[twiSTies]

Well, they're on....

the ride is awful. the car bounces around so badly over bumps that i had to use the cruise control because my feet couldn't stay on the pedals.


then i pre-loaded the springs

i have ride height set at 14.5" front, 13" rear. I need to change that to 14" front, 13.5" rear yet. The install was straightforward but we ran into problems lining them up at times. We also had problems with a rusted on whiteline camber bolt. If anyone runs these things in PA, you're asking for trouble FYI.

I've got them set at 5 out of 30 (30 being hardest) at every corner. The ride is SMOOTH! I don't feel simple potholes anymore. The car doesn't bounce or get upset when hitting bumps at speed either. Speed bumps are even absorbed decently. I was expecting a stiffer ride but honestly these ride looser than the Swift springs did on the stock hardware but without any of the body roll.

I haven't bumped up the settings from soft-street yet but I'll be sure to test more adjustments out. I haven't gotten an alignment yet either because I ran out of time while trying to get these on.

I came into this purchase with the belief that the stock struts were so awful no matter what spring or bumpstop removal you did to them, even a budget coilover setup would outperform and ride better than them. I'm not only positive of this now, I'm surprised more people don't realize it.

I'll add more to this review as I get more seat time, autox, etc. So far I'm amazed at what $900 will buy. Amazed. The wrenches fit perfectly and didn't leave nary a scratch from using them on the collars. The collars and everything about the construction is top notch too.

Knowing and experiencing these now, I'd have to lead people away from lowering springs and tell them to ditch the stock struts altogether. Get these coilovers and if you want even more performance, get the T2's.

I also took my mother out for a ride to see what she thought. She smiled after going over a rough patch of road and said, "It's like a regular car now!" She could also rest her head on the stock seat for the first time too.

[Tomerville]

The one concern I have since this is my only car are rebuilds.

For someone with no tools, garage, and down time as not an option, I would be worried. What's your opinion?

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by Tomerville

The one concern I have since this is my only car are rebuilds.

For someone with no tools, garage, and down time as not an option, I would be worried. What's your opinion?

Thats a very valid concern. I know that they will send you a new damper for $95 if one blows out, but I haven't seen any reviews of anyone blowing one out yet. It's possible that these have a short shelf life. It's possible and probable that the valving is poo too. It's the risk you take with any coilover that doesn't give you a shock dyno.

If you don't have any tools or downtime, then personally, I wouldn't get coilovers at all. You'll need to take your time installing them, checking that the ride height is even(bring a ruler), and adjusting the dampers. It isn't rocket science to do by any means, but it consumes time and I understand if people can't do that. However, if you CAN....go for it.

[Tomerville]

Yeah, it's a project I *hope* to undertake, however, the life-span of the unit is paramount in my decision of which brand to buy.

Still, I'm interested in these...along as the T2s and the PSS-9s, Good luck!

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by Tomerville

Yeah, it's a project I *hope* to undertake, however, the life-span of the unit is paramount in my decision of which brand to buy.

Still, I'm interested in these...along as the T2s and the PSS-9s, Good luck!

Thanks!

I think these are the way to go on a budget, I really do, BUT I'm also realistic. The Bilsteins and T2's are going to be world's better. They have to be. I'm just not sold on these on being a waste of cash anymore...I think they fill an important niche in their own right.

If I have ANY problems, I will be honest about them and post them up. I don't want others to pick something that won't meet their own needs.

[sti_nguyen]

very nice coilovers for that price. I bet it performs as good as it looks Nice lil write-up on these. Hope you enjoy em man

[IMPORTIMAGE]

twisties, i could have told you they pass the "wife" test...but mom test works too ...so now they are mom + wife approved...great!

i think when i tell people that they are smoother then stock...they dont believe me...

[stretch]

KW Variants 1 and 2 are made in Taiwan too, aren't they? I don't think Taiwan is a kiss of death, but these things still sound earily like D2/K-Sports to me, right down to the descriptions of ride quality. I bet the second factory was started by a guy spying on the first and copying the design verbatim. That's how these China-esque companies get started, by complete forgery.

