Evening all, After a little bit of advice which I’m sure has been cover way to much now. Background is Megane R26 owned for 5.5years now, done a couple of track days, slightly engine tuned but currently standard suspension setup bar Uprated wishbone bushes. I have just snapped my third front spring (70k on the clock), getting pretty annoyed with that now. So now thinking do I go with new shocks all round and put aftermarket springs on, all new OEM suspension and risk another breakage or do I just get rid of the lot and get BC racing coilovers. I currently love the way the car rides and handles so don’t want to sacrifice that for the sake of “lows”, also with aftermarket springs how do people get on with multi story car parks? Are they still accessible? If I went BC racing I’d almost be setting them at standard ride height just with a hope of more longevity.
If its a road car,you cant beat the standard set up. Surprised to hear you have broken all those springs. Mine were on the car 10 years before i overhauled the suspension. Put new OEM dampers on the car,but made the mistake of putting on Cooksport springs, as they came as part of the deal. Fine on smooth roads and track,but just to stiff for our typical crappy roads when pushing on. With the OEM set-up,as you know its stiff.But it always has enough suspension travel,as not to hit the bumpstops,upsetting the car,due to the high ride height..hence more suspension travel. With the 30mm lower Cooksports,you can slam into the bumpstops when the suspension simply runs out of travel. At higher speeds,it can really upset the balance of the car,which was never the case on OEM Eibachs. The problem is though...OEM Eibachs are fearsomely expensive. The cheapest place is RPD..and thats even cheaper than Renault with staff discount! Even then its nearly £400 for a set of fkn springs! Which is ridiculous,as its double the cost of OEM dampers! In saying that,i have still ordered a new set from RPD,and will be taking off the Cooksports. Others will disagree. But if you drive the R26 hard,i think its a big mistake to lower it on the road.
i am on H&R and highly rate them, good compromise of confort and harshness for Wiltshire's road (journey to work) std are good too but i prefer how the car look and the handling is perfect for me as the car being a GT dci is lighter by about 130kg compared to the RS dci so it works well for me.
Thanks for your replies I think I’ll just bite the bullet and stick with the OEM stuff. Did just notice Renault parts directs are now selling both the standard R26 Eibach springs and the Eibach Pro kit with a 25mm drop
they are..obviously due to the horrendous price of OEM springs,and people wanting the car lowered.. The proline kits are far softer than OEM Eibachs,according to the spring rates.
Thought someone posted all the spring rates up recently and the pro kit was slightly stiffer? I’ve got them on mine and it rides pretty much like stock only more chuckable, but you won’t get a 25mm drop as the r26 sits 10 or 15mm lower than a 225 I believe. And they’re half the price of stock eibach springs too, so it was a no brainier for me.
i was looking at a post put up quite a while ago.Stated they were much softer...so maybe thats changed. why would eibach charge you so much for oem Eibachs, then offer a kit far cheaper, if compromises are not made?
I don’t think eibach do, suspect it’s Renault mark up on them, or because they are less in demand they cost more to make maybe?
BC Racing coilovers mate! Been there, done that, tried everything and still wasn't happy until I fitted coilovers! Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk
Slight bump on this thread, I didn’t get round to doing a full refresh in the end just sorted the broken spring with a spare a had in the shed. Renault have discontinued the OEM springs now so has anyone got any side shots of their R26’s with the Eibach pro kit fitted? Reluctant to purchase Coilovers to set them at standard ride height...
why have they discontinued them?...surely people wanting to restore these cars will be up in arms about this.Fkn glad i bought mine when i did then..
im not entirely sure RPD, K-Tec and Kam racing all confirmed it today whilst I was trying to track some down
That'll teach me to umm and are over OEM or Eibach Pro or H&R for so long. Got most other parts such as dampers already. Will have to decide which lowering spring and see if I can live with the drop and speed bumps.
Same position now, thinking Eibach Pro’s, their website lists them as a progressive spring so unsure if they’ve been revised since the spring rate thread that’s on here stating they’re linear
Thinking Eibach Pro as well. Will have to take the plunge. Hopefully they will lower the car the least compared to the others.
i think its not much..which as you say is ideal.My cooksports are far to low for rural driving.The way the roads are getting now,the car is becoming unusable if you dont have suspension travel.
I recently replaced the suspension on my R26, went stock dampers with the eibach pro springs. I'm pleased with the results. The springs only lower the car a small amount, 5 to 10mm at most. Regarding the spring rate, the car feels to me very close to standard. There is no way the spring rate is half that of standard, like another thread states. Maybe the spec changed?
Thanks for the feedback. Definitely going Eibach Pro. Maybe some new lower arms with the money saved from not going OEM springs. See if SWMBO notices the the four Goodyear F1 Supersport tyres first though.
