Progressive Springs

Hi,

I’m new to the forum and jimnys. I just picked up a 58 JLX+ and I’m looking to upgrade the suspension on it.

This will be used 95% on the road and 5% on sand/dirt tracks so I’m looking to improve it’s road performance and comfort.

I’m going to upgrade to the Koni Heavy Track shocks.

For the springs I’m a bit stuck on whether to leave the stock springs or go for the HM4x4 Progressive Springs …I was wondering if anyone has tried these progressive springs and could tell me what they were like?

cheers!

 

Think member Riccy tried progressive springs a few years ago

for what you wanting from the jimny i would consider 
Eibach pro lift kit for the springs
Avo fully adjustable shocks 

I’m not looking for a lift so unfortunately eibach don’t offer anything.

I’ll consider AVO shocks again but they seemed comparable to Konis.

This is always a difficult subject to offer any subjective feedback. I have Koni dampers all around on Standard springs, I fitted them to improve my  caravan towing experience and they certainly work well under these circumstances. They are also very well made.
They have improved the vehicle in the corners as well (without the caravan), but then the original dampers at 10 years old had passed their best, so it's hard to say if any new damper would have improved general cornering.
I can't say they have helped much with the Jimnys ride quality without a towing load, it's much the same as it was before to me.
I don't mind this, it feels like what it is, a short wheelbase solid axle 4x4.
So very happy with them for my purposes.
That said if you want to play with day to day ride quality (if it works), then the Avo adjustables would also be my choice. You can't adjust the Konis whilst fitted, so they are more fit and forget.
The Avo's will allow daily adjustment if needed, that's providing you are happy to get under the vehicle and mess with it all 

Thanks Scimike for the insight. I’ve done quite a bit of browsing on this forum and the internet prior to making this post and had read your previous posts about the Konis which made me think about them.

I’m not expecting the Jimny to behave anything like a normal car but just trying to get it as close to a car as I can!

For me the Jimny bounces a lot along the road and I’m trying to minimise that - I’m hoping this is old shocks and so the Konis will be a good upgrade perhaps making the ride quality a bit better.

The price difference between the Konis and AVOs is putting me off the AVOs as I can’t see myself adjusting them day-by-day - on a previous car I had adjustable dampers and only tweaked them in the first couple of weeks after installation.

I’m interested to hear thoughts on progressive springs for road use - they’re touted as making the on-road feel more comfortable but the only posts I can find online are for off-road use.

I run AVO adjustable dampers with Eibach springs. The springs are +30mm but in reality, with no other mods, the car appeared un-lifted..... 

The car is a fast road/laner and pretty quick for what it is. It has 118 ftlb of torque and just 1100kg

The road holding is exceptional (for what it is) and the suspension set up works very well, the only limiting factor is tyre grip.

It is also fitted with a Quaife ATB differential, that aids massively with the cars driving dynamic, gifting it with a lift off oversteer chassis. Just like the old RWD rally cars, loads of fun.

Much faster on tight and twisty B roads than any other 4X4's and as quick as most cars. Once you have sidewall flex dialled in, it can actually change direction pretty quickly.

Looking at your aims, I would consider the AVO/Eibach set up strongly. The small lift maybe a negative on paper but in reality the springs were stiffer than new standard KYB's and handled much better.

Most other, if not all,  "uprated" springs and dampers are very off road biased and give more flex with less stiffness, dampers are harsh and designed to carry the heavy loads of a modified truck with winches and steel bumpers. 

If you were close enough I'd suggest you came and tried my car....

sniper