debate....coilys or springs

S4twiggy

S4twiggy

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gona start a debate here lads

which is better........coilys or uprated shocks and race springs?????

can you tell me the pros and cons of each please as i have not used any before and i have jus had a interesting convo wit a mate about his setup(coilys)
are coilys a gimik??? would uprated shocks and springs be better than the coilys pack???

i can see one pro anyway..................alot cheaper
icon_lol.gif


lets hear your thoughts on this boys
 
Id always go coilovers cause you can adjust it . If you get springs and shocks and for instance it too low well your stuffed really . But on the other hand a top matched spring and damper kit would give you the the best handling out of the box as all the geometry has been calculated for the car to give it the best possible result . Where as coilovers can be a bit hit and miss when setting them up.
 
It depends what you want to spend.

Coilovers have the ability to be far superior, and the ultimate in suspension is going to be coilies with remote resovoirs etc.

But if you compare price for price coilies against a shock and spring kit, the springs will generally be better quality for the money.

So unless you move into the realm of £800-1000 coilovers, you'll get a better quality suspension kit by going springs and shocks imo.
 
This is a question I've been asking myself aswell.

A good quality coilover kit is the way I think I'll go though. Very handy if we decide to take it on a family camping trip (parking it in lumpy fields etc).
 
Matched springs and shocks will give the best ride between the 2 as the coilovers with their multi adjustment posibilities are very easy to screw-up, unless you have a pro set them up for you ! Also budget coilovers are a big No unless you go for £1000+ coilovers then i would keep a matched spring and shock set. I have tried few matched kits and i believe that OEM(Sachs/Boge) shocks with Eibach or H&R springs are a good combination. They stiffen-up the car without leting it crash over potholes. On the other side aftermarket shocks(like Bilstein) are too much "1 size fits All" kind of shocks and are much harder.
 
Craigs S4 runs Eibachs and Bilstein B6 and if anything its ever so slightly underdamped. Certainly not OTT.

Ride is slightly firmer than stock, but doesnt crash around. Just tightens everything up nicely.
 
Well i have had coilies and once set, i tend to leave them. Shame we cant get the adjustable perch Billies anymore, as its a shock ans spring combe with 3 or 4 different points of adjustment for the spring mounts
 
aragorn said:
Craigs S4 runs Eibachs and Bilstein B6 and if anything its ever so slightly underdamped. Certainly not OTT.

Ride is slightly firmer than stock, but doesnt crash around. Just tightens everything up nicely.
Click to expand...

yes i have the same Eibachs Pro's Springs and Billys B6 shocks on my 2.4 V6, great smooth ride. IMHO Coiles are a much firmer ride im sure your will feel every little bump on the road,
 
aragorn said:
It depends what you want to spend.

Coilovers have the ability to be far superior, and the ultimate in suspension is going to be coilies with remote resovoirs etc.

But if you compare price for price coilies against a shock and spring kit, the springs will generally be better quality for the money.

So unless you move into the realm of £800-1000 coilovers, you'll get a better quality suspension kit by going springs and shocks imo.
Click to expand...

Can't be bothered to write everything up so I'll just say "what he said":iagree:
 
i was thinking of eibach pro street s(£750-800) coilys but after the convo i had last nite my mate had a valid point about his coily setup, im not into the slammed to the floor look, i want a nice ride height on my new 18's and a stiffer suspension to corner well.

i was looking at eibach pro dampners and eibach pro springs but the thing is they are roughly the same price(£530 for shocks and £186 for springs)
so wot do i go for???? if im to spend the same sought of money i may aswel get the better setup.

looks like the shocks and springs are more popular then:)
 
I'd go for decent springs and matched dampers anyday.

As I'm not into cars with massive drops, coilovers to me are a waste of money. That's my opinion though.
 
Siena said:
I'd go for decent springs and matched dampers anyday.

As I'm not into cars with massive drops, coilovers to me are a waste of money. That's my opinion though.
Click to expand...

My car is hardley slammed is it?

I just liked being able to set the height where i want it, not where a compromise was decieded by the manufacturer.
 
^^^ True. But if a survey was taken, the majority of users would say they wanted their car to have "stance".

But as for fine tuning for various cars, it mostly fails, as unlike coil springs and dampers, which tend to be more model specific, coilovers seldom are.

