Coilovers Price Range $2000

What would you choose? and why?

Cusco Zero-2

Zeal V6

KW Variant 2

Others (please specifiy)

Please share

How about K Sport GT Pro series they retail for $1910 so I am sure you can get them for less

Also +1 on the DMS

DMS or Zeal. I'm trying to decide if I want to hand over the extra dough for a set. Tein with EDFC would be cool, but I would prefer an inverted monotube design if I am to spend $2000.

What are your goals for your car?

How much adjustability do you need?

How important is ride quality?

depends on what the guy wants too.. each of them have their own valving and unique setup (click style adjustment knobs vs infinite adjustment).. not all of them are 2-way adjustable, and I dont think everyone uses the FULL range of the camber plates.. (I think I remember K-sport doesnt get as much as the camber plate slotted top allows, which kinda turned me away from them more after I saw a set in person), and of course the obvious, the spring rates that can change the car's handling characteristics (like Zeal who's designed to be front bias than the rest).

Money shouldn't be the 1st priority.. otherwise, you'll get the same old saying 'you get what you paid for'.

For spending around $2k, you might want to look deeper of what you want in your setup rather than just looking what $2k can get you.. not every $2k coilover gives you everything you need..

Are JIC magic FLT-A2's any good?

On another board someone is offering them for a great price and you have some options for spring rates.

I am using the coilover for auto-x (for sure) and may be for track later on. I want to spend a bit more on coilover because it think it is the most important part for handling. I just want the car to be more nimble and better response.

$$$ is limited (hahaa I wish I was given $2000 to spend). One of my friend tried megan coilover in his RSX, he said it sucks compared to his Buddy Club (of coz this is what you get for the amount you paid for). The other friend of mine is using Tein Flex in his prelude, he likes the Koni shocks + H&R spring (his previous auto-x setup) more than his Tein Flex. But then Koni doesn't have application for Legacy.

Then, I read Xenonk's article on Zeal Coilover and it sounds really nice. It's an inverted monotube design where most of the other coilovers aren't (K-sport, Megan, Cusco Zero2=, Tein Flex)...etc. To me, I think inverted is not that critical for auto-X but definitely for track (please correct me if I am wrong).

Because $$$$ is limited, so I only have one chance to try. I hope you guys can share your experience with your coilover (pros and cons). Thanks!!!

For your interest:

I bought cusco sway bar already, so definitely next step would be coilover.

(Hehe.... azenis RT-615 is comming soon too). Personally, I would willing to spend a bit more on handling more than power because I think our stock Legacy GT is really powerful but factory suspension is too soft.

Thanks guys!!!

HKS Performers or DMS...

I wish I can afford DMS, listed price = $4950 CDN for the 50mm one.

^^^^^Really wants the Boxer set up, is still in denial^^^^^

I gotta find the parts for reasonable $ first!

(got my sway bars today w00t)

sounds like you are on the right track of things. while monotube design is nice to have, but it's not just neccessarily restrict for track use as I autox and daily drive my GT. I personally do not think it's overkill for the street. It's a good design that has a large body to work with, so there's less of a worry to bend the piston shaft if you hit a bump that hard.

It also depends on how you setup ANY coilover once you get them.. of the many I troubleshoot (probably in the 100s by now over the course of 5 years?) or try to understand why the coilovers "suck", it's normally (75% of the time) based on the settings and installation of them.. I dont get as many complaints about their coilovers after a good adjustment as been made unless they had a defect or that the coilovers themselves have blown out and took a really bad beating during the break-in period of the first 25 miles.

From my experience, Tein Flex is actually on the softer side of sport driving while the JICs FLT-A2s are the opposite of them..

I havent heard much about Blitz, Zerosports, Syms, and some of the other extreme JDM stuff (namely because they cost too much for a street performance coilover), but the ones like KSport, Megan Racing, GPMoto, HKS are the ones I have yet to see out on the Autox field and compete well against even the Koni shocks + springs setup. I think if you just want to autocross for fun, any coilover will do, heck, people been using seperate shocks and springs for years.

You really can't wrong with KW, Cusco, Endless/Zeal, and DMS (I might have missed one, if I did, it probably is part of the non-popular setups or that the ones I am thinking of are way too expensive to even think about). They have been on the track a lot for testing and have a knowledge and experience in developing a tarmac setup (Tein is getting there as well, but they apply their knowledge to the higher end of their products to have high-class level of performance with a higher $$$ tag).

The main thing is about your preferences in what you want out of the coilovers:

-need them to be front biased or rear?

