^ I was referring at the spring rates

but to answer your Q... honestly, $1.8K for a strict daily driver is alot of dough to blow *cough*suspensions I bought is in the $2k range*cough*

TEIN is very very reputable... you can't go wrong with them. For a daily comfy Fit... I think a spring rate of 4-6k/3-4k with adjustable dampers would be good.

 

Love my bilsteins. They won't get you very low unless you remove the adjusters in the back. Ride is better than stock.

 

Hmmm...Looks like a max of 2" on the Bilsteins. Does the ride quality suffer greatly that low?

 

Being lower shouldn't effect the ride unless you're bottoming out. It can effect the handling though if the ball joint on the bottom of the spindle gets above or level with the pivot point of the lower control arm on the front.

The bilsteins are a great street setup. They don't feel much stiffer than the stock springs but the body motions are much more controlled. Ride is not bouncy like the stock shocks.

Not sure how low you can get the back though. Here is my car with the rears adjusted all the way down. Front has a ton of adjustment left and would probably drop another 1 1/2 inches at least. Removing the adjusters in the back might drop that an inch or so.

 

There's a point below which the other components of suspension and drivetrain will wear prematurely. That's below the adjustment range of the Bilsteins, which seem the most sane as far as adjustment range.

 

BB am I understanding correctly in that you're saying the Blisteins won't let you adjust further than is safe for the rest of your suspension?

 

Well, more or less. The suspension geometry is designed to sit within a designated range. Most of these cheap coilover and sleeve kits put the suspension way below its useable range. I like my car low but I also want it to handle, so a high quality coilover with the adjustment in the lower end of the spectrum will do both quite nicely.

 

Ok guys did some more research on other forums as well and this is what I'm thinking:

Buddy Club: Alot of features and decent product but too harsh for a DD

T1R: Unreliable

Tein Street Basis: Fine, but lacks adjustable dampers

Blistein: Wonderful brand/comfort, minimal drop and I'm scared I'll loose comfort at max drop of 2"

Anything below $1000: scary...

So I think I'll be going with: Tein Street Advance

Spring rate: Front (kgf/mm,lbs/in 3/168) Rear (kgf/mm,lbs/in 2/112)

The Street Advance damper is the evolution of our popular Super Street coilover. Developed to provide a sporty ride feeling and aggressive stance, along with wide-range damping force adjustment using our new Advance Needle technology, giving the driver a much more noticeable feel in damping force change. The shortened shell case design provides optimum damper stroke at lower than standard vehicle ride height. Vehicle ride height is adjustable via the ZT coated threaded sleeve. Updated internal components and external coatings increase durability and product life. Street Advance dampers are great for daily driving and spirited driving for all types of drivers. Made in Japan under strict quality control standards and developed by highly trained suspension engineers.
Additional Features:

• Steel Construction
• Twin Tube internal construction
• Larger piston diameter for strut type front and rear (22mm)
• 16-way Damping adjustment with over 200% increase in damping force change.*
• Ride Height adjustable via spring seat
• Powder coated damper body
• Non-welded ZT coated Adjustment Tube
• Full-Length Dust Boots
• 1-piece Aluminum Spring Seat with Delrin Thrust Washer
• Available for Overhaul
• 1-year Manufacturers Defect Warranty
*over comparable Super Street damper, based on damping dyno graph data. Increase in damping force over comparable Super Street damper may vary for specific vehicle applications.
Contents of Damper Kit:

Shock Absorber × 4 Bump Rubber × 4
Main Spring × 4* Hook Spanner × 2
*Some applications include helper springs Dust Cover × 4*
Seat Lock × 4 *Some kits will retain use of OEM Dust Covers
Spring Seats × 4 Instruction Manual × 1
Delrin Thrust Washer × 4 Stickers*
*not included in all JDM kits

Final questions:

Will this set fit my goals for comfort, reliability, and not destroying the OEM components?

Do I need to order new hats/what will this do or not do for me?

Anything else I need to get with this kit?


Thanks everyone!

 

These don't really have much adjustability. Lowering the vehicle is going to alter the pre-load on the spring as the spring seat only is what changes ride height. Sure this is what you want?

 

555sexy I'd trust you with my life man! What do you think given my goals/driving habits?

 

Unless you do tracking, I wouldn't bother getting adjustable dampers and save a couple hundred. You'll probably keep it on softest throughout owning it. Find the right spring rate instead. I think some companies offer customized rates.

 

IMHO, their quality has been lacking the past couple of years. A friend had a set on his Evo 8 and within 2 years he sent them away for rebuild. No tracking was involved and it is a DD. I forgot how long it took for them to get back.

For a DD, I would suggest Tokico blue or whites with your choice of springs (perhaps Swift or even custom Ground Controls). The Tokicos will come matched if you buy the set. Your total set up should be less than $1k and will last a long time.

.02

 

Honestly, I'm not the one to ask concerning this only because I don't know the majority meaning of comfort when driving. I like to feel everything and passionately hate a non-communicative feeling in a vehicle, so what I find a comfortable drive others would absolutely hate in a daily scenario.

As inkster said, if you are not planning on tracking, you may not need the adjustable damper. Just really wouldn't be something I would ever consider. What is your total budget? Do you need something right at this moment or could you save a bit more and get something of a higher quality? I just see too many people buy, sorry for saying, crappy stuff just to have stuff done to their car. I know someone will say the car is only such and such amount of money and not worth putting money into, if that is the logic one has, then really no modifications should be done with that kind of thought process. Some things in life really are worth their extra cost. Tein is not one of them in my opinion and Buddy Club is under them. For those that have either of these brands, I'm not hating, just I have seen both drop off BIG time in the past 18 years. And they keep their pricing on just their name and not a real quality product any longer. Just the way most business ends up going in the long run.

I should offer something of more value, so in your case, maybe take BB's advice and look at Bilstein.

 

Wow, with spring rates that low I don't think i'd bother with the adjustable dampers. Is the only difference between this and the street basic the dampening? I'd save a couple bucks and get the non-adjustables. With those rates it should be pretty comfy though. I wouldn't worry about quality too much, i'm sure they'll be fine for you personally.

They don't make any replacement struts for GE yet except some KYB Excel (GR-2).

I wish they had Blues, Koni is working on something right now.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. My budget is $1000-1500. i don't mind paying more for quality, but it seems a little silly (correct me if I'm wrong) to pay more than $1500 just to drop an extra inch. Like I said, I never plan on tracking it, being a show car, or street racing. I just want a decent ride w/ a nice drop.

So...if Tein isn't the best quality, what is a quality way to drop my car? 555sexy I hear ya on the Blisteins but I am worried about the fact that they really aren't going to drop me much more than my Swifts and if I do max them out their famous ride quality might greatly suffer.

Thanks!

 

At that budget just wait for the Koni's to come out

 

Any idea when/where the Koni's will come out?

Edit: found the interest thread, upset that it will probably only be sold as a coilover Is it really going to be THAT much better than Tein's?

 

Thread here:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...-interest.html

Maybe PM for more info or let him know you're genuinely interested.

 

bilstein pss

 

Agreed that Bilsteins are the best for DD. However, they don't match the other 1/2 of my goal which is to close the 1" gap my Swifts leave...they don't get low enough Thank you though.

Also talked to the Koni rep on this site. It sounds like the Koni's will be amazing! However, I really don't need all the features they offer. He eventually said that for a non-tracked car something basic might work best me.

Hmmm.....Tein Street Basis????