my first experience with nameless coilovers

[supersayianjim]

so my suspension on my s13 is shot. when i make a hard right turn my tire rubs the strut tower(even with 225/45/16 in the front). So it's long overdue for some coils. I wanted megans but dropping a grand for a poor guy isn't that easy. so after bargan shopping on egay. i ran across and recently purchased these bad boys..


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... K:MEWNX:IT

they just recently added MDU to the title description. Before it wasn't listed. So you get what you pay for right?? they are made in china. But they do have adjustable camber which is very important..

so i sent the seller an email about these..

okay. well do you have the EXACT date for when you will be getting more stock in?? because i need a set yesterday.. also can you elaborate to me on the quality of these. i know you are a sales man but i will be using this car for my daily. level with me. should i save up the extra 500 for some megans?? i will use these for daily use on crappy u.s. roads and some track time..

are these made in a factory with a name brand model??


hello , sir, the brand is MDU , do you know GODSPEED brand on USA market? their coilovers are from MDU factory.
I think the new stock will be ready by next week.
Thank you!

WTF GODSPEED?? those are apparently s*** and more money.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GODSPEED ... 3f0ab3f347

the ss are about almost the same, but still more

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GODSPEED ... 3cb895465d

and these are $700-mdu

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSAN-2 ... 1c1c1d9be6

[supersayianjim]

So my coils came. Yea.





[imghttp://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr317/supersayianjim/project%20s-rb/newcoils2.jpg[/img]







adj pillow,camber plates. Lets see how long they last..

[supersayianjim]

so i finally got these damn things on. wasn't easy. Had no help, instructions, and i was on a time crunch.. :headchop:


so here we go. it's the patient.





and heres the plan of action.





the coils look sturdy. But then again this is my very first set so wtf do i know?? The fronts weren't hard to do/adjust. the backs i have to remove to spin the bottom part for height adjustment. Luckily i got the rears dead even on the first try.

heres the front oem units. They were heavy as f***









the front coils were way lighter. So this takes off my lbs bottom line of the car also

[supersayianjim]

so for reference i lined up my dinosaur oem units and the coils. the stockers really were gone.






and heres the rears






the lip on the rears was kinda longer. so i pionted them facing the tires. Hopefully this made no difference on things..







So i got the fronts installed first. looks like a good fit.





installation is easy and dosen't take rocket science hence why i didn't do a walkthrough like that.







But measurements were crucial, even though i still didn't know what i was doing.. Just wanted a length from the bottom of the fender to the ground..


and after some trial and error i think i got it. last i checked my rears were at

25 and a half.. and i got the fronts lower than that.(on friday afternoon before alignment)

heres pics of the car when i first put them on.(thursday night)










So i went to tires plus friday and got it aligned. Which you need to do anythime you eff with suspension components. and heres the before on the top and the after on the bottom..







looks like they did an effing great job. so tire wear shouldnt be an issue. and i am at a lowerd height where iam happy at. Yeah my bumper lip scrapes more now.But i corner better.














So i didn't have time to set this dampening knobs. But there is some moderate bounce. Iam okay with it(for now). But so far the coils kick a**..

[supersayianjim]

iam content with the height of my car rte now. so i don't plan on going lower at the moment..

[supersayianjim]

well got my first track event in with these. literally no body roll. and still kicking a**..



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smtzfn6RUrs

[S14toRPS13]

Glad to see they're holding up for you. Where'd you get your alignment done at? I assume you have aftermarket suspensions control arms as well.

[krash]

1 year warranty huh?

[supersayianjim]

got my suspension done at tires plus. actually i don't have adjustable camber arms for the rear. i need to get some as by looking at the print out the camber sucks. and i already replaced my left rear tire due to wear.

[alms24sebring]

Ugh man, cheap coilovers will always fail and are cheap for a reason. Sorry to be so blunt but how do you have a sil-eighty and SR'd but cant spend a good penny on good reliable coils? Its always worth it in the long run.

