Coilovers
- Thread starter RainyDay
- Start date
Hi mate. What year/model car do you have exactly? I picked up a set of ST XA's and lowered my 2022 Ibiza 3cm. I have to say I'm quite happy with them. The lowering makes the car more stable at the very least, it bounces around less during turns, and has the nice side effect of increasing front toe out and negative camber all around which is good. You can correct the front toe alignment if the car feels too twitchy. Caster didn't change at all (or if it did it was insignificant). Steering feel didn't seem to change all that much, maybe turn in feels a bit lighter and I can feel an almost imperceptible bit more fine detail in terms of bumps.
They fit great with no spacers needed, at 3cm of lowering I've had no issues with tyres rubbing the wheel arches or hitting bodywork.
Also they really aren't as uncomfortable as I thought they would be, you really only notice big dips at relatively high speeds since the compression damping is stiffer. If anything cus the car bounces around less it's less annoying to drive. Of course if you have very bad roads you will notice a huge loss of comfort. (For example warped asphalt that oscillates up and down quickly or lots of quick dips on a highway). The springs are 30N/mm front and 25N/mm back which is still quite soft as far as I understand. I don't know if this is more than stock tbh as I haven't for the life of me figured out the color coding on the OEM springs.
I haven't taken the car to the track yet yet with the coilovers but will do so as soon as I can find a more durable brake kit. I'll make sure to report, just send me a reminder here at some point.
On mountain roads it corners pretty hard, there's a certain steering angle and speed past which you feel the car decides to suddenly corner harder while on part throttle, I can't tell if this is the ESC kicking in too early or if it's a quirk of the coilovers. It's not lift off oversteer either. Trail braking hard into tight fast corners creates noticable oversteer though even with ESC sport on but not in an unstable way (this is something I didn't notice tracking the car on stock springs). But it's hard to say as I need to drive it on the same track to see what difference it's really making. Either way I haven't heard the tyres make any squeal yet and don't think I've hit the limit much and don't intend to on public roads
.ST XA suspensions is basically the same as KW V2, you can adjust ride height and rebound damping (it's reasonably easily adjusted up front by removing the plastic cover right under the windshield but adjusting in the rear is not easily accessible). I'd call a local tuning house that specializes in this and ask them what's on offer that fits your car, but so far I've been happy with the ST's. They have stiffer and more adjustable coilovers on offer also.
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Hello @RainyDay.
Thank you for the thourough response.
In my case, I don't even intend to take the car to any track or race with it. In my case I just want the coilovers to lower the car a bit an of course improve stability and drivability. I leave in a very small town and there are no tunning specialized shops around. I woul have to travel at least 50km to find a decent one in the nearest town.
My vehicle is a Seat Ibiza 1.6Tdi (2020) and I got it reprogrammed in a specialized shop around 120Km away from me! I am using the 6L FR rims with 215/45/17 wheels, if this matter for te coilovers!
Tbh, I don't want to lower the car too much. I was thinking in about 2cm in the front and at most 3cm in the back if it is possible to lower front and back at different values!
Thank you for the thourough response.
In my case, I don't even intend to take the car to any track or race with it. In my case I just want the coilovers to lower the car a bit an of course improve stability and drivability. I leave in a very small town and there are no tunning specialized shops around. I woul have to travel at least 50km to find a decent one in the nearest town.
My vehicle is a Seat Ibiza 1.6Tdi (2020) and I got it reprogrammed in a specialized shop around 120Km away from me! I am using the 6L FR rims with 215/45/17 wheels, if this matter for te coilovers!
Tbh, I don't want to lower the car too much. I was thinking in about 2cm in the front and at most 3cm in the back if it is possible to lower front and back at different values!
Ah I see. Living far is a hassle but worth the drive, they will need to install them either way for the sake of keeping your car safe to drive. Give them a call and ask, they should be able to check for you. As for other brand coilovers I have no experience with them since the only ones shipped to where I live are KW and ST. The KW V2 / ST XA are perfect for street use. You can even get the one tier down V1's which aren't adjustable if all you want is to lower the car. Keep on mind you'll have to do an aligenment after breaking them in. I'm not sure what's on offer for you car but if you go to the KW or ST websites they have car search tools. I'm sure Bilstein, H&R, etc will also have such search functions. If you're gonna have the guys at the tuning houses install them would be good to ask what they usually install since that way if they've done it on your car they will know in advance how well it will fit. 3cm lowering is just enough to be noticable and you won't have issues on speed bumps so long as they are stiff enough. And yes you can lower different amounts front and back. Mine can't be lowered any less than 3.5cm though so it's worth looking on the websites to see the lowering ranges of different products. It might be worthwhile checking your cars stock spring rate (the springs have a color code and hopefully someone somewhere on the internet knows what stiffness it corresponds to), and you can compare this to the coilovers since the sites usually list the spring rates. Too stiff and you won't be able to stand driving it on public roads, for me 30 and 25 N/mm has been working well for a car with 1163kg kerb weight. Heavier car means you need stiffer springs to get the same frequency. Lighter car means you can go a bit softer.
