I got new OBX Coilvers installed to raise my car a bit. While it looks fantastic, I know get pertty much a horrible ride. Some of the more substantial bumps and most potholes sound like I am going to kill the car. It sounds as if I am riding on no shocks/struts and no springs. Now the shocks/struts I have are Tokiko Blues. They are about 1 1/2 to 2 years old. How often do you change them?

my coilovers sound the same way..make sure your bump stops are in the correct place

I got one better for you. Make sure you HAVE the bump stops. My coilovers told me to take them out completely which was the biggest mistake i ever made.

Originally posted by EricBss7
I got one better for you. Make sure you HAVE the bump stops. My coilovers told me to take them out completely which was the biggest mistake i ever made.

It sounds like I don't even have bumpstops. Can you post a pictur of what to look for? I'ma noob when it comes to cars..

OMG, there are 2 reasons you have a crappy ride:


Number 1: Coilovers (not true coiloers)

Number 2: OBX

'nuf said

Originally posted by a_miller_76
OMG, there are 2 reasons you have a crappy ride: Number 1: Coilovers (not true coiloers) Number 2: OBX 'nuf said

Thanks a fucking lot for that informative post. Oh please forgive me ever so much for not buying $600-$2000 Tiens!!

I build computers for friends, family, and anyone else who wants one. I never ever tell people they should buy the most expensive parts. While I know that the Radeon 9800XT is the best damn video card out there I am pretty positive of a few things:

1. Some people just don't give a fuck if it is.
2. Some people do, but can't afford it.
3. Some people do, but don't need it.

Knowing that some people can't afford the 9800XT or just don't care, why would I recommend it? What purpose would that serve? What purpose does your comments serve me? How does that help me? Because I came her looking for help with my present situation, which involves the, in your opinion, cheap assed OBX coilovers.


To the people that can afford such things, good for you.

My point? I know spending what I did on the OBX coilovers is NOT going to give me the same ride as say the $1700 Tiens. Since I've never ridden the Tiens, I am only ASSuming that the ride is smooth. But lets just say I did scrape up enough money to buy them. Lets just say that in a month, for whatever reason, one of them blows out. Say I hit a pot hole, whatever. Are you going to replace them for me? Cause I sure as hell will probably not be able to afford them again. So if you aren't paying for the replacements, are you going to come down to Daly City and drive my son to his grandmother's house and me and my GF to work? Probably not.


AS it turns out, there are 1 of 2 problems, or maybe both. 1. the Tokico blues probably need to be replaced. 2. It could be a bump stop isssue that was offered above.

Since I just ordered Illuminas, I hope to take care of one problem, while doing that I will look into the others...or maybe that will fix both.

Or it could be a third problem: The coilovers and the Blues are working fine and the ride is just how it is going to be forever. With coil-overs like you have there is much less spring travel distance therefore they have more work to do in less space... THEREFORE they will not ride well no matter what. Coilovers will always give you a harsh ride and will be squeaky, noisy and clangy... thats their nature.

I think the blues are just fine. I have them and I dont think they will blow after only 2 years.

Originally posted by djtrickee
Or it could be a third problem: The coilovers and the Blues are working fine and the ride is just how it is going to be forever. With coil-overs like you have there is much less spring travel distance therefore they have more work to do in less space... THEREFORE they will not ride well no matter what. Coilovers will always give you a harsh ride and will be squeaky, noisy and clangy... thats their nature. I think the blues are just fine. I have them and I dont think they will blow after only 2 years.

That's my point bro.

I don't have the money to afford Teins either. Everyone is telling me to get them but I can't see spending that much money.


You would have gotten a better ride out of $185 set of eibach prokits with stock shocks and struts than with the obx coilovers.



EDIt: Wait, since you jumped up my ass lemme be more specific.


If you look at your springs you'll notice that they are wound with the ends exposed so that they lock onto your struts and into the upper bushing. Therefore, your springs will not spin or wobble if installed correctly.

Non-true coilovers on the other hand do not have this feature. Therefore they will wobble and clang all over the place.

Also, the more you shorten a spring in order to attain a specified height the more preload you ad to that spring. This in turn shortens it's opperative travel. So if you buy coilovers and lower your car with them then you will effectively be givving yourself a worse ride the lower you go.

Un-order your illuminas, sell your obx coilovers on ebay, and buy some eibach prokits or sportlines (depending on how low you want to go). Pre lowered springs are tested and designed to have the proper pre-load tension based on the effective lowering amount of the vehicle.


There, i'm sorry that I was harsh. But don't crawl up my ass I know what I'm talking about.

Originally posted by a_miller_76

Originally posted by djtrickee Or it could be a third problem: The coilovers and the Blues are working fine and the ride is just how it is going to be forever. With coil-overs like you have there is much less spring travel distance therefore they have more work to do in less space... THEREFORE they will not ride well no matter what. Coilovers will always give you a harsh ride and will be squeaky, noisy and clangy... thats their nature. I think the blues are just fine. I have them and I dont think they will blow after only 2 years.

