Good quality daily/track coilover?

[m2mike]

I am looking for a new set of coilovers. Right now, my car's got the tein super drift coil set.

I want something that's a bit more comfortable and more designed for road racing use, since I am not a big drifter.

You guys have any suggestions? Moton is out of the questions because it is out of my price range.

Thanks!

[Giebs]

I'm using Tanabe pro 7 coilovers. They work great for me on the track but I dont know what your threshold for comfort is on the street. I drove them daily for about a year and got tired of them for daily use, 10kg springs front and 8kg rear. They are only adjustable one way but the settings are very distinct from one level to the next. Also these are the only ones I've used, so I don't know how others match up.

[s14freak93901]

konis.

next time search it.

[Bigalow311]

I have tein monoflex and I love them (Z33). They're great on the track - drifting, autoX, road racing, and the EDFC makes it easy to adjust for daily use...

(My Z is not a daily driven vehicle so I have everything set for track use)

[direktdrive]

I run DMAX coilovers on my S14 and they're quite comfortable at their softest settings. The coilovers are designed for drifting, but with a few tweaks here and there, they should be suitable for road racing.

[badbob2121]

this question depends on what you consider "daily comfortable". i know a few people that daily with pbm's and have no complaints at all.....

[95s-14]

I have bc racing on mine and there pretty comfortable

[s14freak93901]

tein is doing some testing with the monoflex's on the S14. its just a hardcore street suspension with a none friendly price tag just like the rest of their overpriced coils. plus tein has shit for springs. Dmax i heard have great valving and you can feel the damping chances with every click.

[TachPHD]

this question depends on what you consider "daily comfortable". i know a few people that daily with pbm's and have no complaints at all.....
+1. I rock pbm's all day here in CO. I like the stiffness. My last coils were KTS and they were very comfortable for the streets, and still good enough for the tracks. You can't really ask someone for their opinion because their answer is based on opinion/preference. I'd say just read reviews on what people think of certain coilovers and try it out.

[Sleepy_Steve]

+1 for koni's -- 8611's in some custom housings would do nicely, or a set of yellows.

Not that I'm baller enough to use Koni's... I'm rolling on some stance coils for now.

[chiboy002]

question is, how low do you want to go?

[m2mike]

I don't plan on going stupid low, a nice stance is all I need. My tein super drift gives me a good enough stance, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Since I do more autox and track driving than drifting, the set up feels a bit off.

I was thinking about kw v3, what do u guys think?

[upsdude]

stance lx's are supposed to have a nice ride quality

[rat240]

lead racing coils are great
i have them on my hatch

[Nick_04K]

Search around on the Kw v3 a little... I just read a thread the other day about them not having camber plates and maybe only one way adjustable dampening?? Dont quote me though haha, i cant remember it right now. But for Quality, comfortable road race type coils...Your definitely on the right track with KW.

[iamtheyi]

Stance GR+ pros. Gives you 8-6 and 9-7 springs.

[GripTerror]

Ignore everything everyone else said in this thread.

Either get some Konis or Bilsteins as that's as affordable and budget as it gets for good dampers.

All the pick your color 'machined and colorful' japan/taiwan/korea/tailand whatever deal multi color brand name coilovers out there are junk. And people think they are great until they try a set of real dampers.

Eh... pretty much all the other coilovers are good for 'dumping' the car... but not driving.

I have Koni DAs front and rear = love em. Never going back to the waste that these 'jdm' coilovers are

Stance even as praised as they are, are junk. I am too lazy to search now but there were postings of interviews/talks at shows with stance 'engineers' and how they talked out of their ass when asked legitimate questions about the dampers themselves.

Sigh... a 'coilover' is just that, the spring being over the damper and if they are adjustable they can adjust height that's about it as special as that term gets. The most important piece is what's housed inside, the dampers... and most of these jap/china coilovers come supplied with junky dampers....

