Objective Choice Of Coilovers Impossible
 

[rant]
So I've had my struts and coilovers fitted. The brand is immaterial but it wasn't even on the list when I started looking for suspension. My point is after a budget is established how is one suppose to decide on which brand/model to get. One can read reviews about $700 Ebay specials that are "wow!! these made my car handle so good plus they have 80 clicks of adjustment and I now take that corner 100mph faster!!" You can also read that Mr Racer has Uncle Toby's fitted but I am suggesting that Mr Racer would do equally as well on a similar quality shock. I would suggest that 99.999999999% of people don't buy more than one set of coilovers/struts at a time to do back to back comparisons. This is just not feasible. Maybe it just comes down to price. That is, at a similar price point all struts/coilovers are similar in performance/quality.
I am guessing that that there will be a honeymoon period with my units. Wow!! These are soooo good!! then it will become normal and I will just get on with driving.
[/rant]

It can be very difficult to decide yes. It's not like we can test drive a lot of different setups. Some people will just have to go with a company they trust or believe in I guess. I'm keen on the AST 4150s because of what I have read. I looked into the company and I reckon I'll be happy with them. I'll probably go with swift springs and vorshlag camber plates as well. Should be good. :happyanim:

The only person who can decide if they're happy with what they purchased, is you :)

I believe the Megan coilovers will be just fine, and I also think that a lot of people like to talk them down since they are the cheapest out there. But not everyone wants a race car. Many people just want to ride low and look stylish. $4000 suspension will get you there, but it will also break the bank at the same time.
Whatever makes you happy is what you should do. I'm personally going with the BC extreme low cause it is slightly more than the Megans, but has much more reviews.

Unless you've tried a bunch of different kinds of dampers in various conditions it's human nature to think the one you just bought is the best one out there. Why not, right? You've spent all this time researching, you've read all the reviews, even PM'ed some people. You think you've bought the best damper for your dollar. You write about it on some forum and other saps believe it because they simply don't know any better. The cycle continues.

A lot of people on here think <insert coilover brand> is awesome either because of forum group think, or some shmuck put a detailed review together, or thru sheer volume of "positive" reviews they think they're actually good.

I've fallen victim more than once in my tuner car ownership years. I feel your pain! Guys like me now look to people's opinions we trust or end up being so brand loyal that we close ourselves off to newer/better brands - though even sometimes it's still not a for sure method. It's sad that most people I trust are sick of forums and don't even post anymore. I see them on the track or local gatherings with old friends.

You need folks like CSG and/or RCE to be able to understand your goals properly and help you understand the pros/cons and compromises of any given damper. It's always a compromise between features, quality, costs.

It's like the old saying...
http://lolimage.com/img/ups/55098159641332231969.jpeg

A properly valved (read: expensive) suspension will ride OEM smooth or better while cheap coilovers will ride like rocks.

I should add... expensive coilovers can also ride like rocks as well :(

Ask me how I know... It's not like the old days where quality typically translates into high cost. There are expensive coilovers out there I frankly think are sh*t. But hey.. that's just my $0.02

I couldn't agree more... a lot of names from the past are now just that... names...

This has been an ongoing thing with forums since the beginning of time. Lots of strong opinions, lots of "flavors-of-the-month," lots of reviews written the day of install without any follow up, and reviews from people that don't have enough experience to compare to other options.

My advice is to talk to a lot of different sources AND do your own research. Don't assume that anyone is right 100% of the time. Get rides from people. We had a meet a few years back where we encouraged people to try each others suspensions to get a feel for what's out there. We had something like 30 different possible set-ups (some of which we didn't sell) plus plenty of people from the industry to talk to for ideas and advice. We should do that again.

Myself, Dan, and especially Myles have experience with most of brands out there for this car and others. We like to try before we sell...that's something we really believe in. We do sell a variety of brands (including our own) and know there isn't one OMGTHISCOILOVERISAWESOME set-up for everyone at every price point. We do our best to match people with things that work for them and to do so we like to get as much of our own experience as we can on the platform.

