Megan Racing Coilovers - Installed and reviewed!

TimmyD

New member
There are some hand written numbers on the shock as well tucked up under the boot. They're written next to some printed labels.

T: 99
C: 65

Is an example of what I saw on there. The T: is printed and the 99 is written. It is on all four shocks and the numbers are different on each one. What could that relate to? It is written next to something that says kg/f:0.2 which is on all four. Could it be related to shock testing on a dyno?
 

TimmyD

New member
Very easy to get installed, fit very well. A few minutes of modification off the car would make things easier. First cut the rear brake line bracket. I used a hack saw and in just a couple minutes had both brackets opened up like the fronts. If you're using stock hoses, they will not fit into the front brackets. I swapped in technafit lines and they fit better. I'll post about them separately.

I don't completely understand setting preload yet but I checked one of the springs and it seemed fine. The collar that holds the springs was just snugged up so it wasn't hanging loose when the shock was fully decompressed. I installed the suspension without setting the height and it dropped the car a lot, maybe three inches from stock. Very low, it rubbed on some bumps so I've raised it up a bit. The fronts are 10 inches from the bottom of the strut mount to the top of the bottom housing. The rears are 10.5 inches. It still seems like the rear looks a little lower. We'll see after the new tires are on.

With 225/50-16 tires and no spacers I did still get some slight rubbing, on a very large bump, on the inner splash guard. Slight enough that I think 225/45-16 tires that are going on should leave lots of room. There looks to be enough space to put some spacers on too.

Adjusting the height was very easy to do. Once the car is up and the wheel is off its only a minute or two to get it to the height you want (Without adjusting the spring).

I've only driven on full soft and full hard. The full 32 clicks seems excessive. I'd rather be able to have adjustable rebound and compression rather than just one. Full hard is far too harsh for the road. You could call it unsafe, I'll be trying it out again once I get it onto an airstrip and the race track (This coming weekend)

Alignment is being done today, I'll let you know how well the camber can be adjusted soon. Stock I was able to get a full degree of negative camber rear but only half a degree front. This should be far better.
 

Locker

Member
I just installed my Megan's last night. Install was really simple though ran into the same brake line issues. Nothing a zip tie couldn't fix.

I have yet to dail the suspension in for the exact height or camber I'm looking for but took them for a 100k test drive last night and was VERY impressed. My old suspension was toast and you'd feel a bump a few hundred meters up the road so I guess anything would be an improvement but I really like the ride.

I left the suspension at the height they arrived in the box and turned the it to its softest setting and drove. It was tight but didn't ride rough at all. Super Impressed. My girlfriend enjoyed it as well. She said the ride was middle of the road. Not as rough as my lifted Frontier but not quite as smooth as her stock Subaru.
Not a great review I know but I can say right now I'd recommend them to anyone
 

TimmyD

New member
Update:

I still like these. I've run them several thousand kilometers including normal streets, highway, high and low speed gravel for rally, autocross, and high speed track.

Streets - They're fine. The ride is not air bag soft but very reasonable. I've been running them full soft - 3 clicks which seems good.

Highway - Also feel pretty good. High speed humps I'd like it a little stiffer so I don't get any bouncing after a hump but I'll usually get one.

Gravel - The only problem on gravel is washboard. At full soft again I ran a TSD rally that had me on some washboard road. Ideally the shocks would respond faster and have both adjustable rebound and compression rather than just the one.

AutoX - I would like to be able to get some more camber out of the plates. With camber bolts you could get the extreme camber angles like 6 but without you'll be limited to numbers like 3 degrees. I've been running them at numbers like 12 front and 18 rear or 7 front and 18 rear.

Track - I ran a little softer for full track since I found I wasn't gripping as well. 12 front and 15 rear. I think with more practice and stickier tires I could go higher and faster.

I've tried full hard both on the street (bone jarring) and on the track (the car hops on any imperfection on the road) and I find it unusable. Full hard on the shock might be useful with different spring rates but not these ones.

In general I've been able to do everything with these. They were super easy to install, haven't broken, have taken all sorts of abuse. I still want to raise the rear up a bit to make it perfectly level. My ideal situation might be less levels of adjustment, with full stiff being a little softer, and adding the ability to adjust both rebound and compression.

I would definitely recommend these as a good all round suspension that is easy to install. While they may not be pro racing level it will be a while before I really need to move onto something bigger. I'll be continuing to use them for all my motorsports adventures. I am glad I purchased them. Thanks 935!
 

88st165

New member
What spring rates did you get with these? Im currently looking at the megans b/c I want a better setup for autox. How did the spring rates feel? Too soft, too stiff?
 

CAMRYGT4

New member
dose any body have any info on clearance you lose between the inside of the tire and the coil over as aposed to the stock strut?
 
How soft are these on the softest setting? Are they a comfortable ride or are they still pretty stiff comparable to the teins? I want something less harsh than teins.
 

88st165

New member
The very softest setting is tolerable. I would compare the ride to my buddy's mr2 with Teins. Anything higher and you will really start to feel every bump in the road. I dont mind it b/c I used to run the kyb agx's on full stiff all teh time but I do admit I leave the megans on full soft all teh time.

Here is my car with the megans installed. You cannot even fit a finger in the wheel gap in the rear or front. Front can go alittle lower but I saw that I rubbed my midpipe on something so I wouldnt go any lower than that. Im actually planning on raising it up a bit. I needed to roll all the fenders also b/c it was so low.

IMG_7675e.jpg
 

CelicaGT4

New member
I just installed mine this morning. The rear end link mount on the strut is completely off. I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet...everyone seems to be obsessed with spring rates on this thread.


The bracket sits about 2.5-3 full inches too high. Nobody has ran into this problem?
 

YerRandO

Member
Do you have any pictures? No one else seems to have had this perticular issue and the pictures on the first page of this thread clearly shows them in the correct position, no where near 2-3 inches out. Perhaps a mix up in manufacturing or they got mislabeled, Have you contacted the distributor and megan regarding this?
 

CelicaGT4

New member
I guess it's normal. The sway bar just needs rotated up. I would have that they would put the brackets in the same position as the stock ones. Weird.
 
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