Most Comfortable One Piece Coilovers - For Grip

[steve shadows]

I took a nice long drive today up to PV in So-Cal to watch the sunset with the race car.

I enjoy driving the car around on the weekend once in a while.



As you know I am an expert in EFI and Engine Management tuning specifically for Nissans (and some other makes).

I currently am using the SPL KTS Coilovers for the S13. 8 Front 6 Rear.

The problem I am having is the dampers. The suspension is aggressive but the shock's leave much to be desired. Hitting a couple bumps in the road going along the mountain road is extremely harsh, but I am still using Azenis.

I will be upgrading tires to NT01's very soon, and have been told to hold out and that these will compliment the KTS. I doubt so because- the stiff sidewall will make this setup even more rigid over bump stops and cornering hard over corner edge track levees at high speeds.

So basically I am looking at moving away from this suspension and to something with more chassis feedback with less rigid damper, for more cushy ride. I am looking at the

1. Tein Flex Coilovers

If anyone has had some experience I would love to hear feedback.

The goal for my car is to have a low center of gravity with a smooth and NOT bumpy ride, with decent driver feedback from the car-suspension.

Thanks for any tips and ideas - etc.

[mehsilvia]

I can only offer my experiences with the Tien Flex on my S14. I found these to be the best all around coilovers for EXACTLY what you have described.

They were very comfortable on the roads with the dampening softened, and was able to amply adjust and drop that bitch for track conditions.

I would DEFINATELY recomend the EDFC as well. I dont know how many times ive had to come back in to pit and re-adjust the dampening for certain track conditions.



My S13 has Stance GR+. These have decent dampening and can drop yo shit to the ground, but they beat the mother fucking hell out of ya.

[steve shadows]

Great thanks, I knew you would chime in.

It's my last attempt to make this car truly fun, and not a handful/tin can sht box. ha-ha

[lflkajfj12123]

get zeal functions

[mehsilvia]

Originally Posted by steve shadows

Great thanks, I knew you would chime in.

It's my last attempt to make this car truly fun, and not a handful/tin can sht box. ha-ha

Oh, you were trying to avoid handful/tin can shit box?

My Bad. Disregard last post.




So, what about those zeal functions?

[steve shadows]

Yeah I am curious about the Zeal's too.


*on a side note* ran into some street bike's on the 710, needless to say, I came out on top , so that redeemed the tin can sht box slightly ha-ha, I just want it to handle like a nice car, not a high school beater.

[iwishiwas-all*]

i have tein flex, I have used the flex and tein HR and the flex even at the stiffest ssetting is much softer.
I purchased the flex with 9k springs all around from a friend, and i think because of these springs, its prob a bit more bouncy than the usual 4-5k or whatever setup they sell them with. even as bouncy as they are, it is a nice ride, on the highway, i think it could be stiffer but then again i am not sure because of the springs I have. as far as adjustment and fit and finish, i must say I am very happy with the flex

if you want something a bit more mild, by far the flex is the way to go.

[steve shadows]

Yeah supposedly they overhauled the new Flex and they are 7 FR 7 R

Which sounds kind of interesting and exciting to me.

[lflkajfj12123]

zeals

you won't have the road noise of many other coilovers

the travel of suspension is perfect

you won't have that bottom out feeling of most other coilovers

you'll be able to take them on roads you avoided before and have a pillow effect

so smooth you'll be smiling ear to ear

and zeal usa is located right in socal if you ever need to do a rebuild or change spring rates

can't go wrong with that + strreeeet cred

[Prok0]

Ive heard KW Variant 3s ride really nice..

Buddy of mine had a Z33 and went thru 3 or 4 other brands of quality coilovers (apexi/stance/etc.) and said the KW variant 3s road alot better then the others..

Probably because you could do low and hi speed dampening adjustment and smooth things out at speed..

Another buddy has an S13 which had apexi coilovers and he also went to the KW V3s and said they road much smoother and seemed to provide more grip as well..

[MadScientist]

Alot of the guys that would hang out around the shop would have KTS or some cheep coilovers... they ride like your always off-road!! A close friend had GP Sports and they were a better streetable quality ride but the car was bouncy. I have a set of Yashio Factory Spec Plus... basically a revised HKS Hyper-D... not crazy bouncy (even with 10/9), infact its very smooth and solid ride... you feel everything, but you dont need new kidneys.

If I build another s-chassis... not nearly as crazy as my current.
I would go with Stance or Cusco... I have rode on both in a Z33... the Silk Roads were actually descent but still a little harsh after about an hour of riding.

This is a test that should be done... someone with knowledge of all these coilovers should take about a 2 hour ride, and full track test each in the same exact car.

-Drew

[8Nismo9]

so sounds like the zeal functions are good for street and track.But what would you recommend for full street?

[drftmark]

I have had my zeals for about a year now and they are niceeee. I really haven't ridden on any other coilovers so it is hard for me to compare them to anything else.

[lflkajfj12123]

Originally Posted by 8Nismo9

so sounds like the zeal functions are good for street and track.But what would you recommend for full street?

i'd recommend you zeals for coilover and koni for shock setup

or just stick with stock

[lyrical struggle]

Rack up another vote for Tein Flex.

[ayuaddict]

Originally Posted by s0apgun

i'd recommend you zeals for coilover and koni for shock setup

or just stick with stock

man your avatars are always the best, send me the full size ones!

haha.

i had HE's, feels really good.

i guess you get what you pay for.

but i personally like my KTS alot, well i do have the 7k spring from the HE on my fronts (minor minor difference)

[shifts13]

I dont know if you can get other spring rates for you coilovers, but try lower spring rates. I had 7/5 on my previous JICs and they were the most comfortable street coils I've ever driven/riden(compared to stance, megan, KTS, Tein HEs) . And they were great for autocrossing, the dampening adjustability was well matched with the spring rate. But they were a bit soft for me for drifting. But then its all driver's preference.

