Whiteline coilovers. Rough when driving?

[hadukn88]

Hey, I heard from some friend's that coilovers are pretty rough when driving compared to springs, but apparently with some cars it's actually quite smooth. Is this true for Astras TS as well?

[gman]

It depends on the coilovers.

Things like the strut tops (do they use spherical bearings), the spring rates, the valving on the shocks etc etc will all affect how it feels.

I have Bilstein coilovers in mine and they are great. I don't know about the Whiteline ones (never tried or owned a set), but if you get a proper kit you should have no problems. Do Whiteline still make them for the Astra TS?

The other question you need to ask is do you really "need" or "want" coilovers??

[hadukn88]

Well I got told coilovers are better then springs as their better for racing? =S

[gman]

Coilovers are the way to go for adjustability for racing for sure, but a good set of shocks and springs like Koni's (adjustble shocks would be the way to go IMHO) and Eibach's will do exactly the same thing, be as good or better and have none of the hassles of coilovers which sometimes you don;t really need..

Only difference will be that you can't adjust the ride heights without coilovers, but then again unless your cornerweighting the car to balance it perfectly then they are not really needed IMHO.

Coilovers need to be maintain also. Springs & platforms cleaned and the heights checked every so often. If its for occasional circuit work or racing, a good set of adjustable shocks and good springs will do in 99% of situations at sometimes half the cost of coilovers. Not only purchase price, but fit and setup costs too, while a normal shock/spring package will be just as good if not better most of the time.

Because coilovers are adjustable, you can actually end up with a car that handles worse if its not set up correctly than you would with a normal shock/spring package. I fitted mine myself and set the ride heights myself which took almost all weekend to do "sort of right".

I then paid up and took it to a suspension specialist and had them do it. I was close, very close apparently, but it wasn't right and the difference it made was noticable when it was done right...

[gslrallysport]

I've just had an "interesting" time talking about coilovers on the OZ MPS Forum. I'll just link to a few of my posts that sum up my thoughts...

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/handling-wheels-tyres/3042-coilover-options-3.html#post64237

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/handling-wheels-tyres/3042-coilover-options-4.html#post64984

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/handling-wheels-tyres/3042-coilover-options-4.html#post65418

[gman]

Greg basically summed it all up perfectly mate, the short version is:

"You get what you pay for.."

My Bilstein coilovers were around $3,000 landed from Germany as a private import item.

I think the best comment Greg made was along the lines of "$1000 of Bilstein shock is $1000 of Bilstein shock."

As he said so well, if you pay $1500 for coliovers, the shocks (which are THE important part) are only going to be about $400 worth of the total package.

As I said before, coilovers are good if you spend the $$$$'s and are prepared to live with them, set them up and maintain them, otherwise a good set of shocks (adjustables if you can) and top quality springs (Eibachs or H&R) will be as good and in some cases better than cheap and nasty coilovers...

[hadukn88]

Greg basically summed it all up perfectly mate, the short version is:

"You get what you pay for.."

My Bilstein coilovers were around $3,000 landed from Germany as a private import item.

I think the best comment Greg made was along the lines of "$1000 of Bilstein shock is $1000 of Bilstein shock."

As he said so well, if you pay $1500 for coliovers, the shocks (which are THE important part) are only going to be about $400 worth of the total package.

As I said before, coilovers are good if you spend the $$$$'s and are prepared to live with them, set them up and maintain them, otherwise a good set of shocks (adjustables if you can) and top quality springs (Eibachs or H&R) will be as good and in some cases better than cheap and nasty coilovers...
Yeah I'm prob ganna go with King springs for now. Maybe in future I'll grab some coilovers. lol CNBLU keeps asking me about his racelands ones.

Freaking temping!! =p

[nuggz]

go eibachs over king springs!
theyre only $250 you'll be kicking urself if you dont

[gman]

You could prob get Eibachs for the same or less than the Kings and the Eibach's are considerably better.

I know of one SRi-T owner who has had Kings and after 2 years had to throw them away and buy new springs as they had sagged so badly.

My advice, do it once, do it right and get the Eibach's...

[Calibrated]

My advice, do it once, do it right and get the Eibach's...
cannot emphasise that enough. and it goes for anything really. when you go cheap, it usually ends up costing you more..

[Greg K]

My advice, do it once, do it right and get the Eibach's...

couldnt agree with you more! It definitely pays to spend that little extra for not only the piece of mind, but also the headaches saved in the long run... especially when it come to suspension..

I went with Pedders springs on original shocks with my vec, then after 12 months i binned the whole lot and bought Bilsteins and Eibach springs. Had that set-up for a few years and still felt like new when I handed the keys over to Andrew...

[poita]

+1 to the Eibach bandwagon.

love mine, no sag at all.

[hadukn88]

+1 to the Eibach bandwagon.

love mine, no sag at all.

