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AKEP
05-28-2013, 06:56 AM
I haven't been able to find a decent review on these specific coilovers, so I decided I'd pioneer them myself and give this review of what I think about them.

So first things first, when I received these from Megan, they were fully assembled and basically ready to go. I checked the top nut and all that and there wasn't a thing loose on them. So I disassembled them and proceeded to grease up the parts they have highlighted on this FAQ right here. (http://www.meganracing.com/tech/faqs.asp?id=37&subject=CDK:%20Why%20do%20I%20hear%20noise%20from% 20coilovers?)

I also got the inverted rod end design, instead of the straight arms because I'm not planning on being that low. You can request for other arms if you want, they come from megan with inverted ends unless you ask for oem or straight arm designs. You can also purchase them at a later date if you decide to get lower/higher later on.
Lower bracket designs. (http://www.meganracing.com/tech/updates.asp?id=77&subject=Lower%20Bracket%20Design:%20DC5/EP3/EM2%20chassis)

These come with 12k and 16k springs, front and rear, respectively. At the last minute I got a sponsorship from Swift Springs USA and decided to go with the same spring rates, I might go with 10k in the front at another time.

You can put 65 mm ID springs on the front, but you will need to modify the rear plastic inserts (just cut the vertical lip off, but be mindful if you have thrust bearings installed, those could use a little lip for centering) and run 60mm ID springs as 65s wont clear the upper mounts lip. IF you want to modify all the plastic washers, you can run 60mm ID springs all around. At this time, I decided that if I'm going to run Swift springs instead of stock Megan springs, I wanna spoil myself a little more and get Eibach thrust bearings. (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/eib-trb250) I would spend the money on these and NOT the QA1 steel versions as the Eibach ones were just emmensly higher in quality, the def roll smoother and you can feel the difference in your hands. I'm not a pro on bearings but I can tell you now that I feel that the QA1's just felt like trash compared to Eibachs. You put these under the spring, on top of the plastic washer, above the lower perch. When you're adjusting the lower perch and adding preload/weight to that corner, these will make it so much easier to turn by hand. You can feel the difference between the QA1 and Eibach bearings at this point, the Eibachs make it SO MUCH EASIER. These also keep your springs from Torsion Bind, the binding noise from when you turn your car, from the spring twisting between the perches. Not to be confused with Coil Bind, which is when a spring is basically fully compressed to the point that coils are touching. The bearings make the spring an independent part of the coilover suspension, as they twist and compress in their own low friction space now, not to be interfered with perches or anything. You only need one per corner.

Now, since I had the dampers all taken apart, I decided to play with the damper itself and see how changing the dampening settings affected the piston movement. From full soft, the piston acts like a stock shock, you push it in, it pops out pretty quickly, very fast action. On full hard, they don't move at all. You could compress it, put it on full hard and it will hold the piston in.

As far as ride quality, I have the springs at as close to 0 preload as possible, set by the lower spring perch, and height adjusted by screwing the shock body into the lower bracket. I tried full soft and it was like stock ride, a little bouncy. I currently have it turned up to 12/12 and it's pretty solid all around. Once I get the front sway bar on (pending new turbo manifold/downpipe install) I will start to play with the damping a little more. So far, 12/12 is not intolerable at all, honestly it feels like I'm still on Tein S techs and stock shocks, but much less roll. So far, this is a lesson to me that springs do not make the ride harsh, it's the dampening. They control roll and pitch, not ride quality so much. I would def turn the dampers very soft on a road trip, feels like stock with no body roll.

So for now, I've only put about 50 miles on them and they're not bad. I have a bad disc or 2 in my back and I find these comfortable enough, coming from 100k miles on Tein S-techs and stock shocks, these are def an upgrade and still have the same ride quality as that +/-. Once I get more miles in I will update some more. The 12/16 setup feels very neutral. With an LSD the car pretty much just went where the wheels were pointed. I'm rolling on Rota Track R's wrapped in 225/50-16 Continental ExtremeContact DW tires all around and once warmed up, they are very sticky. My steering rod angles are flat right now, without the Tegiwa bracket, but I'm sitting higher than S-techs drop you, but lower than stock. About 2 finger gap or 1.5 inch gap all around. Once the bracket is in, I will lower the car a little more to keep those angles. With that, I do not have any play in my steering wheel, no creaking, no clunking. the response is crisp and light. I can now say that when the EPS kicks in, you can feel it actually hampering your ability to turn the wheel any faster. Makes me want to convert to hydro power steering.

