Suspension questions

[Brocz]

OK, I am taking the chance of getting flamed here, but I gotta know. Can someone explain the difference between springs, shocks and coilovers?

My guess is that springs and shocks are seperate entities, in other words, I could buy new springs but not new shocks, and new shocks, but not new springs. Such as buying Eibach Pro springs and using my factory shocks, correct?

Or, I could buy Bilstein shocks and keep my factory springs. The confusion for me is where coilovers come into play. I am guessing that coilovers are both the spring and shock in one unit, is this correct?

If all of the above is correct, what is the advantage of either of the setups? Coilovers seem to cost more, but I could be wrong.

I am trying to figure this out because my 95 has what I presume to be the original shocks and springs and because the car is 10 years old and has 63k miles on it, I think it may be time to get new stuff.

Can anyone recommend a good setup for someone who is NOT going to track the car, and wants a tighter ride but don't want to wreck my kidneys?

Sorry for being a novice, but I could use some help.

 

[mystican]

zanardi suspension or bilsteins or NSX type S from SOS

 

[D'Ecosse]

There's nothing wrong with asking questions to improve your understanding.
The terms are somewhat intuitive - the "spring" is literally that - a coil wound steel spring; shox are Shock absorbers - these control the compression & rebound damping of the natural motion of a spring to want to oscillate (without damping, think of how your car would just bounce up & down repeatedly every time it went over a bump). A shock is normally a tube with a piston inside - think of a bicycle pump, very similar in design.
Actually, all applicable suspensions for the NSX are "coilover"; what is really meant by that is that the spiring is a coil type mounted over (or concentrically) the shock. However in common speak, a coilover is usually a combined matched kit of spring & shock & typically is multi-way adjustable. Coil-overs also are typically height adjustable with that ability via a threaded tube design that allows the length to be different, without changing the spring pre-load compression on the perch.

You summized your choices quite well - replace either shocks or springs or both. If you want a fixed height change, then you can either select a Bilstein shock with either stock or "lowering" springs (Eibach, H & R, Tein etc). The Bilstein has two "perch" (spring mounting pedestal) heights which allow a drop even with the stock springs; the other springs are all already shorter & can be used with the OEM shock or the "std" shock perch height on the Bilstein to achieve a lowered effect. Bilsteins are like OEM shocks in that they have no damping adjustments - you get what has been designed by the manufacturer. Alternatively you can have a more tunable shock like a Koni which has adjustable damping - the height is similar to stock but again you can lower with one of the spring choices mentioned earlier.
Full coilovers give you an incredible range of tuning for performance a well as relatively infinite (within the scope of normalcy) height adjustment, compared to the fixed one-only height of the other options. But it is for the performance aspect that they are really valued - however honestly most just install because of the "cool" cosmetic factor & to get a custom height setting.

 

[MJK]

^ He's right, great explanation there.


As for stiffer but not too stiff, the basic idea is to get springs to the stiffness you want and then match the dampers/shocks to them. Coilover sets are already matched (sometimes with varying options). Discounting coilovers, the stiffness progression for springs goes something like this:
OEM (L) -> Eibach (P)-> Dali (P) -> New type S (P) -> Zanardi (L)-> Type R (P)
L is Linear, P is progressive. Progressives feel softer initially, then firm with compression.

For dampers:
OEM (F) -> Bilstein (F) -> Koni (A) -> Zanardi (F) -> R (F)
F is fixed damping rate, A is adjustable. Bilsteins have to heights/perches to chose from and all others listed have 1.

The idea is to match the dampers to the stiffness of the springs you chose. The combos most often seen are:

OEM - with OEM or Bilstein (just like OEM)
Eibach - Bilstein or OEM (just a little firmer)
Dali -> Bilstein (firm street)
New type S -> Bundled type S damper (street/track)
Zanardi -> Bundled type Z damper or Koni (mildly trackish)
Type R (P) - Bundled R damper (very trackish)

This is very simplistic, and I did not include height adjustment or coilvers at all. In the non-coilover world, you can get height lowering with springs (varied) or with Bilsteins (b/c of the 2 perches). Keep in mind, this is very general, probably not entirely accurate, and did not take into account height drop (b/c I did not really care about it). If you change ride height, get the car re-aligned.

FWIW, I have Zanardi/Koni and am very pleased. IMO, this is about as stiff as you want on the street.

 

[Brocz]

Very good stuff, thank you for the education. I had been planning on an Eibach/Bilstein combo. I don't care about the bling factor or adjustability of coilovers, so buying the spring/shock combo is my plan.

I certainly appreciate the help, if anyone else would like to chime on what they have done, please do. I would like to see what others are doing and what kind of ride quality they are getting.

Keep the info coming.

 

[MCM]

I have ran Koni's on 4 different cars now with great results on each.
Vette, Mustang, BMW, NSX. (Sway bars, Koni's, Springs)
2 of which had Eibach springs (NSX & BMW). The Eibach / Koni combo works for me! Highly recommended. :biggrin:

 

[NSX-Racer]

Although the explanation of White94 is quite right I have to give you a little warning about Bilsteins and Eibachs (I now have both on lower perch on my track rat): This combination is of course streetable but noticeable stiffer than the stock suspension especialy when you drive over bumps. Even the Bilsteins with stock springs (the combo I had previously) may be enough for your needs.

When you want to reduce body roll in corners you should think about anti-sway-bars which are available in different stiffness and are mostly adjustable. These don't make the ride much stiffer as long as both wheel pairs (right/left) go over a bump at the same time.

Some may not believe but I'm very satisfied with the combo Bilstein/Eibach/track sway bars for my (greatly weight reduced, that plays also a big role in a suspension setup) track only car. It works with race slicks on dry as well as with rain race tires or street tires on wet - without having to adjust anything. The downside is that I have a bit too much brake diving with slicks but that won't be a issue for you.