Coilovers for the 1LE?

[Mrpaintballordie]

What does everyone recommend coil wise? I was thinking of doing springs. But I think it'd be smart to just go with coils since I'm sure I will want to go a little bit lower.

So my question to people who already have them how do you like yours? What brand do you recommend? I'm not trying to spend really anything more then about $1500ish max id like to spend about a grand.

Another question what do you do when you want to lower the car or raise the car a little more? Can you do it yourself with a tool or have to take it in to the shop?

Thanks for the advice and links are appreciated!

[Electric]

Although I don’t have coilovers on the 1LE, I had them on my other car. Adjusting the height is pretty easy (if you do not plan on corner-balancing them) but you will need to take the wheels off. Having said that, 1LE handling is already very good, so by switching to an aftermarket setup you are risking to make things worse.

Personally, if I wanted to switch to coilovers, I’d spend a TON of time on research, then equally as much time testing and tuning, and after all that I still would not be surprised if I had to take everything apart to install springs with different rates.

Also, very few people do it, but for ideal performance, coilovers need to be corner balanced – adjust the height such that the cross-weights are equal (left front + right rear = right front + left rear). Very few performance shops have the equipment to accomplish this. After the coilovers are corner balanced, you should not adjust your ride height.

Now, if all you want is a lower ride height, than go for it.

[BMR Sales]

Coilovers are adjusted with Collars using a Spanner Wrench. The collar will be the bottom spring perch which will lift or lower the spring, which in turn adjusts the ride height.

Buying Coilovers to drop another 1/4 inches is expensive. Dropping a 5th Gen too much can cause Tire Rub, Bottoming out on Speed Bumps, Driveway transitions, etc

[X25]

With that $1K target, you will definitely degrade your car's handling. I'd never want to do that myself : )

[Kendall421]

I seriously considered...and still am considering Coil Overs for my 1LE...eventually. But when I get them, they will be higher end units at a higher price tag. As others have said, the 1LE suspension is good as it is. Cheap CO setup can do nothing but hurt the handling...especially if you don't REALLY know what you are doing and understand the chassis...statically and dynamically.

I raced Dirt Late Model for 17 years and we ran coil overs. I have digital scales, caster/camber gauge, toe plates, and bump steer gauge. I understand ride heights, tilt, rake, cross, rear and left weight, roll center, moment center, and how all these affect handling.

You cannot simply put CO's on your car and lower it 1.5 inches and go drive it. Upper and lower arms are different lengths and the tie rod is a different length yet than both of the arms. When you lower the car, the angles of these all change at a different rate and geometrically your car is now out of whack. Caster/Camber/and Toe are all out of spec and handling is going to be bad. You will need a full alignment. You really would need to put it on digital scales to be sure your balance is right and your ride heights need to be correct and equal across the front and across the back (although front and rear will be different). I have had my 1LE on scales and factory setup is "fairly" balanced. Not perfect, but pretty darn good! I think delta left to right was about 1.2%. The front to rear was about 2.5%. The cross weight was about 1.1%. If you were to have it scaled and get perfect balance, get an alignment, etc. You could be in good shape...until...you make any adjustment. If you raise the car back up...new alignment time. If you turned all of the adjusters and you turned ONE of them a half turn further or less than the others, your balance is now off. You need to put back on the scales.

There is just a whole lot more that goes into this than just slapping them on and cranking adjusters up and down to lower and raise your car. Engineers designed ride height to work with the chassis pick up points and suspension pieces. The factory sets the alignment specs to match all those so geometrically the car works. The roll center, moment center, and polar moment are also understood by the engineers and designed into the chassis.

I will likely add CO's to my car eventually, especially if I start tracking it more. But I have the tools to set it back up right. But even if I don't track it, I would like it lower...and then to perfectly balance the car. So I would put them on, set my ride heights where I want them. Then get an alignment. Once aligned, ride heights need to be locked down. But then I would scale it to get the car perfectly in balance. This is done with the adjusters, but you have to understand how to not change corner heights as that will change alignment. This is done with equal and opposite adjustments...till you get percentages where you want them without affecting ride height/alignment.

End of the day...if you don't understand all of this and have the tools to do it...get lowering springs so you can't adjust heights. Have the car aligned, and drive it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[JDP Sales]

I'd lower the car 1" with a good set of springs (Detroit Speed, Hotchkis or BMR)and then align it. Your factory set-up, like you previously stated, is very solid. Change out the known weak spots such as the squishy bushings and with the 1" change, you will have a VERY solid set-up that still rides like stock but handles a little better. A correctly modded 1LE is a force to be reckoned with.

Give us a call or PM and we can help dial you in. Have a great day!

All the best,


Jared Royce
888.308.6007

[X25]

Regarding bushings, I'd highly recommend you stay away from the polyurethane bushings. They seem to get deformed in time; mine did in as little as a year and ~10 track days. Whenever NVH is not a problem, try use solid bushings (e.g. at the subframe, knuckles, etc.).