Let the modding begin..

Only 5 days in and its time for springs hahaaa. I ended up going with Tein S-Techs after seeing quite a few members with them and falling in love with the way the drop made the car look. Very aggressive stance, yet just enough clearance to keep the DD aspect. In my modest perusing of Lgt.com It seems I've come across a few one off statements concerning the S-Techs vs the H-Techs. Can anyone elaborate a little more on this? Is it because the S are a bit lower, therefore giving a harsher ride on bad roads?? Thanks for any response:)

How many miles on the car/ struts?

good ole slam techs....most people here have htechs as they are a little more comfortable while driving. Some people love the stech others hate them. I have seen a legacy with s techs and it looked great. i would pair them with a good strut though otherwise high mileage oem one will certainly make the ride harsher

Plus the OEM struts (if thats what your gonna be using) will blow out a lot quicker with the S techs. Thats one of the main reasons I didnt get the S techs. Having made that mistake before on previous cars and the OEM struts only lasting 45/50k miles with Eibach Sportlines (which have about the same kind of drop) I've decided to stay away unless I wanna get struts.

You're gonna want to upgrade your shocks. Your OEM ones are gonna be shot in the first hundred or so miles especially with the S Techs.

I've had H techs on my stock shocks for about 5000 miles now. I felt an immediate improvement in handling with just the springs. Any lower and I wouldn't be able to get into my driveway. I have to catty-corner it as it is.

I have Konis waiting for when the stockers give up the ghost. But so far so good.

Thanks for all the quick responses!! The car has 85k miles on OEM struts. I will be using the stockers for now as I haven't accumulated enough knowledge of which strut to pair with the S.techs.... So far the KYB adjustables seem very nice .. very pricey-but very nice. Havnt done enough research on which bilsteins would match up either heh.. So it seems the, and i use this lightly, only 'negative' aspect of the S-Techs is the oem strut isnt made to handle them? .. Again any advice/response is greatly appreciated...Im from the Big Money Waster scene and still new to awd sports cars, their handling characteristics, etc etc ...

From my research in spring/strut combos for the LGT I think you would be best served going with the Konis when you are prepared to make the change over.

 

To your point about being new to the AWD/LGT scene best advice is to digest all of the quality information these forums offer. I've spent months perusing the technical information, mod threads, DIY walkthroughs etc. and it was quite valuable. I didn't spend a dime the first few months and between LGT.com, as well as a friend who's had his LGT since new in '05 who has tried and changed out many mods over time as more products were released. I am attacking my own project informed, so that if all goes well, my planning will enable me to do it right the first time.

GL with them...lol

 

you'll soon realize you need new shocks

 

which will add up to the cost of some cheap coils

Great info for sure on this board, sooo glad I found it. I was very active on bimmerforums, and was sad to stray away from there, but lgt.com is my new 'home' and so far so good!!

..And I def will be studying up on lgt's until I no longer own it, ha!

 

Drift, I'm assuming you have installed S.Techs on stock struts on your vehicle, or have had any type of experience with them ... care to elaborate on exactly what happened? I do plan to upgrade the struts as soon as I hear/find out which ones would be best. -Konis perhaps, Also, any thoughts on the Spec B Bilsteins?? .. Ill also be doing sways, and bushings eventually heh.. I tend to stray away from Coils as I've never had any great experiences with them, not that anything bad happened, but besides being able to adjust ride height, a good spring/strut combo works just as well (for me, auto-x once or twice a month if all goes well, and a DD/kiddie cart the rest of the time) Thanks again for the info Gents

I've never bought springs, and never will

 

They are a waste of money. Always do the right the first time and get coils

My advice to you is to hold off on installing the S Techs on your stockers and do some more research on aftermarket shocks. Installing both the springs and upgraded shocks at the same time will save you time and money.

 

I say go with the adjustable Koni's. Set it to full stiffness for your auto-x days, and back down to soft for your DD/kiddie cart days.

My advice to you is to hold off on installing the S Techs on your stockers and do some more research on aftermarket shocks. Installing both the springs and upgraded shocks at the same time will save you time and money.

 

I say go with the adjustable Koni's. Set it to full stiffness for your auto-x days, and back down to soft for your DD/kiddie cart days.

first post suggests he put them on already

I've never bought springs, and never will

 

They are a waste of money. Always do the right the first time and get coils

I disagree Coilovers are the only "right" way to go.

 

If it was dedicated track or AutoX ride sure. If you are into the stance thing maybe cheap coils are cool (your car is sick on the 19s with coils and if i could get those to work with my strut/spring combo I might grab them but I am not interested in cheap COs and have no justifiable reason for RCE, KW or better).

 

Like he stated, I DD my car, and regardless of settings coils won't be as comfortable as Koni's/springs, and I imagine in Michigan he'd need to have maintenance done annually on the coil overs.

Then you can look into the whole koni struts with other springs, which isn't exactly cheap either, but definitely great setup. However, not with the TEIN springs...

 

I need adjustability, thus will not bother with non-adjustable shocks, there are too many people around me that doesn't listen to my advice and buys springs only to come back to me later saying man..."I should have bought coils"

 

And I don't see why you can't make my 19s work with spring/strut combo. It's not like these wheels are 9.5 wide with 255s on them...

S techs on stock struts are kidney busters.

 

They look freaking awesome though.

 

I can test S techs with Koni inserts in comparison to Koni and Epic Engineering springs this month.

Sorry for the confusion .. The S Techs are still as they sit in the box .. otherwise the first pic would have been of them on my car, ha! .. I see where some one that needs alot of 'adjustability' would consider coils -the right thing to do-, but like mentioned before, for me a good spring/strut combo is perfect.

 

Drift - you again mentioned NOT going with TEIN, but have yet to actually say why, or to have any actual experience with them. Why is that?

 

Catalyst - Thanks for the response, and seeing what I meant by Coils not being all that much greater for my application, I would love for my lgt to be a dedicated auto-x car (Rip E30 325i) but that's not the case heh... And Michigan roads are NOTHING like SoCal roads im sure :/

 

Tito - Yup I haven't installed them yet as I would like to find a good strut to accompany them.

 

Talking with a few members, It seems that the JDM REV GT Bilsteins or Koni adjustables are my two choices. I'm not to concerned with the actual time/money aspect of the install, I have access to a full mechanics bay every Sat, but more so with ending up with the best setup for my car.

 

Loving this forum, keep it coming fellas!!

O nice Compsurge, thatd indeed be helpful!!

Honest....get rid of them and run Pinks on Bilsteins.

In my modest perusing of Lgt.com It seems I've come across a few one off statements concerning the S-Techs vs the H-Techs. Can anyone elaborate a little more on this? Is it because the S are a bit lower, therefore giving a harsher ride on bad roads?? Thanks for any response:)

 

This is a post you make BEFORE buying parts.

 

Oh, and just be safe: http://www.tein.com/counterfeit/

Whisky, I was kinda checking out pinks, but wanted a more aggressive spring. Can you give a reason as to why you also are not a S.Techs fan heh?

 

BigT, I couldn't pass on the deal I got so had to pick these up heh, Thanks sooo much for the link .. according to that site my springs are authentic Tein brand. I'll throw up a few pics when I'm at my pc again

So this project is finally on-board and pulling ahead full steam ... My original goal is to have a sLeeperGT. Im aiming for 330-340whp. I got my suspension where I like it, so its on to the motor. After a long and painful battle with my warranty company about a failure in the turbo causing my motor to develop rod knock, its time to say bye bye to stock

 

 

Got a ton of parts in today/yest:)

 

Invidia UP

HKS DP

Kinagawa 18g TDO5 8cm:spin:

Perrin Turbo inlet -- Old one was taped on?!?

TGV Delete

1000cc injectors

TMIC(Fast Motorsports)

All new seals and gaskets

NGK 1-Step

 

Still need/Wish List:

E85 tune

Fuel pump

Dont think I forgot anything:confused:.....

Dont think I forgot anything .....

Yeah, you forgot to send all those goodies to me.

Looks like I never posted in this thread about the Koni + S-Tech. It's a pretty good setup for smooth roads in my opinion. It is much better than the stock struts. My brother has been running his setup for a year without any issues to date. I prefer the Koni + Epic Engineering combination, personally.