Springs vs Coilover Kit

[bigmaddaz]

Hi,

Just have a few quick questions as im a "newbie" to lowering cars etc...

On my old 1.2 clio I simply bought 40mm lowering springs which I was happy with.

However im looking to lower my 197 about 30mm say, looking around 30mm springs are around £100.... where as a full coilover kit is around £600?

Basically, im not worried about being able to adjust ride height etc at a later date, but just wondering would I notice a "massive" difference from just changing the springs as oppose to whole coilover kit?

Just dont think I can justify the £600 price tag?!

Cheers

 

[alex-avfc]

I would go the whole hog and invest in some KW V1's (coilovers). Steburns has them on his and from what I could gather, the ride was no different to standard, perhaps improved if anything, with even less body roll round corners.

On the other hand my mate Russ put H&R springs on his 197, found them too crashy and ended up putting the standard cup packed springs back on.

 

[danjf]

£600 on a clio suspension kit?i couldnt justify it. i know iv heard theyre awesome but at the end of the day its £600

 

[Tigger]

Do K-Tec do their coilovers for the 197's mate?

I had Cobra coilovers on my old dci (you might remember it) - I loved them

Had Eibach Sportline's with OE shocks on the 172 for just over a year and got the coilover's fitted on Thursday past
- LOVE THEM is understatement of 2010 to be honest

 

[bigmaddaz]

Yea thats the problem, dont know if I can justify spending £600 on a kit for a clio.

Im never going to use the car on a track day or anything as well...

...springs should be ok yea??

 

[danjf]

i got 60mm pi springs and love them mate. no troubles at all. springs are fine for everyday use

 

[alex-avfc]

Yeah shack a 197 up with some P.I. badboys hmmm

 

[fizzy_drink]

...or a spring & damper kit.

Get adjustable dampers... they really firm up when you want them to.

 

[Danmalone1999]

The original clio springs / shocks are coilovers (Mcpherson coilover).

It means the spring coils over the damper.

All that happens if you buy cheap after market suspension is that you remove a set up tested by a renault test team using expensive equipment and a dedicated test team, and you replace it with a set up that you tested yourself in your garage by eye.

 

[the_prophet]

^just LOL!!

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

£600 on a clio suspension kit?i couldnt justify it. i know iv heard theyre awesome but at the end of the day its £600

You think that's expensive!! Christ I wont say how much I will be spending next week on my set-up!
It's not about the money for me, it's about getting the best possible set-up for track.

 

[Munson]

Get it on track, then you have an excuse, as you'll be hooked. I can't stress enough the benefits of putting these cars on track. It's where they excel.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

As above. My first time on track was epic, granted I was pretty s**t but it was amazing feeling what the car could do in a relatively care free environment.

 

[R1XPH]

The original clio springs / shocks are coilovers (Mcpherson coilover).

It means the spring coils over the damper.

All that happens if you buy cheap after market suspension is that you remove a set up tested by a renault test team using expensive equipment and a dedicated test team, and you replace it with a set up that you tested yourself in your garage by eye.

Do you not think companies who are solely dedicated to producing performance suspension components maybe know a thing or two about it, maybe more as that is ALL they do ALL day long? What you say is true but you are referring to the designers of a mass produced air fix kit from France designed to be as cheap and fast on the production line as possible.

 

[domjolly]

You think that's expensive!! Christ I wont say how much I will be spending next week on my set-up!
It's not about the money for me, it's about getting the best possible set-up for track.

the highlighted section is the most important part of this thread lol.... if your tracking your clio get coilovers if your only doing town and motorway drivin just get some springs! as you will never get the best out of coilovers around town

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

^ Exactly. But I've said it before, 90%+ of people who buy coilovers do it for the looks, and don't care what it does to the handling.

 

[bigmaddaz]

Some interesting advice, yea dont think im going to Track Day it, still not sure if I can justify coilover if its just for looks?!

 

[domjolly]

if your looking for a big drop why not just get some custom made springs! im looking down that road as the 40mm for the phase 1 172 just dont seem low enough. i would never ever ever buy coilovers if i was not going to go on track days most 172/182/197/200 clio suspension setup is better than the cheap coilovers anyways

 

[Danmalone1999]

Do you not think companies who are solely dedicated to producing performance suspension components maybe know a thing or two about it, maybe more as that is ALL they do ALL day long? What you say is true but you are referring to the designers of a mass produced air fix kit from France designed to be as cheap and fast on the production line as possible.

Anything less that 1000 pounds is just mass produced rubbish as far as i am concerned. To get a half decent damper spring combination set up properly i think youd need to spend around 3k personally. Something like the bilsteins with a proper set up including camber, spacer adjustment as well as properly adjusted top mounts. Near enough 3k.

And its not just the dampers themselves, its the set up.

If i was serious about tracking a 172 / 182 variant or a 197. I would buy myself some clio cup suspension from dieppe and use that. Then you have the set up and the info to use from Renault. If i had a mk1 i would bolt on the cup racer dampers. JOB DONE. No clio will be better set up than this for track, so why f**k about?

If the car is for the road, there is really no point putting after market suspension on it. All you will end up doing is f**king up a perfectly good set upthat was free with the car.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Anything less that 1000 pounds is just mass produced rubbish as far as i am concerned.

Wouldnt agree with that entirely, some 'off the shelf' kits get pretty good reviews from people who know what they're talking about.

