Different Springs or NEw MCA/Shockworks setup?

[No Crust Racing]

34 GTR, came with BC External Reservoir coilovers, subframe collars and whiteline rear sway bar. 

Came with 275 cheap tyres, Achilles Sport something, 400 tread wear, not fantastic.

Car is 99% street driven and the ride is way too firm for that, on the track day I did, car wanted to understeer quite easily an low speeds, rear seemed like it had bulk grip. Stock arms so -1.5 front camber, -2 in the rear. 
 

Justjap/BC said don't change spring rates on BCs as they are not valved for that, I'm not sure if mine are 8/6 or 9/7 which is the 2 standard flavours. 

MCA recommends Street Performance (purple ones) with 11/5 spring rates. They're about 2k.  

Shock works says "our street setup" which is a bit cheaper but hasn't provided any idea on specs. 

Can I just go ahead and drop some lower rate springs in? How do I properly confirm current rates? 

Any reviews of MCA street performance in a GT-R? 11/5 seems like an odd spring combo and makes me think it'd want to understeer. 

Any info on what the Shockworks street setup is?

New shocks are cheaper than on roads for another car

[Anfanee]

if you care about ride comfort go the MCA blues, and make sure you get a front sway bar and adjust accordingly. 

[JGTC]

With my R34 i ended up with MCA Reds with 12kg/5kg springs - dampers were valved for tarmac rally/hillclimb rather than circuit/track

Came from M-Spec stock suspension which was surprisingly jarring on sydney roads, the MCAs were an improvement in ride-quality both when driving quickly and at the speed limit.

I went with MCA as they had done speciifc model testing on the R34, where i believe shockworks' test car was a R32 GTR.

Another option to consider is PSS9 bilsteins which are a good choice off the shelf, and can be bought and serviced in Sydney by Heasmans

Some info might be useful from my thread.

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by JGTC

[No Crust Racing]

That's encouraging, that they were better VS standard suspension. 

 

When you say ride quality, what does that mean to you? 

To me it's primarily about how harsh the car rides over bumps/joins/imperfections in the road. 

[Kinkstaah]

Seems a little counter-inuitive.

Bad tyres, uncomfortable shocks, but you seem to want a great road ride that's also great on the track? There's only so far that is even possible.

MCA or Shockworks will do what you want however. Shockworks will be cheaper, but BC ER's aren't actually that bad and I'm not sure you'd notice some world of amazing difference, the changes are going to be subtle, there's no way around the fact that making it softer on the street will make it softer on the track.

Everyone has rave reviews about physically calling MCA and talking to them (Josh gets a good rap) so it's probably worth just picking up the phone with an idea of what you really want out of this particular car. The cost is high but everyone seems to say its well worth it in the end.

[No Crust Racing]

Preference is for street comfort. I already have a track car. I only referenced that to explain how it has handled to date. 

[jmknights93]

BC ER coilovers are the wrong choice for street driven comfort period.

BC specify that the ER's are designed for 100% track use only so I don't believe you'd be satisfied after changing spring rates.

A set of BC BR-RS (Rubber top mounts) would be the way to go in regards to street comfort out of your BC options.

[ruinned]

BC BR-RS (Rubber top mounts) with something lower then 8/6 would be a good street comfort i reckon.

i am running 8/6 and it is to harsh for me around town. The roads where i live are pretty bad tho.

[niZmO_Man]

Have you called MCA yet? My mate's CT9A Evo with Blues were super comfortable, even through shitty roads with RS3 tyres. Can't remember the spring rates but they were quite high (>8kg front).

[No Crust Racing]

"MCA recommends Street Performance (purple ones) with 11/5 spring rates. They're about 2k."

[djr81]

Spring rates like that will give you three things:
1 Understeer.

2. Good traction.

3. Harsh front end.

Essentially if you don't get bored understeering around corners you will get good traction if you can ever get on the gas.

If you look at Nismo S tune spring rates you will see they are higher on the rear than the front. 6.0kg/mm front 6.7kg/mm rear.  Much more sensible rates.

[No Crust Racing]

Did notice that, which seems to make more sense to me given the car is also dialed for more rear camber from factory. 

Everybody tells you there setup is best =\ 

Not easy to just go for rides in everyone elses GT-Rs when you're not in the CBD. 

[Piggaz]

Spring rates are only part of the puzzle. What's the valving like? What viscosity fluid is used?

Over the years I have run stock V spec, Nismo S and R tune... then finally cracked it and did it properly. 14 kg/mm front springs and 9 kg/mm rear but the valving in them is far from "normal". Around town and bumpy "shit Sydney roads" it soaks all that stuff up MUCH better than the 3 gastric junk setups before it.

Long story short, looking at one part of the shock is pissing in the wind and a waste of time!

 

[owen1r]

I had shockworks in my R34 GT-T, definitely not bad at all comfort wise with their standard rates. I wouldn't call it comfortable however.

Have had a set of BC V1s in my previous car and ridden in countless cars with BC BRs, only purchase these if you have $1300 to spend. If you're spending $1300 on coilovers for a R34 GTR I think you need to reassess your priorities. I see countless 50k+ builds running BCs and cry a little.

I've driven a MX5 with X-R coilovers with their 'Tarmac' spring rates and was pleasantly surprised with comfort and performance. Going off this I can only guess that X-C would be significantly better. 

TLDR

- Buy BC BR if budgeting ~1300, don't cry when they ride shit.

- Buy MCA X-C with suitable spring rates if you want decent comfort (or fork out for reds), just talk to MCA.

 

[No Crust Racing]

Think MCA will be the go. 

[niZmO_Man]

6 hours ago, ActionDan said:

"MCA recommends Street Performance (purple ones) with 11/5 spring rates. They're about 2k."

Sorry mate, don't know how I missed that. Is purple their new blue? Blue was about $1,600 from memory.

[No Crust Racing]

No, purple is between X-C and X-R

[GTofuS-T]

maybe have another look at their site too as they've recently changed their offerings

• Blues
• Street Essentials
• Street Performance
• Street Ultimates
• Race Prime
• Race Red

with a number of default spring options, with Comfort recommended as 9/4 as opposed to the 11/5 for performance

[No Crust Racing]

Spoke to them and went through it all, they said performance for a GTR.

Essentials too soft he reckons.

[owen1r]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well those spring rates will ride.

Remember to update us when they finally go in so I can continue my BC hate brigade.