Ohlins Coilover Setup

[OptionZero]

Some thoughts after some seat time with the JDM ohlins.

The daily ride quality honestly felt more refined, obviously it’s less “soft” than the OEM performance coilovers, but the motion of the car after big bumps and braking feels much more controlled and predictable, instead of the soft mushy feeling from the OEM.

On the track, it’s a whole different story, the car feels extremely planted during corners, and completely eliminated the body rolls and secondary motions from the OEM coilovers, oversteers are now much more predictable and the turn in is now very precise compared to the OEM where I need a lot of small adjustments to make it to the racing line.

Despite all that, car still feels VERY understeer due to the fact that I reused my OEM rear tires on my front wheels just to learn more about the rubbing situation before pulling the trigger on some new tires, once that got sorted I think I can definitely shave off a few more seconds on my personal best.

I’m not a professional driver by any means so please take this with a grain of salt, but I’m really glad the ohlins turns out to be this way and now I understand why they are regarded as one of the best coilover brands.

are you on factory arms and alignment? if so, the coilovers will not cure the understeer issue. You need a custom alignment to add camber

 

[Nice boat]

are you on factory arms and alignment? if so, the coilovers will not cure the understeer issue. You need a custom alignment to add camber

No, I’m on aftermarket arms and here’s my alignment, it’s still mostly a street car so I didn’t go for an overly aggressive setting.

 

[OptionZero]

Getting camber over -3 would help

 

[Imperial]

Some thoughts after some seat time with the JDM ohlins.

The daily ride quality honestly felt more refined, obviously it’s less “soft” than the OEM performance coilovers, but the motion of the car after big bumps and braking feels much more controlled and predictable, instead of the soft mushy feeling from the OEM.

On the track, it’s a whole different story, the car feels extremely planted during corners, and completely eliminated the body rolls and secondary motions from the OEM coilovers, oversteers are now much more predictable and the turn in is now very precise compared to the OEM where I need a lot of small adjustments to make it to the racing line.

Despite all that, car still feels VERY understeer due to the fact that I reused my OEM rear tires on my front wheels just to learn more about the rubbing situation before pulling the trigger on some new tires, once that got sorted I think I can definitely shave off a few more seconds on my personal best.

I’m not a professional driver by any means so please take this with a grain of salt, but I’m really glad the ohlins turns out to be this way and now I understand why they are regarded as one of the best coilover brands.

How many clicks did you use for the track?

 

[Nice boat]

How many clicks did you use for the track?

3 clicks from the softest

 

[FSUZ33]

Got my damping extenders from Sakebomb. Perfection.
Thanks to @VR30Infection for pics/measurements!
The extension is a flexible cable (bendable, but not twistable...I think they're called "drive cables") with crimped ferrules on the ends that the set screws clamp to. There's slight adjustability the way it is, I'd say 0.25" from shortest to tallest. The body can also be set a little higher on the main knob which could add another 1/8". Worst case if I need more or less length the whole thing comes apart, so I could make a post to replace the drive cable really easily, as it is held with set screws on both ends. Overall, very happy. Can't wait to get this stuff under the car. Have to say, I'm not tired of looking at it though. Pretty sexy stuff, IMO.

 

[Suzuyabot]

Got my damping extenders from Sakebomb. Perfection.
Thanks to @VR30Infection for pics/measurements!
The extension is a flexible cable (bendable, but not twistable...I think they're called "drive cables") with crimped ferrules on the ends that the set screws clamp to. There's slight adjustability the way it is, I'd say 0.25" from shortest to tallest. The body can also be set a little higher on the main knob which could add another 1/8". Worst case if I need more or less length the whole thing comes apart, so I could make a post to replace the drive cable really easily, as it is held with set screws on both ends. Overall, very happy. Can't wait to get this stuff under the car. Have to say, I'm not tired of looking at it though. Pretty sexy stuff, IMO.

How is the rear going to work with the extension cable? I ordered the same kit from sakebomb but don’t know how do the cable work or where will the final knob be located. Still thinking if I should get the extention for rear now.

 

[FSUZ33]

Pretty sure the longer or full length extensions won't fit under the strut tower cover. You should only need to extend about 1.5" to make it straight up through the cover. My ASSUMPTION is if you were to try to relocate the knob on the side or back of that panel (what I had planned) the top of the shock itself it too close to the underside of the cover for the longer cable to turn that corner.

Do you have the remote adjusters in-hand? If they're the same pieces as mine I'd be happy to make you some short rods that would replace the cable.

 

[Suzuyabot]

Pretty sure the longer or full length extensions won't fit under the strut tower cover. You should only need to extend about 1.5" to make it straight up through the cover. My ASSUMPTION is if you were to try to relocate the knob on the side or back of that panel (what I had planned) the top of the shock itself it too close to the underside of the cover for the longer cable to turn that corner.