I also have some pictures but I will upload those later.

My suspension mods are:
RSX-S Everything unless stated
Front Aluminum Type R LCAs with PCI Spherical Caster bushings (on the ep3, they make caster "normal" according to my alignment) - Yes they are installed the right way, I emailed Brian at PCI to confirm.
Kings Motorsport Inserts for EP3/02-04 RSX ball joints.
Hardrace Roll Center Adjusters w/custom castle nuts. (If you have DC5R LCAs get buddy clubs, as they have the right nuts for JDM LCA inserts. The threadings between the 2 are NOT interchangeable. 05-06 ball joints will fit the stock DC5R inserts, but you still need the JDM Nut to keep the insert from being ripped out of the LCA.)
OEM Knuckles/Axles/Tie rods/rear LCA/TA
Type R sway bar front/rear w/ DIY adjustable endlinks.
ASR rear subframe brace. (This is a VERY solid one piece brace, poops on progress's)
Tegiwa Steering Bracket Relocation (pending new manifold and downpipe install too)
DC5R Rear gussets and tie bar
Full Interior

Other then that, I am not running and chassis bracing.

Hope this was useful. Any questions you guys have I will do my best to answer/clear up.

>>PICS HERE (http://imgur.com/a/mDRYf#0)<<

apexracing
05-28-2013, 07:17 AM
I'm happy with my megan street straight arms so far. First thing I notice was the build quality was very good for a entry level suspension. The lock nuts on the front of mine did need tightening. Install was simple and easy. And adjustments are very easy to make while on the car. These come with 10k front springs and 12k rear springs. I'm currently running dampening level 20. I'll stay at 20 until I get an alignment this weekend. Didn't mean to thread jack just figured I would add my .02

umdorado
05-28-2013, 07:26 AM
Good Job, AKEP. Finally you finished it off. In for feedback after 1000 or so miles. BTW the suspension setup must have cost you a preety penny. STAY THE HELL AWAY from deer this time.

AKEP
05-28-2013, 07:36 AM
Yeah i dropped about 1k on the coilovers, springs, and thrust bearings alone. That's with my dealer/sponsorship discounts. Would have been about $1600 before taxes @ MSRP.

$290 for LCA and sway bar
$320 for PCI offset bushings
$175 for RCA
$75 for inserts

$860 on just front LCA - I did not have the hook up on these parts. :mfrown:

AKEP
06-21-2013, 08:43 PM
So far, so good. these aren't stiff as one might think. very doable. i have the dampers turned about 15/15 from full soft and its to my liking as a dd. any softer felt a little bouncy, or under dampened. without dc5r front sway, 12k is about perfect for what i'm driving. i might drop the springs to 10k up front now that it is on. i haven't been watching my miles but i'd say about 1500 miles so far, so good. Will keep updating.

USAF EP3
06-21-2013, 11:28 PM
So far, so good. these aren't stiff as one might think. very doable. i have the dampers turned about 15/15 from full soft and its to my liking as a dd. any softer felt a little bouncy, or under dampened. without dc5r front sway, 12k is about perfect for what i'm driving. i might drop the springs to 10k up front now that it is on. i haven't been watching my miles but i'd say about 1500 miles so far, so good. Will keep updating.

You and I have super similar suspension setups. You have vested just a tad more than I have but I have either wrote those things off as not needed or I'll get them eventually.

One thing I will note that I made a jump on before I bought PCI caster bushings and some others stuff you bought was DaVinci (Todd's) Designs adjustable tie rods and caster plates. Jeez of Naz, best suspension investment I will ever make in my lifetime. I highly recommend you get them. Not sure if he still has a set of the caster plates around, I was EXTREMELY lucky to catch one of his sets recently when he decided to make a second production (most likely final) of them.

poeticfinesse21
06-22-2013, 06:25 AM
Very nice write up Tony.

Just wondering where you sourced the JDM castle nuts from. I've been toying with the idea of getting the Type-R LCA's with hardrace RCA's too but I'm not a huge fan of the buddy club RCA's due to not having a snap ring and popping out of the knuckle for some people. $75 for some damn inserts is kind of ridiculous but thats the only option :mfrown:

Hasbro
06-22-2013, 12:45 PM
Nice write up.

