new coilovers over eibachs?

[mykwikcoupe]

About a year ago I put tokico blues and eibach prokit on the 89 3g and I dont like the way the front sits 3-4 of an inch higher in the front then the rears. I understand that this is for steering and the weight of the engine but Im anal about these things so. I am getting ground controls and the prokit and my question is, should I get the bilstiens or the konis? I do a fair amount of road racing and will do even more when I finish the turbo B20A swap. Which is better and why? If you have first hand experience that would be great. Should i also pay for the extra cost of having them assemble for me? Thanks

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by mykwikcoupe
About a year ago I put tokico blues and eibach prokit on the 89 3g and I dont like the way the front sits 3-4 of an inch higher in the front then the rears. I understand that this is for steering and the weight of the engine but Im anal about these things so. I am getting ground controls and the prokit and my question is, should I get the bilstiens or the konis? I do a fair amount of road racing and will do even more when I finish the turbo B20A swap. Which is better and why? If you have first hand experience that would be great. Should i also pay for the extra cost of having them assemble for me? Thanks

Keep in mind that for some really odd reason, eibach choose's to run absurdly weak rear spring rates, plus I've seen at least 2 memebers with sport lines where they sagged lower than the 1.4" they're supposed to drop.

Do not run Bilstein H.D.'s on a lowered car unless you have them revalved first. I tried them on my car and they do not have enough stiffness for even the softest lowering spring you can get. I pulled them from the car and installed Koni's, problem solved!

When you say your getting ground controls and the prokit, what do you mean?

Since your specifcally mentioned road racing I will say that I would recommend that you run either revalved Koni's or revalved Bilsteins. When I would press my car to 100% max out I could tell that I needed more spring stiffness and more strut stiffness. So I sent off my old (hardly used) Bilsteins to have them revalved to run springs even stiffer than ground controls. I had just wrapped up testing them on my H&R springs and was going to order stiffer ground controls when my car got wrecked. Yes you can run koni's with the GC's, but I've had one member running GC's and another running springs just as stiff tell me they'd like more strut power. Now, you may not be as hard core as us, I dunno. Keep in mind, that if you never mentioned road racing, I would not have done this last paragraph.

Jim C.

[Vanilla Sky]

what kind of spring rate do you reccomend (for any spring) with ultimate handling in mind?

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by Vanilla Sky
what kind of spring rate do you reccomend (for any spring) with ultimate handling in mind?

[opps I accidently screwed up your post above derick, I tried to restore your original words, but poof, sorry about that.]


Well ya'll could go stiffer than this, but my heart and soul told me NOT TO. I planned on going 400lbs front and 325lbs rear. You could also go stiffer in the rear, but I wouldn't.

[Vanilla Sky]

ok, no problem... was prbably hella long anyway... damned ranting... i'll eventually start e-mailing around about stuff... but i'm no good writing emails... i never get my point accross... but eh... i do need to try...

DAMNED RANTING AGAIN... sorry again for the rant

[mykwikcoupe]

what I meant by running the prokit is GC uses eibach springs and they offer them in both the sportline and the prokit. If I order the whole package threw GC will they revalve if I ask or is this something a specialty shop handles? Thanks for the info

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by mykwikcoupe
what I meant by running the prokit is GC uses eibach springs and they offer them in both the sportline and the prokit. If I order the whole package threw GC will they revalve if I ask or is this something a specialty shop handles? Thanks for the info

Ground-Controls only come with eibach ERS springs and are linear not progressive. It would really scare me if they did come with prokits or sportlines, since Eibach choose's really weak rear spring rates on most all their applications, the exact opposite of how the rest of the word tunes a FWD car.

I just read yesterday that ground-control is now a official compleate repair station for Koni. So, yes you can buy the koni's from them and yes they can revalve them. However, speak to Gordon at Koni to pin down the revalve specs. Write down the specs for rebound and compression. Then when dealing with GC's people, have a conversation with whomever deals with Koni revalveing and tell them what Gordon said to use for specs. Tell them what you want to do with the car and get a second opinion. In my mind I'd watch out for GC wanting to stiffen the rear struts over Gordon's advice, but that's speculation on my part.

[mykwikcoupe]

well jim, you sound like youve done this once or twice before. Thanks for the advice. Should i just call GC and ask for gordon or is there an extension or a different line? I feel ki8nda weird calling a place for the first time and askingf for someone else somewhere else. thanks again

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Don't feel weird, the person that answers the phone is used to people asking for gordon. I've called and asked for him several times. If you want when they answer the phone just say you were told to ask for a tech named Gordon. Gordon will need to know the spring rates you want them revalved to, that would be 340lbs front and 250lbs rear for the ground controls.