We've been quiet on the forums lately...not only finishing development of our coilovers but getting time with some other options either out already or coming soon for this car. It'll be a really good summer. :)

- Andy

Agreed. People loved ___ coilovers and looked at me funny when I said they were junk. Then they started breaking and people switched to other options and never looked back.

- Andy

One more thing too... I think most will agree...

One damper might be better for you but worse for someone else. As Andrew said, it's important to try different setups. Drive them and be objective. It takes a while to figure out the nuances but you will get better at it as you fine tune your butt dyno.

Seriously though... Having good suspension is like having a fine glass of wine. You really don't know what you're missing until you've tried really great stuff. The trick is to find the best product for your needs at a price you can afford. ---------It's possible. I've hit the jackpot a couple of times but it wasn't w/o much effort.

Take advantage of services from CSG and RCE. Give them the business and don't haggle too much on the pricing. If you're really on a quest for the best your buck can afford it will have been money well spent.

With due respect not everyone lives in your part of the world. :)

You might think you have a ton of choices, but really you don't, especially below about $2k. Just lots of options as far as color and stickers.

To me it's a no-brainer: RCE tarmac 2s. I'd have a set if I drove more than like 10 miles a week.

Since you're in Australia, check out MCA. I hear good things and would expect them to have something out for these cars.

Agree.. Typical American shortsightedness! darn.. I fell into it again.

I know of a suspension Guru who is well known by everyone in the racing scene within Oz ... I decided to finally pay the premium for his shocks because he has put his name behind them. This is backed by a couple of racing legends that have also put their name behind his.. I don't know anything more than you have to trust someone..

..... better that someone is well known for the highest quality and vouched for..

The BC's got it rolling but at our level of competition it's time to move on and up :)

Everyone likes to think they have made the right choice ... this choice is often aided by those with a financial interest in the decision !!!

No Brand here ... those that know who will know what were are running.. I expect to see an instant improvement ...

I've got Motion Controls & really, really like them. Top-quality, respond well to subtle adjustments & street ride quality is excellent. High speed wheel control is also excellent.

I've owned KWs & JRZs as well, on other cars. I'd have to say the MC setup offers the best performance/price value, overall.

My .02...

I felt the same as you with my last car and decided to go cheap since I couldn't make out the difference. Well after having Megans I would never do that again. My plan for this car is stay stock maybe get STi springs for a while and when I get coils I'm going for Ohlins.

Blue, red or gold?

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can put fantastic coilovers on but the wrong settings, tires, tire size, wheels, alignment, rollbar, bushings, air pressure, offset, and more can ruin ride and or handling and or reliability. Hence you hire a pro with a complete package. If you don't live close to one, they can ship.

If you just want it slammed, ignore what I said.

Mate I'm in Australia and I have MCA Coilovers and they are great. The have 2 different models for different budgets they are awesome to deal with

MCA reds fitted.

Fixed.

MCA Gold Series are a custom order not really a different model as such to choose from and unless your Full Track dedicated racing this car I wouldn't imagine financially viable either.

The 2 street / track options they have commercially available are the Blue & Red Series......Blue for a entry coilover and Red for the more serious buyer.

[pedant]
Blue,Red,Gold = 3
[/pedant]

It's because of cognitive dissonance premium brands rarely get bad reviews. No one wants to feel they wasted 3 months researching, saving money, and spending 4 grand on something they don't like.

It's because ignorance cheap brands get good reviews. Without anything to base their judgement, first-time buyers assume a sporty suspension should be hard. Or they justify it as they get what they pay for, and know that when purchasing.

Even then, ride is a fairly subjective matter. If you want to remain objective, you need to know the system, which can be different from car-to-car because it is based on tire, corner weight, and spring rate. If you are looking at a more macro picture, it may need to control pitch because of aero sensitivity, or roll angle, etc. Most people assume because a damper dyno graph exists, the company is putting in the time to find the "right" curve, but it's just like an engine dyno. Just because you strap the car and get a graph, doesn't mean you have the right tune.

