# a SERIOUS coilover review thread. **URL:** \ **Category:** SON240sx Automotive\ **Created:** [August 8, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780 "2005-08-08T08:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/speedlife/original/2X/b/b7170c8eddc0b95ece6b88172b2f416a08489a45.png) [@system](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/41 "2005-08-09T13:20:42Z")
TEIN TYPE FLEX Spring Rate 6/5 I have had these on the car now for the whole summer. Very easy to install and setup. I bought them used so I could not know what the dampners were set to which was kinda bad but I think I got it figured out. Good drop from stock height, you really can if you want slam the car with them. Good for street use I dont find them to be to harsh or stuff but I would personaly go with a slighty higher spring rate then what I got. Overall I am happy with the money I paid for them and would recommend them. ---
**Author:** ![DTS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@DTS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/DTS)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/42 "2005-08-09T14:04:16Z")
> [@NeveR](#): > > [quote=DTS][quote=NeveR]Anyway, to try and get back on topic. > > I’m not interested in any weaksauce spring rates: i.e. 8/6 or lower. > > If i’m gonna blow my money on coilovers, I want something trackable that can stand tons of unforgiving abuse. > > DDrug appears to have some sort of external valving reservoir. Much like the Endless coils but in a cheaper sort of way. > > Inexpensive is good. i think you should research how spring rates affect handling… just because you have a super stiff spring does not mean that you will handle better. there is a point of over stiffening stuff… 10/8s will suck ass on the street all you will do is bounce all over the corner. on a track only car its differnet[/quote] I said: If i’m gonna blow my money on coilovers, I want something trackable that can stand tons of unforgiving abuse. Not: I want to handle super duper on the streets. Generally speaking, track worthy coilovers will still perform well on asphault without spectator stands. Thus, my car doesn’t have to be a track star _only_ for me to want 10/8s, etc… Bumpy shmumpy. Besides I don’t want to buy coilovers that drive nice and comfy on the streets and turn all soppy on the track. It’s not like anyone should be: a) speeding b) drifting on the streets anyway.[/quote] if your drift only driving you wont grip on the streets with 12/10s and it can be dangerous. and i dont even think they will grip well on a perfect track unless you are running a set of big slicks. eliminating all body roll compleatly and suspension travel is not always the best idea. you should just weld a bar in and take out your shocks and springs if all you want is a stiff ride. then you dont even have to worry about spending money on expensive coilovers. ---
**Author:** ![\_M\_aurice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c5a1d2/32.png) [@\_M\_aurice](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/_M_aurice)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/43 "2005-08-09T14:49:26Z")
> [@Jesse Jericho](#): > > Yeah I drive in Toronto every day, so its pretty important to have comfy suspension… so would you change the spring rates on yours, now that you’ve used them for a while? I wouldn’t change the rates because I don’t often drive in Toronto, and I’ve gotten used to them… And I don’t think that its an option with these ATM. > [@Shift\_KA24DET](#): > > ^^^ Weaksause Spring Rates? > > Springrates are one thing, Preload are another. > > Come for a ride in my car and tell me 7/5 is weaksause. > > My sunroof cracked because of them. > > Thats to say though I have 30mm of preload on them. > > Coilovers are only as good as how they are set up. > > You cannot just pull them out of the box and install them. Adam, would you mind explaining how one would ‘set-up’ the preloads? I know “everyone has their own settings they like” but a bench mark number would really help someone like myself… ie- 30mm preload if you want to crack your funroof, 15mm if you want to _insert thing you want to do here_ I know what preload is, but not the true effects of it. ---
**Author:** ![iQuAGoD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@iQuAGoD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/iQuAGoD)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/44 "2005-08-09T14:55:25Z")
Coilovers are linear springs, preloading them doesn’t make them any more or less stiff. IIRC it just helps when cornerweighting? ---
**Author:** ![\_M\_aurice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c5a1d2/32.png) [@\_M\_aurice](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/_M_aurice)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/45 "2005-08-09T14:57:22Z")
It would make them stiffer because they are compressed, neh? ---
**Author:** ![iQuAGoD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@iQuAGoD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/iQuAGoD)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/46 "2005-08-09T15:00:22Z")
When you compress it, it doesnt matter, the spring rate is LINEAR. ---
