Are coilovers really worth it?

dmiller

suspension>power
Jun 30, 2009
210
0
0
Vancouver, Washington
Hey i was originally looking at saving up for a set of stance coilovers for $1200. Now i have been looking around and wondering about getting a set of shocks/springs for around 600. With the extra 600 I could get some poly bushings i need for my control arms and sway bars. My car is my daily, but i drift a lot and want to start into competitive drifting. So i was wondering if coilovers with stock sway bars and worn out bushings would be better than shocks/springs with poly bushings and sway bars. Also ride comfort is not a factor. Thanks.
 

3.0trd

New Member
Jun 13, 2008
51
0
0
Tracy
godspeed sells a set of coilovers for $700. I know a guy that runs them on all his drift cars and he loves them.
 

SC61 MK3

New Member
Apr 4, 2005
316
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55
FL
I'm looking into a set of one of the "value priced" coilovers because somehow I blew my blue tokicos and now one of the kyb's I replaced them with is blown. Running Eibach springs btw

anyone who has a set of the ~700ish dollar coilovers, how are they and how long have they lasted
 

winsauce

they call me cotton jr
Sep 17, 2010
132
0
0
Dayton, OH
Ive had D2's on my car since last summer... got em used on the forum here for $600shipped. Theres deals to be had if, you just have to time it right!
 

Marotta1

Supreme Lurker
Why not look into the Zankoku Performance coilovers on this forum. They are $700 - 750 shipped. I haven't installed them yet, but they look to be of very good quality. I researched them a lot before buying. They're manufactured by a reputable company for Zankoku just like many other tuner coilovers. They're also fully adjustable and can drop the car more than it should be dropped.

You can see the info on buying and some reviews in the last 5 - 6 pages of this thread:
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?61543-Zankoku-Performance/page45
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
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42
Fort Worth, TX
SC61 MK3;1655360 said:
I'm looking into a set of one of the "value priced" coilovers because somehow I blew my blue tokicos and now one of the kyb's I replaced them with is blown. Running Eibach springs btw

anyone who has a set of the ~700ish dollar coilovers, how are they and how long have they lasted

Missing/destroyed bump stops?

On the coilover front, well... Building your own is certainly better (ask IJ or anyone with semi-custom setups like mine) as you can get the proper spring rate you want and then revalve the dampener to match.
 

mrsharp

New Member
Nov 7, 2010
7
0
0
S.E MI
Jeez, if you are going to invest in suspension, do it right. If your looking for a "budget" coilover system go with BC racings. I promise you, you will notice a difference. And yes, coilovers are very worth it. After getting my first set of coilovers I could never drop another cent on shocks/springs.
 

Grimsta

Supramania Contributor
May 30, 2007
1,081
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0
Santa Rosa, Ca.
3.0trd;1655343 said:
godspeed sells a set of coilovers for $700. I know a guy that runs them on all his drift cars and he loves them.
Ha ha, your so full of it! ;) Everyone HAAAATES GodSpeed coilovers. They're like the worst out there. Now i like plenty of other GodSpeed stuff and they do make good suspension arms and other stuff, but unfortunately their coilovers just totally suck bawls.

People still dont seem to know that Stance/Megan/BC is all the same company. With that said, they do make good products, but they're far from some Super coilover thats going to solve world hunger.

But if you want to be competitive in difting you ABSOLUTELY have to have stiff coilovers. Not tryin to whore out my parts in a thread but Marotta brought it up already. We can do any kind of custom spring rates and revalve the damper appropriately. Our suspension is also completely user rebuildable, granted you know how to, or any qualified shock builder can rebuild, revalve, whatever.
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
0
42
Fort Worth, TX
mrsharp;1655821 said:
Jeez, if you are going to invest in suspension, do it right. If your looking for a "budget" coilover system go with BC racings. I promise you, you will notice a difference. And yes, coilovers are very worth it. After getting my first set of coilovers I could never drop another cent on shocks/springs.

Or stop drinking the coolaid and marketing gimmicks and build a proper setup that will outperform an off the shelf coilover with generic valving.
 

Grimsta

Supramania Contributor
May 30, 2007
1,081
0
0
Santa Rosa, Ca.
No Poodles, he's talking about drifting. Drifting doesnt actually require complex suspension, its just gotta be stiff and low. Thats what gets the points and what matters in DRIFTING

Now if this was a form of RACING then what you say is correct
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
0
42
Fort Worth, TX
Grimsta;1657443 said:
No Poodles, he's talking about drifting. Drifting doesnt actually require complex suspension, its just gotta be stiff and low. Thats what gets the points and what matters in DRIFTING

Now if this was a form of RACING then what you say is correct

Then in that case it's even better to go with a built setup as you can get absurdly high spring rates and not have to worry about the dampeners. Threaded sleeves will allow the drop you need in such a case.
 

Grimsta

Supramania Contributor
May 30, 2007
1,081
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Santa Rosa, Ca.
Threaded sleeves wont let you drop as low as low as certain coilovers for that drifting style. You can go low, but not DRIFTING low, then you're also preloading your damper and thats a no no, with independent ride height adjustment you're not sacrificing travel for going real low ;)
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
0
42
Fort Worth, TX
Rebuild the bilstein with a shorter stroke (mine are) and run a shorter spring, done. Even easier with a koni.

