Coilovers Too Stiff

[KrazyTurk]

bought a set of 4 brand new ksports coilovers for a very cheap price

it would of been easier if it camer with an instructions manual anyway i installed them though my ride is extremely stiff is there an adjustment for this?

[Ben C34]

The springs being too stiff along with completely useless damping means there is no way to fix it.

Other than replace springs then dampers or preferably both at the same time.

[KrazyTurk]

just figured how to adjust dampening, why would it be useless?

[Ben C34]

Because the springs are the main cause of the stiffness. And a low quality damper no matter how much adjustability it has still is not great.

[KrazyTurk]

well ill see how i go, it probably wont be till the weekend till i take the time to adjust hieght and dampening due to work

[GTSBoy]

What spring rates do these things have?

[Hornet2572]

I have recently put a set of K-Sport Coilovers on my R32 GTR. I have had real issues trying to find a good adjustment to suit driving on the street. At the drags, I put the fronts 4 clicks off full hard and the rears 2 clicks off full hard, and ran a PB and found it to feel very good during the run. At the motorkhana, I have them all set to full hard because I want it to hook up wheel spin on the wet concrete and it feels great... But I haven't found a setting I am happy with on the street yet. It's either bone-shattering hard over the bumps, or wallowing over them and bouncing up and down for too long. I have pretty much put it down to the springs / spring rates. When I bought them, the K-Sport guys said different spring rates were available if required, so I might give them a buzz and run it past them to see what they recommend.

At the end of the day, they are a budget coilover, and so the performance leaves a bit to be desired. I will probably only use them another 12 months before moving on to a more substantial set up.

When you get a chance to adjust them, have a good drive on all settings and see what you like / don't like and let us know. I'm interested to get someone else's view on them.

[GTSBoy]

It's really very easy. Stiff springs + poor to average quality damping have no place on the street.

[GTScotT]

Run the dampers at maximum and work your way back until it doesnt feel like a rock.

Cheap coilovers don't have good dampening ability so you generally need to overcompensate with the damper settings. Running them too low will make the ride a lot harsher as the heavy springs will be doing all the work.

[KrazyTurk]

spring rates are "70.5 - 180 - 10kg"

its currently at the 1st click for dampening (lowest/softest) but i think rides pretty hard because its too low of a setting ill have to play around with it right after i put in this catback

also could i change the springs with kings or would that just mess the whole thing up?

Edited August 6, 2014 by KrazyTurk

[GTSBoy]

Yes, you can change the springs. No you can't do it with Kings because Kings don't make springs for coilovers.

You can buy replacement 60mm diameter springs for coilovers from many vendors however. Eibach, Tein, etc etc. Lots of different springs from lots of different manufacturers. What you do need to get right though is make sure you have the correct spring internal diameter (there are a couple in use) and you also need to get the free length correct. The free length isn't necessarily the same as the length of your existing springs because as you reduce the spring rate they will make the car sit lower (less kg required to make each mm of spring compression). Realistically because your coilovers are height adjustable you can probably get away with buying the same length.

I was trying to work out what your "spring rates are ...." numbers meant for a few seconds. Then I realised that the 70.5 is probably the diameter. But it seems like a strange internal diameter. It also seems like a very strange external diameter - I'd expect a 60mm ID spring to have something more like an 80mm OD. So let's assume that it's the ID. You'll need to check it before you did anything anyway.

The 180 is probably the free length and the 10kg is of course the spring rate. 10kg is bloody stiff. For a streeter I think 6kg is a bit too stiff (at the front - the rears will want to be even less again - perhaps 4-5 kg/mm on most Skylines). Trouble is, if you were to buy some 6/4 springs to replace these 10/8 (guessing the 8 here) springs then the dampers might be a bit too firm for the softer springs. It's really hard to know what you can get away with. If you went to a proper suspension specialist for advice, they'd probably tell you to bin the lot and start again.

[MrStabby]

10kg is horrible. My car had 10fr 8rr when i got it. I then went to 8/6 which was better but still very rough, and then to 7/6 to reduce understeer, but this car is not a daily and the suspension setup is for track. The rear is pretty horrible ride wise at 6. IIRC Tein super streets are 6/4 or similar, and that sounds like a reasonable setup for mostly street with the odd track days if you not that concerned about ride comfort.

[KrazyTurk]

damn so no what adjustment its still gonna be way too stiff?

ill probably just put my kings back in tommorow

[V28VX37]

I'm running F:6kg, R:5kg with my BC BR's and it's good on the street. I went with these custom rates rather than the standard F:8kg, R:6kg that they normally come with.

I'd say 10kg spring rates are for track only, it's never going to be good on our roads unfortunately...

[simpletool]

yeah 6/5 or 6/4.5 is about right for street.

Normally with cheap adjustables the best place is start is the middle setting, or slightly below. Due to quality issues it is sometimes the case that the best setting will vary set to set.

[Cxxo]

How olds to old to bring a post back from the dead?

Anyway, General rule of thumb (from what I've been told) you can change your spring rates 2kg before it starts wearing your shocks out at a faster rate/they cant match up well enough with the spring rates/rebound rates etc. Just buy a 2kg softer spring for the rear and move the rear to the front. so you only buy 1 pair not 2. cost me 120? I think or was it $80? for 1 pair of new springs.

Make sure you check if they will work first, spring size/length etc.