-need them to have a lot of dampning settings or a smaller interval of settings?

-large camber angle range or small camber angle changes in the camber plates (I think DMS uses a hole-slot mix for their camber/caster plates)?

-number of years or miles for the rebuild time?

-convience of customer support for the rebuilds?

-custom valving during the rebuilds?

-custom spring rates available? Do you need them to be?

From my personal experience, i got tired of the 16 and 32-step (or clicks) intervals for the dampners.. you really can't feel the difference of #30 vs. #31. I chose Zeal (and Cusco on the RS) because of the quick 6-step intervals setup.. it's easy to remember, easy to access and just make the adjustment (especially Zeal since most of them have the window with a number shown on top of the knob, on the side of the knob AND a screw-stud on the moving knob as an arrow indicator to let you know what setting you are on).

As for the spring rates and such, I was looking for a coilover that actually adds on-throttle stability (in my case, if I can stay longer on the throttle, faster I will be) so I gave up on the oversteer feeling and wanted more understeer (simply easier for me to be on the throttle longer and I'll rely more on my skills to rotate the car more so). The other reason why I went with stiffer springs up front is that I can level out the car some under braking, allowing all of my tires to get some grip on the pavement. Some people dont want that and want to have spring rates that match the characteristic of a stock car (I have yet seen anyone on these board go to the extreme of having the rear that much stiffer to promote more oversteer). It's really up to you on this department.. you are looking for a coilover that works for you.

Check on the ride height adjustments as well.. because some actually have smaller ranges that you may or may not want. In my case, i wanted a coilover that doesnt lower the car at all (when set to max height on the coilover).. i wanted that option in case i wanted to make a change of ground clearance issues.. some will automatically drop the car 15mm and so forth.

If you need more info, you can either talk to the vendors that sell the coilovers here, or just PM me.

I've read and heard good things about the Zeals.

Personally I think adjustablility on alot of these coilover systems is used as a way to sell them to lay people and justify prices.

JIC's don't have dust boots for anyone looking to drive them on the street. I'm actually looking at coilovers right now. I think if I were to get the JIC's I would need dust boots since I would spend most of my time street driving.

I haven't heard great things about HKS when it comes to autocross or track. They might make some good drag suspension though.

I've read and heard good things about the Zeals.

 

Personally I think adjustablility on alot of these coilover systems is used as a way to sell them to lay people and justify prices.

 

JIC's don't have dust boots for anyone looking to drive them on the street. I'm actually looking at coilovers right now. I think if I were to get the JIC's I would need dust boots since I would spend most of my time street driving.

 

I haven't heard great things about HKS when it comes to autocross or track. They might make some good drag suspension though.

The adjustiblity is there for your use, it's what you are paying for, and for me, I am using every bit of it.. (from corner balancing and ride height, to spring preload and shock adjustments.. I even change my camber/alignment with a simple jack of the car and just move the strut tops to where I need them to be on the track.. at the end of the day, I change them back to zero for the drive home).

You can get dust boots at any warehouse type of business that sells a lot of hardware. JIC is just too lazy to put them on

As for HKS, in the past, I have ran them on my WRX for track and solo2 and came out with very good results (a few 2nd and 3rd places finishes, never 1st).. the Hipermax2 was limited to just some ride height and dampening.. (sux for $2k compared to what you can have for $2k today).. As for their customer support, it just didnt work out for me as it was a pain to have a vendor to ship them out to Japan to get them rebuilt since they are not rebuilt here in the US..

Don't get me wrong. Adjustability is a good thing but when your a newb and you have suspension guy whispering in your ear this is the best suspension and you realy only do street driving. You have to ask will I use this system for what its worth?

I know you can pick up dust boots from anywhere. Finding ones that don't get caught in your bumpstops.... priceless:icon_bigg

This is especially true if you want to drive on the bumpy roads where I live.

Then again I doubt racecars have dust boots on the coil overs. So maybe that is the rationale?

sounds like you are on the right track of things. while monotube design is nice to have, but it's not just neccessarily restrict for track use as I autox and daily drive my GT. I personally do not think it's overkill for the street. It's a good design that has a large body to work with, so there's less of a worry to bend the piston shaft if you hit a bump that hard.

 

It also depends on how you setup ANY coilover once you get them.. of the many I troubleshoot (probably in the 100s by now over the course of 5 years?) or try to understand why the coilovers "suck", it's normally (75% of the time) based on the settings and installation of them.. I dont get as many complaints about their coilovers after a good adjustment as been made unless they had a defect or that the coilovers themselves have blown out and took a really bad beating during the break-in period of the first 25 miles.

