KAHBOOM

iTrader: (4)

looks good... keeps it classy and subtle.

philter25

iTrader: (4)

Ive gotten a few questions on how the car handles with the mismatched springs and if I notice a difference between the tanabe and eibach so:

The tanabe nf210s and eibach pro kit springrates should feel pretty similar, although the tanabes are a tad softer IMO. The springrates of the NF210s are 7.6 front and 7.2 rear. I think the eibachs are just a tad stiffer.

I had eibachs on and put on tanabe fronts to even out the fender gap. The front felt just a tad softer after I put them on, which i actually liked. I only noticed it going over bumps but when taking corners fast, I didnt notice a difference at all and when driving in a straight line they feel identical. Same with when entering and exiting corners when one side of the car was under load and it transferred to the other side, I didnt notice a difference at all either.

Also, Eibach springs are progressive, so they will have a lower springrate at first, and then a firmer springrate. Its not a constant springrate. Each coil is spaced differently and can have a different springrate.

The lower springrate is for minor bumps and normal driving to give the car a more stock like feel, and the firmer springrate is for when theres more load put on the suspension.

Heat posted this in another thread:

https://www.myg37.com/forums/brakes-and-s...ing-rates.html

Eibach spring rates are 228 to 548 lb/in front and 371 to 531 lb/in rear. So converting to kg/mm for comparison, the Eibach fronts are 4 to 9.8 kg and the Eibach rears are 6.6 to 9.6.

When the Eibach springs are on your car and your car is sitting, the springs are compressed, so the actual springrate is higher than the 4 kg front and 6.6 kg rear. After driving on Eibach's for a few months, the 9.8 and 9.6 springrates when under load feel accurate.

The tanabes are linear and are 7.6 kg front and 7.2 kg rear.

So when the suspension is fully compressed, the Eibach's will feel stiffer vs. the tanabes. Although for normal driving around on little bumps and turns, the springrates of the eibach and tanabes will feel very similar. However, when the spring is under load and compressed, you will feel a difference.

As for driving with mismatched springs, I think its perfectly acceptable and drives and handles fine. Its only slightly firmer than stock, evens out the fender gap, and feels better around turns, so it does everything I wanted lowering springs to. I'd probably notice a difference if I was autocrossing the car regularly, but if I was autocrossing regularly, then I would probably have gone for a coilover setup. For street drivers, this is a perfectly fine setup.

philter25

iTrader: (4)

I received a few PMs over the past month asking about how the car rides. For me, its perfect. I wanted my springsetup to be a tad stiffer than stock, but drop the car to even out the fender gap and thats what this provides. IMO, for stock springs, the stock S springs are on the firmer side of stock springs.... so for a comfortable daily driver, I didnt want to go that much stiffer.

The tanabes in the front are slightly softer than the Eibachs. They dont rebound as quickly as the eibachs but they arent what I would consider bumpy.

Ive driven in cars before on springs that lower the car 1.5 inches but only increased the springrate 5% over stock. That type of spring will be bumpy and will feel like you are driving on a pogo stick. Because the car was lowered so much and the springrate wasnt increased, when you hit a little bump in the road the car bounces like a pogo stick and takes a good 3-5 seconds before it settles again.

This combo is not like that.

I actually like the slightly softer spring in the front. When driving and hitting bumps, its a little softer hitting the bump and it rebounds less harsh than the eibach, which is more comfortable to ride on. I think its a more comfortable ride for daily driving. And I like the firmer spring in the rear. The rear wheels are the drive wheels and I like the rear end of the car being a little tighter and firmer in the rear. I wouldnt want to hit a bump and have the front of my car settle and the back still rebounding... that just doesnt feel right IMO.

Although because of the drop I think most people would prefer Eibach's in the front and tanabes in the rear, me personally, I think the dynamics of that spring combo wouldnt drive as well as the tanabes in the front and eibachs in the rear. Because the difference in springrate is greater in that setup, you are more likely to feel the rear being softer.

With my setup, tanabe fronts and eibach rears, the front springs are linear and 7.6 kg springs and the rear are progressive and 6.6 to 9.6.

For normal driving, because progressive springs feel firmer as they are compressed more, the front and rear springs feel identical and the ride is smooth and over small bumps, the car rebounds fine and doesnt feel bumpy. When you hit a pothole or a bump, the rear of the car will firm up and the front will feel softer. Me personally, I think its a comfortable ride and the springrates feel identical under normal driving. In different scenarios, the difference in springrate from front to rear is 1 kg when the rear progressive Eibach springs are under no compression, probably dead even under normal driving, and a difference of 2 kg for the rare occasion when your rear suspension is completely under load.

For the reverse setup, with eibach in the front and tanabe in the rear, the fronts are 4 to 9.8 kg progressive and the rear is 7.2 linear. Under normal driving, the fronts will probably feel a little firmer than the rear and you will probably think that the rear feels soft. When you hit bumps the front of your car will firm up and the rear will feel soft. In different scenarios, you are going to see a more extreme difference in springrate with this setup than you would the opposite, with a 3.2 kg difference under no compression, I think under normal driving you will have a slightly firmer spring up front, and you would have a difference of 2.6 kg for the rare occasion when your front suspension is completely under load.

Therefore, eibach fronts and tanabe rears lower the car more but I think you are more likely to feel the springrate difference.

On the other hand, the tanabe fronts and eibach rears dont lower the car as much, but will give you a more even feel and better driving dynamic than the reverse setup.

cereal2k

iTrader: (10)

Very informative thread as it relates to the stock S wheels and the tanabe front. Thanks!

hutsonb12

Looks good, very thorough. 2 questions....Thought about wheel spacers & are you guys going out and buying two full kits from both manuf. and setting the unused springs aside?

myk1013

iTrader: (2)

^ that would be the expensive way. I've seen many just swap with each other.

philter25

iTrader: (4)

As said, thats the expensive way.

