New Suspension Section

Wiisass

Supramania Contributor
So we now have a nice suspension and vehicle dynamic section for all the questions you guys have on setting up your cars for whatever you do. You can ask anything suspension or vehicle dynamics related and I will do my best to answer the question or at least point you in the right direction. I may not always be able to give specific answers, but I will tell you why and how to figure it out on your own. Meaning, I haven't tested every damper or coilover setup, so I couldn't tell you how it should be adjusted for what you want to do, but I can tell you the best way to figure it out on your own.

So feel free to start posting questions or even just topics you would like to discuss. I am going to be working on some suspension basics FAQs over the next couple weeks and building on them as time passes. Just do me a favor and be as descriptive with your questions as possible, with this kind of stuff everything factors into the equation and leaving out one variable could change the way the car should be setup.

Tim
 

Supraholics

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Dude, you're certainly ARE the person to have on this section!!!! Congrats on that...

I asked a question a while ago about having a stiffer/more adjustable suspension on the TEMS system. Can I swap out the Tokicos with something else? Also can a coilover system be adapted to the TEMS??
 

Wiisass

Supramania Contributor
I must've missed this post. Sorry about that.

Thanks. Once I get some more time to make some posts, I hope to make the section a great reference for any supra owner looking to do something with their suspension.

I think we might have talked about this a little on TST a while back.

I'm not sure what else would be compatible with TEMS. I'm sure we could figure out something, but I don't know what would be the best. If you really want to try something, I will start looking into it a lot more.

Tim
 

mkIII213

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Oct 28, 2007
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I'm looking for the best suspension combination for my mk3. I was thinking about coilovers, but I'm really just looking for just something cheaper right now
 

Wiisass

Supramania Contributor
mkIII213 said:
I'm looking for the best suspension combination for my mk3. I was thinking about coilovers, but I'm really just looking for just something cheaper right now

Best and cheaper don't go together at all.

As for the suspension, it depends on what you want to do with the car. I couldn't really tell you much else without any information.
 

stakie

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May 7, 2005
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Right now, i have Eibach Springs & tokico Illuminas II. The right rear shock is bad, and I want to replace it. The problem is, no one sells Illumina II anymore, so it looks like, for better vehicle dynamics, I will have to change all four. I was looking at Konis, but the ones they sell for the MKIII, you are required to use the OEM "sleeve" for it to work with the springs.

I'm not looking at coilovers. So I'm looking to find out what shock works really good with the Eibach combination. I'm going to do some more searching, but for now, I'm asking the question here.

Thank you,
Gregory
 
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suprahero

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I don't have a question, but I would like to welcome you to Supramania and congratulate you on your new section. I know you've been a member for a long time, but I haven't seen you post much. Good luck, Jay
 

mkIII213

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Oct 28, 2007
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Wiisass said:
Best and cheaper don't go together at all.

As for the suspension, it depends on what you want to do with the car. I couldn't really tell you much else without any information.

Well considering I dont want to spend 1200 bucks on coilovers right now, anything cheaper would be more in the springs and shocks category. I have noticed alot of people have gone with the Eibach and Tokico combo, what do you think? Considering the car is my DD and not a track car, im not looking for a suspension set up that will have me calling a chiropract after driving to the store and back. So something that will help with lowering the car without sacrificing to much of the ride quality.
 

Wiisass

Supramania Contributor
stakie said:
Right now, i have Eibach Springs & tokico Illuminas II. The right rear shock is bad, and I want to replace it. The problem is, no one sells Illumina II anymore, so it looks like, for better vehicle dynamics, I will have to change all four. I was looking at Konis, but the ones they sell for the MKIII, you are required to use the OEM "sleeve" for it to work with the springs.

I'm not looking at coilovers. So I'm looking to find out what shock works really good with the Eibach combination. I'm going to do some more searching, but for now, I'm asking the question here.

Thank you,
Gregory

Talk to Ckanderson, I'm pretty sure that you can still get Illuminas, so you should just be able to order a new one and replace it.

suprahero said:
I don't have a question, but I would like to welcome you to Supramania and congratulate you on your new section. I know you've been a member for a long time, but I haven't seen you post much. Good luck, Jay

Thanks Jay.

mkIII213 said:
Well considering I dont want to spend 1200 bucks on coilovers right now, anything cheaper would be more in the springs and shocks category. I have noticed alot of people have gone with the Eibach and Tokico combo, what do you think? Considering the car is my DD and not a track car, im not looking for a suspension set up that will have me calling a chiropract after driving to the store and back. So something that will help with lowering the car without sacrificing to much of the ride quality.

A good suspension setup will still have good ride quality. Most of the asian coilovers don't have as good ride quality as they should because of poor compression damping curves. But a properly valved damper will ride much nicer than people expect. As for a cheaper alternative, I would suggest a good damper and a good linear spring. I will be dynoing the Mk3 oe replacement bilsteins in a couple weeks and figuring out what spring rates can be run with them without revalving. I think this would be a great setup for most street cars. Koni's OE replacement damper is also an option, but I think they have a little more agressive compression curve and depending on spring rate, it may ride a little rougher.

I don't have any experience with the Tokicos and Eibach combo, but I would probably only go with the tokicos if keeping TEMS was a priority. In general, a Bilstein or Koni setup is probably going to be better then the Tokicos. I don't know how the tokicos are valved, but just from experience with Koni and Bilstein, I would pick them.

Tim