Tokico's or coilovers for the street?

[ChevyKiller]

I am now in the diet phase of my car and shaving weight. The car is a DD so I am not interested in any of the normal shaving that would alter the DD. i.e. - windows, doors, rear, a/c, radio, etc. etc.

Anyway, I've opted for a tubular k-member and some tubular a-arms. I'm also going with some seats. Heck - the factory seats alone are 200 lbs!

I'm okay with those, but I also was thinking about going with a QA1 shock/strut set up with coilovers up front. My other option is of course the tokicos but I know I'll get much better track performance from the QA1 coilover set-up.

My question is this is still a DD so streetability is key. Will the coilover set-up just make the car too unpredicatble at high speed and turning? Would you run a drag coilover on a street car?

Or would the Tokico's be a better choice? Granted I won't shave much with the tokicos, but I do want the adjustability for dialing in my front set-up for launches.

 

[GT Premi]

I don't get it. The front suspension already is coilover. How would it suddenly become unpredictable just because you changed the struts? There are tons of Stangers that highly recommend the Tokico D-specs. So it would have to get better, not worse.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I don't get it. The front suspension already is coilover. How would it suddenly become unpredictable just because you changed the struts? There are tons of Stangers that highly recommend the Tokico D-specs. So it would have to get better, not worse.

I think he was worried about the handling effects of the QA-1 drag struts, which are an EXTREMELY lightweight 90/10 unit. In my personal opinion, that type of part is borderline "race only," like the Strange brakes. Sure, you can save about 60lbs of unsprung weight by installing the Strange kit, but after about a month of regular driving on them, you'll need to replace the paper-thin rotors, and will more than likely warp them. Additionally, you WILL get brake fade in a hurry. The Strange setup is purpose-designed for ONE quarter-mile blast, followed by a long cool down period before repeating.

I haven't had the Strange kit on my 'stang, but I have had them on previous cars. The QA-1 is built for drag racing, and not for any sort of cornering, and I would be extremely leery of running them on the street.

If you're building a genuine race car, that's one thing. You could probably get away with them if you're building a limited-use cruiser (to/from the local cruise spot and track), but for a car you'll be putting real miles on, the race-designed goodies are just not usable over the long haul.

In my opinion, either go with the D-Specs, or go the complete opposite, and do the Strange brakes, QA-1's, a full 'glas front clip, tube chassis, gut and tub the interior, and build a 7-second 2800lb doorslammer, but don't even THINK of making a run to the grocery store in it...

 

[redbaron66]

Since your car is a DD and is sometimes used at the track, I think you will be far happier overall with the Tokicos. You can fine tune them all the way from super soft to hard as a rock. They have provided me with 60' times in the 1.5's, so they do work at the track.

 

[retfr8flyr]

Mark you could talk to ground pounders about their coil over front setup. They are making a setup with Koni double adjustable fronts. The Tokicos are great but they are only single adjustable and don’t help much for launch. With the double adjustable you can set them 90/10 for the track and back to normal for the street.



Earl