King springs! Advice please!

[FEM]

Hey all,

Just installed some king lows to my little red BG i have here. not to happy with how soft and spongy they are. They dont suit my type of aggressive driving.

Just went over to chicaboo's place and we had a little chat about some spings. I have a look at his little astina his got and it doesnt move a mm! he has eibach and i dont think that they make them for the Bg

basically, i want the hardest springs

tell me what springs are the hardest

Dan

[bourbon]

what shocks you got???

[FEM]

KYB's bud... the excel g i think.

[zappy65]

hehehe i was just at Gav's grabbing the rims...and he told me about you pushing his car.....they dont make eibach for BG's but the best thing to do is research...find the spring with the best no. per kilo for eg... 2mm/kg and then find the one that takes your fansy....

[FEM]

yeah i had a little push on his car.. NO movement the only movement was the tires.. INSANE!

i want some

yeah that is best thing to do i guess.... ill talk to greg from gsl.

ill sell my old ones, who wants em?

dan

[Cosmo Dude]

Why do you want hard springs???
Swaybars, strut braces and shocks have more to do with handling than springs alone.

I have little problems being fast around twisties in the factory standard Demio and have no complaints about ride quality from passengers.

[FEM]

Why? well the kings i think, are bouncy! not my type..

[Cosmo Dude]

Bouncy springs are harder than your shocks can cope with.

[FEM]

what do you mean. i find the kings are a bouncy spring. i have had them on new bmw's and all sorts or cars and nothing changed! im not into bouncing around. i want something that is hard and doesnt bounce..

i guess it is hard to explain

dan

[Cosmo Dude]

On the Mazdas Kings are hard, obnoxious and bouncy unless you have dampers that can reign them in. It isn't that the springs are not hard enough but the shocks are too soft (probably in the rebound).

[FEM]

dude, its the springs. trust me, i have had the equivilant (monroe gt gas) with stock spring and it was firm..

i could be wrong but i doubt it..

dan

[bourbon]

im sorry im with cosmo on this one...springs are more to do with controling ride height...yes the springs play a little bit in spongyness but the shock does it more...you want it stiffer get stiffer shock...

[FEM]

hmmm, what a b!tch..

[FEM]

would it pay to sell the whole lot and get coil overs? what you guys think? i want a car that is firm as all hell on the road, you prolly gathered that by now! hehe

dan

[chicaboo]

Unless you go up to Pedders SportsRyder ($$$!!!) or Tokico HP/Illumina you won't really get much firmer shocks short of coilovers (which I don't think are necessary).

Your suspension is soft compared to mine with a rock test. However on the SP18 I get a quick short well damped bump with no uncontrolled bouncing/floating afterwards. A rock test shows no movement in my suspension, only the sidewalls of the tyres (quite humerous). I have Tokico HP Blues with Eibachs on the SP18, which I find to be my favourite setup along with 15" rims.

I have Tokico HP Bronze with Dobinsons on the Laser, as Eibachs are not available for the KE/BF... The Dobinsons are much softer springs than the Eibachs, and a rock test shows a bit of movement. However on the road they have a similar feel to the SP18's setup, maybe even a little cripser when hitting cats-eyesm etc...

I haven't been for a drive in your car, so I can't elaborate on the bouncing described. But generally if it's a continual floaty bouncing, you need firmer shocks. I'm not very cluey on bump and rebound sorry, but most adjustable shocks won't let you change them independantly of each other anyhow...

Let's get some bumpstops on there before worrying about anything else!!!
Gav.

[bourbon]

ok tinny if you wanna go coil overs it will cost any where between $2,500 and $5,000

[FEM]

Hmm, i know andrew from B3 has got coilovers on his SP20 and i went for a drive and they are SWEEET! good rebound.. hard and harsh, yet forgiving! im sorta getting sh!tty, i just want to get a firm and tort ride. I should have asked for more opinions before jumping into KYB and kings.. shoulda coulda woulda as they say.. ah well.

dan

[chicaboo]

Don't worry about coilovers, I've PM'd him about Koni inserts... The price on those will be around $1100 fitted, but I don't know if that gets you the externally adjustable type? Anyhow, this way he can keep the Kings and let the Koni inserts do all the work. The best thing is that they are revalveable/rebuildable...

Gav.

[FEM]

2.5 - 5k!!! woooha, ok maybe not! so you guys are saying get the old shocks revamped with some inserts.. ? that is like a whole new shock isnt it, not sure i understand fully! help would be good

thanks guys, really appreciate it!!

dan

[chicaboo]

Dan: They basically cut out the cylinder/piston chamber from the old strut leaving the spring pirch and other parafanalia there for mounting. So the moving part is replaced entirely and welded in place of the old, then painted. It's a fair bit of labour, but I think for the price and what you want to achieve, it's possibley the best option for you to pursue. Try and broker a deal for the sale of your almost new KYBs to help finance the work, so you have a buyer when you're ready to put the reconditioned shocks in...

Going to bed now,
Gav.