Then sir what you need are double adjustable dampers. You get what you pay for. Do you honestly expect to pay 550$ish + 200ish for springs whatever for some dampers and get individual rebound and compression adjustability that DOES something (most japanese coilovers that even have double adjustability don’t do jack shit if you dyno them).
I run KYB AGX with s-tech springs and they are fine. They have not blown on me. Been a year since I’ve been using them. I will be selling them soon, only because I will be goin to a custom setup.
You are asking a little too much out of a 550$ + springs + shipping/whatever setup. The adjustability is fine for what it is, imho, but you are right it is not ‘perfect’ or great… but your expectations are astounding for the price. Just like megan racing/ex number of taiwanese colorful coilovers, their adjustability ALSO sucks but you think they make a difference in dampening each time you try to adjust their ‘36 way’ whatever adjustments.
KYB AGX + Stech are plenty for autox/track and daily driving, unless you start being more demanding… then son you gotta pay the dineros, and you get what you pay for. I would run a bit stiffer springs with GCs, maybe 300-350lbs/inch ish spring rates and be fine with it. The car feels great with the max settings, but then the problem becomes more so for daily driving than anything else, it would become skittish on bumpy roads… but on smooth surfaces it kicks ass. Would be great if they had individual rebound and compression dampening but alas, nope. Even koni yellows, if you want doulbe adjustability you gotta pay for it to be built it. But you know what, they work (much better than KYB AGX or your average Megan racing-whatever taiwanese coilovers)
Edit: If I was suggesting someone to build a serious budget setup I would tell them to build a Koni Yellow + GC kit over any other taiwanese 36way whatever coilover or KYB/monroe/tokico/whatever.
For the entry budget KYB AGX+Stech is great to get you going. It indeed is the cheapest setup with some adjustability. There is of course cheaper but it won’t be adjustable. Essentially KYB AGX+Stech is an overall compromise. You get adjustability, you get lowering ability, you get slightly better than stock perofrmance, a little bit of everything. Double adjustability + cheap = does not exist if you want it to work.
Also don’t think Stances are be all end all coilovers. Once on dynos, they suck too, they are just a bit better, less skittish than megan racing/rest of taiwan-r-us dampers.
Don’t get me wrong but this is the reality, the lie that has been cast over most of the ‘jdm’ eyes of the 240 communities.
If you want quality that works get KONIs, Ohlins, ADS, motons, penskes, etc… but I highly doubt any one on son240 will care, be able to understand, afford or know how to use/setup any of these and most would think it is unnecessary or only for racing or only think someone who gets it will get it to show off his JDM tight car or some other ludicrous idea haha. Can you believe that there are people with Bilsteins running 12kg/mm springs and they are more comfortable than your megan/stance/kts/godspeed/colorful coilovers with alot less spring rates? Well it’s true
I’m a firm believer in the cheap, reliable, fast formula. You can only have two within the formula.
Cheap + reliable = Slow
Reliable + fast = Expensive
Cheap + fast = Not reliable