BAttle of the coilovers

[ESPER]

wassap everyone!

well i finally am ready to purchase a full coilover system for my 95 s14. the only thing is i have been doing research on this forum as well as others and just as i thought i jnew what i wanted to get, it only got even more confusing!!

first off all, who sells a "complete" set up. i ask this because i read ppl saying some setups come with pillowball mounts, some don't, some let you adjust dampening, some dont, etc. so which ar FULL?!?! they all say FULL?!?hehehe also,what is dampening force?? because i read taht it is the stiffness and softness of your car and only certain coilover setups let you adjust this. but doesnt the car always get stiffer when u lower it and softer when u heighten it??

ok, heres a sample post from the guys at zilvia.et :

JIC FLT-A2's coming (can't wait). I bought them b/c I didn't want to buy a spring and shock combo that would be good for the street, but make my track driving suffer. I hope to eventually turn the 240 into a pure track whore.. so I didn't want to buy things twice. The FLT-A2's are an excellent buy for the money (check with JDM Recycler - DAvid Nguyen). They have all the feature of the Zeal Function B6's without the $2000 price tag. I talked to the guys at JIC, and they say they are very willing to suit the "racer" They will do custom re-valving, and they offer just about any spring rate you could want. they come with 8/6 f/r. I thought that might be a bit stiff, but when I asked them about it, he said give the 8/6's a try first.. b/c they are very well dampened, and may ride a good bit smoother than you think.

so whats that allabout?? and what about tein's??

i appreciate all those who make this purchase easier for me, i dont want to buy the wrong stuff. by the way,i want the to know what the BEST coilovers out there are, (most complete) and severalchoices just in case they are like WAAY TOO expensive but i got like $1500 to spend now, but i can always save up more. i am planning to drift and ROAD race and TRACK race. i want to do it all!! :ylsuper

[Exar-Kun]

you got 2 choices, in my opinion of "race ready" coil overs:TEINAPEX-I

tein has more customisable choices, but apex-I's N-1 coil overs are just about as adjustable as a custom race setup(light weight alluminum rebuildable and revalveable shock bodies, 24 point dampening adjustment, height controll independant of srping travel)

both of them can come with upper pillows(apex-I n-1's do). but neither are super low priced, but you can probably get a good set of teins for the 1500, or a bit more. apexI ones run 1700 to 2200.

-chet

[APEXi240]

Get Tein's.

Does anyone know how to rebuild a coilover...I need to rebuild the rears...and I'm not too sure about what to do, and where to get the right shocks (I have World Sports, the tech guy at Apexi was useless).

[Exar-Kun]

"rebuild the gears"?like revalve the shock, or the adjustment peices?take it to a specialty shop, theres 3 here in GA that can do it..

[91nis240]

i jsu got a set of ground controls and koni adjustables, ohh my god i love them!!!

[EyeStabPeople]

get a set of Tein type HAs http://www.enjukuracing.com has them for 1050 theyll be VERY good, with some other stuff itll be ale to outhandle a ferrari with these coilovers, good luck.

BTW tell him that Rich Bjornson sent you, he might give you a better deal

[ESPER]

so what are the differences between all the tein stuff??

the HA sound aiight but i want upper ball pillow mounts.

from what i udnerstand the "RA" sounds the best, i guess, more insight is appreciated thanks!!

[I H8 UR DSM]

you got 2 choices, in my opinion of "race ready" coil overs:TEINAPEX-I

tein has more customisable choices, but apex-I's N-1 coil overs are just about as adjustable as a custom race setup(light weight alluminum rebuildable and revalveable shock bodies, 24 point dampening adjustment, height controll independant of srping travel)

both of them can come with upper pillows(apex-I n-1's do). but neither are super low priced, but you can probably get a good set of teins for the 1500, or a bit more. apexI ones run 1700 to 2200.

-chet

and just curious, why do you say that? I'd lean towards JIC or buddy club personally.....zeal makes a good product also...please explain : )

[Exar-Kun]

Im basing it on what I see used by racers locally, and the materials used in their manufacture. apex-i uses lightweight materials, but its costs a lot...(just an example), and their tunability, TEIN makes many, many versions of their coilovers, with varying spring rates to suite whatever use YOU need them for, and apex makes 2 versions, with the n-1 being fully revalveable to your specs, and 24 point adjustable..

