Need advice to rid bouncy pbm coilovers

[Zenkilove490]

So I recently purchase a set of s14 powered by max coilovers retail $1100 and I've heard great review so I decided to try them out.

After playing with all the damp settings I noticed they are bouncy coilovers and every bump is harsh. I used to have a set of megans and they werent as bad as these .

Do you think I need to play with the preload?

Or are they just hard and bouncy becuase they are a Taiwan made?

I don't know I'm suprised I haven't read any reviews about this issue.

Any suggestions would be much apreciated. ..

[burnsauto]

megans are also made in Taiwan. There are only a few places that actually make coilovers, much like shocks/tires/batteries. They just make it to the desired specs that the client suggests.

Which megans did you have? Besides the racing versions, megans have a lower spring rate (8/6), compared to PBM's 10/8.


Bouncy and harsh are two different things. I've had bouncy coils, they are blown if bouncy (well....the dampener isn't working, we'll say that). Harsh is just the ride that a high (stiffer) spring rate offers.

If you're looking for something a bit more street worthy (I understand you just spent 1100 bucks and you may not want to do this), you may want to look into something that has a more balanced. I used to have JIC FLT-A2's, and for my kind of driving, were just too much. I switched to Apex'i N1's with a 6/6 balanced spring rate and love them. Just enough for some spirited corners, but able to drive over train tracks without losing a few teeth. Just some food for thought.

[kruked]

You could go w/ stiffer springs. Or return them.

Idk. I've always rocked Megan's

[Kingtal0n]

ABSOLUTELY LOOOOVE MY Nismo coils. The struts say "KYB" on them too so I can only imagine that nismo and kyb got together and designed some really sick well balanced units for the 240sx. The ad says "track edition, not recommended for street use" but honestly the ride is sooo smooth and slick I can't imagine why.

[TheRealSy90]

You need to get something with a softer spring rate. I went from 12k/10k Fortune's to 8k/6k DG5's and it was amazing how much better it rode.

[Suicunes]

My PBM coils aren't harsh, or at least I've always loved stiff suspension so that may be it. . That's a price to pay to be low and to have a good stiff set up for an underpowered car at the track.

[Sileighty_85]

Adjust preload. If there is spring droop then its gonna be bouncy.


tighten the spring collar till the spring is seated and doesn't move then add 1-2 turn on it and see how that feels.

[TheRealSy90]

Also, you don't need stiff springs to be low. Going from 12/10 to 8/6 I kept the same ride height and scrape stuff less because it doesn't bounce on road deformities and instead the suspension soaks it up.

[Zenkilove490]

I think they were Megan basic they were red with black springs. I bought a black coupe years ago already installed

[Zenkilove490]

I believe Pbm have independent ride height adjustment so I doubt it will change but will have to look into the different springs to see if that works. I also have stock s13 wheels on my s14 so im kind of thinking since the tires are so skinny they react to the road deformities a lot more because less rubber idk but thanks for the info guys

[kruked]

Adjust preload. If there is spring droop then its gonna be bouncy.


tighten the spring collar till the spring is seated and doesn't move then add 1-2 turn on it and see how that feels.

This could also be your problem. Not enough spring preload.

[Zenkilove490]

So I found out part of my problem was that my wheels weren't balanced lol I do feel a difference in ride quality

[Croustibat]

Your problem is poor coilovers. For that kind of money the best you could get are fortune auto's.

All the low cost coilovers have badly matched compression / rebound ratio, so you cannot set them up properly. You will either get rebound right and it will feel sloppy, or compression right and it will be harsh on anything that is not perfectly flat.