im runnin my 99 corolla on stock everything except for new wheels (16in and yes i know theyre small but money was a problem at the time). the other day i was following my friend and he was attackin those damn corners like nothing and i couldnt keep up. he mentioned something about coilover suspension. my questions are simple. what will these do for my car? how much can i get them for(nothing top of the line)? are they easy to install or should i have a shop do it for me? and with coilovers can i lower and raise my car myself in a matter of minutes(thats what my friend said he can do with his..i think thats what he said..)
oh yeah and where pick some up? other than dealers online..seeing how im a minor and dont have a credit card or debit etc. just cold cash...
I'm running a 99 Corolla as well, though it is stock. I'm gonna upgrade the suspension with KYB Struts and Intrak springs. Still gonna cost 500 USD or so.
I have Eibach Groun Control coilovers on my MR2. You can adjust the ride height yourself, but it takes more than a few minutes. Also, they cost about 200 dollars PER spring, if I remember correctly (Been a while). The Coilovers are paired with Tokico Illumina 5-way adjustable struts, so that I can maintain proper travel to the ride height.
I'm not sure what coil over applications are open for the Corolla, as I just intend to make it slightly sporty over time. But don't get the cheapy "adjusts in seconds iwth a screw driver" kind of coilover. THose are just for show, springs will likely fade after a while as well.
How much of a drop does your friend race around with? Curious about that as well.
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Daily - 99 Corolla VE, stock for now.
I have OBX coilover sleeves on my 95 corolla, $125 from ebay and I have absolutely no complaints. The OBX sleeves are nice cause they only have one large locking collar rather than two thin ones, I can adjust the hight at all 4 corners in less than 5min.
You'll want to upgrade your struts too.
there are various brands of coilover sleeves available... OBX, Dropzone, Aerospeed, Ground Control, etc... and the questionable $40 BOMZ
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Last edited by BLUEMEANIE; 02-10-2005 at 12:19 PM.
I have OBX coilover sleeves on my 95 corolla, $125 from ebay and I have absolutely no complaints. The OBX sleeves are nice cause they only have one large locking collar rather than two thin ones, I can adjust the hight at all 4 corners in less than 5min.
You'll want to upgrade your struts too.
there are various brands of coilover sleeves available... OBX, Dropzone, Aerospeed, Ground Control, etc... and the questionable $40 BOMZ
what is the difference between coilovers and coilover sleeves? and what would i upgrade my struts to and how much would the sleeves and struts cost me?
would the on adjustable coilovers work? although they dont have the ones for my specific car..but yeah would just add ons work? the full adjust. prolly work better but im on a budget here
::edit::
im so new to this..can you tell? sorry guys. just a newbie trying to learn. anyway i found this that fitsmy car. are springs the same as coilovers? would those springs i linked you to help my suspension? if i get those springs what else do i NEED? what else SHOULD i get? please seperate the things that i NEED from the things i SHOULD get seeing how im on a budget..
Last edited by ProjectCorolla; 02-10-2005 at 07:00 PM.
Coilovers are a type of spring. I would recommend the Pro Kit, as Eibach makes a good product.
If you get springs, you should get performance Struts as well. KYB or Tokico I know have ones for this Corolla. If you don't do that, your suspension will have issues, or at least won't be balanced well.
BTW, any wheel size over 16 inches will hurt the performance on a car like the Corolla or Civic. If your friend's wheels are doing anything, they are slowing the car down outta corners. There is a point of exessive contact patch, and the extra mass that must be moved with the wheels. This becomes more obvious if the wheels are chrome. Chrome is bad, as it is very heavy. I autocross my 87 MR2 on 14 inch wheels. I might get 15s for it, but nothing higher. Large wheels are purely for show. I'll probably do 15 inch wheels, maybe 16s on my Corolla.
If you want to go fast in corners... tires. Falken Azenis tires are reletively cheap and are quite good. Pretty much the whole autocross group around here uses them. However, they suck on must everything but dry pavement. What kind of tire are you running right now?
Also relating to tires, check the pressure. Stock says 30 psi front and rear I believe. Try putting 2 psi more in the front and 3 psi more in the back. Tire pressure can do amazing things to how a car feels.
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Daily - 99 Corolla VE, stock for now.
yeah i have 16s..do you think those are too big? and sadly mine are chrome. i got them when i first got the car thinking i was cool. i still think im cool lol jk but i can tell they are weighing my car down. when i first got my car/license i wasnt planning on doing this kinda stuff to it cause i thought cars were all the same but now im learning to lover them. anyway the tires are GoodYear Eagle HP Ultra PLus 205/45/16.
so if i get the Pro Kit, you recommend KYB or Tokico struts? seeing how im low on cash..would it be possible to install the pro kit and then the struts at a later time? and how much will the struts be (considering im not looking for top of the line stuff now..just something thatll work cause i dont plan on being a racer..just driving fun which means fast) and do they sell struts by pairs or in 4s or single...?
but yeah like i said before i dont plan on having top quality things to try and make my car fast seeing how it wont be. i already have two 12s in the back that weigh the sob down..
