Winter took its toll on my suspension. I have MR bilsteins with tein s-tech springs. Both fronts are blown so I'm researching coilovers. I need to know what coilovers are good street DD and can handle winter conditions for reasonable prices. I'd appreciate any input.

 

No, the S-Techs took the toll on the Bilsteins. Too low (on bumpstops, too soft - bottoming out).

Get a proper set of springs (Swift, GTWorx, RobiSpec). Sent the Bilsteins in to get rebuilt ($75 ea).

 

this

 

Yup. I had s-techs and they went out on my during a back-road run. If you decide to go the coilover route, I've had HKS Hipermax III's with multiple settings and they've yet to let me down. I finally have them set to my liking.

 

i would just rebuild the bilsteins or pick up some bilstein hd's, i think tire rack has some in stock right now but that wont last long at all

 

I wouldn't mind rebuilding my struts but I can't afford downtime right now bc of winter. The only other ride I have right now is my kawi and its a little cold for that. I don't mind spending the $ for coilovers I just wanted feedback on some reliable ones. Anyone running the apexi's?

 

Also, how do I choose spring rates. I looked at the charts and that confused me even more.

 

Then buy Bilstein coilovers. Or KW. Stay away from that JDM crap. BTW, the top JDM companies use Bilstein or Sachs shocks, and then have then re-valved to their spec.

 

The PSS9's are perfect for DD from all the research I did on dampers. They are not as aggressive as one would like for a road course though. Stay away from JDM unless you go to a high end model, which for a DD is unnecessary. Also check out AMR engineering they seem to be high quality and reasonably priced, I have not read any reviews on them, however I do know they work with you on specs based on your intentions.

 

I agree with Mike. I have the Bilsteins on Swifts and it is one of the best DD setups that I have ever been in. It is stiff but no to stiff and just smooth as butter. Most coilovers will be a downgrade unless you drop 3k+ on coilovers. The Bilsteins are awesome when setup with a proper spring.

Mikey

 

yup top companies like sun-auto who use tein coilovers in their cyber evo, or hks who uses hks hypermax coilovers...

 

Furthermore, winter is going to take its toll on coilovers as well...they do not like salt too much. just buy a used set of to stock kyb's to hold you over until you can get the bilsteins revalved.

IMO, this is just talking from experience. I've had coilovers on my car for 40+k. I was planning on switching to bilsteins/swift spring last year, but by the time i got all the parts, it was close to winter. I decided to put my stock suspension on for now to deal with the winter and it is hands down the best decsision i have made, the bislteins would have been ruined by now! From now on, I plan to run the bilsteins exclusively in the spring, and run the stockers every winter

 

S-techs are junk springs. "S"= sucky springs.

Order yourself a set of Swift Spec R's and get the Bilsteins rebuilt! One of the nicest setup around.

 

Winter didn't take a toll, the Tien S-techs did. That is why your suspension blew.

 

I appreciate everyones feedback. I only find one thing strange is how JDM companys can be crap when we're sporting JDM cars. Hasn't hks, apexi, so on..... spent enough time in the game to create a good coilover. Also, if companys like those use bilsteins or others and have them revalved to their specifications then wouldn't I be getting those for the hks price? I"m not trying to be smart just looking for a good answer.