Whats the best $1500 Suspension?
 

Hello everybody,


What would be the best setup to get if you only had 1500 max to spend on suspension. This is my daily driver, and i won't be tracking my car. Cant justify spending 2-3 g's on coilovers.

I just would like maybe 1-1.5 MAX drop (probably 1" or so due to all the bumps in my area)


Main Goals:

Close a bit of the wheel gap
really really comfrontable ride.
Under $1500





Would coilovers be the best option, if so which one?





Thanks! :thumbup:

If it's all for looks (no track), then springs and perhaps some camber bolts would suffice. New shocks if oem ones are worn out.

Racecomp Engineering Yellows, and Whiteline 14mm camber bolts.

You loose a touch of compression travel, but the ride is actually better than stock with the included bump stops. The drop is 3/4 of an inch, not much but it looks good without sacrificing to much geometry.

You also get some camber adjustment in the front which should be included in any suspension.

I'd probably add to that some B8's.

st coilovers are definetly the best dd coilover option out there and lower the car up to 2". those coilovers get great reviews. im pretty sure they go for around 700 and then you can buy lcas to be able to adjust the camber in the rear and thats pretty much all you need.

p.s spc lcas run around 200 bucks so itll be 900 for the setup and then 80 bucks or whatever for an alignment

Spend about $300 more then get V3's. Trust me, it's worth it. Way more than any of these $800-$1500 ones.

I went with Hotchkis Camber plates + Camber bolt combo (got -3 in the front, could go more), ST coil overs and SPL rear LCA (-3.5 R). That's a little over $1500 but am satisfied so far.

Listed in order of price and quality.

ST Suspensions Coilovers (KW) - $845

Pros: Supplant and planted ride, incredible value.
Cons: Galvanized steel construction not good for salted roads. No rebound adjustment.

Bilstein B14 PSS Coilovers - $1099

Pros: High quality monotube shocks with progressive rate coil spring will provide incredibly comfortable coilover ride for the street.
Cons: Larger diameter springs will limit wheel width more than other coilovers. No rebound adjustment. Progressive spring not suited for competitive driving.

Fortune Auto 500 Coilovers - $1199

Pros: Digressive piston technology provides smooth ride over road imperfections but planted & confident performance when corning. Rebuild-able and 5 yr warranty. 24 point rebound adjustment. Hand built in USA. FT86speedfactory has had lots of success with race car running Fortune Autos.
Cons: For best performance should upgrade with swift spring option and radial bearing.

ST Suspensions TA Coilovers (KW) - $1428

Pros: KW suspension technology at economy pricing. Extra coating to protect galvanized steel. Rebound adjustment.
Cons: Mono-tube design rather than twin-tube like KW.

Coilover options available via FT86SpeedFactory
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/susp...5e94b888831d1d

*Disclaimer, I have Fortune Auto 500's and love them. The ride is amazing for street, autocross, and canyon carving. Had the ST Suspensions TA Coilovers been available when purchasing, I may have gone with them.

Best deal I could find for KW V3 was $1954, which is $454 more than OP stated. But if available for less than that, I would concur for money they are hard to beat.

$1820 for me through a vendor. Shop around and PM. :thumbsup:

I got RSR sports-i for sale for $1500

Used for less than 2000 miles.

PM me if interested.

TEIN Street Basis
ST Suspension

Use the rest of the money towards alignment (bolts + LCA?), tires, brake pads, and/or gas. :)

my v3 were 1760ish shipped last year, but it was luck with stacking a sale and a 10% holiday coupon

This trumps everything else mentioned in the thread for $1500.

is this just for the spring/shock or is it including the install/alignment cost? kind of a big deal. imo, tires and an alignment will go farther than 1500 in a shiny spring wrapped around a low qc shock.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72836

Bilstein B6 or B8 + Swift springs

Bilstein B8's ($838 Tire Rack) + Eibach sport line ($217 Tire Rack) + Whiteline roll correction ($179 Rally Sport Direct) + Perrin front end links ($146 FT86 Speedfactory) + Strano front sway bar ($189 Strano) = $1569.

Forget coilovers.

I'm in love with this suspension setup. If you really want comfort swap out the Pro Kit for the Sportline.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_zgok0m3k...0/IMG_3194.JPG

Springs, sway bars, tires, brake pads, brake fluid.... If u wanna go a little crazier I would say ksport entry level coilovers or any of the other good ones people r suggesting.


