MeisterR ZetaCRD+ Coilover Review!

[mpross]

I've had BuddyClub Racing Spec coilovers on my car for the last month and a half or so, but after having some issues with noise I decided to see what my other options were.

I spoke to Jerrick at MeisterR after seeing their thread on this forum (first to see if he knew what may be causing the noises with my BuddyClubs, and then about what MeisterR had to offer), and decided to give these coilovers a shot. My new set of MeisterR ZetaCRD+ coilovers arrived 2 days after placing the order, and I installed them this past weekend. Here are my findings...

Quality:

My first impression was that these are quality items. The welds looked good, the anodized finish on the top hats and lock rings looked good, as did the pillowballs. The finish on the shock body looks like it'll hold up well during Chicago winters too.

Install:

Install was a breeze. The FRS isn't a very challenging vehicle to install coilovers on to begin with, but everything went on as planned without any hick-ups.

Note: One of the selling points in the MeisterR thread was that the c-spanner to tighten the lock rings was a patent pending, laser-cut design. I assumed it was just a bit of a gimmick because a c-spanner is a c-spanner, but I was actually pretty wrong on that. It does grip the lock rings and make getting them tight without slipping and damaging the rings much easier.

Driving Dynamics:

These coilovers are 32-way adjustable. I decided to start at 16 clicks for a baseline. In this setting the car feels a little bit more aggressive than factory suspension. It's a little firmer, but the turn in is noticeably sharper and it felt more planted coming out of corners.

Next I put it up to 20 clicks front and rear which made a noticeable difference to the driving dynamics. It was noticeably firmer, but still very compliant over bumps. The car was noticeably flatter through corners, it reacted immediately to steering inputs, and I definitely felt more feedback with what the car was doing.

After that I bumped it up to 24 clicks, and the result was pretty much what I expected. Essentially all of the feel and responsiveness that I noticed from bumping up the hardness before was amplified even further. The biggest thing that surprised me was that even though it's a very firm ride in this setting, it still wasn't punishing. At any setting these coilovers seem to iron out bumps. You absolutely know they're there, you definitely feel them, but it's not violent jolts to your spine... Compared to the BuddyClubs it feels like the MeisterR's were designed to keep the car flat and planted, but also not rattle you to death in the process. The BuddyClubs definitely made the car feel more planted and flat too, but they felt a little bit more like that's all they were meant to do- where being comfortable was an afterthought.

Noise

NONE, thank God. This was the primary reason I decided to switch coilovers, and thankfully there hasn't been any up to this point. I think the rear top hats are largely responsible for that since they have plenty of rubber for noise suppression where the coilover bolts to the chassis. I expected to hear the normal pillowball noise in the front (occasional noise when jolted that you expect to hear with any coilover that uses pillowballs), but I haven't heard any of that.

Customer Service

While not directly related to the product, I feel like I need to mention Jerrick. I wasn't a customer when I first messaged him, and he was happy to trade PMs back and fourth trying to diagnose my issues with my previous set. I don't know many companies who would take the time to do that for someone else's product. Once I decided to make the switch and up through now he has answered every question that I've thrown his way (often times responding within the hour even on weekends or after normal business hours), and I am extremely confident that if I do encounter any problems with these coilovers I'll be well taken care of. He even PM'd me while I was installing them just to make sure everything was going smoothly, and to see if I needed anything.

Final Verdict

I'm couldn't be happier with these coilovers. They are comfortable enough for every day use, but capable enough to make a big difference auto crossing or at the track. I expected to make some sacrifices when I decided to put coilovers on my car- whether that be mild noise or a compromise in comfort for performance, but MeisterR has definitely done their homework with these. I'm very pleased with the performance gained, but I don't feel like I've sacrificed anything. I'm pretty picky with these sorts of things too, so that's saying something.

If you're looking for a track focused coilover, these may not be the ones for you because a harder set would probably be better for your needs. If you DD your car and want something you can easily live with every day and that also gives you a big boost on the track I think these are a great option- especially with the special they're currently running ($995 shipped, I think they're about $1250 normally, but they feel like they would cost more than that).

[swarb]

Thanks for the review.
Any sway bar endlinks included?
What is the wheel/tire/camber setup? especially the front, any clearance issues with the larger diameter front spring?
Where are they made?
What does the collar adjustment tool look like?
How long did you have the buddyclubs? and did you buy them used?

[mpross]

Originally Posted by swarb

Thanks for the review.
Any sway bar endlinks included?
What is the wheel/tire/camber setup? especially the front, any clearance issues with the larger diameter front spring?
Where are they made?
What does the collar adjustment tool look like?
How long did you have the buddyclubs? and did you buy them used?

The front endlinks are included. Like most coilover kits the rears are not.

The wheels are 18x8.5 +45 front, 18x9.5 +45 rear, tires are 235/40/18 front, 255/35/18 rear. Camber, I'm not sure yet. I installed them Saturday, so I haven't gotten in yet. There are no clearance issues whatsoever front or rear though. I still have room to spare.

I'm actually not positive where they're made. I believe they're made in the UK, but I'm not positive. I'm sure when Jerrick see's this thread he will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

I had the BuddyClubs for about a month- month and a half, and I bought them new.

Here is the collar adjustment tool. It's nice because it grips more area at once. It contours 3 notches of the smaller collar and 2 notches of the larger collar, and it's 100% contact. I know that, with the BuddyClub spanner at least, there was only one notch being gripped at once, so it was much easier to slip off on accident. Plus this spanner is long enough to get some torque on it without putting a pipe on it for more leverage.

[MeisterR]

Glad you are enjoying the suspension.
The Enkei Kojin looks really good on the car too.

To answer a few questions:
1. Drop Links:
Front adjustable drop links are included.

