Coilover Reviews and Price Differences

Awesome-Trac

New member
So I'm in the market for coilovers and was pretty curious on people's 1st hand experience on different brands they used. Please no situations based on "my friends sisters dog used those coilovers and they suck" just your experience please
Here are a few brands off the top of my head
-Tein coilovers"discontinued"
-Megan coilovers $899.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEGAN-STREET-CO ... 5f&vxp=mtr
-BC coilovers $995.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BC-Racing-BR-Se ... 1b&vxp=mtr
-CXracing coilovers $699.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CXRacing-Coilov ... 07&vxp=mtr
-D2 coilovers $1007.50
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D2-RACING-RS-CO ... b2&vxp=mtr
-TRD coilovers "discontinued"
-Feal 441 coilovers $1400
http://www.rallyracingsuspension.com/page16.php
-Yellow Racing coilovers $880.00
http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-1989-93-Dy ... B005CZLJ6W
-Larus coilovers $850.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2217497278 ... ps&lpid=82
-Ksport coilovers $1035.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-1999-Toyot ... 23&vxp=mtr
Please feel free to throw in others
 

FC Zach

Active member
I've recently installed BCs on mine. The quality and finish look great and so far, for the amount of time I've driven on them I give thumbs up for ride quality too. The best part of these (not sure of the others) is that they can be rebuilt here in the states if the need comes.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
I like my feal 441s an awful lot. I show some feedback on them via my YouTube channel. I have experience with both versions of teins. They are decent but likely will only be found second hand. Bc has a lot of good feedback. Kw won't make a set for the 185 for less than 4500.
 

underscore

Well-known member
I've got BC Racing RAM types, the features for the price were great and overall I like them but I do have two complaints:

- The springs are too stiff, but that was my own mistake as I asked for higher rates than BC spec'd originally. If I was going to do it again I'd likely stick to their suggested rates.

- The rears, at least on the RAM with the inverted dampers, have dampers that are too short. Not a huge problem as the end is threaded so you can adjust the height to within 1" of stock without affecting preload on the springs, but by raising the rears to a driveable height the adjustment knob on the bottom gets pulled up so far into the housing that you need very long, very thin fingers to adjust it.

Beyond those two niggles, they've been great. The fit and finish is excellent and they fit into the car perfectly, I'd definitely order them again but I would stick closer to the suggested rates as I said before.
 

fussellbug

New member
The Largus kit looks very similar to the Megan Racing coilovers. That guy on eBay needs to find a better translator to do his English language advertising.
 

Awesome-Trac

New member
fussellbug":2e9kkg6a said:
The Largus kit looks very similar to the Megan Racing coilovers. That guy on eBay needs to find a better translator to do his English language advertising.

I was looking at those too But not to many reviews. At least they have them for our cars
 

88st165

New member
Coilovers I have first hand experience with on the 165 chassis are:
-Megan Racing (~$1000)
-FEAL 441 (~$1400)

The FEALs are in a different league by comparison. Right out the box they were a bit low so I adjusted them to a functional ride height but I did not fool with the default shock setting. First ride on the street they were surprisingly comfortable even with the 8k/8k spring rates. On the track the car felt great. I was actually very surprised on how it handled even for a 27yr old car. Composed in the corners (tight and sweepers), as well as in the transitions. Of course this is all subjective since everyone's supporting mods are different. I am just comparing it to my other car (2011 SI) that has a Koni based coilover setup and is razor sharp on the track. I would buy another set again for sure.
 

Awesome-Trac

New member
88st165":39x7xhdc said:
Coilovers I have first hand experience with on the 165 chassis are:
-Megan Racing (~$1000)
-FEAL 441 (~$1400)

The FEALs are in a different league by comparison. Right out the box they were a bit low so I adjusted them to a functional ride height but I did not fool with the default shock setting. First ride on the street they were surprisingly comfortable even with the 8k/8k spring rates. On the track the car felt great. I was actually very surprised on how it handled even for a 27yr old car. Composed in the corners (tight and sweepers), as well as in the transitions. Of course this is all subjective since everyone's supporting mods are different. I am just comparing it to my other car (2011 SI) that has a Koni based coilover setup and is razor sharp on the track. I would buy another set again for sure.

Awesome!!! your reviews and first hand experience is what i was looking for! instead of people looking through the internet and other forums for reviews this will help clear up alot of thing! This will also help me because im looking for a decent setup right now
 

underscore

Well-known member
If you're doing pricing you might want to look closer at the brands that have multiple styles of coilovers for our cars.
 

88st165

New member
Awesome-Trac":dkqp6eh9 said:
88st165":dkqp6eh9 said:
Coilovers I have first hand experience with on the 165 chassis are:
-Megan Racing (~$1000)
-FEAL 441 (~$1400)

The FEALs are in a different league by comparison. Right out the box they were a bit low so I adjusted them to a functional ride height but I did not fool with the default shock setting. First ride on the street they were surprisingly comfortable even with the 8k/8k spring rates. On the track the car felt great. I was actually very surprised on how it handled even for a 27yr old car. Composed in the corners (tight and sweepers), as well as in the transitions. Of course this is all subjective since everyone's supporting mods are different. I am just comparing it to my other car (2011 SI) that has a Koni based coilover setup and is razor sharp on the track. I would buy another set again for sure.

Awesome!!! your reviews and first hand experience is what i was looking for! instead of people looking through the internet and other forums for reviews this will help clear up alot of thing! This will also help me because im looking for a decent setup right now

No problem. I did a lot of searching before I decided on the FEALs. I actually approached them asking to make an application for the 185 since they did not have one at the time. Odi the owner was more than happy to do it and its hard to find a company willing to support this rare platform. The positives for going with FEALs are: servicable in the USA so quick turn around time, service cost is reasonable, replacement parts available, ability to choose spring rates, use swift springs which are very nice, communication with the company is top notch, etc. I am sure there are other companies that have similar positives but bottom line is I wanted to support a company that was willing to support us. I contacted several other coilover manufacturers to make a 185 application and they flat out said no due to low sales potential. I know there are already a decent amount of existing companies that make coilovers for our cars but I wanted to try and find a better quality setup (not saying the others are bad quality) and I am pretty happy with my decision. Good luck with your decision, Im sure whatever you go with will work just fine.
 

st182er

New member
I have been running CEIKA coilovers. Been perfect for what I use them for. daily street driving and the occasional race up the mountains. Keeping in mind Australian roads (especially queensland where I live) is pretty good so I can get away with 12kg springs F/R . I would go stiffer if I could but the internets was freaking out that I wanted to go more than 8kg so I went with 12kg.

Quality is really good. pics will do all the talking. I got helper springs front and rear. pillow ball- camber plate front and rear + damping adjust. I got these when the company was still young so the customer service was really good. but since they've gotten busier I've heard other wise.


 
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