AE82 twin cam suspension options

[toaster]

basically im looking for good handling, decent ride comfort, and not too low

yes i have searched the old forums, and the general consensus seems to be king springs, kyb shocks, and whiteline rear swaybar

now i am on a slightly tight budget, and have been recommended monroe shocks instead

my car is basically stock, but i intend to fit a set of 15's or 16's in the near future, so cant lower it too much. hence, kings lows seem to be the go

ill probably go have a look at the local suspension place in the next couple of days...

any further comments/suggestions?

[laaag]

make sure you roll the guards if you plan on putting anything wider that 195's on it.
when lowered it will scrub like a bitch

16' rims fit and look great as long as the profile is kept low to help with the scrubbing.

i was told that monroe gas shocks are the best if your on a budget, got quoted $500ish for all four without labour.

hope this helps an good luck

[toaster]

make sure you roll the guards if you plan on putting anything wider that 195's on it.

i'd say 195-205 tyres probably, and im not looking to lower it much, and may only put 15's on, so should be fine?

16' rims fit and look great as long as the profile is kept low to help with the scrubbing.

low as in...? 30? 50?

i was told that monroe gas shocks are the best if your on a budget, got quoted $500ish for all four without labour.

and labour would be a couple of hundred or so right?

thanks heaps mate

[myne]

I have an ae82 twinky hatch (gze) with :

Ae92 GTZ front hubs
Some 4 setting (rebound and compression?) aftermarket shocks (set to the 3rd stiffness setting)
What look to be progressive rate springs, though they could be stock from the ae92 gtz.
Stock rear afik
Whiteline 18mm adjustable rear swaybar on stiffest setting
Whiteline front castor kit and sway bar bushes
1mm toe out on each wheel
~2.5* castor (front) and 1* camber all round
15x195x50 toyo tyres at 45psi front and 35psi rear
Stock ride height.

It more or less handles brilliantly. On a rediculously bumpy road at over 150kph, the car was bouncing all over the joint but I could still keep it straight with 2 fingers resting on the wheel.
Round corners I cant really fault it. It's fairly neutral with some mild and predictable understeer at the very limit, the ass end can be made to come round by backing off or braking and so far I havent seen anyone that can keep up with me through the twisties.
I find it's got so much grip and such high limits that I dont even need to know the road and I can still fudge it at _very_ high speeds.
Basically, it's hard to find a corner that I cant break the speed limit going around.

In the wet it's basically the same. Anyone in adelaide would know yesterday was raining pretty heavily in the morning, but I still went for a fang up and down norton summit. Flawless. I barely had to slow down at all in the wet.

[Classique71]

whiteline i believe make a full works kit for these monsters - same as what i have on my Gt4

they also have a " real handling " document on how they get the best street ride out of the car -

have a peek at their site

www.whiteline.com.au

[laaag]

[QUOTE=toaster]i'd say 195-205 tyres probably, and im not looking to lower it much, and may only put 15's on, so should be fine?

my springs were chopped when i got it, not sure how much though.
195's wernt too bad but with the 205's i had to drive like a grandma when there were people in the back so it wouldnt scrub over the slightest bumps.
i would definatly recomend 195/40or50/15's for the best all round package or 195or205/40/16 if you like bigger rims

low as in...? 30? 50?

with 16' rims i would recomend 40 or a little bit under, the lower profile will also help keep your spedo accurate.
and labour would be a couple of hundred or so right?

labour was quoted bout $200 when paying cash, you shouldnt pay any more.

ps my guards had been rolled when i bought the car by the owner, a 26year old single mother
so you can probably do it yourself too

[Moppitt]

and the general consensus seems to be king springs, kyb shocks, and whiteline rear swaybar

What you have suggested so far seems pretty good. I have whiteline springs with that set up but I have been told they are stiffer (therefore harder riding) than Kings springs. Ill prob swap to something softer evenually when my back gets tired of the bumps.

My car is about 50mm lowered from stock (although that was with sagging springs) and will have some 16's with 205's on in a couple of weeks. Scary thing is that I scrub with the car loaded up running 185/60 R14 so that could be an interesting expirence.

