Toyota MR2

[Jhonno]

C70R said:

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Evil.soup said:

I have to clarify as I failed to mention, the car I fitted the coilovers to was my WRX, not an MR2.

I was very conscious of selecting a more compliant spring rate and spent a lot of time playing with the damper rate and even had the height set to its maximum to allow more travel to absorb bumps in the road.

I did improve the set up and on a well tarmaced road it was blissful, but where things got a little more bumpy they just couldn't absorb the bumps without starting to feel like ut was starting to skip and lose road contact.

They were BC fully adjustable coilovers so not some ebay cheap ones, but to deal with the roads in the UK, I feel you need to spend big money to get a suitable set up. The amount of money you would need to spend doesn't justify spending on an MR2.

This is EXACTLY my experience too.

I've been out with lots of people who said their coilovers "rode like stock", and in every single case they were much stiffer than I'd be happy with on a bumpy B-road.

BC are just a good high end budget coilover.

All the above is down to the damper, not the fact it is an adjustable coilover.

I wouldn't put £1150 as "high end budget" in most people's world. "Budget" is £250 for 'Stance' coilovers, and there's a plethora of stuff between them and the BC Racing gear. Ohlins and KW kit at £3k+ is beyond the reach of 99.9% of people, so hardly worth considering for a car that spends the majority of its life on the road.

Plus, I'm pretty confident that the Meister CRDs (which were lauded earlier in this thread) and the BC Racing kit are made in the same factories in Taiwan.

Up until recently they were a £700 coil over.. I've just seen the new prices.

[TheJimi]

C70R said:

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Evil.soup said:

I have to clarify as I failed to mention, the car I fitted the coilovers to was my WRX, not an MR2.

I was very conscious of selecting a more compliant spring rate and spent a lot of time playing with the damper rate and even had the height set to its maximum to allow more travel to absorb bumps in the road.

I did improve the set up and on a well tarmaced road it was blissful, but where things got a little more bumpy they just couldn't absorb the bumps without starting to feel like ut was starting to skip and lose road contact.

They were BC fully adjustable coilovers so not some ebay cheap ones, but to deal with the roads in the UK, I feel you need to spend big money to get a suitable set up. The amount of money you would need to spend doesn't justify spending on an MR2.

This is EXACTLY my experience too.

I've been out with lots of people who said their coilovers "rode like stock", and in every single case they were much stiffer than I'd be happy with on a bumpy B-road.

BC are just a good high end budget coilover.

All the above is down to the damper, not the fact it is an adjustable coilover.

I wouldn't put £1150 as "high end budget" in most people's world. "Budget" is £250 for 'Stance' coilovers, and there's a plethora of stuff between them and the BC Racing gear. Ohlins and KW kit at £3k+ is beyond the reach of 99.9% of people, so hardly worth considering for a car that spends the majority of its life on the road.

Plus, I'm pretty confident that the Meister CRDs (which were lauded earlier in this thread) and the BC Racing kit are made in the same factories in Taiwan.

I know what Jhonno means by BC being "high end budget" - and I agree actually, in that BC are at the high end of the budget sector.

[C70R]

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Evil.soup said:

I have to clarify as I failed to mention, the car I fitted the coilovers to was my WRX, not an MR2.

I was very conscious of selecting a more compliant spring rate and spent a lot of time playing with the damper rate and even had the height set to its maximum to allow more travel to absorb bumps in the road.

I did improve the set up and on a well tarmaced road it was blissful, but where things got a little more bumpy they just couldn't absorb the bumps without starting to feel like ut was starting to skip and lose road contact.

They were BC fully adjustable coilovers so not some ebay cheap ones, but to deal with the roads in the UK, I feel you need to spend big money to get a suitable set up. The amount of money you would need to spend doesn't justify spending on an MR2.

This is EXACTLY my experience too.

I've been out with lots of people who said their coilovers "rode like stock", and in every single case they were much stiffer than I'd be happy with on a bumpy B-road.

BC are just a good high end budget coilover.

All the above is down to the damper, not the fact it is an adjustable coilover.

I wouldn't put £1150 as "high end budget" in most people's world. "Budget" is £250 for 'Stance' coilovers, and there's a plethora of stuff between them and the BC Racing gear. Ohlins and KW kit at £3k+ is beyond the reach of 99.9% of people, so hardly worth considering for a car that spends the majority of its life on the road.

Plus, I'm pretty confident that the Meister CRDs (which were lauded earlier in this thread) and the BC Racing kit are made in the same factories in Taiwan.