2. Front Springs:
The widest part is only 115mm, so it isn't very wide.
I would say this springs will give no less clearance than more common coilovers that utilise wide springs such as the Bilstein PSS9 coilovers.

3. Where it is made:
The ZetaCRD are made oversea. Due to Non-Disclosure Agreement mean I cannot give out any more info than so.
However, these are build according to MeisterR's specification that we engineered at our UK R&D department.
These include Top mount, springs, springs rate, damper stroke travel, damper valving, physical parts of the damper such as damper rod diameter, unique locking collars, and more.
What that mean is the MeisterR coilovers are unique from anything else available in the market, as we engineered our own specification.

4. UK patent pending locking collars:
Our collars are CAD designed in our UK R&D department, and is under going UK patent process.
The C-spanner locks into multiple rounded lobe, and therefore allows large amount of torque to be put through without slipping.
Here is what they look like locked together





Due to the high tolerance needed for this system to work, each C-spanner had to be individually laser cut in order for this system to work.

Hope that answer a few questions, anything else please feel free to let us know.

Jerrick

[MeisterR]

Have you had more time playing with the damping adjustments?
Just wondering how you are getting along.

Any concerns, just drop us a PM and let us know.

Jerrick

[mpross]

Originally Posted by MeisterR

Have you had more time playing with the damping adjustments?
Just wondering how you are getting along.

Any concerns, just drop us a PM and let us know.

Jerrick

Everything is still going great! I removed the wheels just to make sure everything was how it should be and everything was still perfect. The ride is still great. Still no noise. I'm still very very happy with them.

I've done quite a bit of tinkering with the damping adjustments. I landed on 16 clicks from full hard in the rear and 15 clicks from full hard on the front as my favorite street setting. It's aggressive in the setting - the turn in is great, it stays flat though the corners, and it's definitely a huge jump in performance over stock, but it's still plenty comfortable for when I'm just driving normally. Had my wife in the car the other day in this setting (she's definitely not a car person, and she's very vocal when she thinks a car is uncomfortable) and she had no complaints, so MeisterR ZetaCRD+ coilovers are "Complaining Wife Approved" haha.

I'll be autocrossing in the next few weeks, so I'm excited to see how it does there. I'm optimistic because my preferred road setting is right around the middle of the damping range (16 clicks R/15 clicks F out of 32 possible), so I've got plenty of room to stiffen it up for track/autocross.

I'll definitely post again after autocrossing for anyone who's interested in how it goes.

[MeisterR]

That sounds great, let us know how the Autocross go.

Yes. the MeisterR coilovers have a history of passing the "Girlfriend Test".
Very common for us with the Mazda Miata as the OEM suspension is very harsh.
Everyone knows, no matter how well something perform, if the other half say "No", it is coming off.

Keep us up to date, and don't be afraid to use the damping on track as that is what they are design for.

Jerrick

[mpross]

Originally Posted by MeisterR

That sounds great, let us know how the Autocross go.

Yes. the MeisterR coilovers have a history of passing the "Girlfriend Test".
Very common for us with the Mazda Miata as the OEM suspension is very harsh.
Everyone knows, no matter how well something perform, if the other half say "No", it is coming off.

Keep us up to date, and don't be afraid to use the damping on track as that is what they are design for.

Jerrick

Her opinion has never impacted my automotive decisions before haha. It is nice not to hear complaining about it for once though

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

[MeisterR]

Any more chance of driving it this weekend?
Any more feedback regarding the damping adjustment and how it affect the driving feel?

Where have you set the damping adjustment at the moment?

Jerrick

[TMW]

Originally Posted by mpross

Her opinion has never impacted my automotive decisions before haha. It is nice not to hear complaining about it for once though

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

Hey, were you able to mess around with these a little more? such as autocross, damping adjustments, etc. I placed an order for these and just want to get a feel of how I should set mine up. Pretty excited for these since I haven't really heard anything bad. Thanks.

[mpross]

Originally Posted by TMW

Hey, were you able to mess around with these a little more? such as autocross, damping adjustments, etc. I placed an order for these and just want to get a feel of how I should set mine up. Pretty excited for these since I haven't really heard anything bad. Thanks.

Hey, I will be autocrossing them in the next two weeks. I've decided that my favorite street settings are 14-15 clicks from full hard. It's a really good balance of comfort and performance. I usually keep the rear a click or two harder than the front because my tires are staggered, so it dials out a little understeer from having a wider contact patch in the rear.

I set the front at 2.2 degrees of negative camber which the car has responded to very well. I don't have LCA s so I had to leave the camber where it was at (-2.5 with a finger with gap between the tire and fender).

They've been on for a month or a little more now and they're still perfect. You're going to love em!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

[mpross]

Originally Posted by MeisterR

Any more chance of driving it this weekend?
Any more feedback regarding the damping adjustment and how it affect the driving feel?

Where have you set the damping adjustment at the moment?

Jerrick

I've had the damping settings in several places, and the one surprising thing that I've noticed is that none of the settings feel "wrong". At softer settings it doesn't feel sloppy, at harder settings it doesn't seem jarring. That hasn't been my experience with other coilovers where there seems to be a range where the coilover is happy and the rest are pointless, so Kudos to you guys Jerrick because you nailed it with the tuning on these.

Personally my favorite settings are just a couple clicks towards the firmer side.

[MeisterR]

Let us know how it goes on the Autocross.
The springs rate are design to work as a good all rounder with road compound tires.

So there should be body roll, but those body roll will be controlled.
Any long bend will be where the coilovers really shine as it will feel a lot better with more control on those high speed corner.

Jerrick

[TMW]

Just bumping this thread. I received these coilovers and installed them a couple days ago. I'm extremely pleased with these. Ride is much better than I expected. Anyone looking for sub $1000 coilovers should definitely check these out.