I have read through the sticky "Suspension 101", which by the way is a sweet write up, and really am not certain if I understand the differences between a Spring and a Coilover.

First I know what a spring is. If I replace a spring on my stock suspension it may affect the longevity of my strut/shock. So a spring is a spring. Depending on the specs of the spring, it may lower or raise the height of my vehicle. I fully understand that.

A coilover on the other hand appears to be a spring and a strut/shock all packaged in to one. This is where i am slightly lost. I dont know if that is what a coil over is. ( just a replacement of the entire shock absorbing system?) But from the name of the unit, "Coilover," it sounds to me like it is a product that coils over the current suspension to give the ride the adjustment in height. So, If anyone may be so inclined to reply to this I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Yeah that. And they're adjustable.

 

Yes, you're right! It is just a strut/spring combo piece. What makes it different is the adjustability. You can adjust the spring height to raise/lower the car. The struts have adjustable valving, sometimes for both compression and rebound.

They are aimed at road race/auto-X people. For example, you can adjust each corner independently and really fine tune the handling of the car-if you know what you're doing.

 

Hey, thanks for the input. I will be doing some research into some coilovers and most likely go with a koni setup that ive heard good things about. But not for some time. I have creditcard bills i want to pay off completly and then decrease my spending limit. Because i have a problem.

 

Suspension is comprised of 3 things

1. Linkage to control the position/angle of your wheel as it moves up and down
2. Spring, to support the load
3. Damper (shock/strut) to limit the oscilations of the spring

There are many combinations of suspension designs and to design a suspension that truly works well.. all components Tires, linkage, spring rates, damping rates, etc.. have to be dialed in. I've seen many high dollar parts actually perform worse than stock and have an extrememly stiff ride to boot..

Not knowing what you are doing is the #1 way to have an expesnive car that handles like poop.

you need to maintain your lateral load transfer distribution, brake bias, camber gain to compliment your setup otherwise its not beneficial.. just like the guys who just upgrade the front or rear.. its a system.. it needs to be designed as such. Nobody just puts in ONE forged piston..

But then again.. 99% of the people on here could care less about handling compared with how their car "looks" being lowered.

 

I agree 1000%! The suspension on the SS/SC was very well sorted out by GM on the Ring. Many guys screw that up with mods and end up with worse handling than stock.
Setting up coilovers is not easy. That's why I ended my last post with "if you know what you are doing"

 

thank you for actually trying to learn something, and doing the research before you just asked dumb questions. thank you

 

Wait?! My inquiries were dumb? If so, i must apologize for being slightly ignorant on this particular portion of the vehicle. But I am growing as did many before me.

 

Hey, Cleveland, I think he was being sincere. He is thanking your for doing some research on your own, like you said in your first post, and asking intelligent questions.
Lots of guys on this forum just jump in and ask dumb questions without taking even a second to search and see if their answer is already there.

 

A coilover, is a suspension unit thats designed from scratch to completely replace your factory strut/spring unit.

Installing a coilover is the BEST way to :
1) Lower your car
2) Iimprove the handling of your car around corners
3) Have a good ride quality while doing 1&2 above.

Heres a photo of a prototype coilover that we are testing out on our Cobalt SS right now.



Ill have photos of these installed on our car a little bit later.

But, look at the photo, look at how the lower portion of the strut body is threaded. The perch that the spring sits on is also threaded. So, you can physically lower the spring perch (lowering the car) while maintaining the EXACT same distance for suspension travel (strut rod, and spring).

This means, you can have a car thats lowered 2 - 2.5 inches, and you WONT blow out your strut. Why ? Because the spring and strut are designed to be lowered, and they maintain the same suspension travel regardless of how much you lower the car.

I hope ive answered your questions there.

 

no that was sincere bro, thank you

 

wow those even come with front swaybar links, nice touch

now get a redline in there for some testing...