[Cu2} - Choose my wheels!

[philipminge]

Those wheels are amazing. look perfect.

man i think you have a weird impression about coils.
so when i bought my euro i ran stock shocks and my car looked like a 4x4 it was so high. i then bought rims and lowered the car on tein springs. (my old euro ran tein springs)
i thought it was a good idea. felt sporty was alright. apart from 1 side sitting higher than the other. lol

i then wanted to go lower coz the springs were not low enough for me.

and my old 02 s2000 i put BC BR coilovers in. they were surprisingly good. Value for money you could say.

so i decided to buy BC BR for my 06 euro LUX. i installed them myself and the difference was night and day. i started off on a softer setting and they basically felt like stock shocks but my car was low. lol then stiffened them up and the car felt awesome to drive. really responsive and made it feel..... like a performance car. handling was night and day compared to stock and teins.

you will find that springs are bouncy. god help ya if you hit a pot hole. its like hitting a gutter at 80kmph. the tein springs were the worst things i ever did.
because of the dampening in the coilovers, it stops all the bouncing. the car feels more controlled and on the soft setting rides super smooth. on the hard setting it still rides smooth but obviously you get alot more road feedback, quicker response and transitions but yet if you hit a section of road that is wavey, the car doesnt bounce. (hard setting is good fun on a nice bot of road)

dont ever go springs. my partner has a VW polo with eiback springs and she doesnt stop complaining. you go over a speed bump and the motor basically falls out the bottom of the car. it continues bouncing slightly after you go over the hump. she hates it. due to lower ride height and the need for sportier feeling, by changing the springs you are only changing the spring rate. so basically putting a harder spring in. and a harder spring means the faster the spring will return when compressed. call it heavy duty.... but because you are running the standard shocks with the standard dampening - you will find that the standard shock cannot slow down that spring back. is just doesn't have that valving... so you hit a wavy bit of road and the car just bounces.... "like a spring".

run coilovers and all that goes away. you can have a heavy spring rate and your damper will stop the spring "SPRINGING" back to its desired position in .000000001 of a second... it just slows down this process. thus giving you a smooth ride.

man my bc's are more than enough for street use and if you want to have a bit of fun. if you want to cruise, just soften them up and they are like a sponge.... you want the sporty feel, just stiffen them up and you car is ready for a track day. lol

those rims, good tyres and a set of coils, your euro will be ridiculous! you wont know yourself. and you can choose how you want it to ride

i have KW V3's on my s2000 but thats over the top for street. BC are value for money for the weekend worrier and bit of run... but they are happy to run on soft setting and drive from here to Sydney.

sorry to drain ya life. only trying to help.
but yeh, run stock shox or coilovers. no springs. u will be happy for a month then hate life.

[philipminge]

p.s. for tein springs and to get them fitted.... it was like almost $700.... Coilovers are 1200 delivered. and you have proper shock that you can adjust ride height and how hard or soft you want them

[axispower]

love those enkeis^ and love your euro phillipminge.

[philipminge]

Cheers man - Unfortunately its for sale if you know anyone whos keen on a euro that gets looked after better than my GF. lol

wouldnt mind a set of those enkeis though. they are mint

[Adrian128]

I have very similar wheels to those Enkeis.. all black too... goes really well with my white car...mine are 20s though...and because they're black it doesn't matter if they're dirty.. I also have Tein Street Advance coilovers, only $938 (back in May) delivered from Fulcrum. The Street Advance are height and damping adjustable, but you have to use the stock upper mounts.

[mjp073]

Not a drain on life at all Phil, you're a HUGE help. I honestly hadnt put any thought into the springs workings as opposed to coils... How much mechanical sympathy would you say I'd need to install them myself?

And do you know if the the BC ones you mentioned are obtainable in Sydney without having to source from the US? Shipping is... ouch.

I'd love to install them myself if its not too bad... a step down the path of car-related usefulness.

[Fredoops]

Ok first of all.

There are different springs and different spring rate setup/heights etc. How it rides is dependent on the config of the spring.

It's a very brave statement to say all springs as bad.

For for example, a set of H&R OE setting sports springs works just as well as stock setup.

2nd, good shocks, I'd rate a set of Koni yellow or blisten shocks far superior than the no-name generic Shocks in most Taiwanese made coilovers.

A good shock and spring combo config is far superior as a daily driver than generic coilovers which usually aren't even designed for the particular configuration.

