rhythm1c

Hello,
2008 tl type s...put coilovers on and was immediately disappointed. Advertisement said "great for everyday driving and weekend fun on the track". Put my car on the ground!! Needing to get back to factory spec but super expensive if purchasing from Acura and having them do the work. Looking at buying Acura Struts and Eibach lowering springs but curious if there might be some other ways to go...Would like to lower 1" from factory setting and not have to worry if the wife needs the car for the weekend. Thoughts?

sweeT n Lo

Which coilovers did you buy? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just adjust your current coilovers to raise the height? That's one of the main benefits of coilovers.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Agree what coilovers did you buy? I hope not some Ebay junk.

rhythm1c

Function & Form Type 1. I raised them as high as I could and they still sit 2"-3" below the factory ride height (I'd lean more to the 3"). Was super disappointed....

dopeboy1

Never heard of those, did you get them at wal-mart?

rhythm1c

got them online. They were not cheap. I'm not interested in sarcastic responses. Needing to get back to a quality ride and like the lowered look. Just dont want the car sitting on the ground. Constructive comments are appreciated with usable suggestions...

dopeboy1

Okay I can appreciate that, im just at work and clearly don't have enough work to do.

Seems to me that if the coil overs you bought are crap then your only option is to remove them and buy better ones.

sweeT n Lo

I would check out the Tein Street Advance coilovers, but I would do some research first to make sure that they have the range of height adjustments that you would need before purchasing them. You can also adjust the damper settings on these particular coilovers. They're also not crazy expensive.I have them and I like them. Good luck.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Why not just put the stock suspension back in place?

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

For what you are looking for is probably not wise to put coilovers on the car. I would put the stock suspension back on and call it a day and live with the wheel gap.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Given many of us think the stock ride height looks much better than slammed, this isn't exactly a huge burden to carry.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Then you must not have been around along enough.

Everyone was throwing F&F's on their 2G TL and 6G Accords because they dumped your car.

F&F are garbage. OP should have done some research and bought a more reputable brand. Tein would have been the best bet.

Slpr04UA6

thoiboi

F&F ride like TRASH... I had them on my older Accord and HATED the ride..

dopeboy1

I have definitely not been around long enough to hear about garbage coilovers that were popular 15 years ago lol.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Nah, it was more so 9-10 years ago.

BROlando

....F&F's are MASSIVELY cheap. I hope you didn't pay more than like $500

You already have them. May as well try to make them work.

Try adding about 1/2" of preload to the spring. You may need more...idk what the spring rate or free travel is on F&F's.

It will fix some of your height issues as well as make the ride softer.

If you still hate them (they're definitely pretty awful), sell them and move on.

TLheartstopper

rhythm1c

I paid a bit more...yes, they are garbage and rec'd no support from the manufacturer or the company I bought them from.

rhythm1c

Thx for the feedback. I'm gonna go with the factory struts and the Eibach springs which are advertised to lower the car 1". Seems perfect but curious if any have experienced trouble with this setup.

BROlando

?? there are a bunch of posts above saying how bad F&F are.

I'd try to make them work. With some dialing in, its *possible* to make them ride better than getting kicked by a donkey. But...that takes some effort.

Slpr04UA6

jazz6554

If it's any help I ultimately went with Eibach Pro springs and Koni Yellows from XLR8. Always great service from the XLR8 crew! There's a good range of adjustment on the yellows to pretty much dial in the ride you are comfortable with. Mild 1" drop.
At the softest setting I think they're a bit firmer than OEM. Road imperfections/potholes will be felt a bit more, but very smooth and controlled ride with better handling. I initially tried using the lower
perches on the Konis with OEM springs for mild lowering but would not recommend this. The reduction in spring preload with this setup gave the car a really wonky feel, especially in the front end!

90foxnotch

Glad you got it figured out, I have koni yellow/HR springs and Im in love. Hopefully you can sell those coilovers to a cool stance dude that only cares about looks

BROlando

Eibach pro kits and Konis is a pretty winning combination for street use.

To help anyone in the future, if a coilover claims to be "great on the track and on the street" and costs less than ~$1500-2000 or so...you're probably going to be very disappointed with ride quality and/or track performance.

OR you're going to need to buy some extra parts and set them up advantageously for one or the other.

I can't think of any sub $~2000 coilover that does both things really well, TBH.

