Review of Quest HR coilovers
03-14-2004, 08:42 PM
#1
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These are my initial impressions of the Quest HR Series coil over.
I did a swap from stock suspension to the coilovers. I did it by myself, with hand tools, total time approx. 8 hours. Setting the HR spring perches at 10.25" netted a 1.75-2" drop. I little more than I wanted, but you must keep in mind the the total length of the HR strut is that much shorter than the stock strut. I shouldn't have been surprised, I suppose. The install was pretty straight forward.
Install thoughts and suggestions:
1) Separate the front and rear struts. Set the ride height, spring perches, camber plates and damper level the same for each end of the car. To maintain equal wheel gap front and rear, the front perches need to be 1/4" lower than the rears.
2) Keep the strut upper mount nuts close to hand, so when you lift the new strut into the body and get it lined up, you can hold it up with one hand and spin on the nuts with the other.
3) Use a floor jack to lift the lower arms up to the strut, it will still take a little muscle work to get the lower strut bolts in.
4) Use the same jack to lift up on the rear struts a little to put tension on the anti-sway bar end links, this will hold the ball joints tight and allow you to unscrew the nut to disconnect the end link.
Driving impressions:
1) On the street, the car feels very firm. It doesn't bounce but you notice every imperfection on the road. The car tramlines more because of the added camber up front but not unmanagably so. With the damper levels turned up half way, the ride is uncomfortable. On the lowest setting it's very good.
2) There is virtually no body roll, nose dive or lift. Traction is improved, wheel bounce during acceleration is greatly reduced. Braking takes more finesse than with the stock suspension. Before I could just mash the brake pedal, now I have to squeeze it or the wheels lock. That said, the car stops as well and more managably than with the stock suspension. Primarily because without the nose dive from weight transfer the rear is firmly planted which give the car an air of confidence that was missing before.
3) Left right transition is firm and instantanious. No more floating feeling during transitions, again the car feels planted and inspires confidence in the driver.
4) On the track: This is where the suspension comes to full fruition (as you would expect). But I was never-the-less surprised by it. All the firmness on the street pays off in a slalom at 45 MPH. I expect that I will enjoy track days much more this year.
Today I instructed at an autocross school. One guy asked where my car was and when I pointed out my girl, he said, "Holy cow, that car is slammed!" Which I don't think it is, it's lower than I intended but it's wheels arn't inside the wheelwells. It's got a nice look to it, but if I have problems with speed bumps or drive ways, I'll have to raise it a little. I'll try to get a picture up in the next couple days so you all can see it.
If you all have any questions, i'll try to answer them tomorrow.
peace. smile.gif 8)
I did a swap from stock suspension to the coilovers. I did it by myself, with hand tools, total time approx. 8 hours. Setting the HR spring perches at 10.25" netted a 1.75-2" drop. I little more than I wanted, but you must keep in mind the the total length of the HR strut is that much shorter than the stock strut. I shouldn't have been surprised, I suppose. The install was pretty straight forward.
Install thoughts and suggestions:
1) Separate the front and rear struts. Set the ride height, spring perches, camber plates and damper level the same for each end of the car. To maintain equal wheel gap front and rear, the front perches need to be 1/4" lower than the rears.
2) Keep the strut upper mount nuts close to hand, so when you lift the new strut into the body and get it lined up, you can hold it up with one hand and spin on the nuts with the other.
3) Use a floor jack to lift the lower arms up to the strut, it will still take a little muscle work to get the lower strut bolts in.
4) Use the same jack to lift up on the rear struts a little to put tension on the anti-sway bar end links, this will hold the ball joints tight and allow you to unscrew the nut to disconnect the end link.
Driving impressions:
1) On the street, the car feels very firm. It doesn't bounce but you notice every imperfection on the road. The car tramlines more because of the added camber up front but not unmanagably so. With the damper levels turned up half way, the ride is uncomfortable. On the lowest setting it's very good.
2) There is virtually no body roll, nose dive or lift. Traction is improved, wheel bounce during acceleration is greatly reduced. Braking takes more finesse than with the stock suspension. Before I could just mash the brake pedal, now I have to squeeze it or the wheels lock. That said, the car stops as well and more managably than with the stock suspension. Primarily because without the nose dive from weight transfer the rear is firmly planted which give the car an air of confidence that was missing before.