That's my point bro. I don't have the money to afford Teins either. Everyone is telling me to get them but I can't see spending that much money. You would have gotten a better ride out of $185 set of eibach prokits with stock shocks and struts than with the obx coilovers. EDIt: Wait, since you jumped up my ass lemme be more specific. If you look at your springs you'll notice that they are wound with the ends exposed so that they lock onto your struts and into the upper bushing. Therefore, your springs will not spin or wobble if installed correctly. Non-true coilovers on the other hand do not have this feature. Therefore they will wobble and clang all over the place. Also, the more you shorten a spring in order to attain a specified height the more preload you ad to that spring. This in turn shortens it's opperative travel. So if you buy coilovers and lower your car with them then you will effectively be givving yourself a worse ride the lower you go. Un-order your illuminas, sell your obx coilovers on ebay, and buy some eibach prokits or sportlines (depending on how low you want to go). Pre lowered springs are tested and designed to have the proper pre-load tension based on the effective lowering amount of the vehicle. There, i'm sorry that I was harsh. But don't crawl up my ass I know what I'm talking about.

That is the kind of response I was looking for. One thing is, I am not looking to lower the car, in fact I wanted to raise it some, which I did.


Again, it's not so much the ride I am worried about. Again, I know it's not going to be the smoothest there. The problem is the serious clanging noise that I get. I had a found a spot on a street that will cause the noise, I ran over it with both sides of the car and it only happnes on the left rear side...which leads me to believe the blue on that side is failing.

As for returning the illuminas, I think I will keep them. I want them for thier adjustability anyway..so between that and the coilovers I can come to a compromise.

You want to RAISE the car? Heh, that's a new one :) Okay, here's your other problem based on raising the vehicle. When you lower a vehicle your stock shocks and struts are not designed for the shorter travel, therefor they bottom out and eventually blow. Hence, you go out and buy blues or illuminas or whatever. They are designed for a LOWER SUSPENSION TRAVEL.


If you are attempting to raise your vehicle above factory specs then buying a lowered shock won't help you any at all. You'll end up blowing shocks and struts designed for lowered vehicles by placing them in a raised application. As for advice I don't have any on what to buy. If you had a truck I'd tell you 15 websites to go buy raised supsension shocks from, but for an Eclipse you'd be hard pressed to find anything like that. And if you do I bet their expensive because it's not a common item most people are looking for.

Originally posted by a_miller_76
You want to RAISE the car? Heh, that's a new one :) Okay, here's your other problem based on raising the vehicle. When you lower a vehicle your stock shocks and struts are not designed for the shorter travel, therefor they bottom out and eventually blow. Hence, you go out and buy blues or illuminas or whatever. They are designed for a LOWER SUSPENSION TRAVEL. If you are attempting to raise your vehicle above factory specs then buying a lowered shock won't help you any at all. You'll end up blowing shocks and struts designed for lowered vehicles by placing them in a raised application. As for advice I don't have any on what to buy. If you had a truck I'd tell you 15 websites to go buy raised supsension shocks from, but for an Eclipse you'd be hard pressed to find anything like that. And if you do I bet their expensive because it's not a common item most people are looking for.

Ok, sigh. Let me start from the beginning, it's obvious there is miscommunication on my part or you are not reading the post and understanding it.

Before I did any of the recent suspension work, my car was lowered using Neuspeed Race Springs and Tokico Shocks/Struts. With bad camber, the back fenders were nearly even with the tire. There would have been rubbing if not for the camber.

Because of that I wanted to raise the car a bit. From the way it looked I'd say it was about 3" in back. I wanted about 1.5" to 2". Hence the need to raise the car. Since I had springs, I would either need to buy another set or do what I did, buy coilovers.

Oh okay.


Well, and I'm saying this in the most non-asshole way possible so don't get the wrong idea, but you should have got Teins in the first place. I know you say you can't afford them, but if you bought Neuspeed springs and Tokico Blues, then OBX coilovers, THEN you ordered illuminas....you just bought a set of Tein Flex coilovers WITH the EDFC controller.

Just a thought for the future brother ;)


And yeah, you probably blew one of your blues. I blew an Illumina once. Fired the fuckin adjustment pin out of the top and shot oil all over my rear strut tower.

Originally posted by a_miller_76
Oh okay. Well, and I'm saying this in the most non-asshole way possible so don't get the wrong idea, but you should have got Teins in the first place. I know you say you can't afford them, but if you bought Neuspeed springs and Tokico Blues, then OBX coilovers, THEN you ordered illuminas....you just bought a set of Tein Flex coilovers WITH the EDFC controller. Just a thought for the future brother ;) And yeah, you probably blew one of your blues. I blew an Illumina once. Fired the fuckin adjustment pin out of the top and shot oil all over my rear strut tower.

I hear you, and I do like constructive criticism. But the Neuspeed springs were already on the car when I bought it nearly four years ago. The Blues I bought about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago and ran over some rough SF terrain.

OBX coilovers - $200
Illuminas - $350
____
$550

Tiens are about $650-$1700. Yeah, it would be nice and I know I could afford them now, but what happens if I blow just one??? With the coilovers and the Illuminas at least I can afford to replace them...

Tein Basic Coilovers, $625

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33586&item=2454891808

Originally posted by a_miller_76
Tein Basic Coilovers, $625 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33586&item=2454891808

Bidpay? What in buttseks is that? And paypal...

damn you guys got way off course here..anyways i have the same noise you speak of but its on both front coilovers and one rear. I know for a fact that my bump stops are worn out and just popped over the metal that holds them, thats what makes the noise on the front. Now for the rear im thinking i forgot to put one of the rubber gromets back in place which allows the strut to wiggle in place and rattle like hell. Just check out every ive said and let me know. If its not that i'll see what else i can dig up.

One other thing, i installed my WEAPON R COILOVERS(gasp) to raise my car as well. Im a broke ass guy trying to get around and look as good as i can..lol and im with you on the teins, i couldnt replace one if i blew it and id be screwed