On my continuing quest to try every single suspension system for the coupe and pay for my bank managers villa in the Bahamas I've just had a phone call from Kev at Apex Performance about a coilover kit for the coupe.

Now before I get started about the proposed coilover kit I'd want to give you the low down on the major problems with coilovers.
On a normal coilover strut as you adjust the height of the car on the spring seat you are doing two things.

1. Your adjusting the pre-load on the spring.
2. Your altering the amount of travel the damper has available.

I'm sure all owners with coilovers will admit, lower the height and the car gets a pain to drive as bounces off the bumpstops or becomes very crashy because its actually driving on the bumpstops.

Look at a Subaru or Performance Nissan's coilover strut and you'll see a difference, the hub mounting can be moved up and down the damper body on a screw thread in a similar way that the spring seat can be moved up and down to adjust the ride height. What this enables is the ride height to be adjusted without altering the travel or pre-load on the suspension, it is the ultimate solution really for the coupe as it suffers very badly from a lack of travel when its lowered.

What Apex are planning is:

A fully adjustable front coilover (adjustable in height and damping).
A front camber adjustable alloy top mount.
The rear suspension is yet to be confirmed, I will send photo's off to Apex so they can decide on the best solution although its quite limited with our separate spring and damper trailing arm setup.

Apex Coilover

Some info from the gtir forum on a kit being developed for them.

I'm going to send some bits and photos off to Apex when I get them sorted.

Suspension kit No 6 here we come

I'd be interested Jimbo.

Ross

The D2 coilover kit already does all this...

Ok Ross, it will be a while yet though, probably 3 months after giving them some standard stuff to work off.


Pretender,

Had a look at the D2 stuff, they don't list a coupe but the design is the same for height adjustment at the hub.

D2 = K-Sport

Is this quest based on some form of OCD or are you unsatisfied with the Leda kit you have?

Purely OCD Matt, the Leda's are good but if I can find something that works better and especially works well when the car is low (the Leda's run out of travel too) then what the hell.

D2 = K-Sport = Apex

Don't take this the wrong way, but Jimbo you're a nutter.

First dibs on your Leda's though.

You now have my full attention!

Jimbo, you are truly nuts....

I gave up messing about with my hybrid arrangement, thing you have to remember, that it will always be a tall order to keep some suspension travel, as the design of the wheel arches, especially the front of the coop is pathetic, even on a standard one, at full lock, the wheel almost hits the liner, then lowering it another 40mm, does it no favours, plus the fact we us an old macpherson setup makes things even worse = major camber probs

Apex gear looks ok, however we will always struggle to have that OE ride quality as soon as you lower it

i.m interested to see what they come up with, as My LEDA gear all needs a recon & replate

Yep, me too.

i'd be interested if it out performs my current Koni/Leda setup

As been said before the only differenses between D2, ksport, apex, megan etc is the colour and price. They are all made in the same factory and they are all listed for the coupe. Altough not every reteller have them in their lists. I woud go for the cheapest one. They can all make them with any springrate you want if the seller isn't to lazy and it shouldn't cost anything extra. At least it doesn't in Sweden.

My Koni's are dead (well being on the car for 120K km)
Would any of these D2-Ksport-Apex work on the 16vt? Are the front suspension mounts/macphersons different to the 20vt?

V.

Yes they list the coupe but they don't have a kit made up yet, this was the phone conversation I had today, a kit will be developed, thoroughly tested with a choice of comfy road, fast road and race springs.

as you can imagine very interested........even tho` I just bought a brand new set of bilstiens ..............TODAY !!

D2 kit fitted to my coop... they do camber adjustment and i think the way they're built is what you're looking for..

http://www.softss.com/pretender/coupele/pecas/27.jpg

http://www.softss.com/pretender/coupele/pecas/28.jpg

Pic from the site

http://www.softss.com/pretender/coupele/pecas/coiloverpicture.jpg

Jimbo - have you ever considered externally controlled damping?

Tein do a kit that allows electronic control of the damping adjustment via a console in the car

It would be great for keeping the ride supple for everyday use, but then able to flick a switch or turn a dial and firm it up for a bit of B-road fun

The apex kit is very popoular on the sxoc. Apex provide 4 different spring rates from comfort to very rigid for drifting. They are much cheaper than the equivalent teins etc, but seem to work as well going on the reviews.

I'm very interested in this development.

