I am in the process off swapping the KYBs of my Evo 7 and was going with the bilstien + Swift spec-R setup. That was until a friend of mine suggested HSD coilovers and started to rave about about them (installed on his E46 M3) and there competitive pricing.

There price is actually cheaper than buying a set of Bilstien HDs and Swift coils, and there shock are mono tube design so they should be alright but their spring rates are 9k front and 8k rear which is not preferred on Evos.



The car is my DD/Autocross on weekends.


I've search but no actual reviews about this coilover and would appreciate the input before i go ahead and make any mistakes :P

 

And cheap makes them better, how?

Rates are off, which you noted. And will make the car push. If its an AX car, why shoot yourself in the foot off the bat?

Look like the dozen or so Chinese coilovers already on the market.

Its well documented performing setup v. unknown incorrect sprung / no data units.

Choice is yours.

 

they can supply a 9k rear spring also with the shock properly valved to match. they are greatly reviewed on MLR and ppl are pleased with their performance as being properly damped.

 

They have shock dyno data?

 

I haven't seen shock data.

Like the OP said, everyone raves about them. You would be hard pressed to find 2 or even 1 negative review about HSD coilovers. HSD Coilovers have been around for a while now and they are by HD Systems (manufacturer) in Korea.

Spring Rates for North America may be different form global spec. But from what I know EVO 7-9 is F9 & R8 . After talking to the manufacturer in depth on recent tradeshows and on the phone. The HR is designed to be streetable and carry itself very well on the track. Hense the forward bias rates. From everything on the UK forums, its probably one of the most reliable kits around in its class.

Mitsubishi, BMW and Nissan communities are not easily impressed. But so far they kit holds it's own against other brands.

 

"Tuning" reviews - aka hella flush, slammed, etc.
Or
"Performance" reviews - rates X, dampening X, test results X.

Their global is the same 9k front and 8k rear, which make the car push. And thats not what you want on this car. Pushing in AX or HPDE is bad news. Hardly what I call handling themselves well.

And I stand by my comment on documented performing setup (developed, tested, engineered for the CT9A) v. unknown incorrect sprung / no data units.

Edit: Want to be clear. I am not holding a gun to anyones head on which to buy. Just pointing out flaws to the logic. Buy what you think is best.

 

No, I think you pointing out good questions to ask of a coilover manufacturer. I am doing a write up on this for the EVO X and EVO 8 and interviewing the manufacturer so its worth pointing all that out in Q&A.

Our current world is full of people who think slapping a coilover, any coilover will make everything right or make things better. sigh.... its good to raise questions to flush out answers about a product and its merits or drawbacks.

 

By the logic of it, any Coilover setup for the Evo that comes with higher front rates than rear have not been designed for the evo. Ergo, they suck compared to what is known to be good. Just look at the basic math for N.F., rear rates need to be much higher than front..Its basic suspension setup here. If you dont know the basics, then you WILL be faster with Bilstein/Swift sport,spec-R's, or Gtworx. And youll do it in more comfort.

And just cause a bunch of people "Rave" about cheap coils doesn't make them good. People who actually know what they're talking about usually wont buy sub-par options, so the people DON'T know are the ones left making the reviews. I know this is a blanket statement, but like most stereotypes there's truth in it.

 

let me make sth clear i know that the bilstien + swift/GTWORX setup is well proven and needs no clarification. I used to drive an AX built E36 M3 (Euro spec) and at a certain point i had a bilstien with a matched spring on it that took me through a year of class wins.

but for the sake of trying new things and investigating new products i post this thread..... the fact that such product had good reviews for being well composed, manufactured and damped is a good thing, and regarding the spring rates they have the option of increasing the rear spring rates with proper shock valving.

I will try to get some shock data as it would be really interesting to know how good r they or that they should be considered just like the other cheap stuff

 

Well you bring up a good point. It would be great to find a something good for the people that dont have 2k for AST 4100s/KWV3, 3k for AST 5100/ohlin DFV, 4k for AST 5200...etc. Something that filled the $1000-1500 range would be nice, but for now IMO the $1k range means Bilstein/Swifts.

A good FV curve with proper scaling (a bad example of this is in the megan thread) would be great. That would at least give us a bit of an idea in what they can handle. Guess I cant expect ohlin like performance for k-sport like pricing

 

true that mate and hope that we could find sth that would fill that gape btw the high end coilover and the ones badly made/composed....

ill try to email driftworks and see if i can get more info

 

I like where this thread is going

 

ok so the guy i spoke to said that he could raise the rear spring rate to match the front so the setup would be 9k F&R, and thats bcz HSD do not supply 10K springs

But he insisted that such arrangment would upset the handling of the car

still waiting for more info from his side to backup his product.

 

Well than the guy you spoke to knows nothing about Evo's. Even an even spring F/R will need a big rear sway bar to be about neutral mid corner.

You can try calling him and asking if he even knows the rear motion ratio of an evo, Inform him its ~0.73. If he still doesnt understand run, dont walk, RUN away from them :P.

 

Bringing this full circle, The main point of the HR series coilover is basically a streetable ride performance with being very capable in a track setting. Running a balanced spring rate kit will take away from comfort on the street slightly and edge that over to reclaiming a little bit more track performance. So people can nit pick over the balancing and add pretty good and correct points on what is best for the track. But from when I spoke with them, the focus is Reliability, Performance, and Comfort. And I think they have done a pretty good job of that across most applications.

And since they do have higher caliber coilover's I think if they were to release that in North America it would address a lot of what was mentioned above.

The kit is what it is. lol


If you look at all the groupbuys Drift Works had for this exact kit in the UK for years, I think he knows a thing or two about the kit. We can call him out on the balancing of spring rates. But if you go over to the Lancer Register, there are an evo guys who pass on their feedback.

Driftworks has been the Europe / UK distributor for HSD for 3 years. or so.