Coilovers or Quality Shocks & Springs

[V8 Disco]

Hi, advice needed please - my car's original shocks are now beyond their best and will be replaced this summer - do I go for BC coilovers (advantage seems to be adjustability - esp. ride height) or just quality shocks (Koni?) and new springs (Eibach?). Price difference seems minimal, some friends say coilovers will be too harsh a ride, hence my concern.

Car is an '03 Accord CL7 Type-S 2.4, it's my daily drive but I enjoy 'pressing on' when conditions permit and might be tempted to try a track/airfield day or two this year if there's any money left after replacing my suspension!

Edited by V8 Disco on Tuesday 13th March 22:24

[chris7676]

Either really, coilovers will be as hard as the spring rate and shock adjustability (which should be good on both you mentioned). I have run both and rate both well (that is BC and Koni yellows). Btw, I don't think Eibach springs will make it any better, surely more expensive

[Sam_68]

The only real advantage of 'coilovers' is that they are adjustable for (usually) both ride height and damping.

Unless you intend to corner weight your car, or adjust the damping yourself to tune the suspension to specific road/track conditions, you're wasting your money - a set of good quality, non-adjustable dampers that have been valved specifically to suit your car will serve you just as well.

[chris7676]

I disagree, adjustable dampers allow you to adjust them to your liking and conditions, not some imaginary all-size-fits-all settings.

[Sam_68]

chris7676 said:

I disagree, adjustable dampers allow you to adjust them to your liking and conditions, not some imaginary all-size-fits-all settings.

Which is why:

I said:

Unless you intend to corner weight your car, or adjust the damping yourself to tune the suspension to specific road/track conditions...

But most people buy adjustable dampers/2 way adjustable dampers/3-way adjustable dampers (delete as applicable to how much more money than sense is available) because they think that expensive and adjustable is better than cheap and non-adjustable: relatively few know what they're doing beyond setting them to what they feel to be a comfortable ride quality.

For what it's worth, beyond basic matching to the springs and masses of the car dampers should be used only to fine tune transient handling (ie. turn-in or corner exit); the primary method of adjusting rise and handling characteristics should be by means of the springs themselves.

[V8 Disco]

Thankyou for the replies - I like the idea of being able to adjust between a firm ride for an occasional airfield day and a softer one for driving to work etc. Whether I would actually get around to it is another matter!

As for ride height, I think a small (25mm max) drop would improve the car's appearance - I have owned it since new and the standard ride height is a bit '4x4' - so the ability of the coilovers to be adjusted for this would appeal too.

Main concern was that I would ruin the ride completely with coilovers - presumably the manufacturers will have selected a suitable spring height and rate for my car, so I guess having adjustable (compression) damping would give me some degree of control over that?

I spent some time messing with preload/compression/rebound on my Ducati years ago - to be honest, on the road I struggled to feel much benefit from the standard settings, however replacing the Accord's suspension with standard gear is more expensive than the upgrades, hence the question..

[Kozy]

V8 Disco said:

I spent some time messing with preload/compression/rebound on my Ducati years ago - to be honest, on the road I struggled to feel much benefit from the standard settings, however replacing the Accord's suspension with standard gear is more expensive than the upgrades, hence the question..

The dampers are around £500 for the set from Honda, not too bad. I would get those and a set of decent lowering springs which will set you back around the same as the BCs, the quality of the damping will be miles ahead of the generic one size fits all coilover units.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 27th March 14:17

[V8 Disco]

Thanks for the suggestion - however I have read that standard shocks with shorter springs will damage the shocks - any truth in this? IIRC the argument is that the shock is partially compressed the whole time due to the shorter spring length. Can't see why this should damage the shock, but have read this in several places..

[chris7676]

Kozy said:

the quality of the damping will be miles ahead of the generic one size fits all coilover units.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 27th March 14:17

Do you have experience of these two ?

[Kozy]

V8 Disco said:

Thanks for the suggestion - however I have read that standard shocks with shorter springs will damage the shocks - any truth in this? IIRC the argument is that the shock is partially compressed the whole time due to the shorter spring length. Can't see why this should damage the shock, but have read this in several places..

There is some truth in this. Bottoming out constantly aside, lower ride height will damage old shocks because you'll start running the damper rod in a place it hasn't been used very much, this may result in the seals becoming worn leading to leaks as the lesser used part of the rod exposed to the elements may have become slightly corroded/pitted/dirty/whatever. Use new dampers and it shouldn't be an issue so long as the new spring rates are reasonable. A set of Eibachs or the like should be OK but if you are looking for the same rates as coilovers then you might find that will kill them pretty quickly.

chris7676 said:

Do you have experience of these two ?

Specifically the CL7, no. I do with the DC2 and EK9 though, and IMO cheap dampers ruin them. Honda are very good at suspension (well, they were anyway) so to think you can improve on their R&D with a set of £500 coilovers (how much of that is spent purely on the dampers?) is a bit niave. All IMO of course.

Edited by Kozy on Wednesday 28th March 10:14

[RVVUNM]

I have BC Racing coilovers on my Honda Civic EP3 Type R and they are very good. I fitted them eight months ago which was an easy job, and had the car set up by Pro Tyre in Bristol. The ride is a little harder than standard and the dampers are set at soft. Well recommeneded.

[chris7676]

I have found that cheap coilovers can be good and expensive bad. BC were good on the E36.

[V8 Disco]

Hi, thought I'd update this as I fitted.......... BC Coilovers this weekend. Initial impressions are that the ride is a little firmer but not by any means uncomfortable (I sought BC's advice here and on their recommendation went with 8/4 kg springs rather than the std 10/5), and subjectively cornering is improved - very flat but otherwise with a similar feel to the car had when new. I dropped the car a little and am running the damping midway between hard and soft so will have a play with that setting next.

Thanks for all your comments and opinions - in the end, the BC's adjustability was the deciding factor.