recommend suspension

[RedruM]

did the body this year and now i'm looking at doing the
suspension during the winter and mostlikely the engine in the spring

thinkin of Koni or Tokico struts and ground control springs.

or is there a better combo to go with in this price range

700 -1200 parts
1200- 1600 installed

[Lafora]

this may sound dumb

but what car

since YOU didn't say :P

[Flashmn]

Koni is way better than tokico... After koni comes bilstein imho.

[mr_sinister]

go to club4ag and i believe there is a sticky thread in one of the forums about the different general characteristics of the different brands of shocks

"better" depends on what you are looking for

[Flashmn]

Last time I checked club4ag they were comparing different japanese shocks, not to say their bad, but sometimes european craftsmanship just surpasses japanese handicraftness

[DerekDorifto]

Somehow I find it hard to believe that the world's supply of millions of struts are being churned out by European 'craftsmen' and Japanese 'handicrafters'. Modern production is done by automated machine assembly lines and those pretty welds on your Japanese or European struts are done by robots, not a human's hands.

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Last time I checked club4ag they were comparing different japanese shocks, not to say their bad, but sometimes european craftsmanship just surpasses japanese handicraftness

[Lafora]

it's called tolerances in quality control
and don't tell me they are the same across the board, cuz they're not.

edit: not gonna start another post..but this was in reference to someone who was saying euro > japanese in quality.

country of origin has nthing to do with it, was what i was trying to say

[goodcookiedrift]

its not quality, its how you want to configure your suspension.

for all the big names (be it european, american or japanese) you can pretty much rest assure that all are well built.

however, different strut cartridges display different characteristics.

as posted on club4ag, konis are generally good for grip while really bad for drift. tokico illuminas are a decent entry level drift shock while the hts works wonders for drifting however would not be your chocec for grip. the trd blue adj. are good for drift while the greens, yellows and baby blues are a solid multi use shock.

all different damper and rebound rates, but all good in quality.

and don't think that european shocks aren't used on the ae86, cuz hardcore ae86 tuners in japan utelize Ohlins, Bilsteins and Sachs shocks. if i had the money, i'd definitely go for the Ohlins coil overs...so sweet.

nick

[Flashmn]

Heh, dont get me wrong here, that handicraftness and craftsmanship wasnt meant to be taken literally. I know that theyare done with robots, but they do have hand built phases too. My bilsteins were infact assembled by hand (from robot made parts ofcourse) and I got some special valving on them. However, I dont think theres that much difference doing drifts with different shocks, maybe at pro level yeah, where each mm is carefully selected. I've drifted cars with practically blown shocks (scary yes), and ones with bilsteins or konis and I gotta say, they both go through the drift as they should, if you know how to control the car.
On another note, I dont think you should choose shocks and springs for a street driven car on basis how they act on a track and how they act doing drifts. Its not like you're gonna do those feats all the time on the street when driving to the mall and back. If you do, heck you shouldnt have a car. When I got my shocks and springs, I was searching different options, with several goals in my mind, well, thing is I had to give away some of those goals to keep my car driveable. I didnt get coil-overs because they generally are harsher, I didnt slam my car. I'd really hate to tell a girl I'm giving a ride "oh sorry I cant go that way, because my car wont go over the speedbumps" ;P

[goodcookiedrift]

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Heh, dont get me wrong here, that handicraftness and craftsmanship wasnt meant to be taken literally. I know that theyare done with robots, but they do have hand built phases too. My bilsteins were infact assembled by hand (from robot made parts ofcourse) and I got some special valving on them. However, I dont think theres that much difference doing drifts with different shocks, maybe at pro level yeah, where each mm is carefully selected. I've drifted cars with practically blown shocks (scary yes), and ones with bilsteins or konis and I gotta say, they both go through the drift as they should, if you know how to control the car.
On another note, I dont think you should choose shocks and springs for a street driven car on basis how they act on a track and how they act doing drifts. Its not like you're gonna do those feats all the time on the street when driving to the mall and back. If you do, heck you shouldnt have a car. When I got my shocks and springs, I was searching different options, with several goals in my mind, well, thing is I had to give away some of those goals to keep my car driveable. I didnt get coil-overs because they generally are harsher, I didnt slam my car. I'd really hate to tell a girl I'm giving a ride "oh sorry I cant go that way, because my car wont go over the speedbumps" ;P

we're not bulshitting you. Moto P has posted a whole section on club4ag explaining the different damper rates on different different shocks and how that affects drifting, gripping or daily driving.

and yes, your suspension setup will adversely affect the ease which you can drift at or grip the course. Longer rebound and damper rates are generally better for gripping and not so good for getting nice long drifts. where as short rebound and damper rates will allow for a very stiff ride and very little travel allowing the ae86's (in our case) tail end to step out easier and maintain a smooth conistent slide.

Sure, driving ability has everything to do with how well you drift or how well you take corners, but having the proper setup will help you steer (no pun intended) yourself in the right direction. work with your car, don't work against it.

Nick

[RedruM]

by the way my ride is a silver AE92 GTS
i'm lookin at suspension that'll handle street racing well, drop the car about 1-2 inchs, still allowing me 2 go over speed bumps and something thats not to stiff it hurts. For struts i'm seriously concidering Koni's - i think they're the fully adjustable one i'm looking at.
that's another thing, are adjustable's worth spending the extra coin on or mainly just a selling pitch?

[ek-9]

I don't wanna sound queer, but Street Racing is a NO-NO ... keep it off the streets, please.

[Lafora]

when i was shopping around, adjustability was on top of my list

definitely a plus

[RedruM]

Are adjustable's really worth the extra coin... i mean do they actually make a drastic diffrence in the ride, grip, handling from soft to stiff

[Lafora]

well i waited until i knew they were absolutely the best deal i could possibly get

how big a difference are they for ur car?