs, are short body design, and most are adjutable for rebound and compression. using adjustable lowering springs (ie., GROUND CONTROL) and replacing the dampers w/ adjustable units (AGX KYB) would actually cost about the same as buying the full coilover setup in most cases; the cost is very close especially since the cost of full coilovers has come down significantly. the problem is getting short body dampers (KYB AGX are full length units)... there are no ready made short body dampers seperately avaliable for our cars.
so if you want the best possible handling on our cars or you want a very aggressive drop (without going to bags), the best option is coilovers.
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