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

Or pro kit with illuminas


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

no

Why I saw some guy with a miata track car last time I went. It was pretty heavily modified I asked him what he thought and he said they were pretty good


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

i bought ksports once,

i'd rather order a box of ebola with next day delivery than another set of those turds.

you really may want to look into what the general auto community consensus is on ksport, d2 and every other brand using the same garbage before offering advice.

With this drop do you need LCA's for any rear alignment correction?

So then who's good? Fortune auto? St? Stance? Ohlins? Idk then


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

I'm seeing a lot of new brands


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

From the factory, there is no provision for camber correction in the back. It doesn't matter if you're stock or slammed, to be able to correct the camber in the back you'll need either lower control arms, or one of a few other products.

That said with those springs you wont need it unless something is out from the factory. Even then, a decent technician should be able to find a few tenths of a degree in the slope of the fasteners.

If you must go with more than a 1 inch drop, I recommend coilovers. ST, Bilstein PSS B14, KW V1, and then some rear lower control arms to dial in the alignment are good options.

If you're happy with an inch or slightly less and $1500 is your budget then you could also go with Koni yellow adjustable or Bilstein B6 shocks with a good quality spring (such as our RCE Yellow springs).

All of the above are good options. Personally I wouldn't use ST coilovers due to the finish...they'd get eaten up by rust where I live. For me it would come down to Bilstein PSS or Bilstein HD + RCE Yellows. I'd be happy with Koni Yellow too, but slightly prefer Bilstein.

- Andy

D2 and K Sport are some of the only coilovers I will come out and say are completely terrible junk. There are many coilovers that I wouldn't use and would rather stock, but with those two I think I'd rather take the bus. Yes I've had first hand experience with them.

- Andy

To turn this over to story time, I put my ksports up for sale on vortex a couple years ago, basically as a joke thread. Cause honestly I felt terrible about the idea of someone actually buying them with the expectation of getting anything that wouldn't make their car worse.

It was a blatant troll thread from the start. I actually tried to sell the set to the guy that bought the brace from the listing for whatever he wanted to give me (i.e. 10 bucks). He refused.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...pec-rear-brace

Anyway, this spring i get a pm from a guy offering $350 that needed them that night. Talk to him on the phone, I say they are shit and terrible and nobody in their right mind would want them. He says all that matters is that the collars spin. His buddys coils died and they had a show to be at the next day (lol vw). So I meet up with them.

Show up at the meeting spot, first thing i say when getting out of the car is that they are fucking terrible. Didn't matter. They bought them.

Turns out the buddy had pretty much told his friend find me coils tonight for no more than $350. Going by the look on the buddys face when the agreed price was stated it became pretty clear the friend didn't even bother with any negotiating just started at the max price.

I threw in my nice channel lock spanner wrench since i couldn't find the ksport ones.

God bless the vw crowd.

So who makes good coilovers then? Who makes good entry level ones. I would imagine all the crappy brands make entry level ones because they want to attract people


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

Depends how you classify "entry level"

RS-R and KW3 are good entry level coils imo

What I mean by entry level is cheap (around a grand) and doesn't need to have a billion adjustments. Something that wouldn't be overkill for somebody who hasn't really had coilovers before


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

I have a hard time believing you people. A lot of people on the internet are just full of it. For all I know many of you could be 10 or you might just be suggesting your favorite brands. I'm not saying you are but it's a possibility. What exactly is it that makes ksport and d2 so bad? Are they not well built? Do they rust? Is customer service terrible? The only reason I actually considered what the guy with the miata said is because he tracks his car and has ksports on it and says they're great. At least show me what it is that made u think ksport and d2 sucks. I'm not defending them I'm just curious.


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

LOL what a comment. Ok ask a question, people take time to answer, you don't believe them, accuse them of being children!. Buy what you want! :bonk:

He just wants 1 person to tell him that Ksport coils are good so he wont feel as bad about buying them.

I will also say that I have a set of Megan coils on my other car and they are also a huge pile of dung. They were $900 when I got them about 5 years ago.

I don't believe then because of their responses. Some people say a president is great and some say he sucks. If u were neutral and one of them actually told you WHY, wouldn't you believe them. I didn't accuse them I'm making a statement;it's a possibility... Why? Because I've seen it so many times before.


For me, there is no glide in pulse and glide :p

you can also go with hks for the price.

OEM replacements from the dealer cost around ~1600.

That should give you an idea of if something could be an upgrade or not.

Aren't bilsteins notoriously rough riding though?