Megane R26 coilovers options

[RossDC]

What's the best bang for buck? Car is used for some road driving and a lot of nurburgring trips (but I have to drive it there!)

Not "money no object" or anything so vulgar, but I'd rather pay for something decent and only have to pay it once than pay for several sets of mediocre gear to learn the hard way what's "best".

Gaz golds are out due to terrible quality in everything I've ever seen them touch.

BC's I've never heard of, and are obviously at the budget end.

Nitron and AST is kind of where I'm looking (would be ohlins ideally if they did a "track and road" kit for the r26) but have no exposure to either.

I run 740lbs springs on Spax on my Clio and it's surprisingly compliant on the road and obviously awesome on track - but again I have no exposure to the Megane only having had it a few months.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

[DaveL485]

Have you looked at the stuff @arno samimi makes? It's pretty awesome.

 

[andybond]

@papps has run a few sets.

I think the BC are good value for money , but the AST are in a different league.

 

[papps]

Sorry @RossDC just seen this!

Yes, as Andy mentions, I've run BC Racing BR series coilovers on my R26, and recently changed them to the AST5100 kit.

Few points firstly: the R26 is my first ever performance car, and hence the first car I've modded....

The BC's are a fantastic piece of kit for the money, there's no doubt about that - you should be easily able to get them for £692 all in from many vendors. (Jonny at TrackFocusDirect would be my go to, he's a car enthusiast, he's got an R26 as well, can source stuff he doesn't list also )

The AST list price is not what you can pay, if you go direct, and maybe play it in a certain way

Nitron are being pretty firm on the price for NR1 I'm being told, but its still under the 2k mark direct, nothing like the £2.6k ktec want.

Why did I change from the BCs? I had them in 7kg /4kg spring rates, and was getting a lot of exit understeer on the track......wanting to firm up the rear to make the car more neutral I was told you couldn't run firmer springs on them without new rear dampers- so it would of been £250+ fitting for the parts, which makes a £700 budget set up into a 1k+ one, so I sold them for £500 and got the ASTs when I found out the price direct basically.

ASTs are 450lb all round, thats 8Kg or 80N, it'll still tend slightly to understeer on the limit, but you can get the rear very mobile with the quick flick of the wrist. I use the car a lot on the road, but also track it a lot.

 

[papps]

@RossDC Forgot I have this video comparison as well of the 2 suspensions on the R26



The AST sections were only from my first outing with them, so its not a comparison on the limits of their abilities etc, as I'm still finding them.

I could talk for hours about this kind of stuff, so feel free to fire any more questions or ask for any more specifics.

All the videos on my channel before March 2016 are with the BC coilovers, the April/May and June clips all have the ASTs on.


Best video for BC Coilovers:


Best 2 AST ones:

 

[Ricardo]

@papps do you track with the TC switched off.... (ABS-ESP)?

Besides it cutting power to me it made a difference in how I could drive the Megane myself. With it switched off it certainly made the back end more twitchy but in a controlled way.

 

[papps]

@papps do you track with the TC switched off.... (ABS-ESP)?

Besides it cutting power to me it made a difference in how I could drive the Megane myself. With it switched off it certainly made the back end more twitchy but in a controlled way.

The porsche video above you could see my turning it ON half way through as I approach the chicane.

I've only recently had it off at times, it actually seems easier to drive the car (anytime you lift a front wheel by clipping the apex nicely the TC cuts the power slightly) - but I'm lacking in a bit of confidence, so its been on a lot recently - the other night with the rain, and then with passengers I had it on all the time.

The car is certainly a lot more fun with it off - thats for sure!

 

[Ricardo]

I went out 3-4 times with it on and didn't think about switching it off until a mate mentioned it. Powering out of (not tight) bends in 2nd and 3rd would flash up the lights momentarily. Obviously switched off you have all the power to hand, yes the car is more stable under braking with it on but after a few sessions with it off I had feel of how the Megane reacted under braking on different corners.