Shopping for the right coilover system - suggestions please!
Originally Posted by jbrown
I am in the process of installing the Works/Ohlins Stage IV (Flag series) on my car this week, I'll try to give you some feedback next week if you are still undecided.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
Tanabe and buddy club both make a great mid level coilover system
The tanabe has a cool new design to adjust dampening called a slide valve. With this the changes made by the teas controller are very quick. Nice if you like the extra bling of a controller in your car and like a little adjustment in dampening without getting out of the car.
Buddy clubs are a very well built coilover. When we sell them we normally sell the 10k front 10k rear. That seems to be a better setup for the car then thier stock rates.
The tanabe has a cool new design to adjust dampening called a slide valve. With this the changes made by the teas controller are very quick. Nice if you like the extra bling of a controller in your car and like a little adjustment in dampening without getting out of the car.
Buddy clubs are a very well built coilover. When we sell them we normally sell the 10k front 10k rear. That seems to be a better setup for the car then thier stock rates.
thanks for the info: what is the definition of a "Mid level" coil over system.. how many level do you classify them in. this will help me make a better decission.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
Tanabe and buddy club both make a great mid level coilover system
The tanabe has a cool new design to adjust dampening called a slide valve. With this the changes made by the teas controller are very quick. Nice if you like the extra bling of a controller in your car and like a little adjustment in dampening without getting out of the car.
Buddy clubs are a very well built coilover. When we sell them we normally sell the 10k front 10k rear. That seems to be a better setup for the car then thier stock rates.
The tanabe has a cool new design to adjust dampening called a slide valve. With this the changes made by the teas controller are very quick. Nice if you like the extra bling of a controller in your car and like a little adjustment in dampening without getting out of the car.
Buddy clubs are a very well built coilover. When we sell them we normally sell the 10k front 10k rear. That seems to be a better setup for the car then thier stock rates.
these answers will help me make a better decission on i want on my car.
I classify them personally that way I have 3 stages of coilovers
Low Level - this coilover has no real improvement over handling other then dropping the vehicle. These can be just replacement springs and sleeves for the stock coilovers or coilovers with struts and springs but no ride height adjustment of dampening adjustment.
Mid Level - Has ride height adjustment, and only one way adjustable with rebound compression combined in one adjustment. This are tein flex, buddy club, Ohlins H/A. They are a great coilover for someone who does not know how to adjust suspension systems and wants to do it them selves. I have found customers who buy double adjustable systems and do not know normally never touch the settings or just set everything full stiff this is not how it should be done. These are still a great choice IMO.
High end Coilovers - These are the Ohlins Flag Series, KW Varient 3, Tein Super Racing. All of these coilovers have compression and rebound adjustment separate for fine tuning of the suspension and normally have superior valving and quality to take the abuse from extended track use. The ohlins have a CNC bottom mount instead of the stamped steel one found on other coilovers which make them awesome and indestructible.
Hope this shed some light on my rating system that I would say is probably pretty accurate industry wide.
Low Level - this coilover has no real improvement over handling other then dropping the vehicle. These can be just replacement springs and sleeves for the stock coilovers or coilovers with struts and springs but no ride height adjustment of dampening adjustment.
Mid Level - Has ride height adjustment, and only one way adjustable with rebound compression combined in one adjustment. This are tein flex, buddy club, Ohlins H/A. They are a great coilover for someone who does not know how to adjust suspension systems and wants to do it them selves. I have found customers who buy double adjustable systems and do not know normally never touch the settings or just set everything full stiff this is not how it should be done. These are still a great choice IMO.
High end Coilovers - These are the Ohlins Flag Series, KW Varient 3, Tein Super Racing. All of these coilovers have compression and rebound adjustment separate for fine tuning of the suspension and normally have superior valving and quality to take the abuse from extended track use. The ohlins have a CNC bottom mount instead of the stamped steel one found on other coilovers which make them awesome and indestructible.
Hope this shed some light on my rating system that I would say is probably pretty accurate industry wide.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
I classify them personally that way I have 3 stages of coilovers
Low Level - this coilover has no real improvement over handling other then dropping the vehicle. These can be just replacement springs and sleeves for the stock coilovers or coilovers with struts and springs but no ride height adjustment of dampening adjustment.
