Hey guys. I'm looking to upgrade my suspension and need a little help.

I'm currently running some 19" Volk LE37Ts with Nitto tires so my ride is already quite a bit firmer than stock. I would like to get either springs or coilovers that would improve handling, lower the car about 1-1.5", but not sacrifice too much more ride quality (she is my daily driver), and cost less than $1500.

Any recommendations?

Tein Basic. :) I got mine at AdrenalineRacing.com - ask for Eddie. They'll run you less than HALF of what your budget is calling for, and provide solid handling improvements, and adjustable ride height.

Perf! I track my car on very rare occasions, but do enjoy moutain drives and while the stock suspension is far beyond any stock setup (and most aftermarket setups) I've driven before, there's always room for improvement. That said, I do get tired of my girlfriend whining about little bumps in the roads on the way to the movies and it'd be nice to not lose the relative comfort of this car either. Thanks dmp!

Cool - for the price, I think they are hard to beat! :)

But - honestly I don't have them installed yet, so I can't promise their handling improvements and ride...but I've read enough here on the board to have a good idea.

:D

Ask me again on the 14th and I'll give you a detailed report! :D Seriously - get ahold of adrenalineracing and Eddie. Tell him Darin sent ya for the best deal and service anywhere!

:D

Forum vendor DPE sells Tein basics and also the Tein H-tech + Koni combo. I think they said they prefered the H-tech/Konis by a small margin. They aren't nearly as stiff as the basics, but they aren't height adjustable either of course. If the .75/.50 drop isn't enough, there's always S-techs, which drop the car more and are stiffer (but still a good bit softer than the basics). I don't recall hearing their review of the S-tech/Koni combo though, it's bound to be good though.

Yes, I think if you go over to our forum you will find we do indeed prefer the Tein H-tech/Koni combo to the Tein Basics. And we've compared them directly on two cars driven back to back. If height adjustment is required, then Basics are your only choice. If you can live without height adjustment and would like damping adjustment too, or don't much care but just want what we think is the better setup, the Koni/H is the way to go. Or Koni/S for that matter, though we don't have as much seat time on that combo. Either setup costs within $50 or less of the other, so there's no real price advantage to either.

The next project, now that I personally broke down and got an RX-8 :), is to compare Koni and Tokico shocks. I'll have Tokicos and H-techs on my car within a month, and one of our local guys has the Koni/H combo. So we'll see how that pans out :).

Yes, I think if you go over to our forum you will find we do indeed prefer the Tein H-tech/Koni combo to the Tein Basics. And we've compared them directly on two cars driven back to back. If height adjustment is required, then Basics are your only choice. If you can live without height adjustment and would like damping adjustment too, or don't much care but just want what we think is the better setup, the Koni/H is the way to go. Or Koni/S for that matter, though we don't have as much seat time on that combo. Either setup costs within $50 or less of the other, so there's no real price advantage to either.

The next project, now that I personally broke down and got an RX-8 :), is to compare Koni and Tokico shocks. I'll have Tokicos and H-techs on my car within a month, and one of our local guys has the Koni/H combo. So we'll see how that pans out :).

think you will like it... have the eibach springs / tokico d spec combo... and the 8 techs are damn close the the eibacks....

beers :beer:

You could always take your girlfriend for a ride around a track after you get a stiff setup and tell her she would have eaten a wall if you would have gotten a softer suspension. Also if she is well endowed lots of bumps is a good thing..... ;) The wife never falls for that one though but she does fall for the track trick.

You could always take your girlfriend for a ride around a track after you get a stiff setup and tell her she would have eaten a wall if you would have gotten a softer suspension. Also if she is well endowed lots of bumps is a good thing..... ;) The wife never falls for that one though but she does fall for the track trick.


:mdrmed:

Yeah, I'm the poor sap that gets told to slow down when I'm doing 45 through a curvy spot rated at 30. :Freak_ani So any spirited driving is done while she's not around, but I like the idea.

Thanks for all the suggestions though guys. It sounds like the Tein H-tech/Koni combo is in my future. :rock:

Ask me again on the 14th and I'll give you a detailed report! :D Seriously - get ahold of adrenalineracing and Eddie. Tell him Darin sent ya for the best deal and service anywhere!

:D


Definitely post a new thread to review your setup after you get it installed. I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear feedback on your new setup. I'm still torn between the racingbeat setup or an adjustable coilover system. Don't want a harsher ride either but want better cornering and less float over bumps.

Good luck! :icon_tup:

The next project, now that I personally broke down and got an RX-8 :), is to compare Koni and Tokico shocks. I'll have Tokicos and H-techs on my car within a month, and one of our local guys has the Koni/H combo. So we'll see how that pans out :).

Yes, please do publish your findings. I've had the opportunity to do a back-to-back comparison of Tokico and Koni equiped cars on an autocross course, with both cars having very similar specs (basically: B-Stock setups), and the Tokicos compared very favorably to the Konis. It was hard to discern a difference in the way the cars transitioned in the slaloms. It seemed that the differences in alignment settings (particularly: rear toe) were more significant than any differences in the shocks.