I will say without any hesitation, get the rear sway bar first. The improvement is staggering.

[toaster]

madness, thanks all for the sweet replies

yes whiteline do make a kit, but the works package is a bit over a grand which im not prepared to pay atm

i'll probably go into the suspension place tomorrow and see what they have to say

[finney]

with 16" wheels and 205 wide a 40 profile tyre will keep you're speedo accurate. rolling diameter is 8mm lower, 45 profile makes it 12 taller. i've got 16" wheels on my AE92 seca sx with 205/40's and havent had to touch the guards. car is lowereed by lovells spring 25-40mm lower than standard.

i'd recommend at least looking at what noltec in thornleigh has on offer. i bought all my gear through them with the members discount (25%) and can't really complain. all new bushes, lovells springs and cheap shocks as that was all i could afford.

before i did all this i got a set of camber bolts for the front and they made a huge difference with the turn-in. but -1.5 degrees has really killed my tyres

[faulksy]

i have been driven in and driven myne's car pre and post his whiteline setup and cant fault it. it really is incredible and has convinence me on a similiar setup. who says front wheel drives cant handle? certainly not the motorbikes that could keep up in the hills

[myne]

madness, thanks all for the sweet replies

yes whiteline do make a kit, but the works package is a bit over a grand which im not prepared to pay atm

i'll probably go into the suspension place tomorrow and see what they have to say

Just get the handling kit. (adjustable rear bar + bushes, front castor bushes, front sway bar bushes and rear camber adjustment)
If you want to save a bit of cash, drop the rear camber bolts. Assuming your car isnt damaged or lowered, the rears will be at 0* camber, which with the heavy front means you wont ever need extra rear cornering grip.
I havent fitted the ones that came with my kit, and I really really dont think I need to. If anything, I'd have to make it POSITIVE camber so I could flick the ass a bit more
You can save 70$ by not getting them.

I'm a bit dubious about the works package. From everything I've read, lowering a car with just kit springs, shocks and a wheel alignment is a BAD thing.
A correct system has to take into account the dynamic changes in geometry throughout the suspensions' travel.
You might argue that lowering just puts it partway INTO it's travel, which would be true - if you didnt get the toe 'fixed' in the wheel alignment.

The other thing that seems to back this up is just how well my car(with it's stock ride height) copes with the dodgiest of corners. I can feel the wheels moving up and down with the bumps but the direction of travel doesnt change, nor does the steering need to be corrected.

[The Last Streetfighter]

It's great to see someone impressed with a 'Rolla's handling at Stock Ride height!

I love it

[andy]

i need some springs for my twinky aswell. i have the standard suspension and it currently scrubs on both the rear arches when i take high speed corners lol. its pretty fucked up. bouncing off the short stops.

i will be buying kings lows and BOGE shocks. 4 of each for about 1000 ive been told.
just waiting for bonus to go in, i have no money after the hardcore drinking week i had last week. i think i should go back to drinking something cheaper like jonnie black......

i also have a white line rear sway bar waiting to go in. and i need to replace most of the bushes. anyone got a list of all the bushes used in the ae82? are bushes expensive?

[toaster]

i'd recommend at least looking at what noltec in thornleigh has on offer. i bought all my gear through them with the members discount (25%)...

pity im not a member though

the whiteline handling kit doesnt include springs/shocks, which i really need, since my stock ones are going

i think i'll probably go for springs, shocks and swaybar...but i'll see what the suspension shop has to say today

[toaster]

prices i got today:

king lows - $100 a pair = $200
monroe shocks - about $125 each, probably less, plus about $50 freight = $500
whiteline rear swaybar - $150

installation - $240

= approx. $1090

bit more than i'm willing to pay atm, especially considering the amount of stuff that's wrong with my car as it is
swaybar may have to wait, so installation would be a little less...$900 approx.

i'd like to get some of the more important things wrong first, then see how my finances are going

anyway, thanks for the help guys, pos rep has/is come/ing your way