ST, Bilstein B14, Flex Z

0-0 camber and toe also makes for terrible handling when lowered 1.5-2 inches but carry on

used kw v3? Seriously I wouldn't touch any of the 2 you asked about with a 10 foot pole. Suspension is literally one of the 3 most important things on your car, why would you cheap out on that? aside from rubber, it's the only thing keeping you on the road so one would think you wouldn't want to skimp out on that aspect but wtv you seem to already have made your mind (like others have said and you just want someone to confirm what you have made up in your mind). Unfortunately for you, most people in this section actually know a thing or two abnout suspension and will not suggest that you install crap coilovers on your car (that's why everyone is recommending other products).


Anyways you want them in pink(megan), blue(cusco?), green(tein), red(godspeed),black(Bc). They most likely come from the same factgory anyways.

Seriously? Since when is spending $1k on suspension cheaping out? Since when is megan racing trash? Also, since when the fuck is TEIN garbage? TEIN was and still is one of the most respected suspension brands out there. It's a damn daily, not a everyday track car.

ST.


best bang for your buck.

Megan has always been trash. Tien in the 90s sucked too. The Flex Z are legit though. Non bouncy comfort costs money. Pretty much anything else not mentioned under $1k would be outperformed by good springs (RCE, Swift, Eibach Prokit) especially considering our struts are pretty good stock

There are suspension systems that literally cost 10k plus. Of course, that's entirely overkill, especially for somebody like yourself with your goals for the car.

You have to understand that for $1,000, you're buying an ENTRY LEVEL coil over system. So you have to expect to get what you pay for. It's like buying a car. You can't buy a CLA Mercedes, which is the entry level car that costs 32k, and expect to get the same luxury as you would in a $100,000 S class. It just doesn't work that way.

So when you spend the minimum on coilovers, expect to get the minimum in terms of R&D and quality. It's just the way it works.

From the sounds of your responses, you sound pretty set on what you want. Best of luck.

Ken Gushi is a well established diver and knows his stuff. I'd listen to him; even if he's sponsored by KW, which is ST, and he might have a bit of a bias lol.

Yes. Megan has never exactly been a name associated with "quality". Back in the early 00s, people in the 240 community would cross shop between Megan, Circuit Sports, and EBay suspension arms. They've always been considered a lesser-than part.

That doesn't mean they're going to spontaneously combust or anything.mhowever, don't buy them and expect to have some godsend handling in your vehicle- even though people really believe they substantially improve the handling of their cars.

And yes again. TEIN really was considered to be a subpar company back in the day. Their basic/entry level stuff was trash, but their high end stuff was good. From the sounds of things lately, it seems as though TEIN has stepped it up a bit, especially on their lower level stuff.

OP: for your car, based on the info and budget you've given, I think mt of us here will recommend ST. You really can't beat them for the money. Even a good spring would be an improvement over stock and a lot of the coilovers systems in that sub $1,000 price range.

Please remember: STIFFER DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN BETTER HANDLING!

I was just at the Tein Factory in Yokohama less than a month ago and they definitely make stuff in house. I'm not sure all models but they were building flex z's when i was there.

haha I may have a bit of a bias but all bias-ness aside, I seriously think ST coilovers are great for what they cost.

I personally have KW V3 on my street car and ST on my dad's FRS. For a budget of <1000, I'd go for ST all day.

But Tein Flex Z is not bad either.

"Tein" is a brand. They make dampers from $500 to $14,000. To say their top end dampers is the same as their bottom end dampers is just wrong.

I would just go with Godspeed.

1/ You've been told (heard) or you have read? People are more likely to post bad reviews than good. That is, they are more likely to complain about about a bad experience. For this to be meaningful you would have to know the conditions under which the dampers failed and also the total number of dampers sold. If there were 10 bad reports for 15 dampers sold then they are crap. If 2 million were sold then they are reliable.
2/ You are giving conflicting goals. You have "trash" roads but are wanting to drop 1.5". Suspension needs travel to work, especially at your budget.

Mike from CSG rates the Flex Z. His opinion is worth taking note of.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81829

A thing to keep in mind is that many of these entry level coilover companys all source their dampeners from the same taiwanese manufacturer. In the end, it is all very similar in terms of performance. Megan, ksport, bc, godspeed, fortune, stance many of these similar companies source from the same or similar venues. The difference in price is when it comes to purchasing a fully assembled Megan piece from Taiwan, or a "assembled" in US with maybe or maybe not a dyno quality check state side, like Fortune claims. If you go fortune, I wouldn't do prime, at least do the 500s. Stance is another worthy option to look up on, as they're an inverted mono strut (if thats the proper term). Either way, you spend 700-800 on trash, 1k on longer lasting performance, or 6k-10k on racing application performance. I've owned ksport in the late 00's, stance supers a few years ago, fortune 510's, and have riden in Megan streets and tracks. Megan was by far the worst, they're the coilovers you put on to tow your car to not damage your nicer dampers. Swift coils are a worthy option to consider, as they may safe you from a shitty damper; with a proper revalve.