There are plenty of good, inexpensive coilovers available. But sub $1500 coilovers really should only be geared toward doing ONE thing well.

Glad OP got his sorted out.

jazz6554

Just out of curiosity, are there any high end coilover setups that would give a higher quality road ride over the Eibach/Koni setup?
Was thinking of the BWM style performance to comfort ratio - do high end coils duplicate this at all?

BROlando

Yeah. Ohlins or Bilstein come to mind. Not sure if Ohlins makes anything for this chassis. But I'm sure you could use Ohlins cartridges from another application and then find (probably make) M52 x 1.5mm lower mounts for a TL.

Pretty sure Bilstein shocks are used on H&R SP. But they probably rely on a pretty tall ride height - close to stock. And sometimes, Bilsteins with pre-set damping are slightly harsh riding.

You could probably get close with Koni yellows and ground controls in the correct rate...but also at close to stock height. They're twin tube, so maybe not as good as Bilstein/Ohlins...but still nice shocks. And they're indestructible AF....even through the coating is shit.

I think KW makes some setups. Build/overall quality isn't anywhere near Bilstein or Koni or Ohlins (or even Tein, honestly)...and ride quality is hit or miss, depending on the application.

jazz6554

Wow - Thanks for the really detailed reply BROlando - really appreciate it! Part of the difficulty in evaluating ride quality vs stock is I came to my TL at 120k with pretty tired suspension with no previous TL experience. I test drove an stock 07 the other day with only 60k on it and the ride was pretty compliant, but much more floaty that my current setup. (Car was in minty shape too if anyone is looking for a NBP 07 Non-Nav in NY) I will look into the ground controls and try keeping the Konis as I really like them. If the ride height came back up I'd be ok with that - looking more for quality ride over appearance really. Our TLs are already fairly low to start

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

As has been related to me by other members here, the 2007-2008 base TLs have the softest/floatiest suspensions of the 3G TL lineup.

jazz6554

Just looking over the Ground Control Coilover Conversion setup.....looks very promising and very adjustable! Just have to figure spring rates. Will call them tomorrow!

jazz6554

Thanks again BROlando. Chatted with Ground Control yesterday and they were helpful.
Not sure what spring rates to consider - they said that they can make recommendations based on my taste.
All their springs are linear, which I'm assuming will be more straightforward to tune with the Konis?

BROlando

Linear springs will be easier to tune with for the end user (you).

What are you using this setup for? Just street driving with reasonable roll stiffness for more responsive handling?

Or are you building it to work on a track?

Projek

I have Eibach Pro Kit on mine and feels amazing

jazz6554

My use is good quality street - aka BMW ride quality.

BROlando

If you use GC's, I'd probably go with around 400-450LB up front and 250-275LB in the back.

Keep the ride height close to stock (maybe a 1" drop).

You should be able to keep the dampers slightly off center (toward soft).

Remember:

• Softer damping does not always mean more comfortable. Under damped cars will pitch and float and jump all over the road. Trampolines are soft. But sitting on one while someone jumps around on one is not comfortable. The car should damp away bumps and settle down quickly.
• A setting that is too stiff will make the car jiggle and bounce because the shock is restricting the spring way too much.
• I recommend starting at full stiff and then driving around...and then incrementally turning the dial softer until the car starts to float around. Once it starts to bobble and float over dips and gradual bumps...you've reached "too soft".
• Konis only adjust for rebound. Meaning the "stiffer" you set it, the harder it is for the shock to EXPAND. It never gets harder for the shock to compress no matter how much you turn the dial. They do this to make the shock compatible with a wide array of springs. It gives you the ability to tune the shock to match the spring.
• Konis are the same length as stock. The stock suspension has pretty limited travel. Don't lower the car more than like 1".

Your pro-kit might work just fine if you get it raised up a bit. But raising/lowering height is a huge pain, and you're stuck with the pre-set positions. This is one of the reasons I always recommend coilovers than lowering springs. Its easier to be happy with the right set of coilovers if you spend a little time getting everything right.

Alignments and tyres also play a big role in impact harshness. Worn out tyres will be WAY more harsh than new ones. An alignment with a lot of toe will be harsh because you're hitting bumps with the wheels turned sideways.

jazz6554

What dampers are you using with your ProKit Springs?