I do think there's evidence that the Taiwanese shocks are improving quickly. Heck, that the struts are lasting more than ONE month is proof of that!!!

Originally Posted by twiSTies

Well, they're on....

the ride is awful. the car bounces around so badly over bumps that i had to use the cruise control because my feet couldn't stay on the pedals.


then i pre-loaded the springs

You shouldn't have to preload the springs- don't the instructions tell you not to? Height adjustment should be done purely from adjusting the length of the housing. By preloading the spring, you're losing droop travel and gaining bump travel, but if you really have over 5" of travel, then you'll have plenty of both.

These have 8kg/mm front springs, or roughly 450lb/in. Thus, they'll support the full weight of your STI in less than 2 inches of travel, leaving over 3" of bump. That's plenty of bump. If you preload the spring, you're asking to artificially lift a wheel on corner exit. Likewise in the rear, 'cept on corner entry.

Originally Posted by IMPORTIMAGE

bc racing manufactures bc racings coilovers...as well as a few other companies that you know of...they will also outperform anything shy of $1500

Almost certainly not- c'mon, be reasonable. These are $95 shocks, just like cheap KYB AGX's or similar, paired with firmer springs. There's nothing sophisticated about that- they perform well due to the spring rate increase and camber adjustability, and that's it. The shocks themselves are junk, except people like them because they're so soft. I bet the dyno results would show almost no bump resistance: good for ride quality, bad for performance. I'd argue this is good for a street car, but you're arguing performance. Be realistic.

At $1500 you're up against Koni / GC coilovers, KW Variant 1's, and Prodrive's forthcoming RB320, all excellent products.

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by stretch

KW Variants 1 and 2 are made in Taiwan too, aren't they? I don't think Taiwan is a kiss of death, but these things still sound earily like D2/K-Sports to me, right down to the descriptions of ride quality. I bet the second factory was started by a guy spying on the first and copying the design verbatim. That's how these China-esque companies get started, by complete forgery.

I do think there's evidence that the Taiwanese shocks are improving quickly. Heck, that the struts are lasting more than ONE month is proof of that!!!

I think the quality externally has improved a lot as well, these are built rather well.

You shouldn't have to preload the springs- don't the instructions tell you not to? Height adjustment should be done purely from adjusting the length of the housing. By preloading the spring, you're losing droop travel and gaining bump travel, but if you really have over 5" of travel, then you'll have plenty of both.

These have 8kg/mm front springs, or roughly 450lb/in. Thus, they'll support the full weight of your STI in less than 2 inches of travel, leaving over 3" of bump. That's plenty of bump. If you preload the spring, you're asking to artificially lift a wheel on corner exit. Likewise in the rear, 'cept on corner entry.

let me explain that more...the springs come preloaded about 5mm. they're not intended to be adjusted, but there was some confusion during the install of the fronts because my friend previously ran a bilstein MM setup on his mustang that had the springs loose on the housings. the confusion was how to adjust the ride height without removing the coilover from the spindle. i figured out later on that you could preload the springs, then undo the bottom lockring and use a spanner wrench on the top lockring to adjust the ride height as long as the middle lockring is secure. in terms of preload, 5mm isn't that bad. the springs can still be turned around the strut at this pressure so the bump travel isn't horribly compromised. in the end, instructions being provided with the kit would have cured this issue, because nasioc was down for some weird reason yesterday when i went to look.

Almost certainly not- c'mon, be reasonable. These are $95 shocks, just like cheap KYB AGX's or similar, paired with firmer springs. There's nothing sophisticated about that- they perform well due to the spring rate increase and camber adjustability, and that's it. The shocks themselves are junk, except people like them because they're so soft. I bet the dyno results would show almost no bump resistance: good for ride quality, bad for performance. I'd argue this is good for a street car, but you're arguing performance. Be realistic.

At $1500 you're up against Koni / GC coilovers, KW Variant 1's, and Prodrive's forthcoming RB320, all excellent products.

