LCR, coilovers, shocks, headache!

[irf]

Bear with me guys, believe me I've read dozens of threads after searching but am still not far off being clueless in what to get.

My cars done 90k and is a bit floaty and crashy so am thinking I need to replace the suspension.

The cars used by the mrs for her commute and is speed breaker Central so can't have anything too low cos the lip scrapes at standard ride height!

My primary aim is improved handling and not just on a track but a bumpy b-road. I'll be going to the nurburgring next year and can see myself leaving my lip at the karussell!

Right, so my options. Coilovers, the AP coilovers appeal but they're not damping adjustable and the lower you go the stiffer the spring gets. I want something height adjustable which doesn't affect the spring rates.

A good shock and spring combo like the bilsteins cost close to £700 and while I'm sure it's good it feels wrong to spend that much on something not adjustable. Or is that just me?

There's the BC coilovers which I can get for under £700 and I like the fact that I know what the spring rates are (6/5kg/mm).

Any thoughts?

Also, has anyone removed the lip on their LCR? Is it just the lip that's vulnerable or is the sump quite low as well? (Compared to other cars)

Thanks.

 

[andycupra]

its not quite as you say regards coilovers.
setting them lower does not always mean the spring rate changes as you simply move the point at which the coil sits rather than pre- compress.

you may also find that even if the car is lower if you don't slam it the car can actually be BETTER on speed bumps as when you first contact the speed bump the car reacts better and doesn't compress so much.
The sump is fairly low, id leave the splitter on if I were you.

personally, id ay go for springs/shocks, yes ok so there is no height adjust but how often are you at the Nurburg/tracks? it also effects the geometry.

 

[akko]

Is it just me who doesn't have a problem with the lip scraping?

If its scraping your either going far too fast over speed bumps or the speed bumps where you live are ridiculously high!

I have AP coilovers on my LCR wound all the way down and i haven't had much more problems with it scraping now than it did before, the only place id be careful of would be multi-story car parks. They take some getting used to, standard suspension makes you feel like your driving a boat sometimes and these make you feel like the car is on rails! However they are a little bumpy on badly surfaced roads, which i find to be few.

 

[Bouncerbeater]

Few badly surfaced roads ? More like an off road rally stage round here, even A roads

 

[irf]

The speed breakers I'm on about are the ones you can just straddle over. They're everywhere and huge!

I was under the impression that the to lower the height on AP coilovers, well actually I'm not sure how you would do that but on previous cars where I've had coilovers you just spun the bottom up or down which didn't affect the spring length.

 

[Joey_c]

My lcr also scrapes the splitter quite often on standard low mileage suspension but to be fair the roads are **** round here mostly due to load of heavy quarry trucks etc causing the roads to subside.
I was quite surprised at how harsh the ride can be, it's not much better than my old passat that was very low on coilovers.
I was wondering if anyone felt the ride was better on aftermarket suspension?

 

[Grayboy]

I've got Bilstien shocks and Eibach springs and it is Sooooooooo much better and worth every penny.

I had a set of all singing all dancing £1,800+ (I paid half that including a rebuild) coils on my old Cooper S and although loved them I'd never have them on a road car again.

I am surrounded by the very same bumps and I only catch the biggest of them now, I'd recommend getting the top mounts done this raises the car 7-8 mm as they squash over time.

 

[irf]

Yeah, top mounts and bearings will be changed. Have you got a pic of your car with the bilsteins? Which bilstein and iba has are they?

At the moment I seem to be swaying between the bilsteins and bc coilovers.

 

[Grayboy]

Yeah, top mounts and bearings will be changed. Have you got a pic of your car with the bilsteins? Which bilstein and iba has are they?

At the moment I seem to be swaying between the bilsteins and bc coilovers.

Haven't got anything since it settled properly but will get some at the weekend if I can (crank sensor is playing up so starting is a lottery)

I can't stress enough how much better for a road car they are over coilovers.

 

[irf]

I can't stress enough how much better for a road car they are over coilovers.

That's what pulls me to the bilsteins. I've had a few cars with coilovers and they were all too stiff for the road apart from the tein superstreets I had on my accord type r.

They had spring rates of 8/4 kg/mm and it was good on the road, felt a bit limited on track but I'd prefer it that way round now.

Spring rates on the bc coilovers are 6/5 kg/mm but only trouble is I know spring rates aren't the be all end all but don't have enough knowledge to know what else to look at.

 

[Mark One]

My LCR was completely standard (similar mileage) and I've just fitted a whiteline rear anti roll bar and polyurethane bushes the week after.

The bar is a good modification, but the bushes are awesome - wish I'd done them sooner.

The bushes removed so much of the front end deflection that I'd put down to tyre fold. Turn in is so much sharper, accuracy is much better, mid corner correction is much better. One thing that really surprised is that the ride is better in some instances - at worst, it's the same ride quality as before with a little less road noise.
For reference i fitted the Powerflex bushes: Top Mounts, Wishbone rear bush, black series wishbone front bush (standard has very little play), Black series steering rack bush (not really convinced by this)

 

[swinford]

I bought my lcr with ap coilovers on and polybushed all done by the pervious owner. Think its dropped about 30 ish.. not 100% as not had proper look.. its not to hard.. i take my time with speed breakers and have no issue with the lip.

 

[Grayboy]

Finally got a couple of mine.

Sits just right for me.

 

[irf]

Dunno if it's just me but those pics aren't showing.

Anyway, for me at least this threads irrelevant now. I give you

Kw v1 courtesy of dpm

 

[Grayboy]

Dunno if it's just me but those pics aren't showing.

Anyway, for me at least this threads irrelevant now. I give you

Kw v1 courtesy of dpm

Nice!

 

[irf]

Finally got a couple of mine.

Sits just right for me.

Pics showing now and yep, does sit nicely. Liking the rear being completely de badged as well. Took the 'Leon' off mine yesterday but might just take it all off looking at yours.