 

From my experience, Tein Flex is actually on the softer side of sport driving while the JICs FLT-A2s are the opposite of them..

 

I havent heard much about Blitz, Zerosports, Syms, and some of the other extreme JDM stuff (namely because they cost too much for a street performance coilover), but the ones like KSport, Megan Racing, GPMoto, HKS are the ones I have yet to see out on the Autox field and compete well against even the Koni shocks + springs setup. I think if you just want to autocross for fun, any coilover will do, heck, people been using seperate shocks and springs for years.

 

You really can't wrong with KW, Cusco, Endless/Zeal, and DMS (I might have missed one, if I did, it probably is part of the non-popular setups or that the ones I am thinking of are way too expensive to even think about). They have been on the track a lot for testing and have a knowledge and experience in developing a tarmac setup (Tein is getting there as well, but they apply their knowledge to the higher end of their products to have high-class level of performance with a higher $$$ tag).

 

 

The main thing is about your preferences in what you want out of the coilovers:

 

-need them to be front biased or rear?

-need them to have a lot of dampning settings or a smaller interval of settings?

-large camber angle range or small camber angle changes in the camber plates (I think DMS uses a hole-slot mix for their camber/caster plates)?

-number of years or miles for the rebuild time?

-convience of customer support for the rebuilds?

-custom valving during the rebuilds?

-custom spring rates available? Do you need them to be?

 

From my personal experience, i got tired of the 16 and 32-step (or clicks) intervals for the dampners.. you really can't feel the difference of #30 vs. #31. I chose Zeal (and Cusco on the RS) because of the quick 6-step intervals setup.. it's easy to remember, easy to access and just make the adjustment (especially Zeal since most of them have the window with a number shown on top of the knob, on the side of the knob AND a screw-stud on the moving knob as an arrow indicator to let you know what setting you are on).

 

As for the spring rates and such, I was looking for a coilover that actually adds on-throttle stability (in my case, if I can stay longer on the throttle, faster I will be) so I gave up on the oversteer feeling and wanted more understeer (simply easier for me to be on the throttle longer and I'll rely more on my skills to rotate the car more so). The other reason why I went with stiffer springs up front is that I can level out the car some under braking, allowing all of my tires to get some grip on the pavement. Some people dont want that and want to have spring rates that match the characteristic of a stock car (I have yet seen anyone on these board go to the extreme of having the rear that much stiffer to promote more oversteer). It's really up to you on this department.. you are looking for a coilover that works for you.

 

Check on the ride height adjustments as well.. because some actually have smaller ranges that you may or may not want. In my case, i wanted a coilover that doesnt lower the car at all (when set to max height on the coilover).. i wanted that option in case i wanted to make a change of ground clearance issues.. some will automatically drop the car 15mm and so forth.

 

If you need more info, you can either talk to the vendors that sell the coilovers here, or just PM me.

Thanks Xenonk, your information is very useful.

So I wonder what's your spring rate for the zeal? F 10k R 8k?

I would like to have an oversteer setup more than an understeer set up. That's why I got the rear sway installed only

Then again I doubt racecars have dust boots on the coil overs. So maybe that is the rationale?

You can still have dust boots, it doesnt hurt a race car.. they weigh next to nothing.

Some race cars leave them off because it's easier to see a leak when it does happen.

Thanks Xenonk, your information is very useful.

So I wonder what's your spring rate for the zeal? F 10k R 8k?

 

I would like to have an oversteer setup more than an understeer set up. That's why I got the rear sway installed only

Right now I run 8/6.. when I get my rebuild, I am aiming for 14/12 or at least 12/10. There is/was a harder version that you can get for the Zeals in 10/8.

I believe you can swap the springs around for the Zeals (and run 8/10 or 6/8)... Endless works with Swift and Swift provides them the custom spring rates for the Zeals at your liking. Pretty neat stuff.

Right now I run 8/6.. when I get my rebuild, I am aiming for 14/12 or at least 12/10. There is/was a harder version that you can get for the Zeals in 10/8.

 

I believe you can swap the springs around for the Zeals (and run 8/10 or 6/8)... Endless works with Swift and Swift provides them the custom spring rates for the Zeals at your liking. Pretty neat stuff.

Sounds good, harder spring rate is what I am looking for (especially on the rear).

I will try and see if my local dealer can order that for me.

Zeal is really good, but a bit pricy. It is almost 900 CDN more expensive then Tein Flex in my area.