Btw this is what 3.5 cm lowering looks like. It honestly doesn't look taht low but is a bit more aesthetically pleasing
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It looks kinda nice. But those are 18" rims. I'm using 17". However, even in that picture, the front is a bit too low for my liking! Anyway, it's cool!
I just find hard in major brands of coilovers to find my Ibiza. I mean, the model from 2017 and forward!
I sent a couple of emails to 2 shops in my country but probably only tomorrow or Tuesday I'll get answers! I just can't find models specific for my car!
Thanks mate. I actually think my back is like 2-3mm lower than the front
. Anyways. Here's a different angle where you can see the front better. Keep in mind if you lower on 17's it might look wierd if your overall wheel and tire diameter is smaller than mine. My wheels already look a bit too small for the rest of of the car.Attachments
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Ohh, it looks better that way. The other picture, you had the wheels turned to the right and it felt like the tyre was closer to the wheel cover (don't know the correct name in english). But if you keep the wheel straight, it looks pretty nice. I think I would take mine looking like that in terms of distance of te car to ground and of the wheels to the wheel covers!
And, btw, I got no replies from the shops I sent emails to!
And, btw, I got no replies from the shops I sent emails to!
Yeah it's not bad. Only issue is the back wheel looks a little too inside the wheel well.Ohh, it looks better that way. The other picture, you had the wheels turned to the right and it felt like the tyre was closer to the wheel cover (don't know the correct name in english). But if you keep the wheel straight, it looks pretty nice. I think I would take mine looking like that in terms of distance of te car to ground and of the wheels to the wheel covers!
And, btw, I got no replies from the shops I sent emails to!
Anyways. I checked the site where I bought my coilovers and they have one for your car. ST suspension is basically identical to KW, both very trustworthy brands. The only difference is that KW is stainless steel dampers and ST is galvanized steel, so if you live in a place where it snows and they use salt you have to get KW. If you live in a relatively dry environment ST will work just fine. Here's a link. Just use the drop-down to select the appropriate engine for your car. You can ask them via email if these will fit well with 17" wheels, I don't think it should be an issue. You can also ask them about resellers I'm your area who can install them for you or do it yourself if you know how.
Shop - Order products online | ST suspensions
Keep in mind the stiffest suspension option for this car isn't actually that stiff (25/30 N/mm). If you want a stiff racy suspension you'd be better off with a different manufacturer as these ST spring are softer than stock springs you'd find on flagship models from other car manufacturers. Like for example bmw M3 stock suspension is already stiffer than these if I can remember correctly. You can also buy stiffer spring from them but it would be wise to ask them if those springs are suitable for the dampers in the kit. Because I assume it would throw off the carefully tested balance they made for it and the compression damping unfortunately isn't adjustable to compensate for stiffer springs. You can adjust rebound though. Also ST XA = KW V2 if you're wondering.
Hope this helps.
One more thing. Any time you install stiffer suspension components there may be increased vibration that can cause premature wear to the rest of the car (engine mounts, interior, etc) but these aren't that stiff so I don't think it would be a big issue. Ride comfort is still decent with these. Also, the compression damping on these is pretty tight so personally I'm careful not to drive into potholes and I make sure to slow down for speed bumps to prolong the life of the shocks and to reduce the risk of blowing them.
Hello everyone, I'm new here. I just wanted to show you my setup to give you an idea. This is my Ibiza, i have installed Ultra Racing lowering springs on it. 30mm for the front and 25-30mm for the rear. That's how it looks 2 months after it has been installed.
Edit: I wish i can lower more but, in Istanbul there are lots of uphills and downhills. I don't want to shred my front bumper
Edit: I wish i can lower more but, in Istanbul there are lots of uphills and downhills. I don't want to shred my front bumper
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That looks pretty slick on the 17'' rimsHello everyone, I'm new here. I just wanted to show you my setup to give you an idea. This is my Ibiza, i have installed Ultra Racing lowering springs on it. 30mm for the front and 25-30mm for the rear. That's how it looks 2 months after it has been installed.