3) Left right transition is firm and instantanious. No more floating feeling during transitions, again the car feels planted and inspires confidence in the driver.
4) On the track: This is where the suspension comes to full fruition (as you would expect). But I was never-the-less surprised by it. All the firmness on the street pays off in a slalom at 45 MPH. I expect that I will enjoy track days much more this year.
Today I instructed at an autocross school. One guy asked where my car was and when I pointed out my girl, he said, "Holy cow, that car is slammed!" Which I don't think it is, it's lower than I intended but it's wheels arn't inside the wheelwells. It's got a nice look to it, but if I have problems with speed bumps or drive ways, I'll have to raise it a little. I'll try to get a picture up in the next couple days so you all can see it.
If you all have any questions, i'll try to answer them tomorrow.
peace. smile.gif 8)
03-15-2004, 04:20 PM
#4
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I ordered them through Speedmotion.com.
I'd like to ammend my first post. I double checked my measurement recordings and the net drop was 1 1/4" front (24.5 to 23.25) and 1 1/2 (25 to 23.5) rear. The car does look pretty low but measurements don't lie and this is the amount of drop I wanted. Havn't had any problems with it so far.
The alignment is a big thing after an install like this. I ended up with visible toe out on the front wheels. Visible is a non-definable amount but it was between 1/2" and 1" of toe out on the front.
I'd like to ammend my first post. I double checked my measurement recordings and the net drop was 1 1/4" front (24.5 to 23.25) and 1 1/2 (25 to 23.5) rear. The car does look pretty low but measurements don't lie and this is the amount of drop I wanted. Havn't had any problems with it so far.
The alignment is a big thing after an install like this. I ended up with visible toe out on the front wheels. Visible is a non-definable amount but it was between 1/2" and 1" of toe out on the front.
03-20-2004, 04:38 PM
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Well, my friend Brian helped me out today and we did a corner balance on the car. Some pertinent facts.
Fuel in tank: 1/3-1/2
Total weight no driver in autocross trim: 2620
Total weight w/driver: 2830 (hey! no doing the math)
Left cross weight % w/driver: 49.87
Left side weight % w/driver: 51.83
Rear weight % w/driver: 36.87
Rake: 1/4" (rear 1/4" higher than front)
Fuel in tank: 1/3-1/2
Total weight no driver in autocross trim: 2620
Total weight w/driver: 2830 (hey! no doing the math)
Left cross weight % w/driver: 49.87
Left side weight % w/driver: 51.83
Rear weight % w/driver: 36.87
Rake: 1/4" (rear 1/4" higher than front)
03-20-2004, 08:34 PM
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QUOTE (Mad-Machine)
pretty balanced side to side... but wow what a load on the front wheels...
Yeah, typical for a FWD but at 63/37 the Tib is a couple percentage points ahead of most of its competitors.
Small, huh? tongue.gif
03-21-2004, 08:58 PM
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From my person race journal:
"Driving impressions: I'd call today a "fast" course. It was open with only 2 moderately tight turns and 1 tight slalom, mainly open sweepers. Jodie L. was the designer. The car…Slight under-steer during acceleration, slight over-steer with trail braking or at speed with throttle lift. I'd say a touch more than is "good", but it's hard to say because the rear didn't feel like it would come around. Solid braking, rear felt stable but light. Max braking is probably a little more than I was doing. Good turn in response. Slalom transitions are fast; the car saved me here because I was often late in my inputs. Sweepers are well balanced both ways…car position easy to control with throttle. Tips to self: Head and eyes UP…concentrate on turn-in timing…look for opportunities to maximize braking."
"Driving impressions: I'd call today a "fast" course. It was open with only 2 moderately tight turns and 1 tight slalom, mainly open sweepers. Jodie L. was the designer. The car…Slight under-steer during acceleration, slight over-steer with trail braking or at speed with throttle lift. I'd say a touch more than is "good", but it's hard to say because the rear didn't feel like it would come around. Solid braking, rear felt stable but light. Max braking is probably a little more than I was doing. Good turn in response. Slalom transitions are fast; the car saved me here because I was often late in my inputs. Sweepers are well balanced both ways…car position easy to control with throttle. Tips to self: Head and eyes UP…concentrate on turn-in timing…look for opportunities to maximize braking."