[AnorexicSTI]

Ok so the shocks used are the same as the ZZYZX but what about the overall weight? I heard the ZZYZX are all aluminum everything and supposed to be the lightest coilover offered for the STI... now, if the weight diff. is less than 1 lb, I might be tempted to go with GC to save the money.

The other issue with the GC plates that I don't like is you cannot run a front strut brace with them (correct me if I'm wrong)...

so it's RCE or PDE for the camber plates still...

[4banger]

Sorry to polute your thread with this, but I found this on another board that I am on and thought you would be interested. If not, I appologize in advance. I found a dyno plot of someone who has had their Koni's rebuilt by ProParts. All I can say is Wow.

Check out post #43.
http://www.b15sentra.net/forums/show...=148740&page=3

Originally Posted by stretch

ProParts and TriPoint Engineering? I've actually talked with TriPoint on the subject in the past, and I'd very much trust them.

But personally, no, I would have no interest in getting my new struts rebuilt. I understand the benefits but I'm too frugal. Yeah, I'm a cheapskate. Besides, I just don't think I'm at a level where it'd matter to me.

TriPoint has shown two off-the-shelf Koni's were within 10% of one another. They've said this is typical. Here's a great thread on the subject:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showt...hp?t=123666252

[RallyMe]

So would it be possible to raise the car higher than stock and increase suspension travel with this setup?

[stretch]

Originally Posted by AnorexicSTI

Ok so the shocks used are the same as the ZZYZX but what about the overall weight? I heard the ZZYZX are all aluminum everything and supposed to be the lightest coilover offered for the STI... now, if the weight diff. is less than 1 lb, I might be tempted to go with GC to save the money.

All the GC spring perches, tophats, and sleeves are aluminum. I don't know about the Koni housings, you'll have to call. They look steel to me.

Zzyzx uses helper springs on what looks like a longer strut, which would be dead weight on a lowered car. Since GC uses Koni's shortest strut (and the strut is the heaviest part of the package), they may be even lighter.

The other issue with the GC plates that I don't like is you cannot run a front strut brace with them (correct me if I'm wrong)...

For someone concerned with weight, you want to run a strut brace? But seriously, I thought I read that there were holes drilled into the plates for running a GC strut bar, which I don't think they ever released. IIRC Mark mentioned in his testing that a strut bar made no improvement, but again, that's a different topic for a different thread. I don't want to take this thread off topic!

Originally Posted by RallyMe

So would it be possible to raise the car higher than stock and increase suspension travel with this setup?

I don't think so. Mark said that the struts were designed such that the springs would be just barely pretensioned at a mildly lowered or stock ride height, depending on your chosen spring rates. That's what you want- for the spring to be just barely pretensioned, since any strut droop travel beyond that is useless (and at the expense of bump travel, which you usually want more of).

A lot of other companies don't do this, instead using longer struts, which sacrifice bump travel for rebound (kind of like a stock strut)- not enough of one and too much of the other. I don't like this; it necessitates a tender spring to when the real problem is the strut should have been shortened. The upside to this approach is being able to raise the car above the stock ride height- which brings me back to your question.

I don't think you'll be able to use the GC setup to raise the car- you'll run out of droop travel (and have too much bump) if you raise the car. Maybe Mark can swap out a longer Koni strut, in which case, the setup would work great. I'm not sure how one-size-fits-all GC's housings are, but a longer Koni strut is all you'd need to make it work. Again, you're going to have to call and see what they can do.

However, if you're asking because you enjoy rally racing, you'll probably want monotube struts. They tend to shed heat faster than twin-tubes, which can be pretty important for rally.

[RallyMe]

Thanks alot stretch for the reply! I'm not looking into getting into serious rallying anytime soon...I just would like a little more ride height and travel for my offroad excursions! However, this could still be a good, "jack of all trades" suspension setup...I will definitely have to look into it more.

[xtremeyolks]

As stretch has said the tophats, spring perches etc are aluminum, and the strut housings are steel. Yea i'm not sure if I can run a strut tower brace, but i'm not all that worried about it. Another issue with the top mount camber plates is you have to(well you don't HAVE to) drill a couple holes through your strut tower to better secure the camber plate. I have a total of 5 bolts going through my strut tower(6 available total). As to the weight I never weighed them, but they are lighter than my previous zeal funtion v6 coilovers if that helps at all. I'm not sure what the ZZYZX system weighs but I assume it's a bit lighter due to the all aluminum construction. Yea you can't raise the car with these over stock. At most you might be able to get to stock ride height, but I wouldn't use these coilovers for rally as there's not much droop travel(a bit more than my previous zeal function v6 coilovers)

[ButtDyno]

Originally Posted by xtremeyolks

Another issue with the top mount camber plates is you have to(well you don't HAVE to) drill a couple holes through your strut tower to better secure the camber plate.

I talked about this with Mark. He said the plates were designed with 3 holes in mind and that you are 100% fine without the extra holes. He has run them on his car with only 3 holes for 40-50K miles and also saw a car get into a major front end collision with only 3 holes installed and all was well.

I can't legally drill the holes in STX which is why I asked

john

[stretch]

So much for waiting- I just ordered a Koni SA setup up front, 9" long 315lb/in springs. They'll be mated to my existing rear Koni 250lb/in combo. Mark said they'll start building them right away, and the manufacturing process takes about a week.

[ESmooth]

FWIW, I helped install a GC SA setup with 500F/600R rates on my friends E36 M3 over the weekend replacing his Koni yellows on H&R springs and the ride quality significantly improved with the shocks set to full soft. We havent had a chance to stiffen everything up and the car still needs an alignment but initial impressions are excellent. The parts looked great, were well made and installed perfectly. Im sure I will love the RCE T2s I have on order right now, but if I had seen this thread before I ordered with the expereince I have had with them recently, I would be torn on what route to take.

[lackskill]

Originally Posted by stretch

For someone concerned with weight, you want to run a strut brace?

You would have to see how little bracing his front end has (no bumper beam, no front subframe, etc.). In his case I think a STB actually makes sense.

Back on topic. Im seriously thinking next year's tax return could go toward a GC purchase. IDK if I like their camber plates or not, they look a little sketchy in the one pic I saw. Either way, Im excited.

[Splash]

Curious, do you happen to know why the housings on the DA setups are twice the cost of the SA housings?

I mean I expected some cost in making the bottom adjustment available, but double?

[Mykl]

Wow... very nice. It's great to see this option out there for the '05's... *finally*.

[ButtDyno]

Originally Posted by Splash

Curious, do you happen to know why the housings on the DA setups are twice the cost of the SA housings?

I mean I expected some cost in making the bottom adjustment available, but double?

I thought the housings were the same for both? Where have you seen different?

[Splash]

I did the math...

start with the kit prices without plates. (plates add $350 to each kit)

subtract $400 for the springs and sleeves (their price alone)

subtract $159x4 for SA (and $280x4 for DA)

what you have left is the housing price.

I get $289 for the SA housings and $610 for the DA housings.

[AnorexicSTI]

So we can use RCE or PDE camber plates with these coilovers right? We don't have to use GC camber plates or any at all if we don't want to right?