this isnt very scientific, but how much did you lower yourself? for ME, when i went a solid inch lower than stock nismo heights, i felt body roll was reduced a good amount. probably helps that nismo's have stock upgraded sways though

Okay back with another update. I took it out for another 6 miles going in circles. I can definitely say that the ride is very good given what it is. I even turned it up to 2/3 in the front, the car didn't ride much worse than stock to be honest.

I did bust out my datalogger and empty the car so I can turn the car a little bit harder than usual. Prior to the coilover, I was carrying an average of .8-.9g through this turn I take everyday. With the coilover, the number jumped to .9-1g at about 45mph. The car still leans, but I would say it leans about 40% less than before. This was done with the fronts at 1/3 from soft, I then did it at 2/3 and my average Gs increased another .5 higher.

I only lower .5 inches

Definitely the sway bars eliminate the majority of the lean. That was the most night and day difference suspension wise thus far on my car. With the coilovers working in tandem the car will remain relatively flat. However, I don't have a datalogger to give a percentage. I am hoping to get a track day in early of next year to be able to test the difference with the upgrade to the suspension at Barber.

It's good to hear the increase in performance with these coilovers. Since these get lumped into the all show no go category by some it would be an interesting comparison to see how these performed against say the kw v3's.

Hey Cossie what did you use as rear rates? Are they true coils or are they shock/spring OEM mounting?

My front set to full stiff did zero!

Oem type n 12k springs I think


Corner balance and alignment tomorrow

B

That is quite unfortunate.

For me, springs and shocks have always been the difference in body roll.

To be fair I did upgrade to Swift springs. So there may not be as dramatic of a difference between stock with just a sway bar upgrade and both a spring/sway bar upgrade.

The car definitely handles better, but not sure how it translate once you apply the clock. The back end also seems to slide out a little more than before. I have to make sure I get used to it

Alignment specs? I doubt it's perfect first time out with heigh and settings and such. It'll come.

Won't know until tomorrow, I haven't driven the car since I finished two days ago.

Too stiff could also cause the back end to slide out as well. Maybe your rear end is heading in the wrong direction as far as spring weight?

It feels like there is not enough transfer to the rear. When I step on the gas, I feel like the back end wants so step out where the oem suspension will squat and light up the inner rear. Of course it is too early to say, I will update saturday

More weight transfer to the back = less front rebound.

Adding a wing back there will definitely help push it down as well once you are at higher speed, but yeah rebound will be a better adjustment below 60 mph. If your front rebound is already at its lowest setting, then softer springs in the rear if it's too loose.

You can also bump up rear rebound and/or drop rear compression, but going up in rear rebound can cause jacking, and make the car push after progressively loaded turns (spring won't return sufficiently). I would try front rebound first, then drop rear spring or bar if that doesn't work.

Fuk somehow dropping half inch in the rear requires me to have camber arms I have 2.5 degree now wtf

Lol, stocks -1.9 on my drivers side. Not surprised. Sucks we have to buy all this crap after we just bought the big ticket items but a least now you know some what why your rear end is lose.

This is exactly what all the drag racers complain about this car.

my kind of ******* luck. memory card crashed and now I cant pull the data from Saturday. Anyone know of a good memory card recovery program? Most are looking at jpg files, I need it to put up some custom database in dbn format.

thanks

I was able to recover some of the files. I learned that I actually went a few tenths slower with the coilovers than I did with the stock suspension. Since all my datalogs are gone, I can't pinpoint exactly as to what became slower. From what I can see, it seems like I just had trouble picking up power out of the turns. It might have to do with the extra camber I got from lowering the car, but it's tough to say to be exact. The weather was also 5 degrees cold in December than November. Still, for $2K the coilover doesn't appear to be worth it (I still cant figure out how that is true given how much nicer the car feels). I also had the suspension on 5/8s stiff compare to full stiff, the car ended up being one sec plus slower. I am going back inFebruary, probably going back with new sway bars. Hopefully I can do better.

i think your rear rates are too stiff

With the addition of the sway bar, it appears I got some of the speed back from the car. After another brief scare with the datalogs, I was able to see the new sway bar allow me to put down power quicker. It also gave me the confidence to drive deeper and faster. At the end of the day, I spent nearly $3000 on this. Is it worth it? Absolutely not, I think I should have put my money on a some r6 instead. I am sure the difference would be greater at handling tracks like sonoma, but it is what it is. I had fun at least.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/40/emw1.jpg

like clint said, rear is too stiff...

that's why i ended up changing the front bar only, definitely helped out. At this point, I actually have to worry about my clutch as it might be going. Argg

Do u run a rear bar? U could try removing it

I do have the stock bar. It might be okay for right now as I have to deal with the clutch and front camber issue first. I barely had any good open track last time as the track was filled with slow Miatas.

You seem pumped at the end of that lap! It looked you were really working the car over good. I would love to be able to drive that track.

I'm not so sure your rear springs are too stiff Cossie. Mike runs the same Tein coil over set up as me and he has 14K springs on all corners and he reports it is excellent and I know he said some more experienced racers drove his car and said it was set up awesome. I personally went 12K in the rear in 14K in the front instead of the 14K square since I'm not on slicks.