But I agree entirely about having a full set-up, that's what Im getting next week. Can't wait !!

 

[the_prophet]

what you having fitted out of interest?

just looking about now for coilovers.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

ASTs. I live just down the road from Powerstation so it was the best choice really.

Having them custom set-up by Curtis next week

 

[the_prophet]

cooool enjoy them. get good reviews and properly set up should be good on track.

gona be my next purchase i think, just need to decide how much i can justify spending.

 

[Struggler]

Anything less that 1000 pounds is just mass produced rubbish as far as i am concerned. To get a half decent damper spring combination set up properly i think youd need to spend around 3k personally. Something like the bilsteins with a proper set up including camber, spacer adjustment as well as properly adjusted top mounts. Near enough 3k.

And its not just the dampers themselves, its the set up.

If i was serious about tracking a 172 / 182 variant or a 197. I would buy myself some clio cup suspension from dieppe and use that. Then you have the set up and the info to use from Renault. If i had a mk1 i would bolt on the cup racer dampers. JOB DONE. No clio will be better set up than this for track, so why f**k about?

If the car is for the road, there is really no point putting after market suspension on it. All you will end up doing is f**king up a perfectly good set upthat was free with the car.

the suspension on a cup is not designed soley for performance, if at all in regards to track performance.

the oem suspension would be a careful compromise between performance, ride quality, durability, and cost to produce. and lets face it, less than half the cups on the road will ever see a race track, the kit will be set up to deal with all the pot holes and bumps on the public road without bangs and crashes, i seriously doubt renault would set the suspension up for anything more than (semi) fast road use.

im sure the suspension is set up well, but NOT for sole perforance. However, buying an aftermarket kit (for more than 400 or so) would be soley based around performance. throwing ride comfort out the window and rattling your french car to pieces, but delivering a performance increase. so id say coilovers (in its generic term) would deliver a huge perforance increase on a track at the sacrifice of comfort and practicality and possibly reliability. However, being so stiff on the roads in my area is a back ache and you dont reap the rewards because you skip and jump over the bumps in the roads meaning you have probably LESS grip than before lol.

sorry about the rant, wanted to have a say,

but id go with springs mate, the shocks in the car will be good, and unless your tracking it you wont reap the rewards of having such good suspension, youll just ruin it over the bumps and pot holes in the road.

 

[rolly]

the suspension on a cup is not designed soley for performance, if at all in regards to track performance.

the oem suspension would be a careful compromise between performance, ride quality, durability, and cost to produce. and lets face it, less than half the cups on the road will ever see a race track, the kit will be set up to deal with all the pot holes and bumps on the public road without bangs and crashes, i seriously doubt renault would set the suspension up for anything more than (semi) fast road use.

im sure the suspension is set up well, but NOT for sole perforance. However, buying an aftermarket kit (for more than 400 or so) would be soley based around performance. throwing ride comfort out the window and rattling your french car to pieces, but delivering a performance increase. so id say coilovers (in its generic term) would deliver a huge perforance increase on a track at the sacrifice of comfort and practicality and possibly reliability. However, being so stiff on the roads in my area is a back ache and you dont reap the rewards because you skip and jump over the bumps in the roads meaning you have probably LESS grip than before lol.

sorry about the rant, wanted to have a say,

but id go with springs mate, the shocks in the car will be good, and unless your tracking it you wont reap the rewards of having such good suspension, youll just ruin it over the bumps and pot holes in the road.

I think he might be talking about the cup racer suspension not the cup road car setup.

 

[the_prophet]

i think he was talking in general tbh. reading some of his other posts.

 

[bigmaddaz]

Mmmmmm maybe ill just buy the springs then.... 30mm lower fine for a 197???

How much do you wreckon it will effect my insurance by in £££ 's?

 

[Cliotoby]

£600 on a clio suspension kit?i couldnt justify it. i know iv heard theyre awesome but at the end of the day its £600

I just spent a grand on mine ! And i dont even own a 197!

The difference between coils and springs is definately noticable. Cant really describe it in words, but for lowering springs id use the words crash and ouch, and then move my hand a bit like a gay man would to try and emulate the cars chassis rocking back and forth.

The original clio springs / shocks are coilovers (Mcpherson coilover).

It means the spring coils over the damper.

All that happens if you buy cheap after market suspension is that you remove a set up tested by a renault test team using expensive equipment and a dedicated test team, and you replace it with a set up that you tested yourself in your garage by eye.

HAHAHAHAHAHABut yes coil over damper is correct.

Anything less that 1000 pounds is just mass produced rubbish as far as i am concerned. To get a half decent damper spring combination set up properly i think youd need to spend around 3k personally. Something like the bilsteins with a proper set up including camber, spacer adjustment as well as properly adjusted top mounts. Near enough 3k.

And its not just the dampers themselves, its the set up.

If i was serious about tracking a 172 / 182 variant or a 197. I would buy myself some clio cup suspension from dieppe and use that. Then you have the set up and the info to use from Renault. If i had a mk1 i would bolt on the cup racer dampers. JOB DONE. No clio will be better set up than this for track, so why f**k about?

If the car is for the road, there is really no point putting after market suspension on it. All you will end up doing is f**king up a perfectly good set up that was free with the car.

My suspension was s**t, as was the ride height, as was the handling. I do agree with Cheap coilovers being s**t but not with the sub £1k bit. I paid a grand for mine because i wanted HR, but KW are fantastic.