Ride quality of coilovers vs regular coil springs

WJCO

Meme King
For those of you that run coilovers and still use your Jeeps a decent amount of time on the pavement, is the ride quality still decent? I'll admit I don't know much at all about coilovers but if I decide to build up the JT, I'm going to go big and do it once. With that being said, this truck is still used for long road trips and my family nor I would appreciate the extra cost spending if the ride isn't nice.

Once I do this, I'll be going 40s so I'm probably going to be running 5-6 inches of lift. I don't want to regret getting coil springs and wish I'd gone coilovers. And I don't want to get coilovers and then wish I had just gone with regular springs.

I understand the benefits off-road and understand the extra maintenance with coilovers. My main question is ride quality on longer trips on the highway.

I will likely do bolt ons and I will definitely do long arms.
 

JeepFan

Hooked
For those of you that run coilovers and still use your Jeeps a decent amount of time on the pavement, is the ride quality still decent? I'll admit I don't know much at all about coilovers but if I decide to build up the JT, I'm going to go big and do it once. With that being said, this truck is still used for long road trips and my family nor I would appreciate the extra cost spending if the ride isn't nice.

Once I do this, I'll be going 40s so I'm probably going to be running 5-6 inches of lift. I don't want to regret getting coil springs and wish I'd gone coilovers. And I don't want to get coilovers and then wish I had just gone with regular springs.

I understand the benefits off-road and understand the extra maintenance with coilovers. My main question is ride quality on longer trips on the highway.

I will likely do bolt ons and I will definitely do long arms.


Our JL has long arms and bolt on coilovers. Running 37's with KMC XD229 beadlocks.

On the highway it rides great! City driving not so much. To me, the COs are very stiff and I would characterize it rides like a boxcar with square wheels in town. I attribute some of this due to the tires and wheels. 3.5" of negative offset and cooper sst m/ts. I run the tire pressure at 28psi. Also, the king COs are noisy. Aside from all this, I will say it performs nicely offroad.

I wish you were closer, I'd let you drive it for a day so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

If I had it to do over, I'd stick with regular coils.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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Andy5160

Hooked
I really want to see WJCO going 40s.

For me 37s, stock Rubi JLU axles was something to go with as Jeep is my daily for now so I wanted to build it as best of both on and off road.
I went with coil shock set up one of the best out there ( evo, king) simply for one and only reason. I did not want to get stranded without shocks while I get coilovers over to maintenance. I do 20/25 k miles a year easy.
So for me to have an option to swap the shocks is something that played a big roll in making final decision. I am sure evo,king set up is will ride superb!



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cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
I kind of agree with jeepfan. Around town my coil overs are stiffer than the rancho set up on the jl. Anything over 45 tho and they soak everything up. Part of me still wishes I did the plush rides on the jk especially with the type of wheeling we do here on the East
 
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WJCO

Meme King
I appreciate the feedback so far. I am leaning more towards standard coils now.

I will say that I love the ride of the Rancho suspension that I have now.

But I could get a little of that sexy blue color to show with the King shocks.

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CalSgt

Hooked
Our JL has long arms and bolt on coilovers. Running 37's with KMC XD229 beadlocks.

On the highway it rides great! City driving not so much. To me, the COs are very stiff and I would characterize it rides like a boxcar with square wheels in town. I attribute some of this due to the tires and wheels. 3.5" of negative offset and cooper sst m/ts. I run the tire pressure at 28psi. Also, the king COs are noisy. Aside from all this, I will say it performs nicely offroad.

I wish you were closer, I'd let you drive it for a day so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

If I had it to do over, I'd stick with regular coils.

Let me know if you have any questions.

This... I went from EVO plush ride springs to CO's & they are stiffer around town, great off road & on the highway

If I had it to do over I would have gotten the adjustable Kings
 
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wjtstudios

Hooked
This... I went from EVO plush ride springs to CO's & they are stiffer around town, great off road & on the highway

If I had it to do over I would have gotten the adjustable Kings

I was just going to say that, Get the adjustable kings. It really does make a big difference getting them dialed in on the road and then I can tighten or soften them up on the trail to get the ride right there.

But the same could be said about a set of adjustable king shocks and a good set of springs. What I like about the COs is everything is adjustable verses coils. I would imagine having that adjustability on a JT would really be great to level the bed out depending on what you are loaded with.


2015 JKUR AEV JK350
1985 CJ8 Scrambler
 
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Ddays

Hooked
The King shocks are really sweet, but man, I love the CO's. I'd never go back to the coil setup after having them. I was lucky enough to get mine set up perfect on the first shot.
 
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JAGS

Hooked
Our JL has long arms and bolt on coilovers. Running 37's with KMC XD229 beadlocks.

On the highway it rides great! City driving not so much. To me, the COs are very stiff and I would characterize it rides like a boxcar with square wheels in town. I attribute some of this due to the tires and wheels. 3.5" of negative offset and cooper sst m/ts. I run the tire pressure at 28psi. Also, the king COs are noisy. Aside from all this, I will say it performs nicely offroad.

