The suspension is one of the most essential systems on your car, and coilovers are some of the most advanced components. For starters, the suspension is responsible for keeping the car “glued” to the road surface while simultaneously eliminating its negative impact. In other words, the suspension is involved in a constant struggle between handling and ride quality. By definition, the vehicle suspension encompasses everything from tires and tire air, over springs, and shock absorbers, to linkages that connect them to the body or frame of a vehicle. But to really understand what coilovers do and why you might want some, here’s an article covering just that: what are coilovers, what are the main advantages and drawbacks, and what makes them different from other types of suspensions.
What Are Coilovers?
So, what are coilovers then, and where do they come in? Coilovers are an advanced suspension setup consisting of a shock absorber (damper) and a coil spring. More precisely, they consist of a coil spring encircling the shock absorber hence their name – coil over shock absorber.
Once almost exclusively limited to racing cars, coilovers have ultimately found their way to the conventional car market. They are now a highly coveted commodity among tuners and other car enthusiasts. That’s because coilovers allow for several adjustments to the car.
One of the most common uses of coilovers is to lower the height of a vehicle, including its center of gravity. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As with any specific suspension setup, coilovers have pros and cons of their own. The advantages and disadvantages of employing a coilover-type suspension are listed below.
Benefits of Coilovers
There are numerous benefits of using coilovers in both track-focused and off-road vehicles.
Adjustability
Only one of the coilovers’ most significant advantages over other suspension setups, but arguably its most focal point as well. Not only can you lower or raise your car in the simplest of manners, but depending on the model, you may also adjust the rebound, handling, and ride quality as well.
Better handling
As mentioned above, coilovers’ adjustability can greatly improve your ride’s handling. More so than a set of performance tires, for instance.
Perfect balance
Most coilover setups are perfectly balanced from the get-go. A better evenly distributed weight means that the tires have a maximum grip around the corner, improving safety. Similarly, accelerating and braking don’t transition as much weight to the back and front, respectively.
Reduced body roll
With coilover adjusted for stiffness, the overall roll of your vehicle should be significantly reduced. Furthermore, many coilover suspension kits come with camber adjustment slots helping to keep the suspension geometry intact.
Simplicity
The simplicity of use is another vital factor of coilover suspension setups. Adjusting a coilover is often as easy as turning a few screws.
Drawbacks of Coilovers
Of course, like any setup, coilovers come with their own issues.
Higher cost
When compared to other suspension setups, coilovers are definitely more expensive. High-quality aftermarket coilover sets from reputable manufacturers will cost you upwards of $1,000, going well over $3,000 for most complex setups.
Cheaper coilovers
You can easily find cheaper imitation coilover models that are readily available on the market but don’t even think of going that way for many reasons. Most of the advantages mentioned above of a coilover setup can instantly turn into your worst nightmare in a setup of sub-par quality. Poor quality or even badly optimized coilovers can lead to stiff ride, poor handling, the possibility of failures, lack of travel space, etc. If you don’t have the budget, you might be better off buying a cheaper set of lowering coil springs instead or simply leaving your car as-is. A stock suspension, no matter how soft it is, is often better than a cheap set of eBay coilovers.
The Difference Between Shocks, Coilovers, and Struts
These 3 terms are sometimes thrown around and may lead to confusion. Let’s try to define each one and see how they differ.
Shocks
A shock is the most straightforward suspension component and was more largely used on older vehicles, especially in the rear with non-independent suspensions. With this type of suspension, the coil is placed beside the shock and not over it. This specific setup is simpler, cheaper, and much easier to replace. However, it’s also the least efficient in terms of handling power.
Struts
The most common example of struts is MacPherson struts. This type of suspension also features the coil spring over the shock but is a significant structural component of the suspension. In most cases, the strut is also used in place of the upper control arm to steer the wheels from left to right.
Coilovers
Coilovers combine the abilities of a strut with the damping of a shock and are installed as a single unit. They’re also usually adjustable in height and rebound rate.
Lowering Springs vs. Adjustable Coilovers
One of the main advantages of employing a coilover-based suspension is the ability to lower your ride, which is the main reason behind the lowering springs vs. coilovers dilemma. Lowering springs, as their name suggests, will also lower your ride as that’s their primary purpose.
Unlike coilovers, lowering springs have pre-defined spring rates and ride height. Even non-adjustable, entry-level coilovers (partially threaded coilovers) come with partially-adjustable height, but you can’t adjust their stiffness, compression, and rebound rates.
Fully adjustable coilovers, on the other hand, offer all of those mentioned above. In that sense, adjustable coilovers are the way to go, although lowering springs are much more affordable.
