Best Coilovers for around 1k?
 

Yes im sure the topic has been discussed in other threads before HOWEVER the threads i found were not specific enough and suspension is definitely not my strongest area. SO Id like to be running the best coilover possible mostly for the drop in ride height and durability, the car is strictly driven on the street. I was looking into PBM and The BC BR series. Looking for price range around 1k. Thanks for any help you can give and if your aware of a thread that may have all the info I need please link me to it because i couldnt find much

Kind of an oxymoron. There’s nothing good about any 1k coilovers.

not an oxymoron at all. just kind of a bad idea but to each their own

There are no good coilovers in that price range. You'd be better off with some Koni Yellow shocks and decent performance springs.

Used ones here

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127725

These coilovers are not good in respect to what aspects? Im fully aware that the “better” coilovers come with more adjustability/options/features etc. but this is going on a daily driver application and i dont really need the performance benefits as much as someone tracking their car. I just need something basic with some form of dampening adjustability

Why do you need dampening adjustability?

The problem is the internals of a shock have enough machined moving parts that making a decent one is expensive. When you add adjustability to the mix, things get significantly more complex and getting the shock to maintain a similar dampening ratio throughout it's range of adjustment is difficult. Let alone having some kind of consistency/repeatability of adjustment.

As others have said, I think what you're after is Koni yellows with lowering springs (TRD, RCE, etc). Unless you want to go significantly lower than 1" from stock, in which case if you want to retain decent handling you have to either spend more money or take a bit of a gamble.

I've been running flex Z's, very happy with them. The flex A's are around 1300. There is also the ST which is basically a KW with a different body. They have fairly soft spring rates though, so if you are lowering a bunch you may bottom them a lot.

If budget is an issue, maybe some pull off PP dampers with RCE/TRD/STI springs.

Budget coilovers sacrifice comfort IMHO. It’s easy to find a rock hard set that will slam it but they will ride like crap.

I'd pay more money for less adjustability if it meant a better damper. The BCs have show that the adjustments do little to nothing save for the extreme ends of their range.

^This is false!


ST make a quality coilover for lowering and a mild increase in performance. Best for daily driving / spirited driving and maybe the odd track day. They are well sprung and damped for their intended purpose. I had a set for 5 years, driven through Canadian winters. They held up great over that time, and performed exactly how I wanted them to. Never gave me any trouble.


Sure you can't buy a quality track oriented coilover for around 1000, but there are different uses for coilovers, aka daily driving.

Problem with budget coilovers is that manufacturers make something that sells. And many buyers are misinformed what would fit their needs more or what would improve performance. So problem lies within us :)
Given chosen compromises within budget according to what sells there is little left for quality and performance.
If majority of customers didn't just sort shop inventory by price low to high and didn't choose ones with most knobs and in blingy paint from among first cheapest positions, most of cheapest coilovers wouldn't be that bad. Otherwise it's how it is. There are some reasonably good offerings too, eg. good struts, tein flex z/a, STs, but they are outnumbered by mirriads of crap products, so good ones are more like exception to rule. The higher budget is, the more good products with less compromises at areas that really matter can be found. Both due budget, and also because mid and high budget suspension offerings are often bought by better educated customers. So it also goes along the lines of they make what we buy and one gets what one pays for.

well said! with that all being said tein flex z are a perfect entry coil, especially for daily. its not like they are a random brand either so they know what they are doing

How much of a drop?


Arguably you need quality dampers on the street just as much as on a track, most streets are in significantly worse shape than a track and with crap dampers (and overly stiff springs) you'll be bouncing and skipping around.

I always read these threads...



I have springs because of them....

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80158


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79526


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124794


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66725


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51505

I have the Tein Flex A installed on my FRS on stock wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+. My number one reason why I got the Flex A is because I wanted a softer ride. I have a 2013 FRS so the suspension is stiffer than 2015+. I have the ride height set to what Tein Recommended. The Flex A has Hydraulic Bump stops vs rubber ones on the Flex Z.

I have tried running the car on max stiffness and it feels like a boat rocking back and forth on normal streets. I have tried the recommended 8 clicks from stiff and it feels like stock which I find is a little too stiff for the roads I have in LA. I have tried setting it to 16 clicks which is Max Dampening, but it feels too floaty for the car but you can still feel really harsh bumps in the road. I have it set to 10 clicks and it's perfect. Softer than stock but still handles well.

I don't plan to track my car so daily drivability is my #1 concern.

If I had to do it again, I would get the Normal Flex Z instead of the A. I don't think I notice much of the HBS but the Flex A is rebuildable where the Z is not. When the time comes to replace the coils again, I would rather rip and replace everything than just the damper.

Tein is also a good brand, the Flex Z is around 850 dollars where the Flex A is around 1100.

love my Meister R coilovers check them out

With $1000 budget... Flex-Z can be had for less than $800 and you'll still have money left over to get camber kit, which you may or may not even need. Surprisingly good for dampers at this price point.

Camber kit? o_O
Flex Z & Flex A sets include own camber plates.

I'd venture to guess the thought was to add rear LCA.


Getting all that stuff aligned will take some funds too.

