hiya guys, jus wondering who has the best handling coupe and what have they done? as my coupe's suspention has started knocking and whilst doing that i might as well do the rest.

cheers

There are a few contenders for best handling Coupe

Jimbo has spent a lifetime and more than a few quid getting a Coupe to handle right AND ride well.

DrFrag probably has the sharpest steering Coupe, with adjustable camber and good suspension

Mine is pretty good - very neutral, even at beserk speeds, but still handy round the twisties.

In order of things to do to sort the handling:

Good tyres (obvious really, but surprising how many people spend good money on suspension and little on tyres)
Strut brace
new wishbones
new shocks
new (lowered) springs
uprated anti-roll bars
adjustable camber
lower subframe brace
lighter wheels

I have almost all the above, and I use the car for 30,000+ miles a year AND the occasional competition or trackday.

Just as a footnote though - a good seat can transform the FEELING of a car's handling. Its not just down to outright grip, its down to knowing what the car is doing underneath you, and the standard leather seats just don't transmit anything to the driver's ar$e.

Mine goes ok although I really need to get a decent seat as Nigel says because I'm too busy bracing myself against the door and wheel to feel what the car is doing properly.

Well the handling aspect depends on how hard you push it! The coop is nose heavy and prone to understeer which gets more pronounced on the limit. My setup includes:

Coilovers
- adjustable height (lowered 30mm)
- adjustable camber (currently -1.2)
24mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar
Polyurethane Bushes (wishbones)
10mm Spacers (front & back)
Strutbrace
Dunlop Semi-Slick Track Tyres

On the road it's very sharp and you won't get anywhere near the limit, you simply can't. It could do with a little more dampening on the bumpier roads but overall it's a very good package.

On the track, well it's a vast improvement but it's still not 100%. Yesterday at Combe the first couple of sessions I had very little understeer with a good amount of rear wheel steering but the final session in the afternoon was giving horrible understeer. This is probably down to the speed of the car coming into the corners but it's very frustrating to find the natural limit is holding the car back a fair bit.

hmm interesting. I duno if i wanna go as far as anti-roll bars just yet, so far i have:

eagle f1 17" tyres
beilstein lowered suspention (think it fccuked)
10mm spacers
strutbrace

and thats all as far as i know anyway.
so how much do you recon wishbone, shocks, camber and springs will cost all in?

I would have to agree. Since i've changed my seats, you can kinda FEEL what the car is doing on corners, more through the seat than through the steering.

ross

What suspension are you using Flea??

FK coilovers with 80nm springs. I'm thinking of changing to the Koni inserts and 100nm springs to see if that can help give that extra 10%.

Try just the Koni insert first Leighton, going stiffer on the springs just brings understeer on sooner

I'll pick your brains via pm Jimbo

How much are the lower subframe braces btw?

And are they easy to fit

Still dont know wether i want to fit my uprated rear ARB

Flea I wouldn't waste your time with the Koni inserts. Not enough compression damping IMO. No amount of adjusmtment to the rebound damping will overcome the 80nM spring issues. I've been there.

Your limited for options though Cosmo unless you willing to spend big bucks, KW and FK both use the same Koni insert. Maybe worth asking KW what rate spring they use as I've never read a bad report on their dampers.
Im using 87Nm springs at the moment with no problems.