Steeda Adjustable Coilover suspension tuning

[G.T]

Those of you running the Steeda adjustable coilover suspension
what springs rates have you picked, and what did you set the tokico shocks/struts to?
it'd be nice to know the weight of your car too, to better judge the spring rating..

starting with me.. i got 225lb springs all around, and i absolutely hate the rear..
car tends to bounce and jump over every road imperfection regardless how soft/hard i set the shocks.
i'll be weighing the car soon on all 4 corners and look into swapping out the rear springs

 

[stang389]

i know this isnt steeda coilovers but i have h&r club sports with 580front and 530 rears i believe and they are unbelievable, they are very predictable rids a lil rough but way better than my eibach pro kit!

 

[G.T]

it would be hard to compare those.. but i can see you have a lower rate spring in the back, which i think i should have too.

thing with the Steeda coilovers is they're based on Tokico shocks with adjustable stiffness, and that's a parameter that i really want to dial in

 

[Sam Strano]

225 rears? Wow, that's up there for having 225 fronts. I think that's your issue, but then you don't mention where you have your shocks set or what your ride height is.

 

[G.T]

well back when those first came out a few years back, i was advised to go 200-250 all around (on a thread here if i remember correctly).. i didn't think much of it thinking the adjustable tokico shocks can compensate.. and i went in between for 225lb all around

anyway, i realize 225lb in the rear is an overkill, but i wanna do it right and do it once.. don't feel like trying out every combination out there

 

[stang389]

what is you goal with the car?

 

[G.T]

what is you goal with the car?

a daily driver/weekend racer that doesn't shake my fillings out every time i drive over a pebble!

i also have the steeda front/rear swaybars with the HD rear endlinks and the adjustable front links
BMR non adjustable LCA with poly bushings, Relocation brakcet, and CHE K-member brace with torque limiters, etc..

i like the way the car handles around bends.. i just don't like the straight line performance, especially since the bumpy rear suspension doesn't let the car plant the rear down

 

[Kaldar142]

How low is your car?

 

[G.T]

about 1" on the front, 1.5" on the back... nothing extreme
i can measure it precisely if you want me to (provided you tell me whether to measure the gap between the wheel and fender, or fender and the ground, etc)

edit: on and you can see it in my sig

 

[stang389]

go with h@r race springs! they are awesome and tokico d specs

 

[G.T]

go with h@r race springs! they are awesome and tokico d specs

i already got a couple thousand dollars worth of steeda suspension installed with the tokico based adjustable coilover shocks and struts.
i'm happy to change the springs.. but not the whole thing!

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I've got a slightly different setup, with AST dampers, but I'm running 350 up front, and 300 in the rear, and it's a dream on track. Not so much on the street, but the car is set up pretty aggressively. Ride height is 28-1/4" from ground to fender lip, with 275/35-18 tires.

As an aside, you won't believe the difference corner-weighting the car will make! Just being able to pull 1.4G in BOTH directions is a treat, but then you realize that you just shaved about a half-second a lap...

 

[G.T]

i need to figure out how to make sense of your 350/300 and stang389's 580/530 spring rates.
seeing that my steeda (hypercoil) springs are 225lb.. i'm just a tad confused now

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I know it'll cost a mint, but call Sam. He'll get you straightened out, if anybody can. It's not all about spring rate, it's about how the dampers control the spring rate. When all are matched, then life is good. Yes, higher rate springs will result in a stiffer ride, but if the dampers are able to control them, then it's not all that bad. My dampers are rebound-adjustable only, and so I had to determine what kind of compression characteristics I wanted. I just told Sam that I wanted a race-oriented setup, but one that can be driven on the street on occasion, like to/from the track, and he delivered. In spades!

FWIW, going from D-Spec dampers and BMR springs to AST and Hypercoil linear was worth about six seconds a lap on a 1.9 mile track! The difference needs to be felt to be appreciated.

 

[G.T]

who's sam? and you reckon he'd be happy to share some tips over the phone for a fee, given that i'm overseas?

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Sam Strano. He's a regular contributor here, all-around good guy, and multiple F-stock national champion with S197 chassis... I think he'd be happy to help.

www.stranoparts.com814-849-3450

The cost inference was directed more towards the phone bill than anything else!

 

[G.T]

will ring him up today.. thanks!

meanwhile if anyone else is running this setup and is happy with it.. please chime in with details

 

[Sam Strano]

go with h@r race springs! they are awesome and tokico d specs

I had a set of H&R Race springs... I hated them for street use. Handled well, but there are other things that give a nice balance but drive much better.

 

[Sam Strano]

You are finding out that ride is subjective. What someone thinks is fine, someone else might absolutely hate. I think you have a combination of too much spring rate for your taste and too little ride height. It might also be possible one or more of the shocks aren't up to snuff (that's one of the issues with D-specs not the best built things ever). That's an outside chance, but seeing as the shocks settings don't seem to matter I have to wonder if they are working properly.

 

[Rubrignitz]

I was discussing the addition of steedas adjustable rear setup on my car with sam the other day and checked steedas website. They have 163# and 175# rears listed. 225 seems a bit much IMO.

As for the d-specs I can't seem to find a happy medium with them for street use. They may be fine for the track but for for street use I can either get the compression damping set so the ride isn't harsh but then rebound suffers and the car bounces too much for my liking. When I get the rebound where I want it, the compression is too high and ride suffers. With the compression and rebound changed together it sucks. I'm beginning to hate them.

I need some Koni's asap.