[fckillerbee]

so even if they are junky dampeners....that isn't answering the ops question.

have youuuuuuuuuuuuuu driven on all these coilovers that people are mentioning...if not...then you don't have experience with it.

if you do....then please list them from the best to worse from your experiences.

I only say this....cause I have stance. and I love them...i've driven other cars with coils...and they are bouncy as shit...everyone that gets in my car is surprised they are coilovers...cause most do ride like shit unless you are on perfect roads.

just don't knock it till you try it....and who gives a fuck about what the engineers say about the dampner....so it's shitty. yeah when compared to a 5k set of coils...i hope it's shittier.

[KansaiDrifter]

I'm running megan racing type RS bound and rebound adjustable with remote reservoirs, you can set the bound nice and soft and it's a 7/5k spring rate so it's a little softer for daily. I drift so at the track I run the fronts at 16/16 and the rears 8/12 (bound/rebound, 1 being soft, 32 being hard) and it's got that nice squat setting, I just leave them like that for daily, you could soften it up all the way for daily and it'd be like a cadillac lol. Here's a pretty picture haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3227.jpg

Got mine from Avery@DTMautobody, one of the forum sponsors, made me a good deal on them ;)

[Aoshi112]

Get the KW V3s. I couldn't believe how confidence inspiring these coilovers were on my my friend's S14. Car felt great through a scenic drive I went on with my friends. They were also easily daily driveable on the streets in San Francisco of all places, where the roads are pretty shitty. These KWs are on my list to buy asap. Two of my good buddies run KWs on their time attack cars and won multiple events and yet they can still say their cars with KWs are not very harsh at all.

You can't go wrong with the custom Koni setup either but it'll end up costing more than the KWs if you go 8611s all the way around. I believe this custom Koni setup came out over $2k or so.

[DRIFTO16]

hey srry i dnt know of any but if your wanting to sell urs pm me thnx =]

[nate1]

i got kws they rock i also have super drift as well on my other 240 so i know your pain go kw. they dont come with camber plates but u can use your super drifts. i think its some thing to do with german laws saying u cant have modified top mounts.... some thing like that.

[codyace]

I've driven in and on countless different coiled cars. I had Apexi's and MR's...both drove best obviously with NO preload and on the softest setting (handled best IMO there as well)

HOWEVER

Ever since going with a Koni 8611 setup (8610 rear), I can no believe I didn't do it sooner, and or wonder why others don't go that way immediatly as well. Even with 550lb front /450;b rear springs (essentially 10k/8lk) the car drives like a cadillac with only a 1/2 turn all around and 1 click in the front (for street!). Heck I've come off the track before and had them all at 2.5 turns and 4 clicks up front, and it still drove nicer than any of the JDM coilovers.




have youuuuuuuuuuuuuu driven on all these coilovers that people are mentioning...if not...then you don't have experience with it.

In return, have you ever driven on a quality suspenseion? It's hard to form an opinion when you've ridden on worse and mid range japanese stuff.

[bardabe]

KW Variant V3's, Koni Yellows, or Cusco

Seriously out of all the Coilovers and shock spring combo I have driven, installed, and played with. KW and Cusco are the Shit. Koni shocks are very very VERY nice but take some custom work to install. so unless you got cutting tools, drills, and the know how or $$$ to pay for that I'd stick to KW's and Cuscos

[ronmcdon]

I've been using Koni/GC combination suspensions on my old crx and miata.
It's appeal is that much of the Koni shocks are valved for a wide range of spring rates.
You can change them if needed be, and this is pretty much proven.
If you road race, this is a wonderful feature.
It's also easy to service Koni's within the US, unlike many Japanese/Euro coils.

I currently have Tanabe 7's on my S14, and use it for daily and occasional autoX.
It has the 10k front/ 8k rear rates, and imo it's too stiff for both.
dampening is set full soft.
I use Kumho MX road tires, so they're pretty grippy.
I don't think it provides enough traction for autoX, at least not on road tires.
Car is uncomfy, not confidence-inspiring to push hard, and very unpredictable when autoXing.
As a result, I don't feel confident taking it out to a road course.

