My 2 Years of Use/Abuse Later Review on Megan Street Coils

[rsmithdrift]

Ok so some of you know I got my Megan Streets in May of 08. My car has been through alot of hell since then.. engine malfuntions collisions with guard rails, being in and out of impound, and sitting for 9 months since then. If anything can test a set of coilovers its been my car.

When I first got them all nice and shiny and installed... they felt too stiff. Almost like having solid suspension. I thought I might have made a mistake at first. However apparently springs have a break in period and for mine it was about 1 month for that initial super stiffness to wear off. They have felt perfect ever since then. They are very stiff and unforgiving over big bumps and pot holes but it's worth it because of how good they feel. Even in those big harsh situations its not even too bad because they are dampered just right so it takes alot of the harshness away and it just feels solid. Like it should. Untill 6 months ago I had stock arms so my alignment was less than desireable to say the least being lowered 2". They handled good then even, but now that it's all lined up right my car handles perfect. It's important to note that I have no front sway bar because in 2007 a bolt broke off of it when a friend of mine went through a ditch in it and it was not really fixable so I just removed it shortly after installing the coilovers. (it was causing the car to handle unevenly because it was only working in right hand turns.) Also having no front sway bar corrects for mid corner understeer that s13 are known for. Even with out it it still corners flat and stabil because of how firm the suspension is. This thing handles perfect too I mean it. The car is loose at any point in a turn. The rear approaches grip limits just before the front just like it should. EASY to control also. Because of the stiffness the car is unforgiving over larger bumps but because of the balance and well tuned suspension it recovers quickly and stays in control. THEIR IS NO BOUNCE. The bump/rebound settings feel perfect. Firm without being too harsh. This is really saying something too because the roads around here are TERRIBLE. I know of 4 places to catch air easily at 60mph and the pot holes in this town are rediculous. The dampers are 32 way adjustable but it's not really necessary. I keep them all half way (16 clicks) the rears I have varied occasionally by no more than 4 clicks depending on what System I have in my hatch at the time. (I've had 4 different boxes since 08) The wieght in the back makes a big difference. 2 clicks stiffer with the heaviest box and 2 clicks softer than middle currently (light box and 50lbs removed from back end elsewhere) I just adjust them by how they feel going down the road to work/back every day.

I HAVE ONLY HAD ONE PROBLEM in all this time. About 8 months ago the pillow ball retainer bolt came loose. It's the one under the damper adjust screw that keeps the pillowball from moving. It started making an audible bang over bumps and I had assumed it was ball joints and it the banging kept getting worse over time till finally I said screw this and replaced the lower control arms about 6 months ago. When that didn't work I found the loose bolt. It was backed off very far from its origional position causing the pillowball to separate over bumps and bang very loundly when it came back together when the wieghtof the car got put back on it. It must have done some damage to the pillow ball because now when I turn sharply quickly like when pulling out of the driveway it makes "TINK TINK TINK" sounds. Which I assume would be the pillow ball having a nick in it and it catching on the now rough uneven surface of the beaten and likely damaged pillow ball retainer surface. The only other issue is just a little cosmetic rust on the ride hight adjust bolts and the upper pillow ball mounts that are visible under the hood.

I give them a thumbs up for anybody wanting a good set of coilovers for their street/track car. But only if you don't mind sacraficing a little ride comfort for handling and control.

NOW FOR PICS!!!
Note the slight surface rust on the silver parts.




dirty inside the wheel well. Dust covers still in good shape. Everything tight and crack free.


And the slight surface rust on the ride hieght adjust bolt


I've put 30k miles of pure hell on them. Driving washboarded gravel roads occasionally hitting small speed bumps hard falling into massive pot holes on the INTERSTATE and catching air at 60mph in certain places just for fun. They still ride the same as they did 2 years ago. PERFECT. Maybe I got lucky... But These were the best thing I've ever done for my car.

[roadboy240sx]

thank you its good here a review and info from some who as the parts them selves instead of every one else and just saying and talking crap about them. its good to know they worked out for you. but what im really interested in is some mone who has bought the cheap godspeed coilovers and see what they say. i know of one local guy who runs e-motors and loves them and has had them for 3 years now dailying and drifting.


oh: and for all the haters that are gonna jump in and start talking crap i run pbms on my hatch so i dont want to here it

[visser003]

Ok, great little writeup...but you failed to mention other experience you've had with suspension. Are you comparing your Megans to stock suspension?