Different Types of Adjustable Coilovers
While even non-adjustable coilovers offer some adjustability options, things get more interesting with fully adjustable coilovers, which allow more liberty in fully customizing a suspension. Here are some of the main examples of adjustable coilovers.
- Height-adjustable – all coilovers are height-adjustable to a lesser or greater extent but let’s take the partially threaded coilovers as an entry-level example. They feature a spring perch and a locking collar, allowing height adjustment by turning them counter-clockwise and clockwise, respectively.
- 1-way adjustable – aside from height, you can also adjust rebound and compression. This type should work for most people as more advanced options are usually only used by racing teams.
- 2-way adjustable – allows adjusting rebound and compression simultaneously and independently, for instance.
- 3-way adjustable – allows adjusting rebound, high-speed, and low-speed compression.
- 4-way adjustable – the ultimate level of adjustable coilovers. Allows adjusting low and high-speed rebound, as well as low and high-speed compression adjustment.
Don’t be confused if you see a “32-way adjustable coilover” sticker somewhere. Essentially, they’re probably 1-way adjustable, but with a 32 clicks adjustment range. It’s a misuse of the adjustability term and can be somewhat misleading.
On the other hand, it’s even now possible to find coilovers kits that can be adjusted in real-time using an app on your phone. Blistein B16 RideControl coilover kits, for example, can be paired with the Bilstein iRC Smartphone Controller for the ultimate ride-height adjustment.
How to Adjust Coilovers
Adjusting coilovers really depends on the type of coilover you’ve got. Some are easier, while others require a bit more work to adjust. Then again, everything beyond 1-way adjustable models can be highly complex to set correctly and should only be done by professionals.
Adjusting height
Most coilover requires only two spanner wrenches to adjust the height; one on the spring perch turning counter-clockwise and one on the locking collar below it, rotating clockwise. Once they’ve been loosened, it’s easy to adjust the ride height by simply turning the locking collar by hand until you reach the desired position and then turning the spring perch with a spanner – clockwise to lower the car and counter-clockwise to raise it. Once the desired height has been reached, simply return the locking collar to the spring perch by hand and tighten them up with spanners.
The fully threaded setup also allows for pre-load adjustment. To do so, you’ll have to loosen both the spring perch and locking perch until the spring is completely unloaded. Then slide them both up with your hands until they can’t be moved any further. Finally, use a spanner to turn the upper spring perch counter-clockwise until it separates from the locking perch. The separation will be your pre-load. In the end, you only need to lock them both together again by using spanners.
Adjusting the rebound and compression rate
If your car is equipped with 2, 3, or 4-way adjustable coilovers, you’ll also be able to adjust the rebound and compression rate to your liking. Doing so is relatively easy as most coilovers will have knobs on the side or top of the shock absorber, letting you increase or reduces the rates. However, what can get quite complicated is knowing how to set them.
The setup may be completely different depending on the type of racing you are doing. For example, a suspension setup for drag racing has nothing to do with a drift setup. Finding the right one for you will require a lot of on and off-track testing. Your best bet is to select base settings, do a test run, change the setting, test it again, look at the time result, and repeat.
There’s simply no easy way to do it aside from testing it and seeing what works best with your driving style.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do coilovers lower your car?
Yes, coilovers lower your car if you want them to. The main reason people go for coilovers instead of lowering springs is adjustability. Indeed, coilovers allow you to adjust the ride height while lowering springs have a fixed height.
Nonetheless, unlike lowering springs, coilovers replace your entire shock absorber assembly, significantly improving handling. Their specific design originated on race tracks to allow drivers to fine-tune their setup without replacing springs every time. Moreover, while most road-oriented coilovers will only offer ride height adjustability, if you spend a couple of hundreds more, you can get them with damping and camber adjustment.
As a result, they are one of the best handling modifications you can do to your car, provided you don’t cheap out too much. Still, a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean a lower stance since not all coilovers are created equal. For instance, track-oriented models will be thousands of dollars and won’t lower your car as much as cheaper coilovers designed with only that goal in mind.
Last Words
Coilovers are essential to any individual willing to push their car’s performance to the limit. They’re arguably the best option on the market thanks to their high adjustability ratings and ease of use. Since they migrated from the tracks into our daily lives, coilovers have been highly coveted by tuners and performance enthusiasts alike. They provide both quite a significant aesthetic and performance boost. Installing coilovers can be conducted in the safety of your garage and is not that complicated at all. Tuning a high-end coilover set, on the other hand, is a task better left to a professional. You’ll see that finding the right balance between ride height, spring stiffness, and handling can be daunting, even more so when you add camber adjustment to the equation.