Mid Level - Has ride height adjustment, and only one way adjustable with rebound compression combined in one adjustment. This are tein flex, buddy club, Ohlins H/A. They are a great coilover for someone who does not know how to adjust suspension systems and wants to do it them selves. I have found customers who buy double adjustable systems and do not know normally never touch the settings or just set everything full stiff this is not how it should be done. These are still a great choice IMO.
High end Coilovers - These are the Ohlins Flag Series, KW Varient 3, Tein Super Racing. All of these coilovers have compression and rebound adjustment separate for fine tuning of the suspension and normally have superior valving and quality to take the abuse from extended track use. The ohlins have a CNC bottom mount instead of the stamped steel one found on other coilovers which make them awesome and indestructible.
Hope this shed some light on my rating system that I would say is probably pretty accurate industry wide.
Low Level - this coilover has no real improvement over handling other then dropping the vehicle. These can be just replacement springs and sleeves for the stock coilovers or coilovers with struts and springs but no ride height adjustment of dampening adjustment.
Mid Level - Has ride height adjustment, and only one way adjustable with rebound compression combined in one adjustment. This are tein flex, buddy club, Ohlins H/A. They are a great coilover for someone who does not know how to adjust suspension systems and wants to do it them selves. I have found customers who buy double adjustable systems and do not know normally never touch the settings or just set everything full stiff this is not how it should be done. These are still a great choice IMO.
High end Coilovers - These are the Ohlins Flag Series, KW Varient 3, Tein Super Racing. All of these coilovers have compression and rebound adjustment separate for fine tuning of the suspension and normally have superior valving and quality to take the abuse from extended track use. The ohlins have a CNC bottom mount instead of the stamped steel one found on other coilovers which make them awesome and indestructible.
Hope this shed some light on my rating system that I would say is probably pretty accurate industry wide.
Mid level - I guess Megan Racing will fall in this category.
I assume that for autoX once a month or every 3 week - and to become competitive in the club at some point these will be sufficient? what do you think. I have a pretty good general knowledge on how suspension works and how to make changes to tune it this comming from racing r/c cars for 3 years competitively... and I have notcied the settings to same the same effect on a real car; all the way from ride height to damper stiffness...
on a high end coilover you mention separate settings for compression and rebound: I am not familiar with this too much, but I assume that this will be an advantage for autox specially through slaloms if you set your compression and little stiff in relation to your rebound to have the suspension (in the front specially i would think) to transfer weight more quickly?
- mid range system will allow to change both settings with on knob at the same interval correct? which is still good enough for not as good?
please correct me if I am wrong.
in additon, what is the advantage of the tanabe line among its 3 flavors of coilovers? sustec pro SS and sustec pro SS 2 - does the helper spring offer any benefit?
I am sorry for such long post, I thought it would be best to post it here so someone else can benefit rather than a private RFI sales e-mail.
Once I make up my mind, I will like to discuss some pricing for which I will call you late on today.
Thanks,
Megan racing will fall into this category.
I only recommend spending the money on the high end coilovers if you are going to go to the track often. For autoX mid level is norammly good enough.
The adjustment on midlevels are in one valve inside the strut and are directly related to eachother. one goes stiff the other one stiffens as well. This is more then enough adjustment for AutoX.
I only recommend spending the money on the high end coilovers if you are going to go to the track often. For autoX mid level is norammly good enough.
The adjustment on midlevels are in one valve inside the strut and are directly related to eachother. one goes stiff the other one stiffens as well. This is more then enough adjustment for AutoX.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
Megan racing will fall into this category.
I only recommend spending the money on the high end coilovers if you are going to go to the track often. For autoX mid level is norammly good enough.
The adjustment on midlevels are in one valve inside the strut and are directly related to eachother. one goes stiff the other one stiffens as well. This is more then enough adjustment for AutoX.
I only recommend spending the money on the high end coilovers if you are going to go to the track often. For autoX mid level is norammly good enough.
The adjustment on midlevels are in one valve inside the strut and are directly related to eachother. one goes stiff the other one stiffens as well. This is more then enough adjustment for AutoX.
thanks, was my thought proccess correct thought?
also, do you see any advange or what are the advanges between the sustec pro SS II versus the sustec pro SS or visa versa? and to the Seven (why is the seven to much more expensive) - and then how do these compare for the BC ?
