Coilover quality progression
 

ST basic < Bilstein/RCE Tarmac 2 < RSR Sports-i < KW V3 < Ohlins/JRZ/Anze/Moton < Penske

I understand that there are many factors to consider in a coilover. I'm not asking for advice as I already know Ohlins fits my personal needs best.

After doing my own research, this seems to be the general consensus. Please correct me if I am wrong and adjust/add to the list. If you are considering adding BC, Stance, or other Taiwanese junk, please......don't.

Where would AST fall in this list? Towards the upper end yes?

I hate these lists. It's very subjective (why put Bilstein below RSR?) and it's difficult to prove anything.

But mostly it's not always a "this is better than that" thing. Sometimes one option is a better fit for a person, regardless of cost. I wouldn't recommend Penskes to everyone...yes they can be tuned to work well pretty much everywhere but there are other considerations.

Also, our RCE Tarmac 2s are built by KW and based on KW Clubsports, which are their next step above KW V3. :)

- Andy

This looks like a ranking for price.

Yeah, I don't get this list. The Tarmac 2's and V3's should be in a similar category with the 2's edging out the V3's on the track imo.

Bilstein B16 <= V3 < T2

first there are physics
then there is personal preference


a suspension is designed to control physics that is in line with your preference


the list that you made is irrelevant because we don't know what you want out of the car and chances are you probably don't really know what you want either.. ie, you probably want what the other guys have but not really understand why you'd want that... bad place to start.

all of those kits apply different methodologies of controlling physics to suit a desired outcome. Some do it better than others, some do it the same as others, but with better components, and some have left physics back in highschool and decided to focus only on the final result... like showing people how hard it is to shove a penny between your tire and fender.


so instead of making a list of coilovers, make a list of things you'd like change in your cars handling and or appearance.


And if the best you can come up with is "make the car handle better while having a good stance" then you've not even scratched the surface in understanding what's going on.

*raises hand*
What's the purpose of this list? You've already done your own research and you have decided that Öhlins (I'm assuming R&T) are the dampers for you. I'm not really sure what it is you are trying to ascertain.

Funny list, lol.

If it was my list, I'd put RSR at the 2nd from the bottom, above ST. Some JDM stuff likes to break and/or corrode/rust.

But it is all very subjective anyways and depends on the right tool for the job... ie: do you want real race coilovers for real non-DD cars, built with materials to dissipate heat quicker, but doesn't have the same longevity as SS..which isn't a race priority as they most likely rebuild/change per season/session.. or do you want streetable coilovers that last longer on the public roads and are designed to be used for a long time without frequent rebuilding and change.

but bro my bc's handle so well!

in all seriousness this list is subjective and especially online depends on that person's knowledge. many think a coil over is a coil over. but if we want to get technical then its hard to compare suspensions as each driver has different wants/needs/styles of driving.

so basically state what you want and who you drive, what wheels/tires oyu want to run then pick the suspension you want, atleast thats how i see it. i'm not about to pitch ohlin's to someone who will just dd the car and wants a drop and a good ride, you know?

I like that. Let's arbitrarily change someone's arbitrary list for the most arbitrary of reasons: there's some random stuff on the market from the same country that doesn't hold up as well...

Perfect reasoning. :)

If it was my list I would put this at the top and bottom
Attachment 83503
and put this in the middle.
Attachment 83504

All of these lists are subjective to the buyers situation. If I was building a track car for the weekends the RCE T2 all the way. A race car? The Penske. A cruiser with some spirited runs? The V3 or B16.

Point is, every list will be different, always. And most forum new members come up asking for a coilover for the DD that will take spirited driving abuse, which has been answered more times than I can count.

AST has been acquired (not sure about th specifics of that so don't quote me on it) by Moton, so essentially it's Moton rebranded as AST, and MCS would also fit in that JRZ/Moton(AST)/MCS catacogry. I would rank Ohlins lower than those, only because they aren't very adjustable nor do they have very many options aka only 2, 1 street version and race dampers.

Ok....ALL JDM coilovers suck ass in quality compared to bilstein/ohlins/penske/kw/rce/jrz/moton (i kid, i kid ;)). Is that specific enough and better? lol ;)

But I guess it's subjective and also highly depends on if you're a jdm fanboy, or if you're a shop sponsored by/representing jdm products. I am sure the CSG guys (some of the most knowledgeable/experienced ones here) will totally disagree with my ignorant joking comment, with solid info to back up their knowledge...but like I said, it's subjective - I like chocolate, and you may like vanilla instead.

Google any jdm coilover brand and you will see nonstop countless pics of broken and/or rusted out and bad condition coilovers...pretty much like how you see many broken Rota wheels. Now google bilstein/ohlins/penske/kw/jrz/etc coilovers.... different story huh? ...you'll probably see 1 broken/bad-condition coilover from the latter brands, for every 10+ broken/bad-condition jdm coilovers.



.

I mostly agree with you, I just thought it was funny. I really hate the JDM fanboyism...

You'll probably only find 1 broken RSR coilover too. They're truly not on the same level as most JDM junk...

All I know is for $1300-1500.

The golden ticket is Bilstein B14 plus camber plates.

Don't even waste your time on anything else in that price range.