Do you have the remote adjusters in-hand? If they're the same pieces as mine I'd be happy to make you some short rods that would replace the cable.

I just ordered the coilover kit a week ago and haven’t ordered the adjusters yet. I’m still thinking if I should get the remote adjusters because I don’t know if I actually need it or not. It seems the knob still pokes out without the remote adjusters and need to drill a hole on the plastic panel to make it through right? If that’s the case I might not need the extensions. But I’m not sure how am I going to twist those knobs with or without extensions on this kit so I’m curious right now.

 

[FSUZ33]

I'm 100% 'educated speculation' at this point, as I haven't installed anything.
But yes, those panels will need holes regardless.
I'd like the knobs on mine to sit right on the panels...we'll see how that works out.
If you order extenders from Sakebomb I assume they'll make them to whatever length you need (what they did with mine). My guess is they they buy all the parts (bases, knobs, cable, etc...), but I'm pretty sure they MAKE them in-house (cut the cables, crimp the ferrules, etc...)...what they do with the FPSpec coilovers.

Good pics/info here

 

[Suzuyabot]

I'm 100% 'educated speculation' at this point, as I haven't installed anything.
But yes, those panels will need holes regardless.
I'd like the knobs on mine to sit right on the panels...we'll see how that works out.
If you order extenders from Sakebomb I assume they'll make them to whatever length you need (what they did with mine). My guess is they they buy all the parts (bases, knobs, cable, etc...), but I'm pretty sure they MAKE them in-house (cut the cables, crimp the ferrules, etc...)...what they do with the FPSpec coilovers.

Good pics/info here

Great info! The one that @VR30Infection posted is what I wanted! So it looks like I need the extention to do that. Are you looking to make the knobs sit at the same place which is the top of the plastic panel of the strut, or some other place? If it’s the first one please tell me the length you ordered so I can just order exactly the same cables from sakebomb.

 

[FSUZ33]

Mine are almost dead on 2". The original knob is 0.44" and sits inside the base of the extender, so essentially overall 2" length makes for a 1.55" extension.

Based on @VR30Infection pics it looks like the bottom of his knob is 1/4"-3/8" below the surface of the panel (no complaints, as his install is jam-up with the knob in the recessed cup...looks factory).
His pic with the ruler shows the bottom of that knob 2.75" above the top hat (roughly). Adding another 1/4"-3/8" for the knob to sit on top of the panel you're talking 3.0"-3.125" from the top hat to the bottom of the extended knob.

I've got 1.75" from the top hat to the bottom of the original knob.
Adding the 1.55" extension SHOULD put the base of my knobs at 3.3".
Also there's a small amount of adjustability, so assuming these measurements/assumptions are close, I should be able to make mine work as-is.

One note: originally the shaft portion of mine (between knob and base) was the exposed drive cable. I added a few layers of heatshrink to avoid the metal cable rubbing against the strut cover panel and/or wobbling in the hole. Once I get to the install I may cut that heatshrink off, as the cable is small, and without the heatshrink I may only to need to drill a very small hole in the panel (didn't measure the thickness of the cable, but it's probably like 0.1", a little less than 1/8".

 

[Suzuyabot]

Mine are almost dead on 2". The original knob is 0.44" and sits inside the base of the extender, so essentially overall 2" length makes for a 1.55" extension.

Based on @VR30Infection pics it looks like the bottom of his knob is 1/4"-3/8" below the surface of the panel (no complaints, as his install is jam-up with the knob in the recessed cup...looks factory).
His pic with the ruler shows the bottom of that knob 2.75" above the top hat (roughly). Adding another 1/4"-3/8" for the knob to sit on top of the panel you're talking 3.0"-3.125" from the top hat to the bottom of the extended knob.

I've got 1.75" from the top hat to the bottom of the original knob.
Adding the 1.55" extension SHOULD put the base of my knobs at 3.3".
Also there's a small amount of adjustability, so assuming these measurements/assumptions are close, I should be able to make mine work as-is.

One note: originally the shaft portion of mine (between knob and base) was the exposed drive cable. I added a few layers of heatshrink to avoid the metal cable rubbing against the strut cover panel and/or wobbling in the hole. Once I get to the install I may cut that heatshrink off, as the cable is small, and without the heatshrink I may only to need to drill a very small hole in the panel (didn't measure the thickness of the cable, but it's probably like 0.1", a little less than 1/8".

I see, thanks for the data. And I just realized that one of the employees from sakebomb has a Z installed with the kit. I should also check with them to see if they did something similar too.