Never EVER seen a professional drift car with an off the shelf coilover setup anyway. Most are rebuildable units like can be bought from bilstein (and not the cheap ones).
 

Grimsta

Supramania Contributor
May 30, 2007
1,081
0
0
Santa Rosa, Ca.
WTF!? There are hella cars running "off the shelf" setups, with perhaps some custom spring rates. And with all this rebuilding and customing and etc, etc, etc your talking about, now you've racked up a bill for twice as much as some Zankoku, BC, Stance, PBM coilovers, which are all very affordable and which many many drifters use. There are lots of Stance and Powered By Max coilovers on these professional cars

Anyways, this is just going to round and round, like the SR to KA-T discussion, its pointless and stupid. Bascially there are pros and cons to each setup. If you have a rebuildable and customizable set of coilovers, then that will automatically trump you're mix n match setup, ha ha haaaa ;)
 

mrsharp

New Member
Nov 7, 2010
7
0
0
S.E MI
Poodles;1657926 said:
Rebuild the bilstein with a shorter stroke (mine are) and run a shorter spring, done. Even easier with a koni.

Never EVER seen a professional drift car with an off the shelf coilover setup anyway. Most are rebuildable units like can be bought from bilstein (and not the cheap ones).
Yea bro, learn about your suspensions. BCs are fully rebuild-able as well as dynoed from the factory. And I've never seen a professional drift car period because I don't really like drifting but I have been around and have lot's of friends who have built Rally America cars, many of them use "off the shelf" coilovers, whatever that means. You think I would recommend a product if it was garbage? I have had all sort of suspensions, for two separate cars I have owned, I built "custom" coilovers, one with Koni yellows, the other with Bilstein Sports and custom sleeves. My best friend has a turbo Subaru GC with BCs. I have many hours behind the wheel of that car and we drive it hard on both tarmac and gravel. He's running 800/600# spring rates and even at the softest setting for around town use they stay well controlled and refined. Oh did I mention they are also inverted? Yea, you can not get inverted Bilsteins as far as I know.

Grimsta;1657970 said:
WTF!? There are hella cars running "off the shelf" setups, with perhaps some custom spring rates. And with all this rebuilding and customing and etc, etc, etc your talking about, now you've racked up a bill for twice as much as some Zankoku, BC, Stance, PBM coilovers, which are all very affordable and which many many drifters use. There are lots of Stance and Powered By Max coilovers on these professional cars

Anyways, this is just going to round and round, like the SR to KA-T discussion, its pointless and stupid. Bascially there are pros and cons to each setup. If you have a rebuildable and customizable set of coilovers, then that will automatically trump you're mix n match setup, ha ha haaaa ;)
+1
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
0
42
Fort Worth, TX
mrsharp;1658692 said:
Yea bro, learn about your suspensions.

Who are you again?

mrsharp;1658692 said:
BCs are fully rebuild-able as well as dynoed from the factory.

They state that they're rebuildable (as are all coilovers I'e seen), but I see no proof of them being dynoed. I bet they're all valved the same as they have 30 adjustment points :3d_frown:

mrsharp;1658692 said:
And I've never seen a professional drift car period because I don't really like drifting but I have been around and have lot's of friends who have built Rally America cars, many of them use "off the shelf" coilovers, whatever that means.
You think I would recommend a product if it was garbage? I have had all sort of suspensions, for two separate cars I have owned, I built "custom" coilovers, one with Koni yellows, the other with Bilstein Sports and custom sleeves. My best friend has a turbo Subaru GC with BCs. I have many hours behind the wheel of that car and we drive it hard on both tarmac and gravel. He's running 800/600# spring rates and even at the softest setting for around town use they stay well controlled and refined. Oh did I mention they are also inverted? Yea, you can not get inverted Bilsteins as far as I know.

BC doesn't make inverted style for the Supra, so it's a moot point. They also only have a one year warranty and cost $1250
 

mrsharp

New Member
Nov 7, 2010
7
0
0
S.E MI
Poodles;1658764 said:
Who are you again?



They state that they're rebuildable (as are all coilovers I'e seen), but I see no proof of them being dynoed. I bet they're all valved the same as they have 30 adjustment points :3d_frown:



BC doesn't make inverted style for the Supra, so it's a moot point. They also only have a one year warranty and cost $1250
I don't understand. Do you actually think that BCs are sub-par coilovers? They have a 95 dollar per coil lifetime rebuild policy. I don't know any other coilovers that have the same warranty? Are you kidding, 95 dollars for a rebuild is insanely cheap. Also you act like 1300 for coils is a lot. It's a BUDGET coilover. It's never going to be a Ohlins but for serious coilovers, that's a superb price. Don't get me wrong, Konis and Bilsteins are both good shocks but when autoxing or going for a drive I like easy adjustment.
 

Grimsta

Supramania Contributor
May 30, 2007
1,081
0
0
Santa Rosa, Ca.
Poodles, out of the factory of course they're all valved the same. But what he's saying is that with them being completely re-buildable like ours if the "factory setting" doesnt suit you, either you or the manufacturer CAN revalve them to whatever you want. One thing I do know about BC though is if you request different sping rates they dont revalve their damper. We actually revalve ours for the different spring rate.

And BTW, BC DOESNT make an inverted MKIII coilover. We dont either. But both us and BC do have inverteds for Subarus- that may have been what he was talking about