JIC seems to make a good "almost great" product, everyone I;'ve talked to seems to think they represent a strong value, but arent quite a "race setup", but many people only THINK they want a race setup...

I have never had experiance with buddy club, nor have any information about them(ignorance about them, thuisly I dont post about it.)amnd ZEAL...well I just plum forgot. ZEAL b-6's are nice, and I would rank them pretty high.

there ya go man -chet

[I H8 UR DSM]

ok, no prob.....im not to fluent in the whole coilover scene...so i wasnt asking with sarcasm, i just wanted your opinion on them all : )

to me Apexi N1's are popular because of their availablity, popularity of the name, and good brand reputation....they are a good product, and will always be more popular in the US then the other companies due to their 'hard to findness', lol.....

but yea N1's are designed for race

I think JIC's are the prettiest, LOLOLOL ; )....well i think the high model of the JIC's are just as good and better then most available, BUT dollar for dollar the N1's are always going to be a great choice.....ill get JIC's though : P

[Two-Forty]

I just looked up APEXI N1's

240SX 89-94 New Pillow New Spring $2569.61!!!!!!!!!!

(the N-1 Dampers feature adjustable spring perches and adjustable lower collars so that ride height can be changed without affecting the length of the damper stroke. The shock absorber is a gas-charged, short-case, short-stroke, monotube design that can be fine-tuned with its 13-step ride adjustment settings. With the proper equipment and technical knowledge, the dampers can be disassembled, revalved and rebuilt to suit the requirements of hardcore suspension gurus. The system also includes high-performance upper pillow mounts)

Now is that worth the price?

[Exar-Kun]

are you willing to pay for it?

you can get them cheaper... check around to enjuku racing, NOPI, phase-2 etc.

I think apex-i makes great stuff, and I use their products without any worries about craftsmanship, etc.

I'll be buying a set of n-1 coilovers, with a set of cusco swaybars, and cusco adjustable rear arms for my suspension needs...

-chet

[APEXi240]

I was dissapointed thoroughly with my World Sports. I've had them for less that 10k and the rear struts already blew on them. I asked about rebuilding the rears because I have no clue on how to replace them...and there are no real specialty shops in my area, and for the price of buying new shocks and paying someone to stick them in...I could just buy new rear coilovers.

Oh yeah, and I called Apexi, and they will not have any equiment to do any custom revalving, rebuilding, ect until the new year (the moron I talked to didn't even know where I could order the proper shocks to replace the rears, he had absolutly no useful information). Tein will have this my Dec, and JIC already has the machinary and capability.

I H8 UR DSM...would Rollhard be able to replace the shocks...or would they be able to order just rear suspension parts? I was looking at Teins, and Rollhard is kinda close to my house (which I never knew).

[Two-Forty]

no I wouldn't pay for it. maybe you can help me where I can find affordable coilovers thats the bang for it buck.

[Exar-Kun]

"I was dissapointed thoroughly with my World Sports"

thats because the WS campeners atent even close to race, or evn ocassional race quality use man. those are the "cheap" full coilovers. If you bought them, you bought apex-i's bottom of the bucket coil over. all it is is a new shcoks and spring, in a nice housing man...

I would recoomend TEIN to anyone freely, and the N-1 apexi's to serious hardcore peeps...

I might go with TEIN myself, just gotta figure out which to use..

-chet

[ESPER]

well if you get teins lemme know what u will choose and if you can post a detailed synopsis about each model i would appreciate it thanks!!

[Two-Forty]

damn what do you guys do for a living, poppin out 1-2gs for suspension and stuff, but hey if I had the money I would do the same set up, but my *** is poor as hell.

[Exar-Kun]

if it makes any difference for you, I goto college, work 35 hours a week, and have to pay for my car, college, etc..(under a full course load too, btw)

but as far as I understand the TEIN system rankings:HE- sport/competition, the closest application for S13 cars to a race shock, but still leans toward streetability/comfort to some extent.HA-similar to HE, but with(or is it without I dont see a listing in this chart thingy from TEIN) upper pillows.TYPE FLEX- sport/comfort coilover(wussy coilver), for those who want coilover drop, adjsutability, but dont wnat to you know, USE THEM...but hey, if thats your bad(like apex-i worldsports) they sure will handle better than stock...

given those choices, I'd probably go with apex-Is N-1 since I plan on racing my car...but Im still not sure, its one of those "how much *** pain can I tollerate?" kinda questions...Im also looking into ZEAL B-6 coil overs.

