"high end" coilovers: JIC, Tein, etc.

[an nguyen]

whoa, thanks for the tip.

the reason i HAD wanted jic was that they have a coaxial hat that diverts lateral forces from the shock.

do any other setups offer this for 2g?  i don't think tein has it.  

the only other one i know about is dennis grant and ati are about to produce custom coaxial hats for koni, bundled w/ spherical bearing upper mounts.


jovan c. said
--
I was planning on getting JICs but Lowell convinced me otherwise. He had them and they lasted 2 weeks apparently

[KevinBuckham]

How competitive do you want to be?  I am looking into getting the DG/ATI hats, but I have been pretty successful without them.

I am not arguing that they don't help, I just think that you can be successful without them.  I doubt if they would even make a noticable decrease in autox lap times.  

For the money I'd stick with a Koni / GC-style coil over.  If you are concened about keeping the spring coaxial to the shock, then get the DG/ATI hat.

[Leon Hui]

What are coaxial hats?

Pillowball mounts?

http://www.tein.com/pumnt.html

[KevinBuckham]

That's a definate "maybe".

Coaxial hats require "pillowball mounts" (monoball bearings) but a pillowball mount may or may not keep the spring coaxial to the shock.

[an nguyen]

jic coaxial hat is the upper red thing holding the spring:
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/jic/2g-flta2-set.jpg

[Leon Hui]

ohhh...my tein pillow mounts have that "coaxial" step built into the mounts..

Would it be a problem?

I don't really forsee a problem unless you get airtime with your car and become the flying eagle!  

[KevinBuckham]

The whole point is that the top coaxial mounts keep the spring perfectly aligned with the shock.  If the top mount is fixed to the upper mount point on the car (RRE top mount, ground control) they will give you more suspension travel but cause the spring to side load the shock as you turn the wheel.

It has nothing to do with getting air, and everything to do with eliminating side forces on the shock and keeping the spring forces linear.

[an nguyen]

it's not coaxial if it's built into the mount cuz the spring cannot rotate about the pillowball.  result is that lateral forces can't really be dissipated by the spring, so the shock can take a beating.

[Leon Hui]

Yeah I see what you mean.. basically the spring won't have a flat surface at 90 degrees to exert equally throughout during cornering.  

(With the car jacked up, you can notice your shocks move back and forth (caster) with pillowball mounts when you turn left/right).