Hi
I’m in no way a car expert and would like some advice!
I own a 1.5 ND and absolutely love it, but would like to do some modifications at some point. I’d like to know how much difference a nice set of coilovers would make to the handling and ride comfort (assuming I went for a medium set up to still clear speed bumps and not need spine surgery).
I was looking at these https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/vmaxx-adjustable-height-coilover-mk4-p-4076.html
I haven’t done Coilovers, have done Eibach 30mm lowering and alignment and the ride is good and the clearance is fine, you just need to be sensible.
One thing with the ND we found is that the rear is very sensitive to changes due to the ND suspension design.
Any changes in springs rate make a huge impact on how the car behave.
Another concern is that the rear “move” a lot, and therefore eat up a lot of damper travel.
A good coilovers that have sensible damper valving (damping adjustable are a plus) would allow the driver a lot of freedom in tuning the suspension to their preference when compared to lowering springs
Things like ride height and ride quality are great to have control over.
One thing to work out is the final cost, because often time I find once you work out the “additional” labor cost involved with installing lowering springs vs a fully build out of the box coilovers.
The price difference between the two setup isn’t actually very far off.
The long as the chosen suspension have enough travel, sensible springs rate, and complaint valving, you should be okay and won’t need spine surgery anytime soon. :)
Jerrick
Very informative, thank you!
I feel like I should leave everything stock for some time, I don’t even drive that often as I currently get the train to work.
We’ll see how things go.