hey guys love the site, new guy here. With tax time comin up I'm lookin to start the suspension work on my 96 fire. I'm lookin to know what all I'm gonna need to stiffen this car up quite a bit. I know alot of the peeps on here are runnin d-specs and thats what I'm lookin in to. with springs I'm lookin at tein but haven't heard a whole lot on whether they're good for our cars or not, I know alot of the imports use them. Any help would be great and very helpful.

honestly... if you want the best, go with a coilover setup. whether it be tein, STD, or otherwise. tein springs are good quality, plenty of people here are and have been running them for years.

just start with the basics, really. go with front and rear strut tower bars, then onto front and rear sway bars. coilovers, aluminum control arms/poly bushings, trunk floor brace, fender braces, etc. do it all at the same time if you want lol



If it takes forever.... I will die trying. Underdog Racing

I think zyaaa is giving some good advice, coilovers > spring/strut combo, and strut and sway bars are easy, relatively cheap upgrades. Then from there you are looking at some bigger cash, but it all depends on the end result you are looking for.

Coilovers (real ones) are they way to go if you really want handling, I really wish I had bought the STD's over the Tein's Sure with the Teins you get solid uppper mounts all the way around for the same price as STD's but with the STD's you get double adjustable ride height which is normally really important (but luckily tein sized the springs right for our car and running with zero preload is actually the correc ride height in the front).


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Think about how you want the car to react to your inputs first.
Invest on anti-roll bars first. You have options and each will react differently.
Coilover's major advantage is the height adjustability. It comes in handy when the weather gets sour or you just plain need the height back up. Lowering springs will do the job.
Focus on reliable lowering shocks with the springs/coilover.
Invest on bracing up the car, you want your suspension to work not the body of the car. Rule of thumb stay (in between) your track and wheelbase with your bracing. Bracing the bumper, trunk is just unnecessary weight in the car and can hinder performance. If you must brace passed the wheels, connect any bar to your towers.
Lastly, the most important part that this site does not stress enough in this section is, the part that meets the road: Tires. You can have the chassis that will carve corners like no other, but if you're running with regular all-season, touring, economical, low-rolling resistance tires your suspension will be as strong as your weakest link. Summer tires (after the weather gets better) or some race ready tires will go far and beyond. If money and space is an issue, go for ultra-high performance all-season tires.

Those are just a sprinkle of options for you, but a worthy start. Have fun.



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-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----

i agree std's are sweet, but im biased.

but a real set of coilovers are a great foundation for a perfornance suspension.

Mr.Goodwrench-G.T. wrote:Think about how you want the car to react to your inputs first.
Invest on anti-roll bars first. You have options and each will react differently.
Coilover's major advantage is the height adjustability. It comes in handy when the weather gets sour or you just plain need the height back up. Lowering springs will do the job.
Focus on reliable lowering shocks with the springs/coilover.
Invest on bracing up the car, you want your suspension to work not the body of the car. Rule of thumb stay (in between) your track and wheelbase with your bracing. Bracing the bumper, trunk is just unnecessary weight in the car and can hinder performance. If you must brace passed the wheels, connect any bar to your towers.
Lastly, the most important part that this site does not stress enough in this section is, the part that meets the road: Tires. You can have the chassis that will carve corners like no other, but if you're running with regular all-season, touring, economical, low-rolling resistance tires your suspension will be as strong as your weakest link. Summer tires (after the weather gets better) or some race ready tires will go far and beyond. If money and space is an issue, go for ultra-high performance all-season tires.

Those are just a sprinkle of options for you, but a worthy start. Have fun.

This. super sticky summer tires are the way to make your car handle the nuts. Dunlop Direzza Z1 star Specs, Bridgestone RE11's, Toyo R1R's (note these are really an r-comp with a tread, dont expect to get more than 10k from these, the others are good for 20k easy).


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

whaa?? ive got about 6k on my star specs, they look as brand new as the day i first mounted them....

maybe i dont drive agressivly enough? lol i dont know but i think 20 or 25k might be a better estimate.



If it takes forever.... I will die trying. Underdog Racing

z yaaaa wrote:whaa?? ive got about 6k on my star specs, they look as brand new as the day i first mounted them....

maybe i dont drive agressivly enough? lol i dont know but i think 20 or 25k might be a better estimate.

Yup, star specs should be good for 20k+ but not Toyo R1R's since they're am R-comp with a tread cut in it, and now banned by the scca in street tire classes.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer