The truth you need to hear about the lower half of your car...

[jdotgdot]

i'm a newbie to all this and was wondering if it is easy to adjust dampening with a coilover. it just sounds a little intimidating to a newb.

[urbanknight]

What coilover are you talking about? You can not adjust dampening on springs, because springs don't dampen. Shocks control the dampening, and are only adjustable if the shocks are made that way. Tein SS and JIC shocks are adjustable. Easy as twisting a knob (that's how you do it), but if you're trying to adjust dampening on stock shocks or Ralliart shocks, no way no how... unless you want to rebuild the shocks and valves As for the springs, adjustable springs adjust the ride height and possible spring rate only, not dampening.

[Melaz425]

YO TYRONE! YOUR RIMS ARE PI.I.MP! PIAMP!!! all u need to do is drop it 1.3 inches and kit it up and then turbo and YOU WILL BE SET! the ride right now is hot though man, nicely done. keep up the good work
one-
The franchise

[bettorer]

hey what about the speedometer being off. This happens when? only when getting lower profile or anytime you change tire size? I want to get some 15 or 16" wheels and tires for me 03 lancer ES. Will this effect my speedometer

[urbanknight]

Originally Posted by bettorer

hey what about the speedometer being off. This happens when? only when getting lower profile or anytime you change tire size? I want to get some 15 or 16" wheels and tires for me 03 lancer ES. Will this effect my speedometer

The trick is keeping the tire diameter as close to original as possible. There's a link I used to have bookmarked, and it's posted somewhere on these forums too, that calculates each tire size's diameter so you can tell how far off a different size will be from stock. For reference, 225/50/15 215/50/16 and 215/40/17 are close to the stock OZ sizes, 205/50/15 215/45/16 and 205/40/17 are close to the stock ES sizes. For the rest, I'll have to see if I or someone else can dig up that link. I loved it!

[neilschelly]

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
This is the link Urban is talking about... Don't be confused by the Miata-specific labelling. The method of numbering tire sizes they use are the same method of numbering as any.
-N

[bobaab]

another nice calculator is here: http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

[AdamRA]

Good post I find that a lot of people don't really understand how big wheels screw you over until they have them on the car.

Just noticed how old the thread was lol.......

[bahamut]

Originally Posted by AdamRA

Good post I find that a lot of people don't really understand how big wheels screw you over until they have them on the car.

Just noticed how old the thread was lol.......

It's pretty common knowledge if you are a gearhead.

Mistake 1:
You put 18's on a lancer, and you never expected it to kill the acceleration. It's like putting 18's on a SI and still expect it to shoot out of the hole like a screaming banshee. Laws of physics will kill the car, no matter the weight . . . it's rotational mass. Why do you think C4 and C5 vettes have 18's? Dump 16's on them, their TQ will smoke the tire uncontrollably. It's the same for those 12 sec Supra TT.

Dislike #2
Why is there a fad calling upon drifting? Are people out there trying to imitate rogue individuals in Japan. IMO, American streets are nowhere near as good as Japan. This has to be SCC-inspired call to arms on drifting.

This is same for those silvia transplants. It's not easy as some people it out to be. It's still not easy as a H&A swap, nor it's easy as a minitruckin' cover spread about doing a bodydrop in a 2.5 pages. Heck, what about rumors of DSM or Evo swap in a mirage/lancer swap? Sure, a piece of cake, no sweat.

Dislike #3
If you think you can compete will in auto-x w/ a S13 silvia transplant, you have another thing coming. The transplant alone will dump you into a higher class. You are going to bust your arse trying to cut time on the corner, because the straight line speed won't cut it against bigger displacement motors.

Dislike #4
Call to arms for coilover coating 800-1200 smackers. I don't believe in them, because you can never fully 100% of its potential . . . at most 40% potential of usage. It's like buying a cool song that you have heard on the radio. Unfortunately, the cool song was the only good song amongst the lot of 13 other songs. I know I certainly feel ripped off.

I always say "a car is nothing without a driver", unless someone makes mass production of Knight Industry 2000 TA's. Then, I'll say being the driver is a moot point.

[Alchemist]

I'll call you out on #4, not being one to let anything you write, that I read, go unargued with . you are aware that there's this invention called coilover springs, right? And you're aware that these suspensions cost around $1200, right? So what's not to believe in? It's not like we're talking about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or a virgin girl on a college campus. While I may not be able to squeeze every ounce of performance out of my SS kit during an AX, I know I squeezed the progress springs dry, and they just couldn't take it. Given the much higher spring rate (and that it's a linear spring rate) matched with a damper than can stop the bounce, I know I'm getting faster lap times (and well, I have the scores to prove it).
In March when the AX-geared performance driving schools start up again, I'll be taking even more out of these, and I know the progress springs wouldn't be able to handle it- they simply weren't designed for this type of driving.

But honestly, I'm glad you "don't believe" in $1200 suspensions- you should try to convince everyone in my race club so I can put more trophies on my shelf

And to get that one cool song, go to Napster and pay the buck

[lancerfreak311]

agreed fully, 100%, great thread

[bobaab]

yea about the not believing in coilovers thing..do u not believe cause it costs that much? even if u can only squeeze 40% out of it's potential, u cant exactly get that performance from anything else. sure the Progress/Eibach spring may do SOME good, but it's nothing close to what the coilovers can achieve.

[urbanknight]

Originally Posted by neilschelly

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
This is the link Urban is talking about... Don't be confused by the Miata-specific labelling. The method of numbering tire sizes they use are the same method of numbering as any.
-N

That's the one, thanks!

Originally Posted by engineerboy

It's not like we're talking about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or a virgin girl on a college campus.

Quote of the month

Coilovers are awesome, and with mine only half-way tuned they allowed me to turn some impressive times around the autocross circuit as well as raceways. 1:45 on the full course at Streets of Willow and 2:25 on the full course (with bus stop) at Buttonwillow.

[evodreamer01]

i just have to say this write-up took care of all the questions i had about tires and rim size for my es
got to luv quick search

[ESLancerType]

Hell yah! Lemme know what I can do to spice my 2005 ES up. I already messed up and put 17's on my Lil car. Not too bad looking but it feels like Im driving an SUV. Eventually I'll be ridding myself of those wheels and spice down a bit with 15's but in the mean time I'm going to work on my suspension.

I did my research for coilovers and you're definitely right. I can get up to 2.2" down if I wanted but like you said, its optional and adjustable.

Alright, so I have an intake on my engine and it's not placed right. Its already been cut down and set but I don't like it. I want it where it's supposed to be and I don't have the cash to spend on a new pipe. Workin on a budget here. So what else is there? I'm thinking I'll leave the header in place but get a catback installed, that way I can test out whether forced air is fine with the Lancer or not.

Fuel Regulator? Maybe something I don't know too much about?