However, I have not had the opportunity to do a street comparison. That would be interesting as well.

George

I went with the s-tech/koni setup to get that nice drop. I think the h-techs only drop half as much which didn't sound like enough to me. But of course it is a personal preference.

Here's a before and after. I was happy with it. This was before I went to 245s which made it look even better.

http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=86410
http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=86409

Finished product from the side.

http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=86411

Yeah, I'm the poor sap that gets told to slow down when I'm doing 45 through a curvy spot rated at 30. So any spirited driving is done while she's not around, but I like the idea. Same problem, I get complaints from the wife that she gets sick with my driving, but my suspension is pretty hard. (hypermax II's at a setting of 10, racing beat front + rear sways, front rear strut tower braces). I will say though that the handling is pretty extreme, going triple speedlimits on corners and curved on ramps is fun. My limitation now is tires. But the setup is soooooo controlled and predictable. I was on a track with a friend in a more or less stock 8 and he was loosing the car while I was wondering if it was polite or not to pass him after the apex. I have no problems running up the ass on corvettes and lotuses on the corners, unfortunately the straights are another issue. I was even hanging easily on the corners with an F40 and carrying enough speed through the corner to keep him back for a little bit of the straights.

I would make sure you get something tight enough that it deals with the underdampning problem in the rear. That scared the crap out of my a few times especially on a hard turn comming over a hill top where you have to break and turn while going over a hill peak.

But my solution to your problem is that I just don't take that car when I have the wife with. Now my son who is 4 is another issue entirely. We don't even make it to the car before I'm hearing "Dad, let's go fast!". If I don't let the car loose at least once during the drive he gets mad. Gotta train them early.

What looks really great on the 8 is if you drop the front enough that the tire are tucked inside the front panel and slightly higher in the rear. It makes the stance perfect and makes the 8 look menacing from a front or front side view.

Personally I think if the car is higher than that, especially on the front, it looks kinda funny. I'd also go with height adjustability if you don't know what you want for wheels yet, it gives you a lot more options.

I'd also go with height adjustability if you don't know what you want for wheels yet, it gives you a lot more options.

I'm currently running some 19" Volk LE37Ts

I think the drop that Mighty Red has is just about perfect for my taste. Don't want anything too low as I have HUGE speedbumps in the work parking lot and I don't want to have to take them at 1MPH....

It'll still be another month or so before I look to purchase, but I'll certainly post my opinions. Thanks for the help all!

I think a 3/4" drop would be about right. What do you think?

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/jbigelow/RX-8-NewRims1.jpg

I think a 3/4" drop would be about right. What do you think?

That's about what you'll get with the s-techs. My front fender dropped about .75 inches and the rear fender didn't look like it dropped anything at all. It looked good like that with the front fender just a bit lower than the rear and the increased spring rate was a nice plus too.

The only down side - watch out for curbs especially if you have the front lip.

Anybody know where you can just buy the Tein Basic coilover and not the shock? Everywhere I go, it is a package deal...been told that the basic coilover will work with the stock shock just fine..or..is this a bad idea?

"Coilover" implies a spring/shock assembly. Take away the shock and you've just got really stiff springs (which they don't sell separately). The Tein H and S techs are like 20% and 40% stiffer than stock or something and are not ideal for using with stock shocks. The basic's springs are much stiffer than those two and would be even worse for shock wear. Even if you could do it, you'd just be taking them right back off again.

If I'm not mistaken, the basic is an assembly that will take the place of your stockers. tein put this setup together for a reason, the coilover works best with the tein dampers that comes with the setup.

DPE gives great advice. Listen too them. I did amd I am dang glad I did.
Please consider what bars you will be running in your set up. If they are big like racing beats then dont go with a too stiff of a spring.
I run the koni's, H's and rb bars--couldnt be more happy. I track at least 4 x a yr on r compunds and carbo tech xp 8's/bobcats pads. The suspension has had several compliments from very experienced track guys.
olddragger

Thank guys..cleared up my misconception of how this whole thing works :p DPE cleared up this question on another thread :) However, he did mention that the Tein SPRINGS will work with stock shocks..anybody had this done on their 8's? If so, any improvement over the stock's?

Do you want better handling or just looks?

Basically anything sold as just a "spring" will fit on the stock shocks. This will lower the car and stiffen the ride, but the shock now isn't tuned for the spring, so you'll have damping issues and will kill the shock much faster.

A good setup matches the shock and spring. You can do just the spring, but be aware that your handling could actually get worse, and will for sure when the shock wears out.

If you go for a really mild spring like the Tein H-Techs, you might be okay.

Thanks DSM! Yeah..that was the consensus I'm getting..so, I'll have to decide if I want the Tein Basics vs. Tein/Koni setup..this whole damper thing is interesting, but I'll have to read more to get an idea of how it works and what is involve in tuning them to suit the car's need...

plus it is the shocks that is the real weak link in the stock system--as far as perforamce goes.
od

I am riding on the FLEXs and if you watch how much you preload the springs, it isn't too bad. Noticably stiffer, but still not too bad.

The Mighty Red, Nice set up. Looks great!