-chet

[ESPER]

well the HA's sound good, the HE's sound like they are only for drifting. but lastly i am curiosu about the RS. are those better??whats the difference again? do the RA and RS let u adjust the dampening also?? they sound better.. and which of the two are better?

as for JIC, FLT-A2's are the best then right??

so my choices so far would be the FLT-A2's or TEIN RS or RS.? sound okay??

[APEXi240]

My friend uses JICs and he says its a very rough ride, moreso than N1s, but that is just opinion, and and coilover is going to have a rough ride.

[Exar-Kun]

if you can get RS coil voers for your car, get it, I didnt see them listed for the S13 cars on tein's web site....

I would use RS coil overs without any hesitation...

but like I said, I didnt see any application for my car

JIC flat-2 I dont ahve much experience with, but it seems popular..

[SHIEF]

So if your going to drive your car on the street mostly, but take it to the drag strip (at least once every 2 weeks), and every now and then autocross, what coilover would you consider (having upper pillow mounts)? Or would you go with GC and adjustable Koni's with some kind of upper pillow?

[180fan]

from personal experience, the flt-a2's are not that harsh. Yeah a little bumpy, but to be expected with all coilovers. I'm guessing he's got it setup on the hardest setting while he's on the street which is not the brightest things to do. It'll take about a month for the coilovers to soften up anyway so in that time (at your choice) you can leave em in the box with the hardest setting on which will soften the coils. Soften up back up before you install them on the car. On the street set em soft and for track set em harder to what you like. If ride quality is an issue then go Koni. Those things kick in all the cars I've installed them on, whether it be on 240's, 300zx's, accord's, civic's, or integra's they've all been easy to adjust and have outstanding capabilities without too much noticable deterioration of ride quality.

[Cloudedone]

Nobody ever talks about Cusco Zero-2R's, i've heard nothing but good things about them... Thats what i'm going with.

[nolaws4evr]

also what about the nismo coilovers. theres a set of em on ebay that I want but dont really know about. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...05743 check em out and let me know what you guys think.

[rousie13]

Chet, the HA's do not come with upper pillowball mounts. And the HE's are not only for drifting. Yes, they are a "drift" coilover, but they're a very good overall coilover too. If your willing to spend over a thousand on the HA's, spend the extra and go with the HE's, you'll be glad you did. The HE's are very adjustable, easy to install, have upper pillowball's already attached to the assembly. The HE's aren't that bad on street use either. I mean they aren't like your cadillac, but what do you expect for full coilovers. But they will make your car handle so much better and it just feels so much for responsive in corners. If anyone has any specific questions on the HE's, hit me up. About the other brands, I'm sure they're just as good. It's just about what meets YOUR requirements and budget. I love my HE's and would have bought them again in a second.

[180fan]

a buddy of mine picked up flt-a2's for his s14 for 1400. I'd say that's pretty good eh?

[Project_S13_180]

how much of a drop did the Tein HE's give you?? or better yet how low can they go :-D

[nolaws4evr]

can anyone tell me something about these nismo coilovers im bout to get??? they look good for the prics I think, and could always sell im sure.

[AceInhole]

Chet, the HA's do not come with upper pillowball mounts. And the HE's are not only for drifting. Yes, they are a "drift" coilover, but they're a very good overall coilover too. If your willing to spend over a thousand on the HA's, spend the extra and go with the HE's, you'll be glad you did. The HE's are very adjustable, easy to install, have upper pillowball's already attached to the assembly. The HE's aren't that bad on street use either. I mean they aren't like your cadillac, but what do you expect for full coilovers. But they will make your car handle so much better and it just feels so much for responsive in corners. If anyone has any specific questions on the HE's, hit me up. About the other brands, I'm sure they're just as good. It's just about what meets YOUR requirements and budget. I love my HE's and would have bought them again in a second.

The HE's are a great bang for the buck it seems... but for some reason a few reliable sources say they're just too soft for real motorsports.

Zeal Func. B6's (or better yet... S6's), Apexi N-1 Pros, or Tein RAs are what I'd get if I went JDM. They've all got nothing on Ground Controls and re-valved Koni's (or better yet Advance Design shocks) though :P