Very common to see coilovers advertised, even by the manufacturer's on their own websites, for let's say VW Golf II, VW Golf III, VW Vento, VW Jetta II, VW Corrado ALL models.

So, it doesn't take into account the different weights with different models / engines. Sure it'll fit the myriad of models they say it will, but it'll be a compromise between the lot - it'll work better on some of the versions, and not so well on others.

Coilovers are not a bolt-on, lower and drive-off fitment - they need to be fitted by a pro, and set-up professionally, pretty much like mapping a car. You wouldn't just slap on an aftermarket ECU, with a base map, and just go hooning off into the sunset, just because "it runs", and "feels fast".
 
Byzan A4 said:
My car is hardley slammed is it?

I just liked being able to set the height where i want it, not where a compromise was decieded by the manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Mark, you're an exception, the majority of users buy their kits to slam their cars.
 
dont get me wrong lads im in the split decision phase, id like coilys but like the conversation i had last nite with my mate he said when you got coilys your forever messing around with them to get the right height and stance. most people i know have coilys to lower the car as they wish when at shows and other events but to be honest i cant be bothered with all that messing about so if i can get a good setup with dampners and springs then i think ill be going for that.

wot are the cons of the springs and shocks??
obviously if i had them i wouldnt be able to lower the car anymore than it will go but surely gettin the right spring and shock should give me a nice ride height and offer more than the more stiffer coilys????
 
I'd consider the Bilstein B8 dampers, and Eibach Pro springs.

Lowers by about 25mm, which is perfect, in my book. My car runs the above, albeit with B6 Bilstein yellows, and doesn't feel any harsher than stock Sport suspension.
 
Mate had the ones on his Series 1 Escort RST set up and corner weighted at Northampton Motorsport I beleive, was circa £100. Would need to drop him a shout to find out for sure
 
S4twiggy said:
i was thinking of eibach pro street s(£750-800) coilys but after the convo i had last nite my mate had a valid point about his coily setup, im not into the slammed to the floor look, i want a nice ride height on my new 18's and a stiffer suspension to corner well.

i was looking at eibach pro dampners and eibach pro springs but the thing is they are roughly the same price(£530 for shocks and £186 for springs)
so wot do i go for???? if im to spend the same sought of money i may aswel get the better setup.

looks like the shocks and springs are more popular then:)
Click to expand...
this will sound a bit negative but the only way to really tell will be to test each one.

i got a set of eibach pro street coilovers for the golf, heard good things about them etc but have been pretty unhappy with them ever since. if i had paid the full £700 id be in tears tbh
 
thats the sort of thing thats leading me away from coilys, alot of people have had problems with theirs

has anyone had problems with the shock and spring setup???
 
Hmmmmm,.......perhaps I'll go down the Eibach route too then. My wallet would be very pleased aswell.

This is why I went for a matched Courtenay/Bilstein set up on my GTE Turbo I guess. It was pretty specific to the conversion and had been researched. It transformed the car.

Once we start fiddling with settings, ride height, camber and rebound etc, we could make the car worse than when we started (from a handling point of view), and in some cases down right dangerous.

A subtle drop is all I've ever been after. Guess I could go camping in the Peugeot instead :)
 
S4twiggy said:
has anyone had problems with the shock and spring setup???
Click to expand...


not one bit. my golf had an eibach/gmax setup which i really miss. the ride was impecible, rolled a bit and could have done with a touch more damping

when i get an s4, im going to a set of springs on GAZ fixed platform, adjustable damping dampers, for the maximum win. i can talor the ride to how i like but i wont be going for insane spec no travel springs again
 
The thing i like about the eibach springs is they're actually reasaonably well tailored to your specific model.

Theres a whole range of springs depending on which exact engine you have, wether you have AC or an Autobox, saloon/avant etc etc rather than some other companies who have one spring for 4 cyl and 1 for 6cyls and thats it.

Craigs S4 is actually running 2.5 TDI Quattro springs, but thats because they didnt have a kit for the S4 Saloon (only the avant for some odd reason!), and the 2.5 TDI Quattro seemed to be the closest match going by the weights listed on the eibach page.
 
I have Eibach pro dampers and sport springs. I had thought about going tod COs but they are too stiff for every day driving and the roads are just not up to it these days. The softest ones i have been in were still to stiff for me for the miles i do a month.
 
