blunierdr

Okay so the next project for my GTA is going to be re-vamping my suspension. I want to get weight jacks because the adjustable ride height is huge for me. I need to be able to keep it moderately dropped for weekend driving since our roads are horrible in Illinois, (as if they are any better anywhere else) but I want to be able to lower it way down for car shows and the *occasional* autocross race.

I would like to get LCARB's, Lower Control Arms, Adjustable Panhard Bar, Camber/Castor Plates, Wonderbar, Subframe Connectors, new Shocks & Struts, and Ground Control Weight Jacks.

Currently I am looking to buy Tokico's Illumina shocks and struts, and I was wondering if 750lb front and 175lb rear springs would be a decent match for the dampers?

I know, i know, I should be going all out and buying Koni's, but there is a big list of things that this car needs, and since autocross is not my biggest concern, I was hoping to save a couple hundred bucks and get the Illumina's. I would just like to have a solid handling car for zipping around on the weekends!

In short, is 750/175 a good match for Illumina's? Any other thoughts or comments are more than welcome!

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

The koni's go on sale every so often on tire rack and elsewhere. Honestly, wait and save your money for them, on sale you can probably get them for the same price as the tokico's.

Mid 800 front and 175 rear is a good starting point for a v8 car. I'm using 750/150 on a v6 car and its about right.

Weight jacks are not intended to be used to constantly adjust the ride height. They are made so you can change spring rates and lengths without having to mess around and cutting them to fit. You can if you want, but you need to re align the car everytime you move them, and the suspension should be unloaded when you turn the bolts so you don't damage the threads on the bolt.

-Phil

blunierdr

Thank you for the input, yeah I might end up trying to get my hands on some Konis, with as much hype that goes along with them they seem to be worth spending the cash on... I really was hoping to get my suspension done ASAP, maybe I will just have to push it back more.

In your opinion do you think the Illumina's would be a bit overwhelmed by the 800/175 combo? And yeah I get what you are saying about not adjusting the height of the car a lot, I just want to be able to change the height if I need to without swapping springs, I have access to an alignment rack tho so I have that part covered!

blunierdr

Well I finally got around to ordering everything early this week.

I decided to go with 750lb front springs and 175lb rear springs for the weight jacks, and they are going to be paired with Tokico Illumina shocks and struts. I am confident that the combo should get me really close to what I am looking for.

The current setup I have now is the stock ws6 package with a little over 1 coil trimmed off the front springs and the rear spring isolater removed. Not sure if the shocks and struts are original or not, may have been replaced with cheap monroes or kybs a while back, but they are junk now. The whole car bounces pretty bad. Anything new is going to make it much much better.

Various members here on TGO have had very good experiences with the Illuminas with Eibach's Pro Kit, which have roughly 714lb front springs and progressive rears. That combined with a very good deal I found on ebay made me pull the trigger on the Illumina's since I am not running all that much higher spring rates than the pro kit.

The 175lb rear springs might be a touch stiff for my set up, but the sound system adds an extra 60-80lbs in the trunk, so it might end up being just right. I regularly carry 4 passengers in the car too, and I don't want to be dragging the ground when I do. (the GTA always gets voted to be driven on double date nights) If the rear seems a little too tail happy with this setup I may try a little softer spring in the back (~150lbs)

The other parts going on the car at the same time are Founders Performance's adjustable panhard bar, LCARBs, Camber/Caster plates, and their poly/swivel-joint combination lower control arms.

I plan on taking before/after pictures, and post a decent review of everything I install on this thread if anyone is interested. If parts are in by this weekend I'm going to install them then. At the very latest it should be together the weekend after!

ol' paddy

i wouldn't worry about the 175s being too stiff. the guy i bought my car from had tokicos and weight jacks on it with a 850 and 275 combo on the springs, which is pretty ridiculous, but its not actually that bad. so you should be fine.

blunierdr

thanks paddy, that makes me feel a lot more confident!