I thought I'd share my latest experience with my JIC coilovers with my fellow EvoM members. I was driving home last Monday night when I started to hear some clunking from my car's left front - almost like perhaps the bolts on the strut tower bar had worked loose.

When I got the car home and jacked up, fluid started draining out from the base of the of my driver's side coilover onto the inside of the rim. A through check of everything revealed that the source was indeed the coilover, and now the piston seems to rattle freely inside body of the coilover. I'm not sure if it's going to be rebuildable or not yet; I will try need to get more info.

My struts have seen about 20K+ miles of street use with quite a few miles on very uneven, wavy concrete. They have also seen a dozen or so track days (HPDEs on larger tracks), along with all the wear associated with that kind of use. For reference, these coilovers were NOT purchased from an EvoM vendor.

Is this typical of the life span for a set of these cilovers? I was hoping to get a bit more time between rebuilds. If this is typical, what manufacturers offer products that can stand up to a bit more abuse?

 

I think this is the typical lifespan for coilovers. I have Zeals and Endless estimates rebuilds every 12,000 to 15,000 mi. I think Ohlins are around 18,000mi. The really high end racing coilovers have even shorter lifetimes, I believe.

 

Hmm - looks like it's time to rebuild them then.

 

anybody know how long the TEIN FLEX coilovers are good til?

 

We have 30K "easy" miles

 

I put 30K on my A'pexi's on my last car with no problems however I didn't track them as much as you have.

 

David,
What coilovers are you guys using, Ohlins? I hope I can get 30K mi. before a rebuild.

 

I think one of the big factors in the failure was one of the freeways I drive almost every day. Think of it as 15 miles of wide, small waves, like you'd find on a fairly still lake. If I go almost anywhere, that's the first bit of road I cover.

The spring rates and valving were the early, very hard 10K front / 9K rear set-up, and that bit of pavement really worked the suspension. I'm wondering if a softer set-up might have better survivability given my need to cover that road every time I take the car out?

Any info from the vendors?

 

Sounds like I-35E to me erioshi! Hopefully you've gotten your coilover fixed by now.