Suspension questions

First post here, im from West Michigan, glad i found a semi local 240 forum

Anyway i recently bought a S13 and am seeking advice for a suspension setup, some background...

Since i was 12 ive been a car nut and love drifting, rally, auto x, time trails, road racing, basically any form of motorsport that requires balls out precision driving around corners. Since im half japanese and visit japan frequently( 14 times and counting) i gravitated towards japanese cars and jdm stuff, leading to my discovery of the s series many years ago. Cheap, rwd, good balance, i was obsessed from day 1. A month ago i finally bought a S13 5spd coupe for DD and some track/aggressive driving and drifting. Besides some nagging problems ( minor PS leak, Clutch pedal bracket snapping, Brake pads worn out) its in very good condition for a michigan car and has minimal rust. I plan on keeping it stock over the winter and saving for a suspension setup to buy in the spring. Problem is im in college, will be for the next 4 years, and work a shit paying job 20 hours a week. Ive outlined a few setups that im thinking about, i want it to last me a long time, be reliable, versatile, and cost effective. Im not too worried about ride quality.

1- Eibach pro kit etc with kyb tokico koni etc- The cheapest setup, im leaning towards this right now, but im not sure it will give me the versatility and performance i need, and i might end up replacing them with coils in a year anyway?

2-Coilovers- Im thinking Stance GR's or maybe megans, but ive heard horror stories about the latter. I know that coils will give me the performance and versatility i need, and if i get the stances reliability. But they are so expensive, ill blow all the money i saved and have none for unforeseen repairs or other upgrades such as brakes, LSD, tires and suspension arms. I plan on tracking and auto xing alot when the snow thaws, would it be worth it to ride stock until the middle of summer when i will definatly have enough cash saved to buy coils and not be broke?

3- option 1, then save longer and buy ground control sleeve overs and camber plates. I dont see many people running ground controls, mostly because it ends up being as much as a set of stances. However, this setup would allow me to have a decent setup for spring and some of summer then i could upgrade to coils. My only concern is they wont be as good as stances.

any advice is appreciated, open to other suggestions too, thanks

It seems like you know what you want to do with the car. So why not just get the coilovers.

the vast majority of ANY of the midwest 240 guy's are gonna say get stance. they are good, but i just hear waaaaaay to many people jerking off about them.

My girlfriend run's Megan streets on her s13 coupe, car handles very well, car is stiff but nothing that you wouldn't expect from coilovers. there is only about 1000 miles on the coilovers so far but there have been 0 problems with them.

If your on a budget look for used coilovers, you can usually find some used stance/megan/tein/cusco/etc on any major s-chassis forum and even some local ones. just keep your eye out and you could find a deal.

Also suspension will only help as much as what kind of tires you have. you can have the best coil's out there and shit as tires and you'll get run down by a guy with a good spring/shock/tire combo. so don't forget about that aspect either.

Go coilovers

as far as cost, go used if you dont want to pay for new.

got my Tein basics used for cheap

If u can handle stiff rides for daily driving get coilovers. My suggestion, get emotor coilovers. I know people that use these and they are good and stiff as fuck. They don't go as low as stance, Megan or any 1k coilover really but they do go low enough. Plus 3/4 of the people who own s chassis are too chicken shit pussy willow to really drop a car.

Emotor I recommend. Can't beat the 500 price tag for NEW coilovers.

spring/shock setups suck.

just get coilovers

stance is cool

Dont even waste your time and hard earned money with spring and shock combo.
Stance,yeah.

if you dont care about ride quality get emotors
like ecko said 500 for new coils

dont waste your money by getting spring/shock combo
if you are going to eventually get coils.

i have teins, the ride quality is soo good
but dont go low enough

thanks for the replys, i overlooked the used coilover option. I think im going to try to find a deal on some stances or similiar, maybe get some megans. I only found 1 dealer for those emotor coilovers, and they were non height adjustable. And yes i'm planning on getting some new rubber before or around the same time i get these.

I just picked up emotor coilovers for mine today. They will be on tomorrow. I can post up pics so you can get an idea. I also only payed $506 for em.Pretty cheap if you're on a budget. The only reason why I got them was because one guy I know had them on his s13 for about a year, and worked out pretty good. He said he liked them better than the tein flex for some reason. And the emotor ones i got are spring rate and height adjustable.

^ searched a bit harder, found height adjustable emotors 460$ shipped. Im gonna order these, they look decent quality and are too cheap to pass up lol.

nice. I could've ordered them off ebay for 480 shipped, but it would have took 4-10 days. So I ended up paying the extra 20 just to get em right away since I need suspension bad. TOP SPEED has them in stock. I'm isntalling them as we speak. Ill post up pics later.

ive heard those things ride like garbage.

I wasn't able to get some time on the lift today, so tomorrow Ill let you guys know how they ride.

get a different car

Nothing wrong with a good strut spring combo... for the street. I love my S techs and GR2 combo. That being said. It's just a street car for me. If you plan to track your car, get coils. And make sure they have adjustability, and not just ride height. You'll want damping too. Don't forget about camber plates and rucas.

got these bad boys on yesterday and drove around for a while. The ride was great. I had one small fitment issue at first, but it was nothing a couple of parrot wrenches couldnt handle. Ill post before/after pics. And some pics of the install.

^^Nice, hope they work out well, cant wait for pics.

what was the fitment issue? anyone know how low these go?

Please no flaming. I already know my car looks like shit. Thanks Top speed mike had them on for over a year, drifted the shit out of it at rockford speedway, sold it, and as far as i know the car still has the same coilovers.

before


after


and this is where i was stuck for a couple secs.. spreaded them wide open,(thats what she said), and hammered those bitches in. Im still breaking them in and messing with height and spring rate. so far so good..

ride height looks the same

i didnt lower the rear much..the front you can notice a bit more..less wheel gap if you look closely. I will definitely go lower. Right now it is at per any perfect height for my driveway, if i go any lower ill mess up my sick bumper. Handles better than the old set up i had also.

Why buy coilovers only to be tall as all fuck?

Why buy coilover if ride quaility isnot an issue? Ynot cut springs?

you guys are making me mad, haha, today i will go as low as i can