I want to dyno these to see what's under the hood. I couldn't find a place close to Allentown, let alone pennsylvania though. anyone know of someplace local like that and I'll be glad to have these dynoed. One thing I can tel you is that the adjustments do work, although I'm sure that there will be some massive cross-talk between the 30 different adjustments. If I had to guess, these adjustments may only show 3 or 4 distinct curves on a dyno. for $900 bucks..thats perfectly fine, IMO.

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by IMPORTIMAGE

twisties, i could have told you they pass the "wife" test...but mom test works too ...so now they are mom + wife approved...great!

i think when i tell people that they are smoother then stock...they dont believe me...

i know i didn't because i was under the belief that anything not euro-made would be bouncy over bumps. these aren't.

the next thing i'm doing is i'm going to bump the shocks up to the middle setting and then the hardest autox setting to see if there are noticeable differences when cornering.

[twiSTies]

Well, I put about 40 miles of driving on these today aiming for every road irregularity and pothole around town. I had the car set at 5 out of 30 like before and noticed that over the biggest bumps that would only hit one section of the car at a time, the ride got wobbly. Over other bumps where I'd crash down on them, I could tell the spring rate was stiffer than the Swifts. Still trying to find a bounce from the valving and not the road.

Increased setting up to 10 out of 30--noticeable difference in stiffness but the ride is firmer, not harsher.

The handling of these compared to the Swifts is insane. I took an offramp that would cause my Swifts to roll over around 40ish at 60 and all I got was the front end tires squealing on the edge of traction. Car remained perfectly flat and the front end slide was controlled. Notice, an alignment hasn't been performed yet, but car tracks straight.

These aren't noise-free. I never expect coilovers to be noise-free, however, and other than the occasional squish noise, they're quiet. The NVH level has gone up overall inside the cabin from the metal plates. The difference is sort of like how when you go from allseason tires back to your RE070's for summer, except that amount over the RE070's for summer. Nothing that the stock radio set at 4 can't drown out entirely.

Still smooth highway ride, construction zones around here are a significant improvement over the stock struts, but the spring rate shows at times. Still nowhere near as harsh or unbearable as the factory struts.

[Splash]

Hey... Did you happen to measure the total extended length of these, especially compared to the stock struts?

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by Splash

Hey... Did you happen to measure the total extended length of these, especially compared to the stock struts?

well, i measured the distance from the top of the upper spring perch to the bumpstop on these and there was 3.7" of travel there.

Do you mean droop travel? If so, thats one area that these are horrible in. I'd venture a guess and say several inches of droop travel are gone now, BUT I also haven't 3 wheeled it anywhere yet. I'd imagine these react similar to the other JDM options out there once you throw more tire at them.

As far as total length, the fronts were right around 18 inches or so at their preset height. The rears were a good bit longer at their preset height.

[stretch]

With 8kg/mm front springs, you'd only need about 1-3/4" of droop travel to fully unload the springs. Anything more than that would be useless. If you install the coilovers so that the springs are touching the tophats but without any tension, then you have the perfect amount of droop travel for your spring rates. You should then adjust the length of the strut instead.

It sounds like you'd have two inches of bump travel at that height, too, before you hit the bump stop. Again, that's plenty. In fact, you may run into the problem of the car having too much bump travel, and the tire will hit your fender whenever you hit a bump mid-turn. But hey, better too much than too little.

[twiSTies]

Originally Posted by stretch

With 8kg/mm front springs, you'd only need about 1-3/4" of droop travel to fully unload the springs. Anything more than that would be useless. If you install the coilovers so that the springs are touching the tophats but without any tension, then you have the perfect amount of droop travel for your spring rates. You should then adjust the length of the strut instead.

It sounds like you'd have two inches of bump travel at that height, too, before you hit the bump stop. Again, that's plenty. In fact, you may run into the problem of the car having too much bump travel, and the tire will hit your fender whenever you hit a bump mid-turn. But hey, better too much than too little.

Awesome, thats what I like to hear.

They're still bringing a huge smile to my face. The upgrade in handling is incredible.