Koni TAs and H&Rs

[monVR6 0]

Am loving the new set-up fitted by Stealth recently - more comfortable ride and I can get over the local speed-humps at last.

 

Anyway - may adjust the Konis, what settings do people find best and how does a difference front to rear affect the handling - ie do stiffer rears lead to oversteer etc? I haven't changed it since it was set by Stealth - but not sure what they set it at.

 

Cheers

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Vince always sets the rears to half turn and the fronts to 1.5 turns (from full soft). I've not been able to find a better setting, personally, for everyday use so I left them at that in the end.

 

Defo want the rears softer than the front mate!

[DaveVR6 0]

what are H&Rs??

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The Springs. http://www.hrsprings.com

 

It's an American site (despite being German) but you should get the idea....

[DaveVR6 0]

ahh i see, excuse my ignorance, but are the differences between that setup and e.g. konigsport coilovers?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The Konigsports ride like the above setup imo, slightly stiffer but not harsh. The above setup is a normal one, i.e. not ride height adjustable coilovers.

 

Cost is about £450ish for the dampers and springs and is pretty much one of the best non-coilover setup around for comfort whilst still handling well.

[DaveVR6 0]

the advantage of coilovers is that there is more room for bigger/wider wheels??

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Sometimes less room as the rear spring sometimes rubs on the tyre as it's lower down in the arch than a normal setup (depending on how high you set them), but wheel spacers get round that.

 

Coilovers allow you to fine tune the ride height of the car to your personal preferences. It's a very subjective topic. Coilovers used to be really hard and unforgiving, but in recent years they've come a long way and there are some good, affordable kits out there.

 

The other advantage of coilovers is that no matter where you set the spring, the damper still has the same amount of travel, unlike on a normal setup where you have to shorten the damper rod aswell if you shorten the spring.

 

Given than good coilovers are now the same, if not cheaper than a good normal setup, I'd go for coilovers if you want more control over the ride height.

[DaveVR6 0]

I think i do, as im looking at some merc monoblocks (even tho there 112 PCD) seen 25mm spacers but still think itd be really tight...

[DaveVR6 0]

Sorry to have totally hijacked this thread as well! oops :$

[lukeage 0]

 

Cost is about £450ish for the dampers and springs and is pretty much one of the best non-coilover setup around for comfort whilst still handling well.

 

Kev - does that price include the fit as well, i can see how this will make a big diff and im pretty keen, just not sure wether to have vince set it up, or have a go myself.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That's plus the fitting mate. But to be honest, fitting them yourself is a peice of cake, especially the rears. Just beg/borrow/steal some spring compressors to dismantle the fronts for the TMs (or buy new uns - and new collars/nuts for the front) and the rest you can do by hand.

 

To make sure you get the camber at least usable until you can get it done properly, with it jacked up, take the wheel off and use a spirit level to determine the camber of the disc, mark the spirit level accordingly where the bubble sits, then just set it the same afterwards..... I did exactly that when I fitted my H&Rs and it was still in spec on the 4 wheel jig!

[Neil L. 0]

Just a quick question here - Kev your C always looked lower than mine on H&R's/Konis. I used the early type TM,s for the front etc. As the Konis are not height adj. ,how the hell did u get it to look that low compared to mine?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

My Sig pic is with H&R coilovers set to about -55mm roughly. When I had Konis/H&Rs freshly fitted, they looked like the attached pic. After 3 years of settling (the H&Rs take ages to settle) and with lowering caps, the car dropped another 15mm or so.

[Neil L. 0]

"Lowering Caps"?? Where can i get these from? For front & back? How much? Cheers!

[ben16v 0]

venom JOM ones are about £20 i think, only 10-15mm difference but i think i`m gonna get some too

 

ben

[Trig 0]

This is what i'm saving up for... what else do I need to budget for? bushes, topmounts..?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah I used the JOM ones, £20ish from Venom. Yeah they only drop 10 or 15mm, which doesn't really close the gap between arch and tyre much visually, but it does physically bring the whole car down a bit. You will also need to knock the rear koni height adjustment circlips down 1 notch on the driver's side and 2 notches on the passenger side. This is because the driver's side sags slightly due the engine weight, so the above procedure levels the car off.

 

After 2 years or so, the ride will drop a little more :-)

 

Triggermyson, yeah get new TMs (about £45 all in front and rear), and new bumpstops. You will need to trim the rear bumpstops 35mm, or maybe 40 if you drop the circlips down. Front bumpstops can be MK4 ones are the OE ones trimmed, your choice.

[JimSTORM 0]

How does anyone rate the wietec setups if someones used them. i have them on my storm. but cant give my opinion as i have yet to drive it! :shock:

[Neil L. 0]

Cheers Kev & all!