You would guess correctly, Lca’s will be purchased at the same time which is why im doing my best to budget accordingly

im going for fitment on 18’s so somewhere north of 2in obviously with fine tuning which is why ive decided on coils instead of springs. To be frank the only things im concerned with is durability (something that wont be clapped after a year) and something that i can (somewhat) adjust to tailor the ride comfort.

For everyone saying that 1k coils are not worth the buy, this car will only ever see public roads and for all I care the coils could have the performance characteristics of stock suspension, if it was height adjustable id use that.

On bumps or hard cornering you will rub the inner fender liner in the front with that much drop. Just fyi.

Planned drop of >2"? That is almost halving stock ground clearance of 4.9" and if it had been stock shocks, it would leave 0.5" bump travel & ride on bumpstops (from ~2.5" bump travel including bumpstops & ~ 3.5" droop travel). Coilovers can do better for this case, but ..

I guess it's not worth to give any advises based on performance/handling/comfort & compliancy at this point. Extreme lowering car for very slammed looks is obvious priority to everything no matter illeffects.
I predict though that it won't be as simple keeping budget low though, as at higher drop levels much more parts need to be changed then just coilovers.

Yeah a 2” drop on this car is a lot. Ideally you’d want to install taller ball joints and differential risers to compensate. I’d say 99% of people who slam these cars don’t do that. It does lead to geometry issues and broken CV joints though.

2" drop will require really stiff springs and in the $1000 price range will ride way worse than stock, regardless of how you adjust them. Plus, with a 2" drop you'll be compromising the suspension geometry and it'll handle worse than stock.

I'm on 2" of drop and it isn't too bad. There is a bit of rub but that is about it. I even had an instructor take my car out for a couple laps and he thought it rode pretty well on a rough track with lots of curbing.

I should have known.

This is Thunderhill west 2 inches of drop on 245's. Thunderhill numbers their corner's strangely so turn 2 is the left hander after the left kink off the straight and the double apex right. The front right would rub on turn 2. Never noticed any harsh bottoming on this track and the car felt stable, even over the turn 3 curb which is about 70mph. I am not saying it is ideal, and I plan to raise the car a bit. It was originally setup at a little over 1.5 inches of drop so it settled quite a bit.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VugfHjSskxE[/ame]

well assuming you read the initial post, which i hope you did before commenting, you might have seen that height adjustability and durability were the only two requirements for a reccomendation and that this was also a daily (No need for “performance” in a 35 mph). Low cars dont have good ride quality and need supporting mods most of the time which I am BUDGETING for, however thats not a concern nor was it the question asked, I simply asked for reccomendations on coilovers in which case you have none, so no need to talk down on my personal style preference, thanks

Lca’s with lower mounting points and supporting mods will definitely be included in the build thus the lower budget for coils, really appreciate you pointing out both sides tho something most people dont do lol

what is your setup? coils/lca/traction arms etc?

GoZ21: as minimum i suggest:
1) getting this whiteline front roll centre/bump steer correction kit to fix geometry
2) getting camberbolts front (eg. SPC 81305 and/or Whiteline KCA416) and LCA for camber adjustment addition
3) diff riser, so that cv joint angle is not that big, to reduce it's wear
4) depending on struts/coilovers height adjustment type, also maybe these.


.. or actually none of the above, but limit lowering to suggested by many with clue in suspension reasonable drop within 1", that won't fsck up geometry, will save you money, will leave enough ground clearance to not scrape car on many speedbumps and steeper driveways and will leave enough suspension travel and will not require uncomfortably stiff spring rates.
These cars are not deserving to make them worse :/

Tein Flex Z's
RacerX rear LCA's
RacerX rear toe arms
17X9 +38 with 245/40's

-3 Camber in the front, -2 in the rear.

If you are looking to get recommendations for lowering you car for a flush or stancy look i would highly recommend asking elsewhere. If you are looking for coilovers and setups for the track, however, this forum is a great place to refer to. I personally have more of a stanced car and have pbm coilovers 18k f/r (dont recommend if you want comfort) but i will be switching to some broadways pretty soon, stance lca’s, pbm diff and subframe risers, and pbm toe arms. Have -4 in the rear and -7 in the front. As for your original question, pbm’s are good if you are planning on getting lower control arms because they dont go very low in the rear. Imo i think spending the extra $600 and getting some broadways with custom spring rates would be the way to go. Just shoot them an email with your needs and how much drop you want and how comfortable you want the ride and they will hand build them just for you.

I was thinking camber bolts for the rear and front to help clear endlinks for front and even out the rear camber left to right for the rear... Though, seeing he is trying to "stance" the car, some "drop" rear lower arms is probably a even better idear.

solidONE: camberbolts for twins are for the front. No camberbolts for rear, where LCAs (or less commonly used options of UCAs or UCA eccentric bushings, with former non option due tight budget, and later - due PITA to adjust due press-in nature) are only camber adjustment options.

I'm currently using, and have been using for a couple years now, H&R camber bolts on the rear control arms. They've given about -0.5 to +0.5 of adjustment on either side. just enough to even out the camber using stock lower control arms.

Hmm? First time hearing about that. Can you post part number or link to those? I have LCAs, so no need for them, but still seems interesting to find out.