Tein EDC is very good, its just motors mounted on the top of the strut so it could be easy to replicate.

Ok, just back from sunny Basra. I'll get the photo's of the rear sorted later today and call Carl for some standard dampers and springs.

Nigel,
In car adjustment sounds nice but probably not workable on the coupe, our separate damper/spring rear with the damper mounted in the rear subframe makes it almost impossible, all those Jap cars that run in car adjustment have a rear coilover that mounts into the chassis of the car

Pretender,
Its hard to make out from your pictures but where is the damping adjustment on yours ?
They look very nice though

Vas,
If the bolt spacing for the hub is the same on the 16vt as it is on the 20vt then they will fit.

Oh no not again Jimbo. Actually i still haven't heard back from Leda regarding my rears.

Front's with the top mount are definately the way to go.

Hey Marco,

Since Leda reformed their customer service has unfortunately gone to pot, I've been trying for nearly a year to get mine cut slightly shorter but no joy with them.

If your interested Marco this kit should be available in 3 styles, comfy road, fast road and race, the latter you'd be interested in I'm sure and I'm also quite sure you'd be handy to help them develop a track spring rate.

An extract from Apex's web site has a write up on the comfy road coilover kit.

S13 Apex Gen2 5/4 Comfy coilover kit £595.00


We have moved onto the latest generation Apex coilovers and have now released the Gen2 units. These run larger diameter damper bodies in comparison to the Gen1s, they have a greater range of damping adjustment, they run rubber rear top mounts for quieter operation, the run revised low speed damping to give greater low speed comfort and they have a bearing mounted front top spring platform to prevent the spring from binding.

32 way damping adjustable, height adjustable through altering the length of the shock body, spring preload adjustable through the spring platform, front and rear rose jointed alloy mounts and front camber adjustable top mounts.These kits offer absolutely fantastic value for money with all the features of coilover kits costing twice the price.

These Comfy 5/4kg.mm units were designed as an upgrade over the original equipment that will improve the cars handling but without killing the quality of the ride. These will still provide a very significant improvement in body control in comparison to the original units but still retain day to day usability on all but the bumpiest of back roads. Much like the Tein Flex and Nismo S Tune. The downside of the softer spring rates (compared to 8/6 etc) is that the car will reach a sigificant attitude of lean under hard cornering on track which makes uprated anti roll bars a superb partner as the roll bars provide the lean control but the Comfys give the suppleness of ride. You get the best of both worlds.

Fast Road

This kit is for the fast road guys who want to shift the balance more towards performance with a little detriment to ride quality.Reasonable for road use but with that extra edge on track.

Race,are for the more hardcore road driver or for the more track orientated car.They are ideal for general track and drift work but at the detriment of a lot of suppleness on bumpy roads.




Obviously thats the write up on the Nissan so ignore rose jointed rear top mounts, etc but you get the picture.

Maybe that I could organize a group buy with D2- coilovers?!
They look really great and have a lot of wonderful features regarding individual adjustments compared to competitors
Is there any interest???
The target price should be << 600 GBP incl. VAT?

Juergen

Juergen,

This kit is going to be developed for use on UK roads that unfortunately aren't anywhere near as good as European roads

That price is similar to the Apex price but Kev @ Apex said we would get a 20% discount for the initial group buy so this would be a better spec'd kit (for a UK coupe or coupes that live in areas with poor roads) for a better price.

PM replied to mate and yes i'm all for it.

Hi,

Some of you who have posted may remember me, I'm thinking Nigel and Begbie - hello. I've met a few others on the board too.

I used to be events organiser for the SXOC, and did some joint events with you guys which were nice

I now work for Apex Performance, and am keen to sort you guys some of our coilovers as I'm sure you will love them.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

Just to say the development process isnt that fast, but please be assured we are working hard in the background.

These units will be designed for use in the UK, unlike many of the units that do not cope as well with the bumpy UK roads, but will also work very well on track.

I'm well up for this - I think the Osrav / Koni setup I bought from Jimbo a couple of years back is now less relevant to the state of the rest of my car - I need everyday suppleness and comfort with the ability to hoon around on track with a couple of easy adjustments.

I'm particularly interested in the adjustable top mount for camber adjustment.

Any chance these will be ready by summer?

I'll call Kev next week and see where we are, he did say is quite a slow development but lets see.

Any update on this?