KW's are decent because they're cheaper than your typical baller Koni/GC build here,
plus the spring rates iirc are softer (7k/4k?) than typical japanese coil rates (8k/10k).
I think the trade-off is that it might be riskier to change springs with different rates.
It's also probably more difficult to get the shocks rebuilt.
Some of the EVO drivers have had great results with the KW Var 2 or 3 (I forget).
If the car is set up well from the get-go, I think most drivers may not need the adjust-ability of swapping springs w/ diff rates.
As is all things, it depends on the driver & his objectives.

If I had the money, I'd save for a Koni setup.
I'm just pretty tired of blowing more $$$ on my S14,
and I don't have much confidence it'll ever have as much potential as my old miata.

[fckillerbee]

I've driven in and on countless different coiled cars. I had Apexi's and MR's...both drove best obviously with NO preload and on the softest setting (handled best IMO there as well)

HOWEVER

Ever since going with a Koni 8611 setup (8610 rear), I can no believe I didn't do it sooner, and or wonder why others don't go that way immediatly as well. Even with 550lb front /450;b rear springs (essentially 10k/8lk) the car drives like a cadillac with only a 1/2 turn all around and 1 click in the front (for street!). Heck I've come off the track before and had them all at 2.5 turns and 4 clicks up front, and it still drove nicer than any of the JDM coilovers.





In return, have you ever driven on a quality suspenseion? It's hard to form an opinion when you've ridden on worse and mid range japanese stuff.


I have not daily driven on baller coils. so no....i didn't state my opinion for coilovers.....

that is why you didn't see me posting and talking all this nonsens about them. However...I have had some drivers in my car that HAVE driven on baller setups...and I take their opinion just like everyone elses....its an opinion.

They didn't say...damn...those stance feel way better then megan or jic's...no they did not say that. all they said was...this is really nice for being coils.

that is as far as my opinion goes.

as far as track...i've drifted all kinds of different suspensions...but to be honest....I wouldn't know the difference since everyones car is setup differently.... and i'm not driving it to push the limits...just driving it to teach someone else how to drive it better.

[slider2828]

kw v3... i have first hand exp with them and stance and megans... Had rode in some silk roads and some zeals in other chassis....

KW V3 would be the most streetable period.... But yes fr/rr hats must be aftermarket or you use your stock ones... Mayb eyou can adapt your teins to it.

They are NOT ride height adjustable without squatting down the spring.... Or as for a shorter spring....

[JohnnyDrfiter22]

ive had koni/GC custom on my HPDE 93 prelude.....AMAZING!!!

I have Ksport Slides on my 92 240....ehhh they are okay, i havent played with them too much cuz i dont know to much about setting up a proper suspension for drifting. They do the job for the money. I budgeted money else where and skimped on the coilovers.

[JoshuaLogan]

KW are great.

Formula Drift Team KW:
KW automotive » Team KW 2010 (http://blog.kw-suspension.com/archives/2523)

All of these guys are running KW.

James Deane - Nissan S15 240sx
Michael Essa - BMW 335i coupe
Billy Johnson - Acura NSX
Joon Maeng - RX8
Rhys Millen - Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Robbie Nishida - Nissan R35 GT-R
Eric O’Sullivan - Subaru WRX STI
Dai Yoshihara - Nissan S13 240sx coupe

[Slikk Logic]

my s14 is on stance gr+.alil rough not bad

[corbin]

Koni 8611's or even Koni Yellows perform better and are more comfortable than pretty much all the crap coilovers under $2500.

Its just a matter of not being lazy and putting them together yourself with the GC kit...

Notice all the people recommending coilovers are just from the viewpoint of personal experience with nothing else as comparison...