Review of Tokico Blues with Tanabe NF springs

[evo165]

Hi all, I received the Blues from Garm on friday. Got them install on sat. Below are my review of before & after with NF springs.

NF springs with stock shock
Comfort level: 9/10
Cornering feel: 6/10
Bouncy: 9/10
Stiffness: 4/10
Bottom out: Happen only when you going too fast over hump/bump.

NF springs with Blues
Comfort level: 7/10
Cornering feel: 9/10
Bouncy: 6/10
Stiffness: 9/10
Bottom out: Yet to hear any of them. Good NEWS for me!!

Overall, the Blues is a very NICE & inexpensive upgrade over the coilover set-up if you're already lowered with after market springs. Now with the blues, i feel so much confident over my handling of the car. It give me much better feel of my car with the road. In the past with stock shock, while still in the mid of turn and if happen to have any slight bump, the car will just shift/bounce out a little and the feeling is pretty scary if the speed is fast enough. A must upgrade for anyone who want to improve the feel and add stablility to the ride while willing to lose out a little from the comfort zone.

Thank you Garm for the great products!!!

[minired5stby]

I agree it is a nice ride. I already have Tanabe DF210 springs and just put in my Tokico blues yesterday with the 19mm Ultra Racing sway bar. And let me tell ya it handles nice and turns like its on rails, its crazy sexy cool.

[cali yaris]

Nice, glad you like them! These little lightweight cars benefit so much from suspension upgrades!

[evo165]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

Nice, glad you like them! These little lightweight cars benefit so much from suspension upgrades!

Hi Garm, may i ask will the blues settle down and get a little smoother/softer after "run-in"? My gf keep on complaining that the ride now it kind of "too stiff" compare to the stock shock.

[evo165]

Alright guys, i managed to "reduce" the stiffness out from my car. Remember the earlier on "Rear free supension mod"? I shifted up the pivot point of my rear suspension before i did my tokico blue as posted. By shifting the point up, i gain additional stiffness on my rear spring which i can gain slightly more responsive handling and the "extra" steering with the cost of losing the comfort.

I just recently shifted back the pivot point to the stock configuration(lower point). And now BINGO!!!!! My ride feel less "stiff" on the rear for overall comfort and yet still can provide the "super glue" feeling round the corner!! I am falling in love with the BLUEs!!!!!!!!!

[kngrsll]

Originally Posted by evo165

Alright guys, i managed to "reduce" the stiffness out from my car. Remember the earlier on "Rear free supension mod"? I shifted up the pivot point of my rear suspension before i did my tokico blue as posted. By shifting the point up, i gain additional stiffness on my rear spring which i can gain slightly more responsive handling and the "extra" steering with the cost of losing the comfort.

I just recently shifted back the pivot point to the stock configuration(lower point). And now BINGO!!!!! My ride feel less "stiff" on the rear for overall comfort and yet still can provide the "super glue" feeling round the corner!! I am falling in love with the BLUEs!!!!!!!!!

you make an interesting point here. the Fit spring i use in the rear was a loose fit when i was using the lower twist beam mount. when i raised that pivot point, the spring fit it very tight, and had to be pry'd out to be removed. now, the Tanabe rear spring was a tight fit with the lower mount, so if you were to raise the rear pivot point, that would compress the spring.

now, does spring preload effect the rear spring rate? i am not sure. you said you noted the rear felt more stiff, but is that an effect on the spring rate of compressing the rear spring or is that "feeling" from the change in suspension geometry? i am not really sure, id love to hear another opinion on this (ie. Loren, Tamago)

so, i looked up this calculator for spring rate: http://www.engineersedge.com/spring_comp_calc_k.htm i changed only 1 variable, and that is the # of ACTIVE coils in the spring. i changed nothing else. using the defaults in the calculator, a change from 10 coils to 8 coils increased spring rate from 18k to 23k. so, what that tells me is this: if you take the DF210 rear spring and compress it (eliminating a certain amount of coils) by raising the rear suspension mounting point, you will increase the rear spring rate by doing so though reduction of the number of coils. how much? no idea, but it certainly SHOULD go up.

another benefit to a free mod!

[evo165]

Originally Posted by kngrsll

you make an interesting point here. the Fit spring i use in the rear was a loose fit when i was using the lower twist beam mount. when i raised that pivot point, the spring fit it very tight, and had to be pry'd out to be removed. now, the Tanabe rear spring was a tight fit with the lower mount, so if you were to raise the rear pivot point, that would compress the spring.

now, does spring preload effect the rear spring rate? i am not sure. you said you noted the rear felt more stiff, but is that an effect on the spring rate of compressing the rear spring or is that "feeling" from the change in suspension geometry? i am not really sure, id love to hear another opinion on this (ie. Loren, Tamago)

so, i looked up this calculator for spring rate: http://www.engineersedge.com/spring_comp_calc_k.htm i changed only 1 variable, and that is the # of ACTIVE coils in the spring. i changed nothing else. using the defaults in the calculator, a change from 10 coils to 8 coils increased spring rate from 18k to 23k. so, what that tells me is this: if you take the DF210 rear spring and compress it (eliminating a certain amount of coils) by raising the rear suspension mounting point, you will increase the rear spring rate by doing so though reduction of the number of coils. how much? no idea, but it certainly SHOULD go up.

another benefit to a free mod!

U r correct!! By shifting up the pivot point our rear springs are being compress alot. As we can see from the side of the rear wheel area after the car is release on the ground. The springs is being compress till there's no "gap" between the coil thus will greatly increase our springs rate in the rear.

As mentioned, shifting up the pivot point will greatly compress the springs(higher spring rate) and at the same time, i strongly believe that we are playing with the rear suspension geometry as well. (Eg. roll center & anti squat thingy) Is anybody there who are good with car set-up pls enlighten us...

[detroiter]

I do believe in the thread about the rear pivot point, the general consenus is that by shifting the rear pivot point to the higher slot, on a lowered yaris, that it helped put the rear geometry back closer to "stock" geometry levels. Helping correct the toe and such instead of being off a bit. Atleast that's how I understood it :)

[evo165]

Originally Posted by detroiter

I do believe in the thread about the rear pivot point, the general consenus is that by shifting the rear pivot point to the higher slot, on a lowered yaris, that it helped put the rear geometry back closer to "stock" geometry levels. Helping correct the toe and such instead of being off a bit. Atleast that's how I understood it :)

I do strongly agree with you on the higher pivot point bro detroiter. Me myself find the higher pivot point a very great mod and "free" improvement on the handling department.

I will like to highlight on this "higher pivot point" suspension mod. To GAIN the best benefit of the upper pivot point, we will need to have shorter and stiffer springs for the rear suspension in order to enjoy the full benefit of "stock" geometry levels without causing the rear springs being compress "un-balance".

I really don't feel comfortable seeing my rear Tanabe NF springs being compressed till most of my coils are touching each other and the springs are not standling vertically (|) instead they are being compress till like a "(" from the side view if we look carefully on inside of our rear wheel.

Also, i move back to the lower stock pivot points to "reduce" the springs load effect so i could gain back some comfort.