Up until recently they were a £700 coil over.. I've just seen the new prices.

BC Racing?

I bought mine at the start of 2019, and they were £1150 (plus droplinks).

[Jhonno]

C70R said:

BC Racing?

I bought mine at the start of 2019, and they were £1150 (plus droplinks).

Yep.. Although I was looking at them from an E46 pricing, they have jumped £200+ since I last looked. For £1150 they are very expensive high end budget.

[C70R]

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

BC Racing?

I bought mine at the start of 2019, and they were £1150 (plus droplinks).

Yep.. Although I was looking at them from an E46 pricing, they have jumped £200+ since I last looked. For £1150 they are very expensive high end budget.

What are you comparing them to in your assessment of "budget"? And on what metrics beyond price?

The only things I can see more expensive than them are Bilsten, KW, Ohlins and H&R.

Are they "premium", and the dozens of alternatives are just varying degrees of "budget"?

[MR2 Steve]

I have one on BCs and one on standard suspension. The BCs do tighten it up a lot and if it’s a weekend car then they work well. Bit stiff for me nowadays but might because I’m getting old. The standard one gets more use.

If you drive on poorly surfaced roads or if it’s a daily then the standard suspension is pretty much perfect if you refresh it all to OEM. Add some bracing underneath and at the strut brace which have no downsides. Braided brake lines are best mod for what they cost.

I’ve also had one with standard shocks and tein springs which was a decent compromise because it doesn’t change the ride much but looks better. Main downside are it used to ground out on big speed bumps.

[Evil.soup]

C70R said:

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Jhonno said:

C70R said:

Evil.soup said:

I have to clarify as I failed to mention, the car I fitted the coilovers to was my WRX, not an MR2.

I was very conscious of selecting a more compliant spring rate and spent a lot of time playing with the damper rate and even had the height set to its maximum to allow more travel to absorb bumps in the road.

I did improve the set up and on a well tarmaced road it was blissful, but where things got a little more bumpy they just couldn't absorb the bumps without starting to feel like ut was starting to skip and lose road contact.

They were BC fully adjustable coilovers so not some ebay cheap ones, but to deal with the roads in the UK, I feel you need to spend big money to get a suitable set up. The amount of money you would need to spend doesn't justify spending on an MR2.

This is EXACTLY my experience too.

I've been out with lots of people who said their coilovers "rode like stock", and in every single case they were much stiffer than I'd be happy with on a bumpy B-road.

BC are just a good high end budget coilover.

All the above is down to the damper, not the fact it is an adjustable coilover.

I wouldn't put £1150 as "high end budget" in most people's world. "Budget" is £250 for 'Stance' coilovers, and there's a plethora of stuff between them and the BC Racing gear. Ohlins and KW kit at £3k+ is beyond the reach of 99.9% of people, so hardly worth considering for a car that spends the majority of its life on the road.

Plus, I'm pretty confident that the Meister CRDs (which were lauded earlier in this thread) and the BC Racing kit are made in the same factories in Taiwan.

Up until recently they were a £700 coil over.. I've just seen the new prices.

BC Racing?

I bought mine at the start of 2019, and they were £1150 (plus droplinks).

Considering the amount you can spend on coilover set ups, I would agree they are high end budget. There are plenty of cheap kits on ebay and I found the BC's to be very good quality, but not cheap in the grand scheme of things. They were very good in the right conditions and had bags of adjustability, if I was building a track focused car, then I would go down that road again. However, on a weekend road car used for a blast through the Brecon mountains, it just ruined the experience.

I am very sure there are set ups that work well on the road, rally cars are fantastic at it, but the money for things like that gets silly.

I do find the people I speak to that have coilovers and slammed their car to the ground, seem to have convinced themselves that they are the best handling mod in the world, maybe it's because they have spent a fortune on them and it is hard to admit you have blown money on something that has made your car worse.

I know someone with the same BC set up on their Impreza and they think it is a great upgrade, but I can say from experience, it really isnt on a road car. To be fair, the guy only covers maybe 2000 miles a year and the car sits very low, it looks the business, but I doubt he would see where I went if we were both pushing on down a bumpy country lane. I think it is all a matter of opinion in many cases.

I took the coilovers off after less than 6 months and went back to the KYB shocks and Eibach progressive springs.