Edit: I wish i can lower more but, in Istanbul there are lots of uphills and downhills. I don't want to shred my front bumper
. Is the ride comfort still decent?
Yes, it was surprising for me how comfortable and stable it is at the same time, but i think it is because of the 15inch rimsThat looks pretty slick on the 17'' rims
But i don't think it will be bad with 17's also The car is new, im doing things step by step 17's on the way of course
That's what I was about to say. The stock rims are 15".Yes, it was surprising for me how comfortable and stable it is at the same time, but i think it is because of the 15inch rims
And yes, I would be cool with that height of the car to the ground. Nothing lower.
And btw, you bought your coilovers before the rims? Like, how do you know those coilovers will fit the same with 17" rims?
@RainyDay I have to re-read your posts more carefuly. Quite some information to assimilate!
Ok, I already read carefully your post.
I just want simple things but not just the cheapest crap.
I don't need any racing or anything extreme/extra/pro/hyper advance.
My main 2 goals are to lower the car a bit but not more than (maybe) the original FR eight and also make it just a bit stiffer. I have no idea what would be "just a bit more stiffer". I also have no idea how much stiffer is a racing car / tunned car in terms of percentage with respect to original stiffness, but if we caould quantitize an extreme setup for racing in the track as for instance, 80% stiffer than original setup, then, I would say that I would be happy with something like 20% stiffer than originaal setup.
So, as you see I just want a small difference from the original, both in stiffness and height. Ah, and yes, my weather is mediterranean, if I can call it like that to someone living in the inlands of Portugal! No salty environment. But if the difference between galvanized material and stainless steel are like 100€ or 150€, I'm ok with stretching the budget by that amount!
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Actually that's not on coilovers. I just switched the new springs with the ones already on it. So it has stock suspension. Of course it is right to do with changing to coilovers. I have to be careful with potholes etc.That's what I was about to say. The stock rims are 15".
And yes, I would be cool with that height of the car to the ground. Nothing lower.
And btw, you bought your coilovers before the rims? Like, how do you know those coilovers will fit the same with 17" rims?
@RainyDay I have to re-read your posts more carefuly. Quite some information to assimilate!
Ok, I already read carefully your post.
I just want simple things but not just the cheapest crap.
I don't need any racing or anything extreme/extra/pro/hyper advance.
My main 2 goals are to lower the car a bit but not more than (maybe) the original FR eight and also make it just a bit stiffer. I have no idea what would be "just a bit more stiffer". I also have no idea how much stiffer is a racing car / tunned car in terms of percentage with respect to original stiffness, but if we caould quantitize an extreme setup for racing in the track as for instance, 80% stiffer than original setup, then, I would say that I would be happy with something like 20% stiffer than originaal setup.
So, as you see I just want a small difference from the original, both in stiffness and height. Ah, and yes, my weather is mediterranean, if I can call it like that to someone living in the inlands of Portugal! No salty environment. But if the difference between galvanized material and stainless steel are like 100€ or 150€, I'm ok with stretching the budget by that amount!
Yes, i have them installed on my ibiza.
It was my first modification for this car, and i can tell you that it worth every dollar that i invest in it.
First of all, it looks much nice. It makes that car feels that is more connected to the road. on a bumpy road you will suffer a little bit. my setup is 24 clicks in the front, and 12 clicks on the rear. steering feels more accurate and sharp.
if you have any question you are more than welcome to post it here.
As you can see at photos, its quite low, i cloud lower it a bit more, but my front lip wont be happy about it.
Coilovers model is KW street comfort.
It really makes you fell like you are glued to the road. On good roads outside the city, on high speed, you will enjoy.
Just keep it safe!
It was my first modification for this car, and i can tell you that it worth every dollar that i invest in it.
First of all, it looks much nice. It makes that car feels that is more connected to the road. on a bumpy road you will suffer a little bit. my setup is 24 clicks in the front, and 12 clicks on the rear. steering feels more accurate and sharp.
if you have any question you are more than welcome to post it here.
As you can see at photos, its quite low, i cloud lower it a bit more, but my front lip wont be happy about it.
Coilovers model is KW street comfort.
It really makes you fell like you are glued to the road. On good roads outside the city, on high speed, you will enjoy.
Just keep it safe!
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