[revat619]

HKS RS. perfect for street.

[articdragon192]

I had Flexes. I loved them. Great daily set up.

[drftwerks]

tanabe sevens are pretty sweet on the street.

[turtl631]

Better dampers will "feel" a lot more comfortable than the cheap coilovers, regardless of spring rates. I'd throw a Koni Yellow or Bilstein setup on there unless you want to spend the $ for Koni 86XXs. The only real problem with the Yellows is that you get a pretty good damper but limited front travel, which obviously causes problems. Since your title said "one piece", I'm guessing you mean an OTS coilover set...then I can't contribute much. KWs come with softer springs and have a decent damper in them, but price is fairly high. There is hope though...I went from Stance GR+ to Koni 8611 and the skitteriness is gone. It feels great on old worn MXs on the (really crappy) Chicago streets, so I can only imagine how nice it'd be for some real driving.

[jrocslider]

i know that you'll get a great ride on a koni setup but what i'm also looking for is a comfortable set of coilovers for daily driving. i wanna be able to be low but have a nice ride at the same time.

i'm guessing Tein Flex, JIC FL-TAS, Zeal Functions are on the top of the list.

[steve shadows]

Yeah I am probably just going to go with the Tein Flex,

but please continue to add more input, also any videos of the EDFC or Tein Flex equipt cars, and any more details on modifying the KTS are welcome

[sean350z]

I have Zeal Function X with the 8/6 spring rates. They are 30 way adjustable and on the lowest setting they are comfortable but adjust them to 10-15 and they are stiff. Along with polyurethane bushings in the front and rear and solid arms in the rear it's stiff. Even on the track it's almost too stiff and gets hard to feel weight transfer. The valving is great and they hold up great, I give them a good cleaning after every season, have about 3 seasons or 5000 miles of rough auto-x, grip racing, and street driving to events and have never had a problem with them to require a rebuild.

This season I might look into lowering the spring rates if I can. But I totally understand when you say you want to enjoy the chassis and it's hard with all these JDM coilovers that come stiff as a harsh cheap whiskey on the rocks.

Maybe you could do like a custom Koni setup?!? Or play with spring rates with a nice damper.

[98koukile]

I'd suggest Ohlins, Bilstein, or Koni. Find a front setup from Japan thats made for the 240 and for the rears you can run bilsteins z32 setup on the cheap, revalve from them is somewhere in the range of like $65. If you're racing I wouldn't do the same spring rates front and rear. BMW guys do 2/3 rate in the rear but I think thats a bit in excess for our cars, a lotta guys run somewhere between that and 3/4 and are happy with it, there's just not enough in the rear to warrant such a stiff rate because if you slide and grip you can just get a nice rear bar to stiffen things up and disconnect it when you want grip

My buddy has Tein Flex coils on his RS and loves them, in case you want to go that route and just order everything at once. The EDFC is cool you can use the presets for city driving, press a button and stiffen things up for the highway, you can cancel out a lot of the bounce that way

[usdm180sx]

What's up Steve, I used to have Flex on my s13. Spring rates on the flex are 7/7 for the s13. I have kei office xr now. Spring rates are 9/7. Even though kei office is no more, they have very very good dampening.

For example, there is a huge dip on the bellflower off ramp from the 405 north. The off ramp sweeps 90 degrees and the dip is where the bridge part of the ramp connects to the hill.

When I took this off ramp at 60mph on the flex, the car became really unsettled to the point where I almost lost control of the car. Scary as shit. When I took the same off ramp with the kei office the car wasn't even phased.

Spring rates don't matter, it's all about the dampening quality. Dampening quality gives the car composure over road uncertainties. Even though the spring rates are 9/7 on the kei office, the car rides like stock. What's even more amazing is high speed stability. When I punch it on the freeway the faster I go the car feels even more stable over road bumps.

If you plan to keep the car for awhile, go with some high end coilovers like zeal or dg-5. The enjoyment factor for your car will increase 10 fold exponentially.

Hope this helps.

[nismo tuned s14]

I love my Tein Flex for DD. I ride on the most stiff setting (16 all around) and they still feel great over bumps. Mine came with the 6k,5k springs. They are not bouncy. At all. The only complaint I have is that it could be just a bit more stiff, but then again I don't track my car.

These are great coilovers. As for the EDFC, I wouldn't get it. I planned on getting it, but it only takes like 30 seconds to change the settings all around and even on the harshest setting, they still ride like a dream.

[onepuff]

Check here if you want some more info on the Koni 86xx setup.

Update - Nissan Road Racing Forums

This guy Veilside makes custom housings for the koni's for S13 & S14. Get some Ground Control coilover setup with whatever spring rates you want. Price for the whole setup comes out comparable to a set of OTS coilovers. I had a set of Koni yellows on my Integra and loved them. I can only imagine the 86xx series would have even better damping/control qualities. The Koni's are also re-buildable and can be serviced without sending them halfway around the world. Plus you get to buy American to help the economy LOL

[usdm180sx]

Originally Posted by nismo tuned s14

I love my Tein Flex for DD. I ride on the most stiff setting (16 all around) and they still feel great over bumps. Mine came with the 6k,5k springs. They are not bouncy. At all. The only complaint I have is that it could be just a bit more stiff, but then again I don't track my car.

These are great coilovers. As for the EDFC, I wouldn't get it. I planned on getting it, but it only takes like 30 seconds to change the settings all around and even on the harshest setting, they still ride like a dream.

I would encourage you to ride in a car with zeal, dg-5, or other high end coilovers. I guarantee you will feel different about the flex afterwards.

[Brian]

lol Norm.

I know THAT dip.