Well, good luck

[S14toRPS13]

got my suspension done at tires plus. actually i don't have adjustable camber arms for the rear. i need to get some as by looking at the print out the camber sucks. and i already replaced my left rear tire due to wear.

The toe looks good, that's the important part. They didn't have an issue aligning your car with it being lowered? Most places won't touch it.

[Flicktitty]

Ugh man, cheap coilovers will always fail and are cheap for a reason. Sorry to be so blunt but how do you have a sil-eighty and SR'd but cant spend a good penny on good reliable coils? Its always worth it in the long run.

Well, good luck

RB20DET.
car may have came that way.

Car looks good though.

[S14toRPS13]

Ugh man, cheap coilovers will always fail and are cheap for a reason. Sorry to be so blunt but how do you have a sil-eighty and SR'd but cant spend a good penny on good reliable coils? Its always worth it in the long run.

Well, good luck

RB20DET.
car may have came that way.

Car looks good though.

I don't like knocking on people's car unless they fall into that whole "roof rack" category. Not everyone has the same goals when building a car. Certain people online might bash me for having Rotas, but I've never had someone in person tell me my wheels ruin my car.

[supersayianjim]

Ugh man, cheap coilovers will always fail and are cheap for a reason. Sorry to be so blunt but how do you have a sil-eighty and SR'd but cant spend a good penny on good reliable coils? Its always worth it in the long run.

Well, good luck

sr??? did i ever say it was a sr?? rb20det. and it's not a sil-80 either(do you see a hatch)?? and again if they do the same job as megan coils(which i wouldn't spend more than a grand on coils anyway). so what. why am i spending 1-2k on some coild that will prob last as long as the cheap stuff??

[supersayianjim]

got my suspension done at tires plus. actually i don't have adjustable camber arms for the rear. i need to get some as by looking at the print out the camber sucks. and i already replaced my left rear tire due to wear.

The toe looks good, that's the important part. They didn't have an issue aligning your car with it being lowered? Most places won't touch it.

no, actually he didn't he said get some rear adjustable camber plates and come back. which is what iam doing next week.

[supersayianjim]

Ugh man, cheap coilovers will always fail and are cheap for a reason. Sorry to be so blunt but how do you have a sil-eighty and SR'd but cant spend a good penny on good reliable coils? Its always worth it in the long run.

Well, good luck

RB20DET.
car may have came that way.

Car looks good though.

nope, car actually came as an automatic with a leaky headgasket single cam.

i built the thing totaly pretty much. i have a build thread on here but none has seen it prob cause it's in the rb/skyline section. not really on here cause i don't have time to img every picture as it's so time consuming..


but thanks for the complement.

[LoserCard]

Hey it's nice seeing success stories from these cheap brand coilovers since not everyone is super rich and can afford to put nice coils that cost as much as their car. =P Hey could you do a follow up thread maybe 10k miles or 2-3 months down the road?

[supersayianjim]

sure you got it. been hitting some heavy potholes lately. and still kicking arse.

10k miles is comming up soon as i drive all over the world..

[mixeds14]

Hey it's nice seeing success stories from these cheap brand coilovers since not everyone is super rich and can afford to put nice coils that cost as much as their car. =P Hey could you do a follow up thread maybe 10k miles or 2-3 months down the road?

^^^i agree.. so how much did u ended up paying total if u dont mined me asking.. car looks good btw

[supersayianjim]

$520.00 shipped +$70.00 alignment.

[mixeds14]

$520.00 shipped +$70.00 alignment.

damn thats not bad at all.. icant wait on the 10k miles results i might just have to get some...

[alms24sebring]

Sorry dude meant no offense. I just see it too many times where people end up paying twice or more for the same deal. Thats the thing about no names is the risk. Most of the time they break within a year, but sometimes they last for a few years with no problems. The thing with paying more is that you get more. A better ride, no loosening problems, and a long lasting product that is garanteed.

Your car does look good pretty though Ill give you that. How is the ride in fact?

