Hello all,

I recently bought some the Megan EZ Street coilovers from WayMotorWorks and had them installed on my '05 R53. I posted my initial impressions on another thread in the Vendor talk section, but now that I've lived with them for a week I thought I'd share a bit more and ask for some advice on the stance.

As for ride quality, it is significantly better than before, but I can't give you an exact comparison of these coilovers to the stock suspension because at the same time I had these installed I changed wheels and tires. Lighter wheels and tires (8 lbs per corner) and thicker sidewalls really improved the ride quality. I'm not sure how much of the car's new ability to handle potholes, little bumps, and imperfections better than before is due to the wheels and how much is due to the suspension. But I have noticed that if there is a REALLY bad bump or pothole, it feels rougher and worse than before. They are coilover's after all. To me, it was a well worthwhile trade-off.

I also notice something rather curious, which isn't a huge problem: when cruising at around 20-30 mph, I notice a constant up-and-down bouncy-ness, not extremely pronounced, but noticeable on roads where I never noticed any bumps at all. And oddly, on the same exact road, if I go faster, or slower, the bouncy-ness disappears. As I said, it's not very pronounced, and I'm happy with it as it is, but I'm wondering if that is something that can be addressed with adjustments to dampening.

I don't track my car, so I can't really comment on how it handles at the limit. But as much as I dare to take aggressive turns on public roads, it feels very nice.

I'd also like some advice on the stance. Here are some pictures as it sits now:








I had them installed one week ago. Because the wheels have an aggressive offset, my mechanic said that it rubbed when he put it any lower. I initially thought that I wanted to go lower, but now I think it looks good the way it is. Perhaps they settled a bit. I'm not going for the slammed look. I'm worried if I go lower that it will look to conspicuously lowered, but maybe not. Thoughts?

I noticed yesterday, however, that the passenger side front wheel has a little more of a fender gap -- maybe a fifth of an inch. I didn't take a picture of that side, it's not extremely noticeable. Could this possibly be due to the springs settling more quickly on the driver's side? I don't weigh much, but I haven't taken any passengers since then either. Should I give it more time to settle, or address it?

Also, if it doesn't settle evenly, I know I can adjust the height, but can I do that without messing up the alignment that my mechanic did when he installed it? I don't want to mess up the work he did without knowing what I'm doing, so any advice appreciated.

Overall, very happy with my latest addition.

 

The bounce might be from having no preload and might be resting near the bump stops. I did a write up on adjusting coilovers, just go to my profile and find the thread I started.

1) raise the car so the wheel comes off the ground and measure spring length.

2) lower the car and measure the spring.

3) raise the car back up and subtract free spring length and compressed length. Let's say it's a 2" difference.

4) raise the perch/collar 2" to make up for the loaded measurement.

5) now shorten the assembly height to counter the increased ride height. That'll keep your ride height you want and your alignment.

6) drive it now. Better?

The advantage of coilovers is to add preload. Corner weight the car, you'll be amazed.

 

Thanks for the advice! Just went through this thread, is this the one you were referring to?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-and-info.html

I think I understand a little better. When you say the advantage of coilovers is to add preload, and describe the 6 steps you list above, are you talking about corner weighting? Sorry for my ignorance here, I've been doing a bit of reading on the subject but I'm not sure it's all gotten through to me yet. I thought I would need a shop that had special scales to corner weight the car. The method you are describing sounds like I could do this myself.

If that is the case, I think I will ask my mechanic to fix the 1/4 inch discrepancy of the passenger side (and make whatever adjustments to the alignment that need to be made), and then decide what I want to do about the preload, whether to handle that myself or have the shop do it.

 

Same as above. if you can, tighten up those springs. Also, I wouldn't lower the car any more than it is. That's already pretty slammed. Any lower and the car will be undriveable.

 

EZ street kit doesn't come w/ camber plates, right? What strut mounts are you using? Passenger side strut mounts generally wear faster than driver's side as we tend to see driver side road condition better. It's expected that passenger mounts will bulge upwards more & sooner than driver's causing your difference in front wheel gap.
You can correct this by adjusting left & right heights independently.

 

Yeah, as I've thought about it I agree. I don't think I want to lower it any more than that. I don't think it's that slammed, really -- it can go lower, but because of the offset of my wheels, I would have rubbing issues, and I like it as it is.

When you say, "same as above" "tighten up those springs," you are talking about corner weighting, right? Just want to make sure I am understanding this right.

 

The EZ Street doesn't come with camber plates, but it comes with re-enforcement plates. Same protection for my strut mounts without the ability of camber adjustment. That was one of the main selling points for me on these - besides being well priced, it saves me an extra $140 on strut tower defenders.

I did have a rubber piece in the passenger front strut mount replaced about a year ago, but there wasn't any noticeable mushrooming. Also, I measured all of the wheels and both front and back passenger side wheels are exactly 1/4" higher than the driver side counterparts, so it's not just the front. Are you suggesting I do something before asking my mechanic to make the passenger side ride-height even?

 

Hmm, Now I don't remember what I was trying to say. I think it was:

If the spring rate adjustment is separate from the ride height adjustment (they are not separate on all coilovers), you could pretension the springs more, which would reduce chance of rubbing but also give you a more bumpy ride.

 

I've been looking into replacing my shocks as they have 111k miles on them. But then I started looking at coil overs, and saw the EZ Streets on Way's site. Here's the thing though, if I have no plans on lowering my car, is it worth it to consider coilovers in the first place? But if I recall correctly, these EZ streets do allow stock height, and course there's the spring rate adjustments and whatnot.

My question is do I bite the bullet and go for the coilovers, or do I opt for just the shocks, such as the Koni FSD, and go that route?

 

I think you can keep them at stock height, but don't quote me on that.

Personally, I don't think it's biting the bullet at all to go with the Megans if you plan on upgrading your suspension anyway. If you are going to just replace the shock absorbers like Koni FSDs or Koni Yellows, that might be cheaper , but if you plan on replacing the springs as well, I think that would be more expensive than just buying the EZ Streets. Plus, there's the reinforcement plates that come with the EZ streets -- if you don't already have strut tower defenders or the equivalent, that will save you another $140.

Overall I think it's a great deal in one package to buy this coilover setup, better IMO than buying shocks, springs, and strut tower defenders separately.

 

By the way, the car has settled a bit in my opinion since I took those photos and I think it's where I want it to be. The difference in fender gap on the right side has seemed to diminish as well -- zero difference in the rear and no longer noticeable up front. I spoke to my mechanic about it, and he said when he was doing the stance he was measuring from the part that protrudes where the jack stands go, not the fender, because the fender might be slightly off. I wouldn't change anything now. When I take more pictures I'll post them up.