A fair comparison between cheap coilovers and aftermarket springs
Mar 8, 2010, 08:12 AM
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A fair comparison between cheap coilovers and aftermarket springs
When I bought my car a few years ago I immediately started autocrossing it. I figured in order to get it to handle the best I needed coilovers. I mean, who doesn't want coilovers, right? Not everyone can afford a $2000+ set of KWs and the like (I was eyeing Zzyzx at the time) so I opted to go cheap and picked up a set of Ksports from MAP. They seemed great at first, the car handled even better than it did in stock form, it really did feel like a gokart. Then I realized that if I softened the dampening knob away from full firm the car became very bouncy on the road as if they were blown, so I had to leave it at full firm constantly. Before too long the car started making all sort of noises in the front suspension, especially creaking when going over bumps. In the end the rough Minnesota roads took their toll on them and the front two were blown. Overall it seemed like a great investment at first for autocrossing, but the fact that the ride quality is so horrible on the street and there is little dampening adjustment in the mid range of the stroke (look at the shock dyno graphs) the whole idea of cheap coilovers was obviously a ridiculous one.
Since it was time to fix the suspension I chose to try out aftermarket springs on my stock struts. I was torn between the Swift Spec-R and GTWorx springs, but ended up getting the Swifts because I could get them locally, thanks again to MAP.
Once the Swift springs were installed I immediately realized that I no longer hated to drive my car on the street. They solved everything that annoyed me about driving on these terrible roads, and I was no longer embarrassed to have people in my car. The ride is firm, but comfortable. The suspension doesn't make stupid noises that it shouldn't. And so far from what I can tell is that the car doesn't handle any worse than the Ksports ever did. Mind you I haven't done anything more than rip around a few clover leafs on snow tires, but it feels just the same as the Ksports did. Though one thing I noticed is when going around curves at highway speeds if there are bumps that would normally upset the car with the Ksports, the Swifts just soaked up the bumps and the car stayed planted and didn't get nervous.
That being said, I am a firm believer that people should stay away from cheap coilovers. Save yourself some money and headaches and just buy a nice set of aftermarket springs. Cheap coilovers are nothing but trouble, but if you don't believe me you can search this forum or the internet about Ksports, Megans or what have you and find out yourself how terrible they are. Now, could things be different if I lived somewhere with nicer roads? Maybe, but that wouldn't change how cheap the coilovers are or how poorly they perform. Just trying to do my part in helping people modify their cars properly and save themselves some trouble down the road.
Since it was time to fix the suspension I chose to try out aftermarket springs on my stock struts. I was torn between the Swift Spec-R and GTWorx springs, but ended up getting the Swifts because I could get them locally, thanks again to MAP.
Once the Swift springs were installed I immediately realized that I no longer hated to drive my car on the street. They solved everything that annoyed me about driving on these terrible roads, and I was no longer embarrassed to have people in my car. The ride is firm, but comfortable. The suspension doesn't make stupid noises that it shouldn't. And so far from what I can tell is that the car doesn't handle any worse than the Ksports ever did. Mind you I haven't done anything more than rip around a few clover leafs on snow tires, but it feels just the same as the Ksports did. Though one thing I noticed is when going around curves at highway speeds if there are bumps that would normally upset the car with the Ksports, the Swifts just soaked up the bumps and the car stayed planted and didn't get nervous.
That being said, I am a firm believer that people should stay away from cheap coilovers. Save yourself some money and headaches and just buy a nice set of aftermarket springs. Cheap coilovers are nothing but trouble, but if you don't believe me you can search this forum or the internet about Ksports, Megans or what have you and find out yourself how terrible they are. Now, could things be different if I lived somewhere with nicer roads? Maybe, but that wouldn't change how cheap the coilovers are or how poorly they perform. Just trying to do my part in helping people modify their cars properly and save themselves some trouble down the road.
Last edited by Matt D.; Mar 8, 2010 at 08:18 AM.
Mar 8, 2010, 08:45 AM
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For the amount of time I spent on the track I felt coilovers were justified. Now that I know the performance difference between the two is negligible I see no reason to need coilovers on a car that is driven regularly on the street.
Mar 8, 2010, 09:11 AM
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Good post summarizing what people have been saying for a while now. Every week there is a "What (crappy) coilover should I get?" thread when the person at most drives aggressively on back roads, with "adjustability" being thrown out to justify the coilover purchase when the person would never touch them after getting their tyte drop.
Yes, I dropped a lot of coin on my Ohlins. My Evo is no longer my DD and is autoXd almost every weekend and sees several track days a year. Was it worth it over a spring strut combo? Maybe not. But if you're going to do coilovers, do them right or not at all. The same can be said with almost every mod on the car. It's cheaper in the long run too.
Yes, I dropped a lot of coin on my Ohlins. My Evo is no longer my DD and is autoXd almost every weekend and sees several track days a year. Was it worth it over a spring strut combo? Maybe not. But if you're going to do coilovers, do them right or not at all. The same can be said with almost every mod on the car. It's cheaper in the long run too.
Mar 8, 2010, 10:07 AM
#6
The problem with a strut and spring combo, is that there are not that many choices and the only choice I am aware of is always on back order. I alsot cost more then a set of the cheaper coil overs. I've rode on the bilstein and swift combo and I admit it is very comfortable ride and it handles great, but they are exspensive and and some people want like 450-500 bucks for a set of used MR Bilsteins with like 25k miles on them.
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Mar 8, 2010, 10:33 AM
#8
Thanks for the post. I recently swapped out my stock KYB struts for a set of springs and bilsteins. The ride quality has definitely however I havent really been able to test out the performance of them due to the fact that I had my winter tires installed and now my car is stuck at home sleeping in the garage while im at school. I cant wait until this summer when I will be able to really test them out. I plan to AX as much as possible this summer and im counting the days
Mar 8, 2010, 10:37 AM
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Yes, I dropped a lot of coin on my Ohlins. My Evo is no longer my DD and is autoXd almost every weekend and sees several track days a year. Was it worth it over a spring strut combo? Maybe not. But if you're going to do coilovers, do them right or not at all. The same can be said with almost every mod on the car. It's cheaper in the long run too.
The problem with a strut and spring combo, is that there are not that many choices and the only choice I am aware of is always on back order. I alsot cost more then a set of the cheaper coil overs. I've rode on the bilstein and swift combo and I admit it is very comfortable ride and it handles great, but they are exspensive and and some people want like 450-500 bucks for a set of used MR Bilsteins with like 25k miles on them.
I believe a lot in doing it right or not doing it at all, but we all make mistakes. I learned my lesson, thankfully it wasn't an expensive one.
Mar 8, 2010, 10:49 AM
#10
That's where I thought I was, but I'm not. My car probably will never be fully prepped for STU/BSP/SM so the point of having coilovers disappears.
The stock struts are awesome and people fail to realize this. The Bilsteins will give better comfort on the street but I have heard some people say they are actually too soft for their comfort.
The stock struts are awesome and people fail to realize this. The Bilsteins will give better comfort on the street but I have heard some people say they are actually too soft for their comfort.
Mar 8, 2010, 01:53 PM
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I'm looking forward to seeing how this thing does with "less" suspension.