[badbob2121]

i still cant take your review seriously since you have never had quality coilovers and only have oem to compare too.. just because they last more than a 10k miles says nothing about the actual ride quality of the coilover... and isnt that what actually matters?? ...

[supersayianjim]

Sorry dude meant no offense. I just see it too many times where people end up paying twice or more for the same deal. Thats the thing about no names is the risk. Most of the time they break within a year, but sometimes they last for a few years with no problems. The thing with paying more is that you get more. A better ride, no loosening problems, and a long lasting product that is garanteed.

Your car does look good pretty though Ill give you that. How is the ride in fact?

it changed totally the ride. The bumpsteer i had is gone. and it sticks to the ground. I can take turns at 80+mph without a 2nd thought now.

[supersayianjim]

i still cant take your review seriously since you have never had quality coilovers and only have oem to compare too.. just because they last more than a 10k miles says nothing about the actual ride quality of the coilover... and isnt that what actually matters?? ...

so what is the difference between quality and cheapo coils?? can you really tell the difference back to back switching sets on the same damper settings??

is there a "coilover gauge" that we can measure with??

[badbob2121]

again... ^^ this response confirms my previous post... theres no reason to even argue

your being naive ..

[Mercury_Hg]

again... ^^ this response confirms my previous post... theres no reason to even argue

your being naive ..

And you suffer from buyers remorse.

The markup on quality automotive parts is ridiculous.

Sorry dude meant no offense. I just see it too many times where people end up paying twice or more for the same deal. Thats the thing about no names is the risk. Most of the time they break within a year, but sometimes they last for a few years with no problems. The thing with paying more is that you get more. A better ride, no loosening problems, and a long lasting product that is garanteed.

Of course more expensive coilovers are better all around. But those el cheapos do have a one year warranty.

The point of this topic is that there're passable coilovers (better than shocks / struts for sure) to be had for an affordable price. I swear you can't have a proper review thread before people start s*** all over it because they feel justified in dropping $1k+ on coilovers.

There isn't a bottom end to the automotive part market because of the "you get what you pay for" purists. I'm not talking about plastic electric turbos, but quality parts coming from the same factories and lines as name brand parts.

You ever notice that there's no firsthand accounts of cheaper parts being junk? It's always "my friends cousins brother in law had some of those and they blew in two weeks".

[supersayianjim]

so heres what these coils can do

24 way manual damping force ajustment knob(compression and rebound together). To suit the different driving situations and styles, MDU has developed 24 step compression and rebound adjustment to suit the drive's needs.

Pillow ball upper mounts are included. With camber adjustable pillow ball top being used, it will enhance the adjustability and improve the communication between drivers and road conditions.



Short stroke design for improved comfort and perfomance.





Teflon coated shell case for increased durability.





Full-length adjustment system for separate ride height and spring pre-load adjustment. Fulley adjustable shock body by a movable lower bracket and spring seat enables the separate fine-tuning of the ride height and pre-load.





Aluminum spring seats and locks for trouble-free adjustment.



MONO TUBE
To put it bluntly, mono-tube shock absorber is most suitable for challenging races on circuits. It manages to control damping force well and exhibits stable performance even in severe runs for a long period of time.

MDU mono-tube suspensions are proven to be high performance, in various motorsports.

[supersayianjim]

-so are these better than stock suspension?? yes

-adjustable so i can lower the car and have better conering ability?? yes

-serves the purpose of a coilover?? yes

-will last long as a tein kit that is $1,800+?? maybe maybe not?? the really high end coilovers aren't made for daily driving they are for track only use..

so get a street or basic coilover setup (which is what i did). and i should be fine. right people??

[Razi]

If these are anything like Godspeed coilovers, they won't last a year.

You could've saved up a little more and bought Stance or Fortune Auto coilovers for $1k, which I've yet to hear about any of them blowing.

Plus, even if they don't blow, the shocks in those $500 coilovers are so cheap that usually the shocks on all 4 corners don't work the same even when set on the same amount of clicks.