Cossie my words of encouragement would be that a new suspension is an adventure. Don't expect to reap all of the benefits of a new suspension in 1, 2, 6, or 9 months. I am sure some other guys named clint and martin can attest.

I had a rough last outing and I had a pretty bad start to the day thanks to traffic. I was down to the last two laps and I finally was able to get within a few tenths of my target. I was a little bit sad when I calculated I still had .5 sec that I could pick up. Next time I am aiming for 45s.

I don't know if the springs made as big of a difference as the sway bar. I do notice the steering got heavier, especially at slower speeds. I am not going to mess around on the springs at this point. I am just going to save up for some front camber and call it a day.


I know, that's why I waited forever to mod this car. I did it years ago to my Miata, it was like chasing the dragon. I was hesitant about doing it, but too late to go back now.

What does $3k buy you, about 1.5 sec quicker per lap. I know I can definitely get more out of a set of slicks :)

Well hey, you can't beat Jeremy Clarkson playing grand turismo in a nsx but you're faster than him actually driving it on that track. He did a 1:57 so I'd be proud with a 1:45.

Important to remember that tires and suspension work as a system. A6s with stock suspension wouldn't work well. You need more spring rate to handle grip of A6. Also you do have to go with ridiculously low rear spring rates in the back. I run 1000 lb fronts with my JRZs and 500 lb rears. I still have to put lots of bump in front to keep that front end front diving too much at Laguna Seca when going into braking zones even with 1000 lb springs. I still have my stock Nismo rear bar which is more than enough in back but use big progress bar up front But biggest mistake people make with Z is to go too stiff in rear and not enough spring and bar in the front. You need ability to transfer weight to rear wheels on turn exits.

Also laguna Seca surface can be really bad if we don't have rain to wash off all oils, antifreeze and rubber. It can get progressively slicker during dry season like we have had.

Also what were comparative temps from your run sessions. RS3 doesn't like cool temps. Too stiff rear and suboptimal tire temps and slightly slicker surface would make car tough to put power down on tun exits.

Also did you keep eye on oil temps? I have seen huge power drops when oil goes much higher than 240. Given laguna Seca is power course any drop in hp will tank your lap times. Big reason I went to e85 was to help keep temps lower. Also be careful on Laguna if you don't have baffled oil pan as you will oil stave if you go to stickier tires. I'm likely selling my AM performance pan now that I'm going dry sump.

Finally beware if you go to A6 I can assure you will have ice mode issues. That's rather exciting on a track like Laguna Seca ! In early days with my car never had ice issues with streets or even r888. As soon as A6s and stiffer suspension went on yikes!

To put things in context laguna Seca is a power course and spec Miatas make it around in 1.45. Clarksons A bit of a hack when it comes to driving on track.

But 1:45 isn't anything to sneeze at in a street car. That's moving!

Without removing it and swapping the springs, I can't say for certain what works and what not. The only thing I can say is that the car just wasn't fast with just the coilover. I had to put a front sway bar in the car to get some speed back into the car. Yes I do agree the ability to transfer power to the back makes a huge difference. I was cornering the same speed with just the coilover, but I just couldn't come off the turns.

I had A6s on my car for an autox run. The car felt like crap, but it was over a sec quicker in a 30 sec course. The A6s will always be faster, stock or not stock over street tires.

I didnt take temps from the previous days. I did use a new infrared thermometer (not exactly accurate), tires came off at 160F and 140F after the cool down lap. I should also note this was probably the warmest day I had at Laguna. The December event was about 5-10F cooler.

Track temps are always around 230-270, I never see any drop in power related to oil temp. I have gotten pretty good at pacing myself, plus I had to short shift onto the front straight because the clutch was slipping. I don't have the datalogs from December, but the November and January logs show the car made the same exact power.

I have the same issue with too stiff rear springs, I can't put down power at all while turning. Removing rear sway bar helped out and stiffest I cold up front on whiteline. I will be dropping 2 full spring rates or so in the rear and give that a try.

If it makes you feel any better cossie this thread has given me a world of new knowledge of suspension


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Yeah dude and don't get frustrated, I can admire your perfectionism and your dedication, think everyone here can. But figuring out a a new setup, man it's gonna take some time. Think how long it took you to figure out your first one!

Anyway, love the videos keep 'em coming, come hang out with us at BRP sometime! Maybe you needa change of pace. ;)

This is comparison between when the car was stock vs. when I only had the coilovers, I was almost one sec slower. Yikes.



I can't take anything apart now and I am done spending for at least six months, the only thing I can get is maybe slicks. So I am just going to keep riding for now, I know there is another .5 sec in me based on what I can see (T3 and using 2nd gear for T11). As long as I can put together a clean lap together, I will be happy.

I can't even go one day without getting grief from my wife, better not push it any further. I am going to stick to Sonoma and Laguna. Goal is a 1:45 at Laguna with the R-S3 and 1:59 at Sonoma.

Why not just get new rear springs? They can't be much and if you sell what you have it should offset the cost. Not to mention aren't the FA 510 OEM setup? Takes 10 min so swap the rears.