I wish you were closer, I'd let you drive it for a day so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

If I had it to do over, I'd stick with regular coils.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hello sir! Hope you are doing well. Been too long.

This is well timed. I’m on the fence for my JL. So here’s a follow up, would you still go with EVO long arm or would you go with another of theirs (or others’) standard arm kits?
 
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Sharkey

Word Ninja
^ Same here

I was thinking going coilovers but mostly because of the ability to adjust height to compensate for having the back of JT loaded up with camping gear.

I actually don’t mind stiff suspension around town, and I have both of my JKUR’s set to the 7 or 8 position on the RS9000XL shocks.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE
 
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Ddays

Hooked
Also, the king COs are noisy.

I meant to address this in my response but forgot - I read a lot of comments about the Kings being noisy which is primarily due to the sliders and/or the springs not indexed. I went with the AGM sliders for my install and I can say that they are completely silent. I know they are stupid expensive for what they are, but simply for my piece of mind the expenditure was worth it. :twocents:
 
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CalSgt

Hooked
I meant to address this in my response but forgot - I read a lot of comments about the Kings being noisy which is primarily due to the sliders and/or the springs not indexed. I went with the AGM sliders for my install and I can say that they are completely silent. I know they are stupid expensive for what they are, but simply for my piece of mind the expenditure was worth it. :twocents:

These are on my list of future upgrades, I did notice mine quieted down significantly after a break in wheeling session. Every so often I do hear the springs rotate on the slider but its usually when the suspension is really articulating at slow speeds.
 
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Sharkey

Word Ninja
I meant to address this in my response but forgot - I read a lot of comments about the Kings being noisy which is primarily due to the sliders and/or the springs not indexed. I went with the AGM sliders for my install and I can say that they are completely silent. I know they are stupid expensive for what they are, but simply for my piece of mind the expenditure was worth it. :twocents:

I’d spend that money as well.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE
 
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I've never had Coil overs and bypasses on a jeep, but I did have King coil overs and bypasses on an f150. Get coil overs that have the adjustable soft/firm settings. If I turned them to their softest setting, the truck handled good and was super smooth on the highway. The clicking of the bypass valves never bothered me. You can hear them but barely. Once in the firm settings, it was like the truck was on rails and I could feel every little bump.
 
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2011jk

Member
Simple answer not getting into the tech. So have a Dog pile if you want..doesn't change the facts.

On the street doesn't matter where the 'springs' are mounted, on the shock or off what matters is the valving and the spring rate. Off road C/O's have the ability of changing spring rates by using spring stops so you can increase the rate as the spring compresses.

Then valving is the big unknown, NO C/O setup by any shock manufacture or suspension manufacturer is valved properly. Can they get somewhat close sure but without having a "experienced " tuner dial them and the spring rates on your jeep its just a compromise. This has to be done in person and cannot be done any other way with.

Next is adding Bypass shocks to the mix..same applies as above.
 
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benatc1

Hooked
Has anyone ran/noticed a big difference in standard adjustable arms vs long arms with the evo bolt on coil overs,In regards to ride quality? Or have done bolt ons without doing all 8 control arms? I know wheel travel is a pretty big difference with the long arms.

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WJCO

Meme King
Has anyone ran/noticed a big difference in standard adjustable arms vs long arms with the evo bolt on coil overs,In regards to ride quality? Or have done bolt ons without doing all 8 control arms? I know wheel travel is a pretty big difference with the long arms.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple people post that they noticed a difference after installing the long arms but I can't find the posts. In the meantime, here is some feedback from people that have done it:


https://wayalife.com/showthread.php...ig-this-week?p=1256816&viewfull=1#post1256816

I’m around 3.5” in lift height. I did the install solo, I used a plasma cutter so that really made things easier. The front took 1 grinding wheel and 5 hrs. The rear took 2 grinding wheels to make everything really clean and right at 6 hrs to complete. Some final adjustments at the very end after driving with adjusting the coilovers, all in all it was a 12hr Job for me to complete. It wasn’t really that bad, I was dreading the rear but it went really smooth. The difference is amazing. No more limit straps and these coilovers are designed for the longarm. After installing the arms I determined the coilovers kit should be sold with the long arms. It’s like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly if ya know what I mean. [emoji4]

This was the front only before I did the rear.



https://wayalife.com/showthread.php...mp-Coilovers?p=1154062&viewfull=1#post1154062

Also you do need the long arms to realize it's full flex potential, otherwise you will be running limiting straps.



https://wayalife.com/showthread.php...mp-Coilovers?p=1154578&viewfull=1#post1154578

I concur. I have nearly the same setup (different tires), and the on-road manners are quite exceptional. In my opinion EVO JL Bolt-On Coilovers + EVO JLU High Clearance Long Arms + Cooper STT 37x13.5r17 has resulted in a JLUR that rides and handles on pavement better than stock, including highway speeds (80 mph). I say this with honesty, and not as a fanboy or as person that has spent money and unwilling to admit the truth. If I was unhappy with the performance this system, I would say so.
 
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