Last edited by ProjectCorolla; 02-10-2005 at 08:36 PM.
Well, its rotational mass from the wheels. Much more noticable on car handling and acceleration when you add 5 pounds to each wheel than if you add 50 pounds in the car.
The package I'm getting for my Corolla, with KYB struts and probably Intrax springs is gonna run less than 500 dollars from what my friend has dug up. Eibach springs will bring the cost up a bit more, but not about 600 dollars. Sounds expensive, but these will work, and will last. My friend runs KYB GR-2 struts and Intrax springs in his Corolla FX-16 GTS, handles great, and they last. The KYB seem to be a little softer than the Tokico.
You could install the springs first, but it would be much easier to instal them at the same time. In order to install springs, the struts must be pulled, the current spring on them compressed with a spring compressor tool, the strust dismantled, and the new spring placed on. Then the entire strut assembly goes back in the car. Removing the struts involves taking the wheels off, and then making sure the car stays elevated till the struts are back in.
And then if you got new struts, you would have to move your springs over to them, and basically have more than twice as much work than if you just got them all at once.
The Intrax springs do a 1.8 inch drop in front, and 1.8 inch drop in rear.
I do think the 16's are too big. And I don't know much about those tires, but from what I can tell, they are a comprimise of traction, practical use, and tire life. While the Falken Azenis are not so much, they make cars do crazy things. I'm gonna try them out on my Corolla when it gets warmer (snow and ice + Azenis = DOOM), as my MR2 wheels will fit from what I can tell. 195/60/14 Azenis. I'll find out what my "all weather" tires on MR2 are... I think 185/65/14 BFGoodrich somethings... I used them when I was autocrossing a Tercel, felt pretty good.
Struts can be bought as sets, pairs, and probably single. Depends on what you want to get. I would just say get teh set though, and make sure you install on all corners at once. Unbalanced car is bad.
Coilovers are most certainly not a type of spring. They are a complete suspension package that in most cases include a dampner, upper and lower spring perchs, springs, and hardware. The name coilover means a coil spring over the strut (shock) housing. Coilovers usually include the ability to adjust ride height in order to properly corner weight the car for a racing application. Some of the better made and higher priced sets include the ability to adjust dampening rates, sometimes both rebound and compression and sometimes rebound and compression independantly. Well made coilovers include the ability to adjust ride height seperately from spring preload. The coilover type sleeves which are ment to be used with stock or aftermarket struts only adjust ride height and preload together. Not to knock their product but they sometimes cause noise over rough terrain due to the fact their sleeve isn't mounted to anything and relies on spring pressure to hold it in place. If the spring pressure was alleviated temporarily you would hear a "clunk" or other noise from them.
Most people who purchase coilover do not purchase them for the ability to raise or lower their car at will. Once they are set and corner balanced they usually aren't adjusted as far as ride height goes. They make the purchase in order to fine tune the dampening rates of the struts independantly for maximum corner entrance and exit speeds.
In the aftermarket the term coilover is used to describe a set up that differs from the stock type suspension setup.
For the Corolla their are plenty of different JDM setups available. There are products from Tein, KW, and Endless (ZEALS) just to name a few.
Technicaly coilover mean the spring coil is over the sturt. Which mean most of the suspension setup now. You might have seen old car with coil and sturt mount beside each other.
A full aftermarket coilover is a sturt with threaded body for the lower spring mount. The sturt is made to handle the spring and the longer or shorter travel.
Most coilover you can buy now is just a sleave and spring to replace stock spring. Easy, cheap and simple. Problem is stock and even most aftermarket sturts are not design to handle them. They're too soft whcih cause bounce and won't last due to the shorter travel.
I got OBX too and its the best for adjusting. A jack and allen key is what you need. I can adjust all four with stock jack in 15 min. Including measuring height with tape.
Proper use for coilover is control weight transfer, mostly front-rear. Left-right if you do oval. Lower rear for more traction on rear. I set mine rear higher and get a tail happy FWD
My bad Racecomp. Shoulda said spring system, as you still need to select the shock to be used. Coilover systems directly replace the springs, and theory, you could likely leave the stock shock in place. I just said spring since the coilover system I have on my MR2 replaces the spring system you would normally use. Figured that would be easier to understand and directly compare.
Coilovers or springs must be paired to a shock. A strut refers to the entire assembly. I'm not great at explaining these things... race, wanna clarify for him?
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Daily - 99 Corolla VE, stock for now.
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lol jk but i can tell they are weighing my car down. when i first got my car/license i wasnt planning on doing this kinda stuff to it cause i thought cars were all the same but now im learning to lover them. anyway the tires are GoodYear Eagle HP Ultra PLus 205/45/16.
which means fast) and do they sell struts by pairs or in 4s or single...?
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