It's not a 100% black-and-white matter, so you won't ever get a cut-and-dry answer. As RCE and CSG have said, do research, get physical experience, and find something right for you. Whether it just checks off the boxes of things that it needs to do (height adjustment, damping adjustment, ride quality, or whatever it may be) or to cut down lap times (no matter what doohickeys it has) or needs to meet a certain budget, find something that you will ultimately be satisfied with.

Are the units I fitted "better" than original? Yes. Am I happy with my purchase? Yes!
WIN!

Have you tried working with said company to help resolve your issues? All I've seen are complaints and bashing from you. I really don't understand why if you only have 2 miles on the coilovers.

You're entitled to your own opinion but I think you may be jumping the gun without giving the company a chance to make things right (if they were wrong).

Now that I've got them adjusted somewhat properly I'm a big fan of the MCS (Motion Control) shocks I'm using. I'm using them with the stock springs but they are still "coilovers" so to speak.

The quality of the machining and parts is pretty incredible, they work well in both low and high speed damping, the adjustments make real noticeable changes, and the support from MCS and their dealers is very good. They also maintain adequate shock travel and I think even on the single-adjustable models you can change the gas pressure in the shock.

wow... simply wow. complaints and bashing? really? a bit self centered of you to think i'm even talking about Eibach here. If you'd like to bring in our private emails with Mark and yourself then please, let's do that. I won't initiate that for your benefit.....

You guys need to work on your online etiquette. No one has mentioned your company publicly but since you're opening Pandora's box...

For your sake, and since I truly do support American companies, and ultimately want to see you guys succeed and produce a great product, let me suffice to say that i'm giving your company an opportunity to make improvements with my time being spent which btw, i'm not getting any compensation for nor do I expect any. I was hoping to deal with this quickly but it looks like i'm in for the long haul. FUN.. yay for me.............

I challenge you to look back and read my post history and you tell me if any blatant finger pointing has occured. Take a chill pill buddy. Have some pride in representing your company and help make it right to folks who are unhappy after spending ~$2k on your product.

This is not my first rodeo... but I certainly don't enjoy the ride and frankly, don't have extra idle time for it!

<< must have been missing stuff while busy with work lately.

It seemed you were trying to make people second guess Eibach in the review thread. Why don't you just speak your mind instead of being passive about it?

Because I want people to be HONEST. For Christ sake is that too much to ask? And asides from what Jackson is implying i'm not trying to publicly bash anyone let alone a California company that helps my local economy. The bigger picture is to build the best possible product available for the $. Who wins by me bashing anything? Probably no one but you guys with good drama to read with lots of popcorn.

But now that it's out there... :bonk:

Maybe I misinterpreted your response to TAP Auto.

I'll sit this one back and wait for your "honest" review. In the meantime, please continue to follow up with Mark on any unresolved issues.

It's not a maybe. You did. I was thinking that if TAP Auto was willing to go out and put their reputation on the line like that then perhaps I should give Eibach the benefit of the doubt.

My honest review? As much as I wanted to forget about this and move on (because some of us don't live our lives on forums all day) you keep dragging this into the mud. It's funny.. normally that's a trait befitting of a consumer not a manufacturer, hell.. you're not even a vendor/distributor which is what I would expect on here.

If you prefer to pull up other threads with other misrepresented quotes trying to paint your version of a picture of me or what you think i'm about then let's do it properly in an Eibach Multi-Pro R1 thread and not monkey up this poor guy's thread that had nothing to do with the Eibach Multi Pro R1s to begin with.

Oh, and for the search engines. Eibach Multi Pro R1.

I do not appreciate what you're doing here Jackson.

So many facepalms it's making my head spin.

For my R2m I am having an issue. Not sure if it's user related or what but Jackson is helping me get in contact with the right people, even if they take a long time to respond. IMO I can understand they aren't some huge corporation so it's expected.

I'm glad you're enjoying your suspension, Captain.

I'm sorry if my review was too fanboi, but I love mine too.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk 2

Ha Ha, very perceptive :)

After a very long chat with Murray I have gone red.. apparently on the 86 no real advantage for gold and the $$$ will be better spent on a diff..

:thumbup:

Is there any other kind?