The sustec pros are going to be a twin tube design which is cheaper to produce but inferior to the monotube design that buddy club uses.
The seven is more expensive because of the slide valve technology and the ability to have a speed sensing controller adjust the dampening for you.
Helper springs are normally there just to help the car when it is under load. I do not think they are needed but they could be a nice help under hard weight transfer situations.
The seven is more expensive because of the slide valve technology and the ability to have a speed sensing controller adjust the dampening for you.
Helper springs are normally there just to help the car when it is under load. I do not think they are needed but they could be a nice help under hard weight transfer situations.
so for someone without much suspension experience, would the kw 3's be too much for autox use? I guess it depends on my learning curve, but would it be straight forward enough to get settings close without screwing everything up?
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
...The seven is more expensive because of the slide valve technology and the ability to have a speed sensing controller adjust the dampening for you....
does this means that "MY" setting will get overidden if i push the car into a corner?
what is the advantage of that... that sounds kind of horrible doesnt it?
Originally Posted by Jazzie604
so for someone without much suspension experience, would the kw 3's be too much for autox use? I guess it depends on my learning curve, but would it be straight forward enough to get settings close without screwing everything up?
Originally Posted by Profoxcg
does this means that "MY" setting will get overidden if i push the car into a corner?
what is the advantage of that... that sounds kind of horrible doesnt it?
what is the advantage of that... that sounds kind of horrible doesnt it?
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
As long as you are willing to learn and can feel what the car is doing KW's will be fine. With how small autoX courses are and how little seat time you get it is hard to really dial a car in on them.
If you start to push you can adjust your balance of dampening from front to rear to try and dial that out. You can adjust each corner independently to set the balance of the car.
If you start to push you can adjust your balance of dampening from front to rear to try and dial that out. You can adjust each corner independently to set the balance of the car.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
As long as you are willing to learn and can feel what the car is doing KW's will be fine. With how small autoX courses are and how little seat time you get it is hard to really dial a car in on them.
If you start to push you can adjust your balance of dampening from front to rear to try and dial that out. You can adjust each corner independently to set the balance of the car.
If you start to push you can adjust your balance of dampening from front to rear to try and dial that out. You can adjust each corner independently to set the balance of the car.
when i said push I didnt mean it as in understeer.. I meant as in pushing the suspension as in when you jerk the wheel (not that I m saying this is good) or rather I should as the following: In a track racing scenarion when my have allready set my dempening, how does this active valve going to help me, or it going to hurt me?
I can see this as an advantable in everyday driving... but wouldnt it be a disadvantage at the track? - the last thing you want is your settings to change....
One thing that seem attractive to my about the sustec SS line is the 4/8 adjustments rather thant 32+ levels
another question: do the sustec SS and Seven along with the BC come with camber plates / pillow *****?
Last edited by Profoxcg; Sep 20, 2006 at 12:02 PM.
The valve on the TEAS will only increase dampening as your speed increases. It should not create any problems as it changes very quickly so the change will not be drastic.
I would say the TEAS would be hard to dial in a perfect track setup.
BC come with camber plates
the Tanabe Seven come with camber plates
the Pro SS use the factory top hats.
I would say the TEAS would be hard to dial in a perfect track setup.
BC come with camber plates
the Tanabe Seven come with camber plates
the Pro SS use the factory top hats.
Originally Posted by RallySport Direct
The valve on the TEAS will only increase dampening as your speed increases. It should not create any problems as it changes very quickly so the change will not be drastic.
I would say the TEAS would be hard to dial in a perfect track setup.
BC come with camber plates
the Tanabe Seven come with camber plates
the Pro SS use the factory top hats.
I would say the TEAS would be hard to dial in a perfect track setup.
BC come with camber plates
the Tanabe Seven come with camber plates
the Pro SS use the factory top hats.
Ben thanks for you responses:
I called tanabe yesterday and they were able to explain a few things also.
at this point I am trying to decide between the 7 w/out TEAS and BC
I like the fact that the TEAS can be adjusted from inside the car and all and for DD the automatic setting seem pretty cool for when you get on the highway
I also read somewhere that tanabe provides proper brake line holders whereas BC does not?
Can you please PM pricing on both model and your recomendations. - do we get a discount with your shop thought this forum? (this is something typically done at ephatch.com - I am a former ep3 owner)
thanks again !