Grip, confidence, safety, comfort, the biggest lesson; I now own a new car.

Back from a whole day of sitting on trains and coaches to pick up my car from Chris Wilson's pad in Shropshire after a full suspension makeover; approached with an open mind.

To put this in perspective, it's probably worthy of note that I have run the following suspension systems over the past 5 years;

- Stock,

- Apexi N1 coilovers,

- KYB springs and shocks,

- Eibach springs, Bilstein shocks.

- JIC magic coilovers.

I have also had 7-8 geometry sessions this year on the JIC's which have been the best of the bunch so far.... trying to get the handling sorted. Don't get me wrong it's pretty good, but having an R34 in the family and living on rough gnarly backroads I know what I need.

Since I started with Supra's I have follwed Chris' posts, and considered getting his kit in the early days, but, synically thought I knew better; trusting brands rather than the more expensive option of our home grown guru. After all these are big multinational companies right, Chris, knowledgable as he is, is still just one man in his own garage...?!

Well, I put my hand in my pocket and went for it. Back to 18" wheels, and gave the car to Chris with instructions to make it as good as he can get it, no ride height compromise, stiffness compromise, all bling factor removed; just make it as good as it can be. I complied with his wheel choice.

I have owned and driven a lot of setups but the way the car drives now is just staggering. Handles, yes, but more so; the way it tracks, the ride quality, and the grip, lateral and traction. It is absolutely the most monumental step forward I have even taken with any of the 3 Supras I have owned.

- Potholes are 1/4 their normal size. It soaks them up better than any of the exec cars I have been in. You don't feel cats eyes either.

- The cabin of the car is silent, no creaks, no noises, no movement, it sounds eery!

- The way the car tracks over uneven roads, it just inspires confidence, there is no bucking or twitching accross cambers and potholes, it's as if they were not there; but more than this you feel them yet get unaltered braking and cornering force across them, the car just refuses to unsettle.

- Power on the motorway can be laid down, even in the grease, and lane changing feels so secure, more than a dry road feel; the car is just far more direct, trusting, obedient and capable.

- Power traction. I use RLTC, and it gets a workout. At this time of year on a "dry" road I light in 3rd, and cannot put my foot down on a greasy motorway in 4th, and 5th is still dodgy. On the way home, I could not break traction in 3rd... seriously. There is so much power going into the road that the front of the car is lifting to a degree it has never done before... in the grease!!!

I'll not get a chance to test the track capabilities until Marham, but regardless as a road car I now own the car I have always wanted. Not the one I owned last year.

Seriously, if you value having a drivers car, not a bling/chav mobile, then this should be the FIRST thing you do, IMHO before BPU.

The safety aspect alone is worth it.

Sounds good, what exactly have you had done/replaced to achieve this though?

Sounds good, well done to CW

Good write up aswell mate, sure this will convince a few!

Sounds good, what exactly have you had done/replaced to achieve this though?

I wonder if you could pm me the price ou paid. i assume you have already had bushes etc changed?

his setups get excellent reviews how much did it cost you if that isnt too cheeky

Thank you so much for the kind feedback Mike. The car has serious grunt, and a nice sensible set up, it was deserving of some decent suspension, and I am so pleased you are happy with it. I went to some considerable lengths developing it on my own MKIV some years ago. For those who asked, or who are interested or merely curious, there's no black magic. Just German made Bilsteins valved to my own recipe, and my springs that are relatively soft, but with a steepish progression rate. Mikes car had hard ("plastic") front lower arm bushes, which I changed for ultra low mileage (almost new) stock arms, and my own geo set up, slightly modified as Mike has shown intent of doing track days. He also capitulated by going for sensible wheel and tyre sizes, with correct offset, and correct spigot hole diameter. The results are a car that is well planted, compliant, yet with tight roll control. It squats nicely, but not exteremely, under power, with decent weight transfer, and has damper settings with good low speed valving for good ride, yet good transient roll control until the springs take their set. No fancy colours, no anodised bits, no funny names, just basic suspension engineering. The fact is, the Europeans virtually have the damper market sewn up, and the Jap after market stuff is usually suspect at best.

