Coilovers: What is the best/what is the best road compromise?

[CHRIS-172]

Im not looking to open up a can of worms were and hopefully it doesnt turn out that way.

Im looking into putting a set of coil-overs on my FF 172. My question is what is "value for money" and what will suit a car that is driven several times a week and in the future 95 % on the road? What are the different brands designed for. the ones i would be looking at are:

LEDA's
GAZ
H & R
FK's

unless ive missed anything. Not a huge amount of info in Aus about which ones are good for our somewhat rougher roads to europe.

Ive done a search on here a few times for this but just wanted to see what people who have them think of them or why you chose the product you did. It would seem that the H&R's get a good wrap and are more compliant than others on the market but they are $$$?.

im after both height and damping adjustable (otherwise ill just stick to eibach sportlines/koni yellows), at this stage the car is only driven on the roads but in the future i do plan to track it a few times a year. however i dont want a bone jarring ride the other 98% of the time...

as for price i was thinking around the 700 pounds mark but give or take as i think its something you dont try to save money on.




the other option is that the car is running eibach sportlines and i could get the koni yellows to run with them. Is the coilover gonig to be a great leap forward over the koni/eibach combo or am i better going down this route and using the extra 350 pounds on a high flow cat and start of funds for an exhaust?

 

[Peperami]

H&R's are worth the money.

Theyre not damping adjustable, but damping is set spot on for road, and the occasional foray onto track.

You'll find that even if you had adjustable shocks, you'll rarely if ever use it anyway, you'll find a setting you like and stick to it. You'll also find on damping adjustable sets, its hard to get the right match between spring and shock rates with adjustment.

You'll get a few pennies selling your sportlines too!

 

[CHRIS-172]

theres are the H&R correct?
http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=2016

yeah i probably aggree about getting them set-up and leaving it, the onther question is that are theres a big enough step over the sprtline/koni combo to warrant the upgrade?

 

[d4ve86]

Correct those are the H&R's

the adjustibility in the sportline/koni yellow setup is going to have advantages over the H&R's.

i have had my LEDA's on for a year and im still playing with the settings. Full soft is more than comfortable on the road, iv never gone to full hard but i think thats what im going to try next ...

 

[CHRIS-172]

Just thought id give an update:

called up a few Australian distributors and got quoted massive prices on coilovers


eg $2740 AUD for the KW variant 2 (now when $1 AUD =0.46 GBP) thats a massive increase on the 770 ex VAT i can get then from in the UK so im definately going to buy from overseas.

list is now

bilstein B14
KW variant 2
H&R
sportline/koni yellow

idealy i would look at the GAZ rebound and bump adjsutable, however im thinking this is a bit overkill for a 98% road going car?

in fact im starting to think of going for a fixed damping setup like the bilstein/H&R gear.

thoughts?

 

[Fred@BTM]

gaz are pretty s**t to be honnest

i would say H&R, check out yozzasport.com

 

[Sean.]

I cant comment on the the other brands of coilovers but i have FK highsport coilovers on my car, 172 FF, they ride well, quite stiff (but imo not too bad) good fitment, very easy to adjust etc

great price on them from rimstyle at £475 delivered.

My opinion on the more expensive stuff is this:

Fully adjustable coilovers, damper and height etc are great but if , like you, will only use the car on the road (and very occasinal track session)then this amount of adjustment simply wont be used. Even if it was used you definatly wont see the full potential of some expensive equipment on the road.

OR id be very suprised if you did, i think it'l be highly frowned upon if you did that kind of driving on public roads.

Part of the reason i didnt bother with H&R's leda's etc etc is because my car is 99% of the time a road car. So i use it normally, last thing on my mind is gettin underneath to firm it up a bit for a certain day!

They are capable enough of handling the odd track day, more than capable id say.

Im not against the other brands, im sure they are superb but i wouldnt waste my money on something that wont be used or something that wouldnt be used to its full potential!

Thanks

Sean

 

[Christophe]

fk konigsports. height and dampers adjust and they are not as stiff/crashy as everyone makes out. Been in russ's car and was very impressed.

 

[Peter.K]

Chris

Yozzasport (Andy & Fred) now their stuff and are generally very good to deal with plus they give good advice, although being in Australia emails tend to get lost, could be that when the emails get sent from the UK they tend to pick up momentum going downhill and just fly straight past OZ and end up in the south pole.:banghead:

If you’re going to deal with them then I suggest doing it over the phone.

 

[dhampton]

The Bilsteins are very hard btw. Very nice for track but only just bearable for road use imo!

 

[Fred@BTM]

Chris

Yozzasport (Andy & Fred)

nothing to do with me anymore, i sold my half to Andy back in november! i'm 100% impartial, but they're still the best LOL

 

[Peter.K]

)[/QUOTE]
100% impartial, but they're still the best LOL[/QUOTE]

Well if the yozzasport exhaust you/they sent is anything to go by then I must agree.:hail:

Must add that other companies have good products too, now that’s being impartial

Shame about the email problem, they could have emptied my bank balance by now.

