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Hi All, need some advice on suspension!


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Hi All

I am proposing new suspension for my starlet and wanted to know what ideas you have.

The options I thought of are:

Lowering Springs alone using standard shocks with either:

Apex Lowering Springs

Pi Lowering Springs

TTE Lowering Springs (do these go any lower that 25 mm?)

Eibachs (they are dearer tho)

Shocks & Aftermarket Springs:

Apex Suspension Kit

KYB Shocks

Bilstein Adjustables

Koni Adjustables

Please bear in mind that my car is not for track use, so she may not need coilovers but the ones I have been looking at are:

D2s

Tein

TRDs

Jic

I have a medium budget £300ish so couldnt really afford d2s or teins, my main idea is to either use lowering springs that are safe enough to use on standard shocks or some uprated/gas shocks and lowering springs.

Standard suspension at the moment is fine for normal driving, but of course for the look, getting here lowered by 35mm40mm safely is my desired result as my car is sitting quite high after the low profile tires and alloys were fitted.

Any info would be great people ;b

Cheers

From Joz

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Well i have been running the apex springs with uprated kyb shocks, which cost me under £200 and i have no complaints, the car maybe doesn't sit as low as the PI springs but it still handles aswell. On a budget this setup is fine. Just upgrade the shocks at the same time as i've heard they burst over time with lowering springs.

Peace.

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My opinion cause if you just change springs your shocks will soon fail i would go for koni yellow adjustables with H&R or eibach springs 3.5cm lowering both. I am currently running koni and H&R and i believe its a very good combination however the price should around 600euros a little bit over your budget however it should be one of the best choice apart from coilovers of course. I have also heard good stuff about kayaba agx but dont have personal experience so i cant say something for sure

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Hi All

I know this topic has been discussed much before but thanks for taking the time to go over it again ;b

Yea, I totally believe you when you say that just sticking lowering springs on will eventually kill your stock shocks ;b It woudl save u money but after a few wild rides problems will surely start to occur.

Yea it is a little budget I got, with all the strut braces and other goodies on the horizon too (get them in a few months time), a car is not cheap to run nowadays but it sure is fun ;b I had a nosy on the net but couldnt find anywhere decent in the UK that does decent prices for front/rear Strut/Sway Bars, caster kits and hosing kits, any directions would be welcome ;b

I had an idea of KYB shocks (there are a few types) I think this is the shock to go for on a budget, unfortunately they are not adjustable but they will do the job much better than stock I believe. I did pm someone from the KYB topic posted before, but no word from them yet, but they got their kyb set for £150, a cool price I would say, so anyone in N.I or UK know a good place to hook up some Kybs for the ep91 starlet, at a better price than Fensport u know who to pm or post here;b

Also Koni adjustables would be a very big possibilty as they would benefit me more, so people with Konis, plese let me know more about them, if I saved a little longer.. ;b, anyone know where the best deals on Koni Adjustables are? Also can you take them off your old car and put them on your new car, or would they be knackered?

And of course lowering springs, either Apex, Pi or TTE Lowering springs. Fensport springs anybody? If anyone can recommend any of these springs or have anything bad to say about them plz holla ;b Also I was thinking do TTE Springs only go 25mm lowered whereas Apex can go 35-40mm, what I mean is in that situation Apex would give me more bang for buck or would TTE be more quality becuase they are made by Eibach? Plz confirm this someone ;b it would be much appreciated! What would you go for, if you still had stock springs?

OK Phil, after hearing yours and Shelly's experiences with GMax springs, I will not be touching them with a bargepole ;b!

I like the idea of the D2s, as well as looking snazzy, they would be awesome I am sure, but as my car is standard I dont have much to brag about having not experienced any handling improvements/uncomfort yet.

I noticed today, the starlet is ok on smooth or so so roads, but when you get to some town where it has really winedy (i can spell, but windy would sound like its the weather) roads and loads going on it kinda sucked, so I am looking forward to improving the handling a little on a small budget. Of course it does depend on driving skills too, but the stock handling is far too light, like some people say, its like a kid on a shopping trolley ;b

Thanks for reading All.

Looking forward to some useful info soon ;b

& Soz for another awesome essay lol but this is the technical area so get technical ;b!

Peace Out

From Joz

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hay dude,

welcome to the club man!!

My opinion cause if you just change springs your shocks will soon fail i would go for koni yellow adjustables with H&R or eibach springs 3.5cm lowering both. I am currently running koni and H&R and i believe its a very good combination however the price should around 600euros a little bit over your budget however it should be one of the best choice apart from coilovers of course. I have also heard good stuff about kayaba agx but dont have personal experience so i cant say something for sure

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i totaly agree with what your saying there,

in regards to springs pay particular close attention to the spring rates if you can,

this is something that does not get mentioned enuf, the harder the rates the ruffer the ride, not necisarily good,

id stear clear of the non adjustable kybs,

i went thought a few sets with my pi springs, they are basicaly a standard shox thats about it,

in responce on springs, pi's are notorius for sagging with age, not necisarily a bad thing but think before you buy,

like potge said eiback to make some quality lowering springs that are not overly firms as the spring rates are next to standard,

i would also recomend koni yellows as well as kyb gr2s,

both of these shox are adjustable for you to find a happy meadeum..

@potge

do you have any pics of your starlet, have noticed you have been on uksc scince almost the start but have never seen any pickys of your ep joy!!!

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Spring rates as Enzo said are important but to be honest i believe that most companies-correct me if wrong- (at least from what i have seen) produce one spring and most are similar in spring rates so doesnt need to worry (much) about it(one more time coilovers are excluded). However yes they are extremely important. Just an interesting bit of information i learned from a discussion with a friend the NEW H&Rs (dont know exact year certainly after 2003) are RED and softer than the old that were BLACK.

@Enzo no i dont. i just dont think its something special but i may upload some photos. aaa and check your pm

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