I know this is probably been brought up before but the search isnt working.
I want to do a complete suspension upgrade on my ef 2 xr8.
Just want to know what my options are.
i would prefer some sort of adjustable coilover setup but dont know where to start looking.
cheers

Pedders do coil overs. but $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ If you want good guality and handeling at a reasonable price get konie adjusable shocks and king springs, just put some consideration in to what spring rate you want.

koni adjustable and not king springs, go aurora springs, much better and well worth the dollars over the kings.

what about adding a sway bar aswell?

You could do sway bars, i was told that the standard ones were plenty big enough for street use, but replacing all the bushes would be benifitial. sway bars would really be the last thing you would do. Would be better off makeing a strut brace.

yeah id like to use strut brace but i cant. i have a built engine and the manifolds are too high, i had to chop my bonnet just to close it. i just want to limit body roll, thats why i wanted sway bars

Larger diameter sway bar would be ideal, i dont know what the XR8 sway bars are like from factory though. Whiteline might make one to suit.

I dont think you'll fit a strut brace under the bonnet either unless you had no bonnet

Id go either koni or bilstein shocks all round, sitting on dobinsons springs. I heard they were a little less harsh than kings regarding ride quality and dont sag as some people have found with kings springs. Replacing all bushes is up to you really, i got nolathane bushes all round in my EF Fairmont with a full pedders sportsryder setup and bigger sway bar and it handles mint although the only downside to nolathane bushes is they squeek a bit lol which gets annoying.

sweet as dude thats all i wanted to hear! cheers

Things I've tried in my ED:

Monroe Sensatrak shockies - crap, stay away from them.
Monroe GT Premium + King Low springs (ie. same height as std XR6) - crap, stay away from them.

Pedders Sports Ryder Shocks with King Low Springs - mmm, ok but nothing special - bit harsh.

KYB Shockies with King Low springs - very decent - very similar to Sports Ryders but not quite as harsh - nothing special for handling tho - IMO ideal replacement for OEM Shocks on a std car.

Koni Reds with King Low springs - lovely ride especially on smooth roads and overall very nice ride on all sorts of surfaces tho tending harsh on really choppy surfaces - handling performance shockingly POOR!! Absolutely nothing special and with a nasty tendency to make a diagonal balance shift partway thru corners - especially nasty at high speed on sweeping bends.

Koni Yellows with King Low springs - very similar to the reds above but overall firmer and somewhat better for handling tho still POOR!! Same nasty balance shift - and I tried adjusting in all possible ways to sort it and never made any headway - finally one of the front ones started vomiting oil from the adjuster head and vendor would not help me at all - "must be using them incorrectly" - yeah, as in I was foolish enough to fit them to a car....

Gabriel VST shockies with King Low springs - excellent all round for ride AND handling - Variable Sensing Technology valving works marvellously - feels like active suspension where in corners the inside settles a bit whilst outside firms up - handling amazing - balance lovely. BUT - they crapped out in only 5000km. was going to just buy them by the carton and settle for changing them every few months but decided to try Bilsteins first (wasn't expecting much after the dismal failure of the much vaunted Konis).

Bilstein shockies with King Low springs - haven't looked back - really good ride with fantastic handling - similar type of variable valving response to the Gabriels (tho not quite as good!) - good way to describe their ride is: have ridden in late model Commondung SS V8 and by comparison the Commondung feels less firm on smooth to gentle bumps but harsher on sharper bumps than the Bilsteins in my ED - even really choppy dirt roads are quite decent to drive on in my ED with the Bilsteins. Have driven over same dirt road (talking about 10km) in Forrester XT and my ED and the ED felt MUCH more comfortable and handled way BETTER.

With both the Gabriels and Bilsteins, the harder you push the car in corners (within reason of course) the better it seems to just hunker down and STICK - and soak up chop and irregularities without coming unstuck or skipping about - amazing and wonderful experience - I find myself thinking "holy crap!" with a huge grin on my face.

I used to drive a stock standard Series 1 RX7 many years ago and that's the only other car I ever came across that had the same sort of almost supernatural ability to just hold on and keep it all together when every nerve in your body is screaming that it should all be coming apart.

Sway Bars - I have adjustable Whiteline bars on front and back (Selby) and find them more useful for dialing in front/rear balance than for reducing roll as such - ie. in that respect I actually run overall firmness just a bit more than factory bars - you'd need to be using REALLY good tyres to cope with reducing roll by much more I think. Was constantly messing with the bars during use of all the shockies described above but for the Gabs I just had to make one adjustment and she was apples - and likewise when the Bilsteins went in I just had to tweak the balance once and haven't touched it in 5 years since....

Use Superpro bushes (Nolathane - YUCK!!) - and try Fulcrum for prices as I got extremely good deal on my Bilsteins compared to what anyone else was asking.

edit/additional: of course the commentary above is all related to the shockies - the King Low springs are fine throughout. With Bilsteins - NEVER use variable rate springs - the interaction with the shockies variable valving causes very nasty handling. With normal constant rate Low Kings the Bilsteins are fine.