The Process should be nearly identicle to what you did on your Celica. You can do it yourself if you have done it before. Dont let the brand name intimidate you.

 

ive used a ton of different set ups and really i am a big fan of coilovers. I am a huge fan of Bilstein and eibach, in that order. H&R are good too but they only make springs and use bilstein shocks.

 

what is the advantage of using coilovers vs just buying the struts and the springs seperately? and what makes Bilstein better than Eibach? I ask because it's about time I change my shocks, since I can feel all the potholes on my drive to work [&:]
I've been looking at the 2 on some websites, and both allow the car to be lowered -- so if I was to lower it, what else would I need to do to make sure the car is 100% stable?

Anyone know what the difference is between the Bilstein PSS9 and PSS setups? The PSS9 says it comes with damping adjustments...but I don't know what that is.

Someone said that putting performance springs on stock struts will tear them up in a hurry. How can you tell visually that the damage has occurred? More specifically, when I do go to replace my shocks, what should I look for to see how bad the damage is for maybe not staying up on replacing them? I haven't had the car for awhile, so there's no telling how long it has been.

Sorry for just asking away like this, but it's all new to me, so I gotta start somewhere

 

Spring/Shock combinations are the cheaper route. They do allow lowering, but it is usually by a fixed amount. Coilovers on the other hand, give you adjustability in ride height and depending upon what type you buy you also gain dampening and/or rebound adjustment. Coilovers also allow you to easily corner balance the car to improve stability and handling. There is no difference in labor between the two options and you are usually looking at around $400-1000 difference on parts (depending on which options you choose for coilovers).

I went with Koni Sport coilovers on mine. I did all of the installation myself but took it to a performance shop for the corner balance and alignment.

 

I think I remember reading for the Eibach coilovers that they allow the car to be lowered up to 3" (but I could be remembering wrong). So say I got em, and did lower it that much. You can't just do that without messing something up can you? Is there something else I would have to buy to make sure I didn't cause any problems to the tires or the alignment or anything else I don't know to think of?

 

You would probably need camber plates, and an aftermarket front swaybar to re-establish alignment and maintain suspension travel clearance. I dont see how it would be driveable on the street w/ a 3" drop though. 1.7-2" would be pretty much the limit for street driving and an acceptable ground clearance and would still be REALLY low, maybe still impedeing wheel travel.

Anything over an inch and you need aftermarket parts to keep it in spec and safe.

 

The stock setup can handle about 3/4" worth of drop and still get camber/toe into spec. Beyond that you have to go to a KMAC camber kit or Forge lower arms on the rear to get things into spec. This link has a little more technical information on the impact of lowering on camber.

I've got about 2" of drop and used a full KMAC on the rear. Keep in mind, that even if you use the Forge arms, you'll most likely still need a 1/2 KMAC on the upper arms to gain enough adjustability to correct toe. The fronts for the most part have enough in the stock setup to get alignment back to spec without anything special. Although you can go to a Ground Control kit to get full adjustability in front, but it isn't really necessary unless you get really radical.

 

Perfect Wheel Gap

XLR8: What size wheel/tire combo is that? And whats the offset of those wheels? That stance looks Great!

 

Thanks,

I am running 18x8.5 ET38 with 25mm spacers front and rear.

 

the coilover is a better unit for performance and comfort and looks. Its no secret that i am a huge fan of bilstein over any other suspension component because they dont die and dont slowly die, and offer the best street/track performance. They always stay as good as when you bought them. There is a reason they are amongst the most expensive coilovers there are. The PSS system gives only height adjustment and is tuned with a softer spring. The PSS9 has 9 pre-loaded configurations for the dampening and rebound, from soft to hard, so anyone can tune the suspension for either ride comfort or performance with a turn of a ****. you can drive a PSS9 in a city comfortably when set to the softest setting. Bilsteins build quality and precision is surgical and they install very clean. They best thing is they use the largest valving of any coilover on the market which transfers to you as most accurate, and fast reacting of the shock bodies. Trust me i have been through alot of coilovers and nothing match up to these. do yourself a favor and get the coilovers, it may take a little longer to save up for but well worth it. most people that do spring/shock set ups usually end up upgrading to the coilover anyway.