Also "roadboy240sx", I won't hate on your suspension, but I will hate on your inability to spell.

oh: and for all the haters that are gonna jump in and start talking crap i run pbms on my hatch so i dont want to heAr it

[mRodiek]

^True, but still good to see someone having a good experience

[rsmithdrift]

Ok, great little writeup...but you failed to mention other experience you've had with suspension. Are you comparing your Megans to stock suspension?

Also "roadboy240sx", I won't hate on your suspension, but I will hate on your inability to spell.

oh: and for all the haters that are gonna jump in and start talking crap i run pbms on my hatch so i dont want to heAr it

The point of this was to give someone who is looking into buying a set of megans a cue as to what to expect from them. Theirs no real "compairison" just my experience with them.

[costa_rican13]

it does help me! but im still stuck... you say megans! Om3ga says pbm's all the way! also i want super low.. like tire tucking, are you able to to do that??

[visser003]

The point of this was to give someone who is looking into buying a set of megans a cue as to what to expect from them. Theirs no real "compairison" just my experience with them.

I don't understand your logic. If someone was to eat a quarter pounder from McDonalds as their first burger ever and then claim it is an amazing burger, much better than what others are saying about it, does that make their inexperienced view worthy?

To the untrained taster, a 5 dollar bottle of wine will taste like a 200 dollar bottle.

[pj]

i think this write up is just fine and dandy.
it doesnt matter to me that he isnt comparing them to other coils...they are megan not hks not silkroad...
what they are is some cheap a** coilovers that function well and have lasted a long a** time on apparently a wide variety of conditions.
the comparison he IS making here is fact vs. "well i have a friend who said" in reference to megan coilovers. basically they are cheap but are not junk yet obviously not top shelf equipment either..but how many people really can buy the top shelf s*** around here? the smaller %, the minority.
any sort of review is helpful to someone here.

[93 Chuki FB]

for those who are interested in godspeed coils, i have them. Ive been running them for a while now, like over a year now. Ive had plenty of track time (like close to 100 laps of drifting) and i DD on them. I have zero complaints about them, just make sure u tighten down all the bolts on them and ur good to go. My friends have them and they all have nothing bad to say about them, i personally feel they are too soft for drifting. They dont bounce, and they make the car feel nice and stable through corners. For coils that cost me $400 new with free shipping, i give them 10/10. I used to have D2 coils on my old car, and honestly, they feel the same.

[rsmithdrift]

i think this write up is just fine and dandy.
it doesnt matter to me that he isnt comparing them to other coils...they are megan not hks not silkroad...
what they are is some cheap a** coilovers that function well and have lasted a long a** time on apparently a wide variety of conditions.
the comparison he IS making here is fact vs. "well i have a friend who said" in reference to megan coilovers. basically they are cheap but are not junk yet obviously not top shelf equipment either..but how many people really can buy the top shelf s*** around here? the smaller %, the minority.
any sort of review is helpful to someone here.

Couldn't have said it better my self... I have ridden in my friends car (RX-7) that has D-Max coils on it... it rides the same to me. Maybe a little better on the streets cause the megans aren't as stiff/harsh. I think he said his spring rates were 11/10 or something like that though. Megans are 8/6

And I rode constantly in another friend of mines car (integra) that had a spring/strut combo on it. with Tien Springs and Koni blues struts and it was WAY wrong. It bounced so hard that it would catch air on the rebound and made it hard to control. And Currently a friend of mine has Ebay "coils" (lowering springs) on GR-2's on his 240 and they are soft and floaty. I AND HIS GR-2's recently blew out.... His old s14 had S-techs on GR-2's and they rode decently. Not as good as my megans do but they rode alright. Right for what they were and near perfect for daily driving only.

And

it does help me! but im still stuck... you say megans! Om3ga says pbm's all the way! also i want super low.. like tire tucking, are you able to to do that??

Yes you can easily drop the car so low that it's sitting on it's frame rails in the driveway with all 4 wheels off the ground... LMAO. I had to RAISE them from the ride hieght they came at to make my car streetable around here. And because of the independent ride height adjustment it doesn't affect the spring travel either. Just like any other top notch coils. In fact it's the EXACT same design as A'Pexi C1 coilovers....