AKEP
06-22-2013, 02:28 PM
One thing I will note that I made a jump on before I bought PCI caster bushings and some others stuff you bought was DaVinci (Todd's) Designs adjustable tie rods and caster plates. Jeez of Naz, best suspension investment I will ever make in my lifetime. I highly recommend you get them. Not sure if he still has a set of the caster plates around, I was EXTREMELY lucky to catch one of his sets recently when he decided to make a second production (most likely final) of them.
someone has them posted for deals, unused. i MIGHT but i've already called it quits on suspension mods minus springs and corner balance. but we'll see. i've already planned my money to be spent on fun things this summer. suspension so responsive, eps slows me down. or my tires are just that sticky. lol


Very nice write up Tony.

Just wondering where you sourced the JDM castle nuts from. I've been toying with the idea of getting the Type-R LCA's with hardrace RCA's too but I'm not a huge fan of the buddy club RCA's due to not having a snap ring and popping out of the knuckle for some people. $75 for some damn inserts is kind of ridiculous but thats the only option :mfrown:
Thanks! I had a member here send me a pair but THEY ARE NOT THE SAME SIZE AS THE HARDRACE THREADS, buddy club and oem type r are the only ones that are interchangeable, they are a size larger than hardrace, as they are modeled after the usdm ep3 ball joints. now, that is because i am not running dc5r knuckles, or the 05-06 dc5s knuckles. I dont know if the 05-06 knuckles have the same thread as jdm, although they do share the same taper. I AM using the 02-04 type s knuckles, so, thats all i know. I got some castle nuts from ace hardware, along with some M20 flat washers, and had those TIG welded to the edge of the nut. I tq'd the nut to spec and it flexed the washer, but didn't break the welds (100,000 psi tensile strength) and i've hit some mean holes on accident and ran over rail road tracks and all sorts of mean stuff and they are not phased.

the way i see it, with spherical bushings, there is no force pulling down on the LCA other than its own weight, since rubber bushings are always putting resistance on the arms movement, spherical, none. but its nice to know my balljoint inserts wont pop out now.


Nice write up.

thanks!

Brannen Batulan
07-27-2013, 07:50 PM
noob question, but how do I go with setting the preload to zero with the coilovers already on the car? reason is that my mechanic installed them for me, but I didn't like the height, so I raised them half an inch in the rear, but I think I messed up the preload. the spring was a bit loose, and I know they're supposed to fit snug, but at the same time I should be able to twist it with my hand.

AKEP
10-17-2013, 05:10 AM
you gotta raise the car by the chassis, then lower the spring perches until the spring is loose. then you tighten until the spring isn't loose. then you adjust height by the lower locking ring against the lower bracket.

Update: up until a couple weeks ago suspension has been holding up great. car ran into some issues and its parked, but nothing suspension related. been going hard all summer!

PRODIUS
10-17-2013, 07:28 PM
May I ask how wide your wheels are?
Looking to put the same 225/50/16 DW on my Enkie DM5, 7" wide. Curious if you have a side pick of your wheel/ tire combo to judge tire bulge.

Thanks!

AKEP
02-01-2014, 12:25 PM
May I ask how wide your wheels are?
Looking to put the same 225/50/16 DW on my Enkie DM5, 7" wide. Curious if you have a side pick of your wheel/ tire combo to judge tire bulge.

Thanks!

Sorrry for the mega late response, i do have pics, i just need to upload them. i'll try to get around to that. i also have suspension shots.

AKEP
02-01-2014, 12:27 PM
also wheels are 225/50-16x7+40

Eddie Murphy
02-11-2014, 07:01 AM
Nice write up and sweet set up...

ramosjg
02-14-2014, 11:30 AM
on the ebiach torsion release bearings which ones did you buy 2 1/4 and how many did you buy? One or two?

AKEP
02-25-2014, 01:16 AM
on the ebiach torsion release bearings which ones did you buy 2 1/4 and how many did you buy? One or two?

its 2.5 i double checked with summit. I bought them as separates for $25 each but it looks like they come in a pair for $44 now. i would get at least a pair, for the front. i put them front and rear for peace of mind lol. im about to post pictures.