I ended up buying the full eibach kit and having it on. I thought the front was too low for my tastes, so I did a search in the for sale ads and found someone selling the tanabe fronts, so I bought them, and then resold my eibach fronts.

If you check the forsale section, there are a few threads with people selling the fronts here and the rears there.

OR if you can find someone who wants the exact opposite setup, you guys can split the cost of the 2 complete sets and then someone takes one front and rear and the other person takes the other set.

As for spacers, when I had the eibachs on the front, I thought it was a must. With the tanabes on the front, you dont notice the tucked in look as much so I dont plan on getting spacers..... although I do plan on getting wider tires once the stockers wear out and that will fill out the wheels a little more and reduced the tucked in look.

Im currently on stock size, so once I get 245s up front and 255, 265, or 275 in the rear, you will notice the tucked in even less due to the wider tires.

Also, I really didnt like the idea that many people were having vibration problems with spacers on here and that the hubcentric rings didnt properly fit our car. I didnt like the idea of buying a product that I needed to modify to fit properly.

michaels20000

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Philter.

It took me 3 weeks to buy/trade for Eibach rears and Tanabe fronts but I cant wait to install them. This thread has been very informative.

marcelo19lp

WOW excellent info! I dont have any of the above yet, but why would bigger front drop, give the appearance of a tugged in look vs something like Tanabe in the front?

philter25

iTrader: (4)

The stock wheels have a set offset and are a set distance away from the frotn fender. When its stock, you dont notice it because the wheels are far enough away from the fender. As you lower your car more and more, you notice the difference or the "gap" from the outer edge of the wheel to the edge of the fender.

I just stole some pictures from this forum to show you.... here is the car stock:




There is a distance of maybe 20-25mm from the edge of the wheel to the inside edge of the front fender. Its hard to notice when its stock.

But as you lower it......


So thats why people tend to look to spacers to push the wheels out after dropping the car because the "tucked-in" look becomes more apparent as you drop the car.



Spacers push the wheel out 10, 15, 20, or 25 mm and make the stock wheels look a little more flush with the fenders and the side of the car and get rid of the "tucked-in" look.

As you drop the car more, the more "tucked-in" it looks. The tanabes are a very mild drop and still have a very small fender gap, so the "tucked-in" look is less noticeable than what you have on Eibachs, or other springs which drop more in the front.

But this is just all personal preference.

marcelo19lp

Thanks for the info! That blue slate G, is that drop without any spacers by the way? From the looks and pictures and all, it looks like on Tanabe on the front gives the look like 5mm more out, rather then putting in eibach front. I was trying to see and search how many people have that setup vs eibach all around? I'm leaning more to eibach all around. I was reading some website about dampers etc. and it mention if the eibach rates or any springs are greather than 10% of the original springs, this can shorten your dampers in the long term. Is there any info the S springs specs as I can see there is info the Eibach Spring specs? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Xcalibur

iTrader: (2)

Looks good if you drive the car normally but for performance wise that's a bad setup. Probably as good as stock but no more.

philter25

iTrader: (4)

ANY spring can shorten your dampers in the long term. Its not just the springrate, its the drop. Say you keep the same exact springrate, but drop the car an inch and a half. Your car is going to feel like a pogo stick and although the springrates identical, because you are driving around with compressed shocks all the time due to the drop, that setup will shorten your damper life.

This setup is the most mild setup out of any spring that I know for the car. Every spring will shorten your damper life, but this setup will do it the least.

Also, everyones driving style is different and there is no way to determine the actual longevity of your shocks with any given set of springs. Heck, based on driving styles, I might get more life out of my stock shocks with these springs vs. someone who beats their car with a complete stock setup.

I disagree. Although your post as basic as it gets, care to elaborate technically as to why it wont be "no more" better than stock?

As I said in my first post:

I wanted a stock like ride that was comfortable as a daily driver which lowered the car a little to even out the fender gap.

I had a complete track setup on my last car but my autocrossing days are behind me. And I had the full eibach kit installed for a few months and drove around with it. Performancewise, I have less body roll than the stock springs do and a slightly firmer feel. The car handles better in corners and you can easily take on or off ramps faster. Which is exactly what I wanted.

For a comfortable daily driver with a little firmer suspension, this fits the bill.

And again as I already stated, this isnt everyones tastes and depending on preference and driving style (track vs. street driver), this setup wont work for everyone. But if you arent autocrossing, I think coilovers are a waste of money for such a small height adjustment. But Im sure there are guys on here with a complete track setup on their car who dont even know where their local track is, nor have ever been to a track.

silverbulletg37

iTrader: (1)

i just bought this setup

philter25

iTrader: (4)

I noticed a few people on the forums here have just put the tanabe NF210s on the front and left the back sport stock springs on.

Ive gotten a few PMs about this route.

Related to the spring rate changes, the stock SPORT springs are pretty stiff for stock springs and are very similar to the NF210s. So having the NF210s on the front and the stock sport springs on the back springratewise would be a fine setup.

As for the stock rears vs the eibach rears, thats personal preference and would depend on how low your stock rears settle. I posted measurements in my first post. The NF210s will drop the front to around 27 1/4 inches. So if your stock rears settle to around 27 1/4 inches, putting on the NF210s on the front alone should be a dead even drop.

My rears only settled to 27 1/2 - 27 3/4 so I needed the eibach's on the rear to drop it a little more.

My advice would be to wait until your stock springs settle, measure the distance from the pavement to the peak of your fenderwell, and based on your measurements, decide what combo will work for you.

The springrates of the stock sport springs, the NF210s, and the eibach's are all very similar that they work fine with each other for normal spirited driving.