I just finished my suspension mods with the addition of Bilstien shocks.

For daily street, I went with

a) A 19MM RDR RSB (neutralized the car nicely).

b) Swapped out my run flats and stock rims for a set of Sparco rims and Falken Avenis RT615 tires (stickly licious).

c) The last addition being the Bilstien shocks. Just a tad firmer but under hard cornering they tighten more and produce less body lean/roll.

Overall, very pleased made no real ride compromise but when in "play" mod, the car is tighter and more controlled. AND to top it all off these upgrades cost less than $1,000 thanks to EBAY and NAM marketplace.

 

wow so you replaced your shocks, changed your wheels and tires along with sway bars and all that cost you less than $1,000 ???

Did I get that right?

I'm currently installing hotchkis sway bars only as my supension upgrade and thinking of going with 18" R2 DTR3 wheels along with 225-40-18 tires, those lone are costing me well over $1,500 parts and labor.

 

Yep, in parts not including any install expense. The car is a father and son project car and he is learning about taking our time, shopping around and looking for deals. If its something we can do, we do it. If not then we pay for install.

Shocks we picked up used (1 year old) for 200 bucks off of NAM marketplace. One shock thread was slighly damaged but easily corrected.

The real deal was the rims/tires/balanced and hub centric rings - autocrossed once and picked them up for 630.00 off ebay! They were 100% perfect no damage and the "avenis" logo in the center of the thread pattern was still there. We were looking for a set of Kosei but when these came along, we just couldn't pass them up.

The RSB, I bought new because I wanted 19mm and couldn't find one at the time.

Getting there is half the fun in my book .

 

good to hear as i'm looking into the Bilsteins interested in what springs you're running? what camber/castor solutions are you employing? thanks in advance Bart.

Dan

 

While I like many like the lower stance, my son wanted to retain stock height so the springs are stock. As to camber/castor - factory settings.

While we wanted to tweak the suspension, my son did not want to sacrific ride. Regular driving the car doesn't feel much different, perhaps a tad firmer but when you start to throw it around it seems to firm up and reduce body lean.

What we have done is very mild and greatly influenced by the bargins that came our way.

The RSB is an excellent cheap mod really neutralizing the car in a hard corner.

Swapping out the run flats was the most significant change of all. The cars ride felt softer w/out the runflats but more sure footed in the corners.

 

Hey Bart, i don't think the ride will be ruined by camber plates, and they'll make the car grip harder, so maybe you and your son could consider them? The MCS has shocking front camber from the factory. Other suspension mods that you could consider are swaybar endlinks front and rear to remove the preload present in the Swaybars....

 

Both options. I think we will live with this set-up for a bit before doing more.

 

Good find.

I'm definitely in the same camp, trying to get there as economically as possible. Got some RDR/Helix adj. camber plates for $225. As far as neg. affecting the ride, I believe it depends on the plates. The non-adjustables typically have some rubber / something, while some of the more hardcore adjustable ones don't have much give, resulting in more noise / vibration / harshness...