Edited by Evil.soup on Wednesday 19th July 14:19

[C70R]

Evil.soup said:

Considering the amount you can spend on coilover set ups, I would agree they are high end budget. There are plenty of cheap kits on ebay and I found the BC's to be very good quality, but not cheap in the grand scheme of things. They were very good in the right conditions and had bags of adjustability, if I was building a track focused car, then I would go down that road again. However, on a weekend road car used for a blast through the Brecon mountains, it just ruined the experience.

I am very sure there are set ups that work well on the road, rally cars are fantastic at it, but the money for things like that gets silly.

I do find the people I speak to that have coilovers and slammed their car to the ground, seem to have convinced themselves that they are the best handling mod in the world, maybe it's because they have spent a fortune on them and it is hard to admit you have blown money on something that has made your car worse.

I know someone with the same BC set up on their Impreza and they think it is a great upgrade, but I can say from experience, it really isnt on a road car. To be fair, the guy only covers maybe 2000 miles a year and the car sits very low, it looks the business, but I doubt he would see where I went if we were both pushing on down a bumpy country lane. I think it is all a matter of opinion in many cases.

I took the coilovers off after less than 6 months and went back to the KYB shocks and Eibach progressive springs.

Edited by Evil.soup on Wednesday 19th July 14:19

Couldn't agree more with all of this.

I tend to look at the likes of Ohlins etc. as largely an irrelevance for anyone who isn't doing a chequebook 'Ring Clubsport' type build. £3k+ for a set of shocks and springs is just not viable for most folks. If you wanted to spend more than the £1150 I'd spent on the BC coilovers, you wouldn't have many options.

My BC Coilovers, carefully set up and using specially chosen springrates, were absolutely rubbish on the NC500. On track, they were an absolute hoot, but I was only doing 4-5 days a year, and it ruined the car for the remaining 95% of miles.

[bumskins]

C70R said:

If you wanted to spend more than the £1150 I'd spent on the BC coilovers, you wouldn't have many options.

My BC Coilovers, carefully set up and using specially chosen springrates, were absolutely rubbish on the NC500. On track, they were an absolute hoot, but I was only doing 4-5 days a year, and it ruined the car for the remaining 95% of miles.

XTC? Nitron? Bilstein? Ohlins? Reiger? There are a fair few tbh, and IME at this level you start getting the qualities another poster mentioned - travel, control and compliance. As you say, even £1k's worth of BC Racing suspension is crap on the road. Rather than throw £1k away on BC Racing i'd sooner A) save up for a proper suspension kit from a company that have tried and tested their suspension in motorsport scenarios, or B) renew all bushes/replace dampers with something like a Bilstein B8 kit, then get the thing properly aligned.

[markiii]

unless Japanparts still have old stock you may struggle to get this any more, but back in the day I had teh TRD sportivo on mine

upgraded shocks with matching springs (25mm drop) and arbs

made a huge difference over stock

[C70R]

bumskins said:

C70R said:

If you wanted to spend more than the £1150 I'd spent on the BC coilovers, you wouldn't have many options.

My BC Coilovers, carefully set up and using specially chosen springrates, were absolutely rubbish on the NC500. On track, they were an absolute hoot, but I was only doing 4-5 days a year, and it ruined the car for the remaining 95% of miles.

XTC? Nitron? Bilstein? Ohlins? Reiger? There are a fair few tbh, and IME at this level you start getting the qualities another poster mentioned - travel, control and compliance. As you say, even £1k's worth of BC Racing suspension is crap on the road. Rather than throw £1k away on BC Racing i'd sooner A) save up for a proper suspension kit from a company that have tried and tested their suspension in motorsport scenarios, or B) renew all bushes/replace dampers with something like a Bilstein B8 kit, then get the thing properly aligned.

But we're talking about the OP's car here. Telling them to "save up for a proper suspension kit" that's worth the same as the base car is bad advice.

Hence me saying not to bother with coilovers.

That took too many posts.

[TameRacingDriver]

C70R said:

But we're talking about the OP's car here. Telling them to "save up for a proper suspension kit" that's worth the same as the base car is bad advice.

Hence me saying not to bother with coilovers.

That took too many posts.

This is the way. Same advice as I got on the mx5 owners club when I asked about it. I specifically mentioned my car was used exclusively on the road, and I was told not to bother with coilovers, at all.

I stuck with the bits that were already on - only the springs were different to stock and on a mk3 mx5 the standard springs are well known to be a bit crap and way too high, and instead just got a specialist to align it.