There's no one geo set up to suit every usage, it's always a compromise. Road, track days, racing, drag racing (spit...), all demand different set ups to work best. Mike's rear tyre inner wear will be less than it could be, but the car will have pretty good corner exit traction on track days, and at the front end, good on the road tyre wear (the MKIV is heavy on front tyre inner wear if given enough camber to be excellent on track), with reasonably sharp turn in, without it being nervous on the road.

That's it, simple really

I had custom shocks, springs to cw design, and this would have gone straight onto a stock car...

but mine had poly bushes in the front that had to go, so 2 new stock arms, and some other bits of fiddling that should not need doing on standard cars.

total cost is 1250 including fitting and geo setup. worth every penny.

That's it, simple really

I'm sure I'll understand that post one day Chris

And that price doesn't seem too bad either!

The car has serious grunt

did you turn it up to the 3rd setting? every time you start it up it reverts to 1.1 bar... its a world of difference at 1.5 bar,

but you know what..? out of control before....

but now it feels not only more powerful due to traction, but under total control and safe... I can pass things with more than 2/3rd throttle and know the car will go where i point, regardless of road condition.

I never touch boost controllers, in fact I don't like driving customers cars at all Please don't get too carried away, it may be a good set up, but it won't defy the laws of physics

This sounds like something i should seriously consider investing in i think .

Chris, please excuse my lack of in-depth knowledge, but how different is your setup to say a stock Supra on the optional uprated (yellow?) suspension? That's what I have now and I love it, but then I've not driven anything else, and I don't have silly power (yet ).

(I've been a passenger in other Supes, so it's a subjective opinion, and some don't always feel as 'tight' as mine - they're more 'squirmy' for want of a better word.) I know that on one of them the suspension was old & tired though, which would explain it of course.

Do you still have your Supra??

What wheels and tyres did you go for Mike?

What wheels and tyres did you go for Mike?

See here my friend...

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=136794

Very pleased to here she's running like a dream Mike and hat of to CW.

Remembering how you always moaned about the suspension set up previously at Marham

Happy days to come mate.

.

Great to hear you are happy with it Mike

My car is also due a suspension make over which Chris is looking into for me

When Chris did mine.. he transformed it.. amazing

Good 1, maybe you`ll be able to keep up on the next wet trackday,

Chris i have just put a order in with dusty at mvp for a R2 bush kit could you pm me a price too install and do a full geo setup up please:)

What wheels and tyres did you go for Mike?

lexus gs300, at 12kg a wheel, good offsets, but I have better offset ones on the way at 7.44kg a wheel.

Good 1, maybe you`ll be able to keep up on the next wet trackday,

Chris did say, beware the laws of physics, and I agree - there is no way I am putting myself at risk on the road. but come the next trackday, I honestly hope it does rain!

Chris i have just put a order in with dusty at mvp for a R2 bush kit could you pm me a price too install and do a full geo setup up please:)

I have had two sets of poly bushes now, the first was R2 and you know what... I went back to stock... why? because they don't fit, and the arm wobbles around on the bush. The bush may be solid, but if it's not a super tight fit (which they are not - as you can hand fit them:blink:) then they wobble around on the road and constant geometry set is impossible.

Honestly, the car is just so much safer...

No longer is the grim reaper throwing rocks and banana skins under the car.

Glad your cars sorted mate, it sounds good.

Interesting reading.

Chris i have just put a order in with dusty at mvp for a R2 bush kit could you pm me a price too install and do a full geo setup up please:)

I don't do bush kits, sorry, I don't like them, nor the incredible hassle of fitting them

Chris/Mike, What was the brake issue mentioned a couple of times in other threads? Was it the bushings being loose?

Chris, please excuse my lack of in-depth knowledge, but how different is your setup to say a stock Supra on the optional uprated (yellow?) suspension? That's what I have now and I love it, but then I've not driven anything else, and I don't have silly power (yet ).

 

(I've been a passenger in other Supes, so it's a subjective opinion, and some don't always feel as 'tight' as mine - they're more 'squirmy' for want of a better word.) I know that on one of them the suspension was old & tired though, which would explain it of course.

 

Do you still have your Supra??

Dampers are proper German made Bilsteins, not the made under licence Toyota ones, which have diffrent, and IMO, inferior valving, and the springs are different. I can't comment on your geo as i don't know what it's set to, or what you want to aim the usage of the car at.

I haven't owned a Supra for about 10 years or so now, but still have a few around

Cheers.