Hi all,
I want to sort the ride out looking for a 50/50 mix between comfort and improved handling.

Any advice welcomed.

Well....

You could change all your standard components, that makes a massive difference!

Or

Standard shocks with eibach springs

Or

Up rated shocks with standard springs

What do you want to achieve from doing this?

A set of Eibach anti-roll bars, polyurethane bushed wishbones and new standard dampers and springs all round.

That will give you standard comfort, less body roll and more precise steering.

I'd say make sure all you basics are sorted first;
Wishbones, bushes, top mounts, droplinks,tracking etc.
Good tyres are a must.

Then ;
(In my order of preference)
Top brace
Lower brace
Good shocks (Osravs on mine)
Uprated rear arb (whiteline 22 on mine)
Camber bolts.

Add into the mix uprated springs if your ok with the ride.
I'm just about to fit some to see if i can live with them.

Plus I'd say for "real world" on road pace Good Brakes should not be overlooked.

Happy days

Thanks all for your input. Just got to fill up the piggy bank.

Looking at your profile it looks like you've got a 97 20vt which didn't have top strut brace as standard.
Check if one has been fitted already.
If not, this cheap first step will suprise you with it's effect.
Back it up with one of Nigels lower braces and you'll have great improvements for little money.

P.S my list was fitted over time (not all at once) as my wife funds allowed.

Upper and lower strut braces make a lot of difference to the handling of the car. They dial out loads of understeer.

But the greatest effect will come from the classic Eibach/Bilstein combo. (and remember to cut the bumpstops! )

like Jimbo and sandytim etc said:

For comfort/performance i would check all wishbones,drop links,topmonts std springs etc are in good order/replaced.
Then add:
bilstien dampers/osrav dampers.
front and rear anti roll bars.
lower and upper strut braces.
camber bolts.(1 deg negative)

Just a point worth noting - Osravs appear to produce negative camber without camber bolts - my car is showing around -1.25 degrees with the standard bolts

Is that to do with the lower eibachs?

Only partly - any amount of lowering will increase camber slightly, but on the Coupe its minimal, because the wishbone is close to horizontal as standard

However, when I had the Koni front shocks, I needed camber bolts to get the camber to more than minus 1 degree, so it can't be all down to the lowering

I reckon its because the hub mounting holes on the Osravs are very slightly different

I can only "just" get negative camber with camber bolts on the gaz struts.

Really? Standard camber is -0.5 degrees - you might want to try elongating the top slots or perhaps going for custom top mounts

Are you using the standard top mounts? The gaz kit that I helped to develop definately needed aftermarket top mounts!

I am using the supplied increased caster topmounts,maybe its just my camber bolts?
Barbz is going to slot my dampers and use a adjustable washer to give me more camber.

That's a good point, right?
Negative camber 1-2° sharpens the steering, at the expense of straight line stability, and tyre wear?

Yes. Tyre wear does become a reasonably large issue though, especially on road cars where we are largely driving in a straight line.

You need to monitor your inside tyre wear often, ive seen coupe tyres explode (thankfully at lower speeds) due to the thread of the tyre exposing and popping.

This method is good and free to DIY. FK's and KW coilovers come with an elongated top strut hole. Just ensure you use a decent lock nut to tighten the top bolt.

D2 Coilovers.... think there is about 30 odd different comfort/stiffness settings.

Best coilover setup i've saw in a while too!!

D2 coilovers aren't bad (performance-wise), but they aren't durable enough for a British winter - I was advised that I would have to strip and clean them every couple of months if I wanted them to last more than a year - same goes with Gaz and Leda

This is the reason I went for Osrav - pretty much the same cost as D2, but essentially a fit & forget item - no need for stripping and cleaning

Apologise in hijacking this thread, but i am looking at refreshing the suspension too, and one of my main concerns is straight line stability as mentioned further up the thread being the reason why i am doing this.

My car becomes light and a tad twitchey - feels like the car is not touching the road when going round a slight bend on say a motorway around speeds of 90mph (on roads that allow) I am pretty confident it is a standard setup, Can i ask what would cause this? and what i would need to do to combat this / how to diagonose?

Again very sorry Hoban but your answers would be much appreciated!

Many Thanks

Mick

Poor alignment and worn top mounts / drop links / track rod ends / worn dampers / springs / poor tyres.

Unless you are hooning it round the corners that you mention then the standard setup if in good condition should not feel the way that you describe.

Check your rear trailing arm bearings,they can cause the above symptoms when worn.

good shout - forgot that. if you get the alignment checked and you have excessive rear camber, then they will need to be re-built or replaced.

Thanks guys!

And yes suba not hooning it litteraly just pootling along on a motorway, but yes when i get to them speeds it feels like a gust of wind can blow me of track!

I am glad this not a characteristic and something i can fix!

Again many thanks

Mick

I replaced everything on my suspension bar the rear springs for standard parts. CAr now feels well planted even on the M3 M25 slip road bend.

Great Fun

Oh - that nice little bit of road that is good for testing setups!

No problem, glad we have a great forum that helps all.