I bought my G35 and was perfectly content with it until I visited Import Alliance last weekend. I immediately decided to lower the car. I was pretty set on Springs but I love being able to adjust the right height and so on.

My question is, what setup will the best bang for my buck? I've got about $900 bucks to spend, and I'd really like to to stay in that range. I'd like keep some of the ride comfort and lower the car at the same time.

I've tried searching, but I can't find the right keywords to really get the results I've been looking for.

Thanks for all the help!!

 

People are going to suggest BC, Stance, and Function Form, etc. Anything lower price than those are beyond garbage.

Personally I think all the above are garbage and you should save a bit more up and get kw v1/eibach prostreets. A bit of jump in price and you can get real quality coilovers with quality dampners that will give you your height adjustment as well as good handling.

 

Megan Racing I've heard are a good starter set. K-Sports are popular cuz their cheaper I'm not sure as to the quality aspect though.

 

What Xet said. If you want coilovers dont cheap out. All those cheap ones are good for is being "stanced" and hard parking. You gotta pay to play, especially with the G. Consider saving up for something in the $1500-$2000 range, or scour the classy's for a nice set of lightly used ones.

 

Check out Feal Suspension. They have the best coilovers you can put on your rider for under $1500. They punk out other budget brands (PBM, Stance, Fortune, etc..)

 

basically impossible.

major part of ride quality is both suspension frequency and peak and average vertical g's. in terms of suspension frequency, already the g's suspension frequency of 1.3-1.4hz is above what is considered optimal for comfort, about 1hz. when you lower your car you have less bump travel, and so need stiffer springs to prevent bottoming out, and so you have to raise your wheel frequency. or you can not get proper springs and just bottom out all day, but that isn't very comfortable.

to get best ride quality possible, after you select your painfully high spring rate for your ride height, be sure to get really good shocks that are super digressive to get the minimum transmissability possible. http://www.optimumg.com/docs/Springs...Tech_Tip_4.pdf
cheap shocks are basically never digressive. megan is like the cheaper line produced by bor-chuann (who also does bc racing). the few shock dynos of their shocks that exist do not look digressive at all.

you should also stick with rubber bushings. maybe get new ones.

 

Starter Set shouldn't be part of your vocabulary! If you're going to lower your ride, do it right the first time!
PJG35, save your $$ and wait until you have enough to do the job right. The right amount for quality coilovers and a complete camber kit will run you very close to $2500= including alignment. Good Luck!
Gary

 

Save up a little more and get yourself a better quality coilover like Xet said. I think some of your options are Feal, Tanabe, KW, Eibach and there's others. There's a lot of rebranded stuff these days that don't have the quality behind it.

 

False.......O.P it is possible

 

I don't see the point in getting anything beyond $1500 for a G35. It's not like you're doing it to increase performance, because let's face it, the G35 performs like crap no matter what you do to it. The platform just isn't meant to be fast or quick. Let's not even get started on being nimble and maneuverable.

I'm on Stance coils, with upgraded spring rates and it's still perfectly comfortable to me. Although 95/100 people would disagree with me. Depends on your own tolerance. Stance/BC will get you the height adjustment and dampening adjustability that you want. If it's still too harsh for you, keep your car stock.

 

I was going to start a thread asking a similar question, however I think I will just ask it here.

I had my heart set on BCs because of their price...but now I'm hearing they are junk as far as handling and are only good for lowering/looks. Is this actually true? Or are people being snobs?

I think I am going to get fortune auto coilovers as they are similarly priced to BC but are supposedly better and are more performance oriented.

My question is, Do I really need to spend $2K on coils like HKS or KW in order for my car to handle well? I drive my car hard on the street but will probably only see the track once a year. That being said I want it to handle like its on rails but not if its going to cost and arm and a leg

 

Billstein PSS9/10, $1600 on tirerack or go one step below those and get h&r street performance coilovers which are around $1300 i believe.

I have the h&r's on my g, they use Billstein shocks and have a progress spring rate so DD'ing it rides nice and smooth but when you push it the springs stiffen when compressed more.

I run the Bilstein PSS9/10 on my s2000 for autocross/track use and they are a good budget set up that still provide great ride quality when just putting around town but when on the track or autocross they out perform all other coilovers in that price range.

But this is just my opinion so take it as you will.

 

I think the important thing is to take good stock of your goals and determine what is important for you...

Let me throw this out there. hearing people talk about driving hard or aggressively on the street is pretty silly. You just absolutely can not learn how to really drive your car well on the street. That's why a lot of people here like BC racing coilovers. because of their super high damper forces. It reduces chassis motion which people think is good since it feels like the car is more responsive and "darty", even though it has less real traction, especially in sustained turns (not to mention more uncomfortable). So if what is important for you is subjective responsiveness, then by all means get bc or tein or tokico or whatever, but your car is going to be slower. But then again, if you aren't tracking, and don't intent to seriously get good at driving, then you don't really need to waste money on stuff that isn't going to help you.

Bilstein HD are $780 on tirerack, koni I thought were even cheaper, but not seeing them anymore. But these might not feel as "responsive" as crap shocks, because they are properly digressively valved.

PS I also don't think HKS are considered great...

 

Can you explain this whole "real traction" thing to me? I understand what you are saying, I just want a more in depth explanation.

Would the fortune auto 500 series be a better option than BCs because they offer digressive dampening (not sure what this actually means, but I think it means more real traction)?

You are absolutely correct in saying that no one can drive as hard as they can on public roads and I definitely don't drive as hard as I can. I do enjoy taking the car out by myself to an unpopulated area and pushing it hard sometimes. I still only drive at 8/10s of my potential just because I don't want to crash

I think if I were to prioritize my goals I would want a coilover that is:
Stiff, but not too stiff for DD (9k spring rate?)
Approximately 1.5 inch drop
Adjustable dampening
Around $1,500

 

^If you'r budget is 1,500 go for kw v1/eibach's or possibly even kw v2's or if you don't care for adjustability in ride height go with a set of koni's and swift springs.