[SX APPEAL]

This makes me feel a lot better about using megan tracks on my project street/track car. The features they offer for the money, plus several members on here posting good reviews after years of use, they sound pretty hard to beat. I was looking in the much higher price range but now megans are sounding like a solid pick. I'd rather spend the money on tires, more performance to be gained there anyway

[costa_rican13]

[quote="rsmithdrift]
Yes you can easily drop the car so low that it's sitting on it's frame rails in the driveway with all 4 wheels off the ground... LMAO. I had to RAISE them from the ride hieght they came at to make my car streetable around here. And because of the independent ride height adjustment it doesn't affect the spring travel either. Just like any other top notch coils. In fact it's the EXACT same design as A'Pexi C1 coilovers....[/quote]
for cereal??! or sarcasm? looks like i may go with megans, cheaper plus super low!! combined with some p45r's!! the 17x9.5! thats what im wanting to get. damn... but the rims are 700.. so coils firsst..

[S14toRPS13]

Good review! Although I'm not too fond of Megans, it's good to see that they've held up after some abuse. I dont think the point of this thread was to compare Megans to Company A or B, but to show that they can withstand everyday abuse.

[costa_rican13]

exactly^^ i needed him to do this yo! now someone do one on pbm!

[rsmithdrift]

Yes you can easily drop the car so low that it's sitting on it's frame rails in the driveway with all 4 wheels off the ground... LMAO. I had to RAISE them from the ride hieght they came at to make my car streetable around here. And because of the independent ride height adjustment it doesn't affect the spring travel either. Just like any other top notch coils. In fact it's the EXACT same design as A'Pexi C1 coilovers....

for cereal??! or sarcasm? looks like i may go with megans, cheaper plus super low!! combined with some p45r's!! the 17x9.5! thats what im wanting to get. damn... but the rims are 700.. so coils firsst..

For cereal man... They go too low if you want them too. I don't like my car slammed. It's nice for the track but around here forgett it. Pretty much any place really. I've done oil pan damage and damage to the powerbrace from bottoming out at the height I'm at. And I'm not really low low either... Infact... I'm literally at the TOP of the height adjustment in the rear. It's actually dangerous for the coilovers and even more impressive that they havent broken to hyper extend them like I have because their arent enough threads in the tube holding them from separating. Considering it's only aluminum threads you need as many as possible. But they hold up. I cant go any higher though... Megan even has in the instruction manual that you have to have atleast 8 threads in the shock tube to be safe. (I forget how many mm that is) I think I have 7 or 8 left in their. I took them all the way apart once just to see how much I had adjustment wise... I'm out of adjustment lol.

[......................] That's about how much shock tube I have left threaded in. I can go no higher. but i can go
].....................................................................................................................................................................[ THAT much lower lol.

In the front I can go
]...............................................................................................................[ about that much lower. Actually the picture of the shock tube with the rusty ride height adjust nut I took shows how much lower I can go. The gap between the rusty adjustment nut and red lock nut for the springs is how much lower the car can go. Just loosen the rusty height nut and turn the tube till it bottoms out on the spring lock nuts and your car will now ride on it's frame rails... lol. You can even go lower in the traditional manner by ajusting the lock nuts farther and shortening your suspension travel (which you don't need if your that low anyways cause it'll just cause the car to scrape) and turn the tube to lower it even more. So yes you can make the car sit on frame rails and have it's wheels all off the ground free spinning if you really desired to do so. If you do please take a picture of that s*** and post it up for me. LMAO that'd be hilarious. Call it Beyond Slammed or something.

Of course if I made my car that much lower it'd be on frame rails and all 4 wheels would be off the ground...

[SX APPEAL]

pics of the whole car with your current ride height setting?

[rsmithdrift]

Ok lol. You could just click the link in my sig but here you go....

[SX APPEAL]

yeah, actually found that thread a couple of minutes later lol. Still thanks for the effort

[costa_rican13]

For cereal man... They go too low if you want them too. I don't like my car slammed. It's nice for the track but around here forgett it. Pretty much any place really. I've done oil pan damage and damage to the powerbrace from bottoming out at the height I'm at. And I'm not really low low either... Infact... I'm literally at the TOP of the height adjustment in the rear. It's actually dangerous for the coilovers and even more impressive that they havent broken to hyper extend them like I have because their arent enough threads in the tube holding them from separating. Considering it's only aluminum threads you need as many as possible. But they hold up. I cant go any higher though... Megan even has in the instruction manual that you have to have atleast 8 threads in the shock tube to be safe. (I forget how many mm that is) I think I have 7 or 8 left in their. I took them all the way apart once just to see how much I had adjustment wise... I'm out of adjustment lol.

[......................] That's about how much shock tube I have left threaded in. I can go no higher. but i can go
].....................................................................................................................................................................[ THAT much lower lol.