Finally, chassis reforcement (RSB etc) makes a massive difference. Former suspension ain't gonna do crap to chassis flex.

[philipminge]

i got my BC's from sydney! they are your next door neighbors.

Address: 101-103 Bath Road Kirrawee NSW Australia 2232
Phone: (02) 95450532 (6 Lines) Fax: (02) 95421684

http://justjap.com/store/search.php?mode=search&page=1

check out that link. there are a few types.
the BC BR series (gold) are the ones you want. just ring and ask the difference between the RA series and RS series.
$1199 - free shipping. cant go wrong man.

I love 20inch rims but if you want to keep that luxury ride i'd go 18's or 19" at the most. (my opinion.)

Install. the coilovers are pretty simple to install man.
the fronts are super easy! dont really have to take anything apart... just few bolts, lever the control arms down and they are out.

the rears were a bit gay.... on the CL9 i had to remove my sway bar link to get the shock out. not a huge deal.
over all time 2 hours - maybe a little over coz i spent a lot of time cleaning under there. lol

difficulty 6.5 (because of the rear) out of 10

and on the CL9 you have to remove some of the back seat (side cushion bit) to get to the top of the rear shock and unbolt. its not in the boot on cl9. CU2 i am unsure.
google is your best mate.

do you have any mates that are mechanics to guide you. just give it a go man. worst that could happen is you can get the rears out so you bolt them back in and take it somewhere.
wont learn if you dont try.

also clean shit before you go putting bolts back. clean upper mounts, clean everything that goes back (nuts bolts, mounts etc) dont want any squeaks etc or noises n stuff.

not actually that much to do. let me know what you think.

(p.s. its all in the offset.)

another smart idea is to lower the car first with you stock rims.... set your wheel allignment and what camber you want to run. then you can see exactly how much of an offset you can go... i.e. if you lower your car 2" then you set you wheel allignment with -1.5 degree (not too much) camber.... you might be able to fit 3 fingers between the guards and the tyre. (wont look as good)

just wanna tuck under if the shock is compressed... not dissappear in and have a gap big enough to climb through
if you buy wheels with +45 offset like me it was all good on tein springs but when i lowered more and put more camber i could have gone +40 or whatever.
just giving you ideas man.

your cars mint so need come camber to top that look off. and will turn heads. lol
just an idea.

[philipminge]

yeh i guess i stand corrected man. Not all springs are bad. lets base this off my own experience.
and a nice shock like Koni yellow or blisten with a good spring will be awesome for street use! like really good.

Yes the BC are a budget shocker. but for the money, they ride well. im not saying they are the best. but from my experience they are worth the 1199 to just bolt in and bolt out.

i am unsure what sort of money you are looking at when buying springs and shocks like a nice setup like fredoops said. i have never done it personally. BC was a cheap satisfying option for me.

and sway bars etc are an awesome mod!! dont get me wrong. but personally i would go shocks first that might improve it enough and make you happy. wont need to touch anything else.

fredoops not saying everying i did was correct... im happy to be corrected. cheers bloke

from what i did, for 1199, i can set my car at whatever height, feels fine, rides fine, i was happy.

you can go a shock and spring combo... that would also be good as as you can really choose what you want. and yeh will prob ride even better.

just opinions man. thats all

[mjp073]

Yeah Phil staying on 18s so I can keep two of my (brand new) stock tires. Bastards are expensive. I have heard that Konis + Bilsteins are great, but thats coilover money anyway and if spending the same I'd like to be adjustable. I dont mind a bit of a ride degradation, I do like some stiffness I would just prefer to still be pretty comfortable, because its not a fast car anyway, might as well play to its strengths.

I'm just happy I finally decided on a wheel style - i was searching for like a week (for like 5 hours a day.) I'll check out some reviews on different coilover options - I'm sure I can find some here or on acurazine.

As for camber - dont want much of that. I dont drive aggressively enough (usually) for it to be worth it, Id like to keep tires on longer :P Obviously I'll get some through lowering that I cant get rid of, but eh. I would like to know how my difference in wheel offset will affect camber though (theoretically.) Stock offset is 55, new wheel is 40?

[philipminge]

The more camber you run, the more aggressive offset you can run. +40 should be good. Just means it will stick out 15mm further than stock wheel.

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm pretty sure the cu2 will have that space.

[Fredoops]

fredoops not saying everying i did was correct... im happy to be corrected. cheers bloke

It's all cool, not being hostile or anything.