Suspension opinion. To coilover or not to coilovers.

[stolen]

So my suspension has been pretty shot for a while. My vr4 rides like a Cadillac, which is unacceptable. I'd like a stock-ish ride since the roads in PA are full of potholes, but I also want to get a 1.5 in drop to get rid of wheel gap. Since it seems like I'd need to replace the suspension and I don't want to get stuck with something too hard/soft, should I just go the coilovers route (so I can adjust them) or is that overkill? It my daily driver, no track.

[lawdogg]

Coilovers sound like overkill ... a nice set of springs should be exactly what you're looking for. If you wanted to put more $ into it, a nice set of Bilstein struts would be even better!

Edit: See Suspension opinion. To coilover or not to coilovers.

[speedy25]

With the roads you have I would think stock suspension with good struts would be best. You need the travel to avoid damage after surviving giant potholes!

-SP

[FlyingVR4]

I wouldn't do a drop given where you live.

I have Megan coil-overs in my daily driver VR4. I'm very happy with the handling of it, and with them on the softest setting (where they are now), it's not too bad going over all the bumps in Cincinnati. I don't think it's any worse than Bilsteins would be. Handling is good with the coilovers.

If I lived in Philly, I probably would have done the same thing I did here in Cincinnati. With potholes you're going to feel bumps in a sports car if the suspension is tight as it should be.

[duke3k]

My vr4 rides like a Cadillac

I also have '98 VR4 and it had a very bouncing caddy soft ride with the OEM NON-ECS struts that they put in the '98's. It was bad enough that I actually thought the struts were blown - so I put in brand new OEM struts - same problem. It was just too "floaty" a ride for my tastes.

I thought about coil overs - but it sounded like even on their softest settings most people said is was still a very hard ride - more suitable for a track.

I ended up retrofitting in a set of '95 ECS Struts & Tein H-Techs. I got 1" of drop and now have the ECS the adjustable suspension - I can put it in soft for crappy roads - and put it in Medium or Hard if the road allows and I want a sporty ride.

Yes this is shameless plug for my controller - apologies - but your dilemma is exactly one of the reasons I built it.

Duke

[jonc]

i would do megans. on soft they are like perma sport mode.

[FlyingVR4]

On the softest setting I'd agree it's something like permanent sport mode. But the spring rate is a bit firm, and the softest setting leaves the car a hair bouncy for my tastes. But I think I can help that in some other areas. Was going to buy the TEC strut braces but might weld my own together instead.

[stolen]

The 95's fit? Anything special needed to retrofit?

[duke3k]

The 95's fit? Anything special needed to retrofit?

(1)Nothing special per se - but you will need to order everything that makes up the front & rear strut / spring shock assembly - including all the OEM mounting HW. I ordered everything that was required for the '95 OEM strut assembly - except for the springs - I went with Tein H-Techs - as shown below in the pic. They mounted fine in my '98VR4.

(2) Once you've got the suspension installed - you will need my aftermarket ECS Manual controller, run a power & ground wire to the controller, run 4 wires to each of the struts, Run 5 wires to your console area for the selector switch & LED display.

Here's a thread in another part of the forum where a couple of people are doing ECS Retrofits using this.

ECS retrofit

[tachyon_ftl]

Originally Posted by lawdogg

Coilovers sound like overkill ... a nice set of springs should be exactly what you're looking for. If you wanted to put more $ into it, a nice set of Bilstein struts would be even better!

Well... no, not for a 96+. Teins and Bilsteins give a pretty harsh ride - I know, I've been running them for 5 years now. Since the car is not my DD, I can go with it, but I really wonder if the damping on the Bilsteins is very well matched to our cars. Anyway, the real point is that by the time you buy the springs and the Bilsteins and you mod the fronts for the Bilstein cartridges, and you buy the rear strut assemblies for a '95, you should just go ahead and buy coilovers. You'll get more adjustability out of the coilovers, and since you never had ECS to begin with you won't miss it. The cost is about the same after you add in all the parts you need for the rears.

Originally Posted by duke3k

(1)Nothing special per se - but you will need to order everything that makes up the front & rear strut / spring shock assembly - including all the OEM mounting HW. I ordered everything that was required for the '95 OEM strut assembly - except for the springs - I went with Tein H-Techs - as shown below in the pic. They mounted fine in my '98VR4.

(2) Once you've got the suspension installed - you will need my aftermarket ECS Manual controller, run a power & ground wire to the controller, run 4 wires to each of the struts, Run 5 wires to your console area for the selector switch & LED display.

Here's a thread in another part of the forum where a couple of people are doing ECS Retrofits using this.

ECS retrofit

Bang on. The front struts are the same fitment on all years. The rear struts changed slightly on the 96+ non-ECS cars, so to do a swap correctly you need to buy all the parts that make up the rear strut assembly. The mounting points on the body are the same, but the parts themselves are all a little different.

Here are the parts. Pricing is way out of date, of course. I also have this as an Excel spreadsheet, if anyone wants that drop me a note with your e-mail.

Modding a 96+ to add ECS is awesome - I have thought about it more than once, too. Great job, duke. Especially on the controller!

Paul T