**Author:** ![\_M\_aurice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c5a1d2/32.png) [@\_M\_aurice](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/_M_aurice)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/47 "2005-08-09T15:02:09Z")
Hence the word linear… You were even nice enough to capslock it… I should probably learn to read :lol: Much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![jammin1911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jammin1911](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/jammin1911)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/48 "2005-08-09T15:23:44Z")
Just to add to Varun’s post and pimp these a little more… The Megan Racing coils are pretty decent, and for the price they can’t be beaten. (All of the MR stuff is like that). As far as comparison to other springs, I don’t have much experience so I can’t say for sure. If Varun is claiming they are better than the Tein HA/HE’s then they’re definetly not bad. Excellent street coilovers, not extremely happy with handling improvements, etc but they’re a huge improvement over stock. Still can’t even come close to my buddy’s 100% stock mazdaspeed 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjm\_240sx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@jjm\_240sx](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/jjm_240sx)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/49 "2005-08-09T15:48:27Z")
I am running D2’s with 7/5’s. I was able to bend my front hubs going over some bumps a few weeks back. I had to replace them. I guess they were the weekest link on the chassy. ---
**Author:** ![slipperysilvia](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/slipperysilvia/32/5485_2.png) [@slipperysilvia](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/slipperysilvia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/50 "2005-08-09T16:17:07Z")
one more thing id like to add so people learn a little about coilovers. The higher end coilovers are designed to have stiffer bound and rebound strokes however they are also designed to be rebuilt more often. I had tein coilovers in my s13 6 years ago when they were just getting out in north america. The first thing i learned when researching was never use a full race coilover on the street. The reason was because they are far more delicate then a street designed coilover and cannot take the abuse of daily driving. TRACK USE IS NOT EVEN 1/2 THE ABUSE OF STREET USE! ---
**Author:** ![iQuAGoD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@iQuAGoD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/iQuAGoD)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/51 "2005-08-09T17:14:52Z")
> [@Jammin1911](#): > > Still can’t even come close to my buddy’s 100% stock mazdaspeed 😉 I am rocking Tein HA’s and I beg to differ. I am sure my car will pull more Gs than a stock Mazdaspeed. They handle very well for a stock car, but please. ---
**Author:** ![AnDrEw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AnDrEw](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/AnDrEw)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/52 "2005-08-09T18:36:22Z")
> [@slipperysilvia](#): > > one more thing id like to add so people learn a little about coilovers. The higher end coilovers are designed to have stiffer bound and rebound strokes however they are also designed to be rebuilt more often. I had tein coilovers in my s13 6 years ago when they were just getting out in north america. The first thing i learned when researching was never use a full race coilover on the street. The reason was because they are far more delicate then a street designed coilover and cannot take the abuse of daily driving. TRACK USE IS NOT EVEN 1/2 THE ABUSE OF STREET USE! Very good point that many have missed well I have been reading this thread. Very good point Varun, noone touched on that. I would bet dampening would start to suck after a while because of wear on the valving especially driving on Toronto streets :lol: Ever wonder why the guys in Japan swap coils every season? I did alot of research on coils and the best in price range of most people I found was the Section/Silk roads. Guys down in Florida have been running these for a couple years and apparently love them to death. If you don’t have quite that amount of money, get the Megans. They are much better than the D2’s, have adjustable shock body and people are running nice amounts of preload with them. Andrew. ---
**Author:** ![jammin1911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jammin1911](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/jammin1911)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/53 "2005-08-10T05:07:43Z")
> [@iQuABoB](#): > > Coilovers are linear springs, preloading them doesn’t make them any > more or less stiff. IIRC it just helps when cornerweighting? This isn’t quite true. Don’t be fooled by the word linear. It doesn’t mean that the same amount of force is required to compress the spring regardless of how much it is already compressed. It just means that if you were to graph the amount of force versus the distance the spring is compressed, the line is linear. Meaning it keeps getting more difficult at a constant rate. Non-linear springs can get exponentially more difficult or less difficult to compress the further you compress them. //edit// As a rough example since I’m sometimes not very clear when I explain things… Let’s say it takes 10 newtons of force to compress a spring 1" If this spring is linear it would take exactly 20 newtons of force to compress it 2", 30 newtons of force to compress it 3", etc. A non-linear spring might also take 10 newtons of force to compress a spring 1", but it could take only 15 newtons of force to compress it 1.5" (or similarly, it could take 25 newtons of force to compress it 1.5"). Hope thats clear! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jammin1911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jammin1911](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/jammin1911)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/54 "2005-08-10T05:14:54Z")