In the front I can go
]...............................................................................................................[ about that much lower. Actually the picture of the shock tube with the rusty ride height adjust nut I took shows how much lower I can go. The gap between the rusty adjustment nut and red lock nut for the springs is how much lower the car can go. Just loosen the rusty height nut and turn the tube till it bottoms out on the spring lock nuts and your car will now ride on it's frame rails... lol. You can even go lower in the traditional manner by ajusting the lock nuts farther and shortening your suspension travel (which you don't need if your that low anyways cause it'll just cause the car to scrape) and turn the tube to lower it even more. So yes you can make the car sit on frame rails and have it's wheels all off the ground free spinning if you really desired to do so. If you do please take a picture of that s*** and post it up for me. LMAO that'd be hilarious. Call it Beyond Slammed or something.

Of course if I made my car that much lower it'd be on frame rails and all 4 wheels would be off the ground...

i would do it! but then idk how i would jack the car back up.. lol really looking into the megans and you have streets?? im hoping streets..

[rsmithdrift]

i would do it! but then idk how i would jack the car back up.. lol really looking into the megans and you have streets?? im hoping streets..

Yea I have streets. Don't get the tracks they're too stiff

[visser003]

Or you could save a few hundred bucks and get some legit coils...
/troll

[Razi]

Or you could save a few hundred bucks and get some legit coils...
/troll

[Jagstang]

exactly^^ i needed him to do this yo! now someone do one on pbm!

Costa, save your money and go with Megans. The downside to the PBM coilovers is the fact that they aren't slotted at the bottom, so unless you slot them yourself, you can only get a small range of camber adjustment from the camber plates.

Also, they do cost $1000. . . But that's for the 10/8 kg Set up. . . That's far too harsh for a daily driver. So add an extra $60 to buy the 6 kg spring, and then you'd need to swap them around (8 kg in the front, and 6kg in the rear where the 8 kg used to be). So in the end, might as well go with the Megans, it's cheaper, less of a hassle, and more DD friendly.

PBM coils work fine, just like every other coilovers out there. They perform just as well as any other coil, priced between the $900-$1200 range. So you might as well just take the cheaper one (Megans), and get the same performance as the other coils.

Plus, everyone on Nico has great things to say about it (including me), so why not give it a shot?

[Razi]

Or get Fortune Auto coilovers.
$1k
Fronts have slotted lower bracket
Any spring rate you want
Shocks get dyno'd and matched before being sold.

[SX APPEAL]

Interested... what dealer can you go through to get Fortune Auto's with custom rates/damping for 1K? Their site lists the bottom of the range 500 series at around $1400, with the custom stuff around $1500.

[visser003]

Interested... what dealer can you go through to get Fortune Auto's with custom rates/damping for 1K? Their site lists the bottom of the range 500 series at around $1400, with the custom stuff around $1500.

I have found them for $999+ shipping from searching on google for 30 seconds. I don't want to link it because its zilvia and they suck.

MSRP is a joke, just like Megan coils.

[Razi]

Yeah don't trust the coilover prices in their websites, they sell them for better deals on forums if you do a bit of searching.
I love mine so far, I think I have them at 3 clicks front and 2 clicks back and it's quite comfortable.

[Gabes13]

I agree with visser, but the truth is there is little deviation between those low priced Eastern Hemisphere coilovers.

[SX APPEAL]

Interested... what dealer can you go through to get Fortune Auto's with custom rates/damping for 1K? Their site lists the bottom of the range 500 series at around $1400, with the custom stuff around $1500.

I have found them for $999+ shipping from searching on google for 30 seconds. I don't want to link it because its zilvia and they suck.

MSRP is a joke, just like Megan coils.

found them, I had been looking on Fortune auto's actual site, going through all their "dealers" trying to find pricing, but none of them even list FA coilovers on their websites. That being said the zilvia deal is through import image racing, and baiscally all it is is just free shipping for zilvia members, I'd rather just pay the shipping

If they still have that price in 6 months, then these are probably the one's I'll go with. Better features and $500-$700 less than anything else I was looking at, and like I said, I'd rather spend the money on tires anyway.

[EnjoiNismo]

I've had my megan street coilovers for about 2 and a half years and there still good. There are not blown and have been through hell, with hitting curbs and tapping other cars.

If you are looking for something to slam your car, these are not it. Although they will suit most people, it doesn't suit me. It does go low, but no where near as low as I would like them too. It does not tuck 18s well at all.
I've had personal experience with TEIN, and ksport. TEIN's go damn low and ride amazing.

Ksports are pretty much the same as megans, however
I prefer megan's more than ksport because of the camber adjustment in the front. Ksport's camber plates suck.

That is my 2.524 cents.