But if your making squillions then what's one customer.:S

 

[CHRISK172+]

Just thought id give an update:

called up a few Australian distributors and got quoted massive prices on coilovers


eg $2740 AUD for the KW variant 2 (now when $1 AUD =0.46 GBP) thats a massive increase on the 770 ex VAT i can get then from in the UK so im definately going to buy from overseas.

list is now

bilstein B14
KW variant 2
H&R
sportline/koni yellow

idealy i would look at the GAZ rebound and bump adjsutable, however im thinking this is a bit overkill for a 98% road going car?

in fact im starting to think of going for a fixed damping setup like the bilstein/H&R gear.

thoughts?

I took my FK Konigsports off and sold them as they are in no way suited to roads in the UK....the springs were way too hard and it wasn't cost effective to buy more on top of the original cost. I've now opted for a Full Koni adjustable kit which was around £400. This would be very similar to the 'sportline/koni yellow' option you mention and would be ideal for poor roads and the odd track day.

 

[Peperami]

gaz are pretty s**t to be honnest

i would say H&R, check out yozzasport.com

Lol, yozzasport are lax enough about sending stuff to uk customers, if they had to send a package to australia i doubt it would ever arrive!

Best mail order company (for communication and the actual sending of things) is by far ktec. Always receive things the next day from them, loads of updates, call immediately if anythings wrong. Have heard of a few overseas customers using them. Gdi seem alright too, andy and bex are dead helpful contact wise.

I think europerformance are cheapest for h&r's and similar, have only ordered once from them though, no idea on importing.

Gaz coilovers give a majorly crashy ride. Bilsteins are very similar to h&r's, but a little firmer.

Hope some of this helps fella.

 

[Fletcher]

I'm more then happy with my H&R coliovers

 

[d4ve86]

:nono: ^^ my stuff has always turned up next day from yoz

 

[Peperami]

:nono: ^^ my stuff has always turned up next day from yoz

Lol, my exhaust took 5 weeks, no updates, he lost all my emails/ messages and fobbed me off with constant 'it'll be here in 5 days' style stories... until i got fed up and ordered from someone else. I left him contact details regarding seats and he didnt get back to me on those either!

Have heard similar from others with ordering bits from yozza.

Lovely guy, talented renault tuner, not the best admin.

 

[Gaz_]

Do NOT buy GAZ. They ruin the car!!!! Search GAZ on here.

 

[CHRIS-172]

thanks for all the help guys, a fair bit to do and track down some shops in the UK and have a chat.

Agree K-tec are good for admin and delivery but im my experience they charge for it. when i was odering multiple sets of sportline spings for forum users in AUS K-tec wanted 90 pounds delivery for the first set and then 65 pounds per set after...

i got Demon tweeks to not only drop 10 pounds off the price for mutliple sets (k-tec wouldnt) but 2 sets of springs, air filters, OMP front and rear braces and a gear knob came in at 140 pounds for the lot and was here in 4 days!

not trying to have a whinge at K-tec but thier delivery fee was massively over-inflated.

ill do some more research and see what i come up with.

 

[Peperami]

Ah ok dude, good to hear opinions on what suppliers are like shipping overseas! That does seem dear??

 

[R20 CWH]

FKs sit the nicest, but im biased love my H+R set up, pretty much perfect for road and track usage

 

[CHRIS-172]

yeah i was a bit shocked when the springs are only 104-125 (Ex VAT)

some of the guys in Aus use K-tec, Demon tweeks a few have used GDI and angelworks

euro performance wont deliver outside europe as far as im aware???

oh and theres a growing number of RS-Tuner users in Aus as well so fastchip as well.

 

[Peter.K]

:nono: ^^ my stuff has always turned up next day from yoz

You must be part of the purple circle, secret hand shake and all that.

 

[edde]

It would seem that the H&R's get a good wrap and are more compliant than others on the market but they are $$$?.

im after both height and damping adjustable (otherwise ill just stick to eibach sportlines/koni yellows), at this stage the car is only driven on the roads but in the future i do plan to track it a few times a year. however i dont want a bone jarring ride the other 98% of the time...

the other option is that the car is running eibach sportlines and i could get the koni yellows to run with them. Is the coilover gonig to be a great leap forward over the koni/eibach combo or am i better going down this route and using the extra 350 pounds on a high flow cat and start of funds for an exhaust?

H and r are good and they cost you pay for what you get.

No ned for adjustable damping you need to spend a load on adjustbale damping to get something worthwhile. Even then you have to know hw to adjust them coilovers none adjustable are better than just springs and dampers if your compairing good quality stuff.

Its worth the extra to pay for h and r's either get them IMo or don't bother with anything other than stock.

 

[Badger_GT]

LEDA have gone out of business btw!

 

[Peter.K]

LEDA have gone out of business btw!

Back in business.

http://www.leda.com/

 

[CHRIS-172]

H & R could be the go. i just dont want to regret having bought non -adjustable ones in 6 months. :S

 

[Fred@BTM]

95% of users will never have the need for adjustable shocks trust me