I spent around a grand on KW V3 (was feeling flush at the time!)
Now they are generally regarded as the top end of the street range of products (unless you go to race specifc Ohlins and Leda at twice three four times that price)
They are model and engine specific down to avant vs saloon and have three way adjustability. (compression, rebound and height ...obviously)

whilst they dramatically improved the handling at speed and still never fail to amaze me when it comes to soaking up high speed compressions they are not for the feint hearted around town. the harder spring rate and compression settings even when on the lowest setting can make it a bit crashy below 35-40mph. this can also play buggery hell with your ABS!
I have adjusted the compression/rebound a few times to get it where I want it and played around with the height a bit (not slammed! my wheels are too wide for that) and the added benefit that if you tend to use your car for daily driving and light haulage as I do....you can crank the back up to its original setting when you have squashed the springs to death with 500kg of furniture!

whilst the infinite height adjustability is useful you will tend to find that like others have said, you won't be adjusting much once it is set where you like it. That said if I ever find myself on a nice smooth track the temptation to squeeze a bit more speed and a bit less comfort is always there.
Whilst I love them at speed, as it is if I was doing it all over I would have saved myself £3-400 and got uprated shocks/springs.
don't waste your money on cheaper coilovers (£750 is a minimum) and unless you track it (a lot!) stick with a well known tried and tested coil and shock combo.

my 2p
 
i think my mind is going towards the shock and spring setup as im having good reviews for them and 50/50 about the coilys.

which are the best to go for, not too expensive but decent enough for my S4, are the eibach shocks any good? or are bilstein better?

which springs would you go for the S4
 
jcb said:
if you tend to use your car for daily driving and light haulage as I do....you can crank the back up to its original setting when you have squashed the springs to death with 500kg of furniture!
Click to expand...

Similar thinking here to a point.

Aswell as the camping and general family stuff, I OCCASIONALLY (when not using the Peugeot workhorse) carry this heavy ******* about,.........plus all its cases, and lights............and fans,...........and wedge monitor...............

IMG_3162.jpg
 
Don't ask me about this, as I'm squarely in the coil-over camp.

If you purchase a good set of coil-overs, then you'll be pleased with them.
 
Geeman said:
Don't ask me about this, as I'm squarely in the coil-over camp.

If you purchase a good set of coil-overs, then you'll be pleased with them.
Click to expand...
oh please tell us what the good ones are
 
Top end FK, H&R or KW units should be what you need...

Or was that sarcasm...?
 
Thats the point i've been making this whole thread, If your prepared to spend a grand+ on KW V3's or similar and have it corner weighted, and even then probably have to mess around changing spring rates to get it all just right, you WILL end up with a better suspension setup.

JCB says he finds the V3's crashy about town, so either they need softer springs, or the bump valving is set too high, but unless your prepared to spend the money on trying different springs etc, and buying good coilovers in the first place, then you wont get the best out of them and you would probably be better off with an off the shelf kit. The coilovers give you the ABILITY to fine tune the suspension to the absolute optimal, whereas the spring kit like Eibachs Pro-Kit is designed to go on and just work.

The comment about the ABS mirrors something i found in my brothers old nova on spax coilovers. The springs were far too hard and the valving was all wrong meaning instead of the suspension working with the car to hold the tyre on the road, the car would bounce over rough ground and if you were steering, braking or accellerating at the time everything just went to **** as you lost all traction.

This is another issue with treating coilovers as an off-the-shelf mod, the spring rates are chosen for you, and they'll be selected such that the car doesnt bottom out at the "lowest" setting. If your running the car at "-60" and the coilovers can go to "-120" then your springs will be without a doubt too hard.

It all comes down to budget. £500 gets you some tasty dampers and eibach springs, well over £1000 plus lots of messing around, trial and error and tweaking will get you the ultimate in suspension.
 
audi upgrades
i wish I could find it but I have a picture of mine with two sofas on the roofrack!
 
exactly, i dont want to spend well over a grand to get the ultimate as im not tracking the car or dont drive it that often, i probably do less than a hundred miles a week so KW3's would be pointless and too arsh for me, i think a good set of shocks and springs are in order

thanks for all the reviews and comments aswel as advice and i shall let yall know how it turns out and wot i get. im thinkin eibach or koni but not sure yet
 
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