Well everyone seems to be chuckin on the Coil overs. I'll speak the mechanic whos a mate of a mate's. Aparrently he can do a real cheap deal on king's. see what he says about them, but if it works out more expensive, then I'll just buy the Eibach's and chuck them in the car instead. :cool:

[CNBLU]

Come see me when your not happy with the drop at the front

[hadukn88]

Come see me when your not happy with the drop at the front

Do the Eibachi's drop it that bad in the front?:eek:

[Wraith]

Do the Eibachi's drop it that bad in the front?:eek:

I think he may be referring to the King springs...I've got 2 different sets/types of Eibach springs on both my Calibra and turbo vert and the drop at the front is absolutely perfect on both cars !!!

Seriously as others have said and I too can add, just go for a set of Eibachs with a matching set of lowered shocks, you cannot go wrong with that combination, so many of us have the same and have had it on our cars for years and can vouch for it !

I too know of at least 2 cases of King springs being used and both cases being highly dissatisfied with the result, especially once they swapped over to Eibach or H&R and realised the massive difference, especially on the longevity side of things...

[FLY-SRi]

Oh man i just saw this thread.

Hey Adam, if your not planning on tracking the car then shocks/springs/strut replacement is all you'll need. I can tell you that i noticed a huge improvement over the factory suspension when i had mine installed. What you need to remember is that shocks/spring upgrade has the advantage for daily driving as normal roads are not 100% smooth and balanced. Coil overs are more with more race and performance in mind so if your not pushing your car to the limit its just a waste of money.

I'm looking to upgrade my suspension for some coilovers in the near future. When that time comes i'll be selling my suspension (whiteline struts, springs and koni adjustable shocks).

And personally i'd stay away from King springs

Gman: where did you source your coilovers from?

[ChrisMaz]

You Astras have it cheap for Eibachs...

From the online shop you can get either sportline OR pro kit springs for 250 bucks!

As the guys have said... Don't bother with kings, go for quality Eibachs.

[gman]

Gman: where did you source your coilovers from?

Direct from Germany through a friend that lives over there. I tried to get locally but they were WAY to expensive...Try the local Bilstein guys, Greg might be able to help you.

But as you said, on the track, there is absolutely NO comparison!!!! :D

[hadukn88]

You Astras have it cheap for Eibachs...

From the online shop you can get either sportline OR pro kit springs for 250 bucks!

As the guys have said... Don't bother with kings, go for quality Eibachs.

Ok guys, finally got the damn thing lowered, craziest thing is...it didn't make a difference in height! Damn things still high! Is it low for Kings lowered to still be so high? (Will post pics soon)

BTW went with kings cause they did it for me including labour $350, where as the Ebach's were going to be over 2 Grand! plus apparently it would be not so rough with the kings.

[gslrallysport]

As the guys have said... Don't bother with kings, go for quality Eibachs.
I'm going to take the contrarian view here, and say be careful in knocking Kings with regards to quality...

Kings is OEM supplier to DMS and MCA, and a vast majority of race teams in this country. Their springs have won the last 4 Australian Rally Championships, as well as countless V8 Supercar Championships. They've also been used in the WRC by teams that have European spring manufacturers ALOT closer to home (ala Eibach)... Their street stuff generally gets knocked because people don't fit shocks capable of controlling a proper performance spring.

You'll never find someone winge about their Kings/Bilstein setup, but plenty of people bag out Kings when they fit them to Monroe/Pedders/Ultima's etc... Where Eibach is streaks and streaks ahead is purely and simply R&D into road specific applications using road specific shocks, particularly European gear.

There's a certain former world rally champion (from this decade ;)), who never liked progressive rate springs his whole career, but was persuaded by his Aussie team made who had previously worked with DMS (which use King springs) with his Prodrive Group N Subaru, and now said certain former world rally champion has changed his tune. Mark [King] reckons the coils they rolled to SWRT's specs were the hardest coils they've ever made...

I'm 100% behind Eibach over Kings in the Opel gear, but be careful how you view them as a spring manufacturer, as there's a reason why they're the largest spring manufacturer in the southern hemisphere, and supplier of springs to European based race teams! ;)

[CNBLU]

Told you to buy my coilovers :lol:

[hadukn88]

Told you to buy my coilovers :lol:

lol i know, oh well, their only temp until i have more money =D

Or might be upgrading next year to a XR6T/HSV GTS/EVO 8 or 9

[hazrd]

Gts ftw :)

[gslrallysport]

Gts ftw :)
Until you need to mortgage your kids, your house, your left testicle, your superannuation, to then go put it on all red on the roulette wheel, in the hope that you win and can finally afford to replace the MRC shocks when they fk out... :p

I priced them for a customer through our genuine Holden account (and was just going to pass it on at cost), and for the full set would've cost more than my first two rally cars...

... put together! :eek:







* Although that probably says more about my first two rally cars than it does about the shocks! :o