> [@iQuABoB](#): > > [quote=Jammin1911]Still can’t even come close to my buddy’s 100% stock mazdaspeed 😉 I am rocking Tein HA’s and I beg to differ. I am sure my car will pull more Gs than a stock Mazdaspeed. They handle very well for a stock car, but please.[/quote] Well, I’m quite sure it could be due to other things in either my car or yours. I’ve got 13 year old bushing, stock sways (with shitty bushings), 15" rims w/ only _decent_ tires (Yoko ES100’s). The MSP would have been better in all of these situations, and your car probably is also. I’m doing a whiteline buy soon and I’ll be grabbing an entire bushing kit and new sways from myself so maybe that will help ---
**Author:** ![roast](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/roast/32/5498_2.png) [@roast](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/roast)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/55 "2005-08-10T06:30:59Z")
It’s good to see some discussion regarding preload however I have no clue how to actualy preload my coilovers… Can someone do a small writeup on how to preload and what it does? ---
**Author:** ![Racer\_XTREME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@Racer\_XTREME](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Racer_XTREME)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:43am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/56 "2005-08-10T07:43:39Z")
> [@SHIFT\_KA24DET](#): > > ^^^ Pricetag? > > Who makes them and where? Contact Hotbits directly, there is a place in brampton that remanufactures and sells them. Ive contacted them about rally suspension, its pretty beefy but pretty expensive. … street setup is probably around 1800 for adjustablility, 1400 for just height adjustability. EDIT: I hear they are really stiff, people complain about them on the street. ---
**Author:** ![Racer\_XTREME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@Racer\_XTREME](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Racer_XTREME)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/57 "2005-08-10T07:52:42Z")
> [@Jammin1911](#): > > [quote=iQuABoB]Coilovers are linear springs, preloading them doesn’t make them any > more or less stiff. IIRC it just helps when cornerweighting? This isn’t quite true. Don’t be fooled by the word linear. It doesn’t mean that the same amount of force is required to compress the spring regardless of how much it is already compressed. It just means that if you were to graph the amount of force versus the distance the spring is compressed, the line is linear. Meaning it keeps getting more difficult at a constant rate. Non-linear springs can get exponentially more difficult or less difficult to compress the further you compress them. //edit// As a rough example since I’m sometimes not very clear when I explain things… Let’s say it takes 10 newtons of force to compress a spring 1" If this spring is linear it would take exactly 20 newtons of force to compress it 2", 30 newtons of force to compress it 3", etc. A non-linear spring might also take 10 newtons of force to compress a spring 1", but it could take only 15 newtons of force to compress it 1.5" (or similarly, it could take 25 newtons of force to compress it 1.5"). Hope thats clear! :)[/quote] ahha, glad to see someone clear this (i was about too) Hookes law baby!, … hooke PWN3DS J00! And varun posted a very good point, more serious suspension like the hotbits race suspension, you are expected to rebuild them often, like once a season. ---
**Author:** ![jammin1911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jammin1911](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/jammin1911)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/58 "2005-08-10T14:08:55Z")
Gah, that doesn’t sound like much fun, heh. I never really thought about that! Sticking _mostly_ to average street driving how long would one think my megans will last me before needing some maintenance? ---
**Author:** ![iQuAGoD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@iQuAGoD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/iQuAGoD)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/59 "2005-08-10T14:17:51Z")
So how come people preload springs and dont just get stiffer springs and run less preload? ---
**Author:** ![Alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Alex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780/60 "2005-08-10T14:46:14Z")
> [@iQuABoB](#): > > So how come people preload springs and dont just get stiffer springs and run less preload? because preload is pure grassroots guy [Previous page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780.md?page=2) [Next page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-serious-coilover-review-thread/87780.md?page=4)