Hello,

I have an 03 MCS w/ 40K miles. I am moving it to a second home and want to install new suspension prior to the move because I will not have the full set of tools at the new house. What is everyones recommendation for a good shock/spring setup for daily driving. I am never going to race/autoX this thing...just want something that is comfortable and handles well.

TIA,
Kent

 

You'll get a ton of different rec's, depending on price. But if these are in your budget, for what you described, I'd strongly recommend the KW V1 setup. Check out TSW--one of the vendors here--give them a call, they'll work with you to get your setup exactly how you want it.

 

how low does KW v1 springs go?

 

I run JCW springs, Koni FSD shocks, 19mm sway bar, Mini Madness lower front bar, GTT tuning mid-brace. For me it is a great setup for the street.

I wanted to improve handling and not compromise ride and even improve it if I could. I feel the setup I have resolved the handling issue and actually improves the ride somewhat too.

If you are looking for a lowering setup then this will not work. I didn't feel any of the lowering setups would work to keep the ride or improve it so I avoided that. I guess I like the somewhat stealth look anyway.

Of course, on top of all of that I also dropped the run-flat tires. Biggest improvement to the ride but actually impacts the handling to a degree.

 

More than likely Im about the same (40K cept its an 09 lol)

Im looking into the VMaxx coilovers, as I am on a little tighter budget at the moment, and for DD use, many have said they are pretty good in those regards.... I know, after 3XK on stock struts with H&R springs, its time for a change and I want to go a bit lower...

Only thing w/ the VMaxx appears to be the perches can interfere with the tire if lowered too far w/ no spacers... and that they still have a bit more travel than higher quality coilovers, so some dont like the travel when they are already so low

 

For comfort, and handling better than stock in daily driving, I would just do Koni FSD shocks. Wheel and tire choice makes a difference as well. I have a feeling that most of the recs here are more elaborate and performance oriented than what the OP was looking for.

 

^^^ true..

for some strange reason i thought the op wanted lower lol

 

Another vote here for the FSD's. Assuming you've already lost the runflats, I think this will give you the biggest bang for the buck. You don't need to do much else if you're not doing any autox or track days.

 

With a name like Karrera4, I'm not so sure...

 

agreed.

 

I'm karrera4's dad and we don't necessarily want it lower- we have other toys for the track- this is a DD for the family. We did the LCA bushings last summer and should have done it then when I replaced half the front end!! And had the subframe off already!

Just wondering if we should change springs at the same time to have everything work better together or just go with shocks...yes, we got rid of the damned run flats a long time ago and it did help a lot.

Also, any issue with the fitting of shock towers- I've heard something about having to modify the strut tower itself with some shocks???

 

I have the JCW suspension with 19mm rear bar and Mason Engineering lower front bar, as well as non-run-flats. I'm very satisfied with the handling-ride balance for the street.

 

For the money H&R street coilovers are great. Nice ride and solid handling.

 

Probably your best bet here

 

I have a JCW suspension with 19mm sway bar and helix camber plate setup. I love the handling and work pretty well driving in NYC area.

 

The stock suspension on this car works so well, I'm not sure I'd change it with only 40k miles on it. My shocks were in great condition at 55k miles when I replaced them with Koni Sport adjustables. This is on our 06 MCS w/ Sport suspension.

That said, I would look at the FSDs paired with the stock springs. The technology on the FSD seems very impressive. I had a very tough time deciding between the Sports and the FSDs when I bought my Sports. I run them full soft on the street. I tried some springs and didn't like the tradeoffs on this particular car. This is the only car with which I've been very satisifed with stock springs.

 

Personally I love to sell coilovers, but in reality they are overkill for just a daily driver. Save your money and get a nice set of springs, and or shocks and you'll be fine for your actual use. Feel free to call us to make a suspension plan.

 

To all...Normally, yes, I would be going to a much more agressive setup! But for this particular car, it is really only going to be used at a vacation home and primarily by my Mom (her current DD is an E93 M3 so that is where she gets her real fix ). For this, the Koni FSD w/ JCW springs seems to be pretty popular...any ideas where to get that setup for a good deal? Thanks, Kent

 

Call Way above.

TSW springs might be the ticket instead of JCW's but I personally can't say. Way has experience with both. Koni FSD is a good call.

- Andrew

 

Will need to call Way- just realized I got my LCA bushings from him last summer pre-installed and I sent him back my cores when finished. Great service... thought that name was familiar!!

 

KONI FSD with stock or H-Sport springs.

 

Koni FSD with TSW springs. I run my TSW springs with OEM shocks and the ride is great!

 

Been able to test a fair amount on customer cars. We have a brick road beside the shop that we give it a quick run down to see the ride. From what I've done....

>JCW's springs on stock shocks (decent ride, slightly stiffer then stock)
>Eibach's on Koni Yellows (good ride, not harsh at all, felt very similar to the JCW springs)
>BC Coil-overs with standard springs (harsh ride, barely liveable)
>BC Coil-overs with Customer changed spring rates (VERY harsh ride)
>Megan Racing Coil-overs Stardard megan racing springs. (Not sure the shocks did anything, ride was worse then a school bus, very unliveable)
>Hotchkis springs on Stock shocks (decent ride, not as good as JCW's)
>Hotchkis springs on Koni FSD's (fairly harsh ride but liveable)
>Tein springs on Stock shocks (Harsh ride, on the edge of liveable)
>Tein springs on Bilstein HD shocks (Harsh ride, Shocks really took the edge off and made it quite liveable)
>H&R coilovers (Rode in vehicle and do not have brick road test), (better ride then some of the cheaper coil overs, rebound lacked coming over the backside of bumps, ride quality was liveable, never hit any big big bumps or brick roads)
>JRZ's with VERY high spring rates (did not do Brick road Test), ( Very good ride. Comparible to JCW springs. Shock control makes the high spring rates liveable, only noticed the stiffness over expansion joints)
>AST's again with VERY high spring rates (comparible to stock ride quality, softest of all the above, The inverted shocks reduce the unsprung weight massive reducing the harshness of the ride with the high spring rates overall best ride of all the above)

That's before we get into handling. What I've learned is shock valveing and unsprung weight have the 2 biggest impacts on ride quality far more so then spring rate.

 

My experience with FSDs has been very poor, very little damping and one failed after a year. I've had long term experience on Alta, JCW, Tein, Eibach, and H-Sport (Hotchkis, sagged quickly) springs, over stock and Bilstein SP struts, plus Ledas with a variety of spring rates, and short term ride experiences with PSS9, Megan, Tein, and H&R coilovers. There's no substitute for good valving, for the price Bilstein SPs have that covered, and for comfort stock springs are the best over the others mentioned above.

Except for Ledas at legacy prices, I don't see a benefit in compromising with low or mid range coilovers; go straight to AST shocks with Swift or Hypercoil springs if you are serious about the "handles well" criteria.

Ian (MaitlandImports), what springs rates are you using and what rates have you tried with AST shocks?

 

I've been using AST and been very happy with them on Subaru and EVO platforms. Very flexible, impressive valving.

We also share shop space with JRZ's east coast, and needless to say they are quite good.

I wholeheartedly agree on skipping the low end coilovers. I have a few ideas in mind for myself to get creative, but Bilstein sports or koni yellows seem like a good cheap solution, then step it up to AST.

- Andrew