I couldn't be more happy with the result and it's saved me over a grand which probably isn't money well spent on a car only worth a few grand ultimately. I can't emphasise enough just how good the car handles on its stock bits when properly set up. It seems to me if I did anything more I'd be best off getting the bushes and drop links refreshed, and at a push, some decent uprated dampers but only if the current ones are shagged.

[craigjm]

I bought a 2004 silver facelift at the end of last year. I wouldn’t bother with suspension upgrades the standard is great for the road just refresh it if it’s old. As a pre facelift car you might want to update the body bracing too as the facelift car gets that as standard.

I fitted new tyres all round and went for Michelin Pilot sport 3. I also refreshed the brakes (pads, discs and calipers all round) and in tip top condition they are great too.

For me really any modification is best kept to cosmetic stuff although I will be changing the exhaust soon for a twin exit and one that exits the car either side of the numberplate

[TameRacingDriver]

craigjm said:

I bought a 2004 silver facelift at the end of last year. I wouldn’t bother with suspension upgrades the standard is great for the road just refresh it if it’s old. As a pre facelift car you might want to update the body bracing too as the facelift car gets that as standard.

I fitted new tyres all round and went for Michelin Pilot sport 3. I also refreshed the brakes (pads, discs and calipers all round) and in tip top condition they are great too.

For me really any modification is best kept to cosmetic stuff although I will be changing the exhaust soon for a twin exit and one that exits the car either side of the numberplate

My MR2 was a facelift and I still did the belly brace mod, made a big difference.

I had a custom twin exit exhaust made for mine and it made a big difference, a nice burble at startup and a nice roar when booting it. Crucially it meant I could actually hear it over the wind noise with the roof down which I couldn't as standard. Really changed the character of the car for the better.

[Shifter1]

OP, what do you daily? Sorry if you already mentioned.

Talking to a MR2 roadster mate who is bored of his daily, and thinking about replacing it with a RX8. I'm not sure about that. From one side, RX8 is a little "complicted" for a daily. I'm not sure I would want to deal with a wankel for a daily, at this point. From another, if you drive a RX8 daily, would you still want to jump in a sports car for a weekend drive? Sure the MR2 is a convertible. But as far as driving fun, the RX8 is probably closer than most dailies. Certainly closer than his daily. Might take a bit of the edge off the MR2, specially that he doesn't trash his MR2.

Don't get me wrong, the RX8 is not a true sports car and definitely not a match for the MR2. Totally different set up as well, with rear mid engine vs FE RWD. Totally different feeling. But RX8 is still as close as any 4-doors has the right to be. It's a long wheelbase MX5 NC. The other way around, I know. Plus, wankel on a daily basis? Take a special type of person I guess.

What do you daily? Or any of you MR2 gentlemen posting on the thread.

[markiii]

Drive an rx8 it will surprise you. It's definitely a sportscar

[QuantumTokoloshi]

Shifter1 said:

OP, what do you daily? Sorry if you already mentioned.

Talking to a MR2 roadster mate who is bored of his daily, and thinking about replacing it with a RX8. I'm not sure about that. From one side, RX8 is a little "complicted" for a daily. I'm not sure I would want to deal with a wankel for a daily, at this point. From another, if you drive a RX8 daily, would you still want to jump in a sports car for a weekend drive? Sure the MR2 is a convertible. But as far as driving fun, the RX8 is probably closer than most dailies. Certainly closer than his daily. Might take a bit of the edge off the MR2, specially that he doesn't trash his MR2.

Don't get me wrong, the RX8 is not a true sports car and definitely not a match for the MR2. Totally different set up as well, with rear mid engine vs FE RWD. Totally different feeling. But RX8 is still as close as any 4-doors has the right to be. It's a long wheelbase MX5 NC. The other way around, I know. Plus, wankel on a daily basis? Take a special type of person I guess.

What do you daily? Or any of you MR2 gentlemen posting on the thread.

Daily is an Outander for the family and an Audi A2, if I can prize my wife's iron grip from the keys. (She loves that car, and I am a big fan as well)

[MR2 Steve]

Can anyone think of a 4 seat convertible with similar driving characteristics to an MR2 Roadster? Occasional rear seat usage only.

[TheJimi]

911 Cab?

[TameRacingDriver]

MR2 Steve said:

Can anyone think of a 4 seat convertible with similar driving characteristics to an MR2 Roadster? Occasional rear seat usage only.

I don't think there is one to be honest. Mid engine feels fairly unique and I can't think of a mid engine 4 seat convertible. I guess the closest I can think of is a BMW 3 series convertible, but it's nothing like an MR2 but at least it's RWD.