eBay Coilovers

[NoScreen]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any experiences or opinions to share about the quality and overall usability of "eBay coilovers" such as these:




By all accounts they look pretty decent; decent materials, decent warranty, and good features for the price. Having said that I fully appreciate that this is the kind of thing that could be a nightmare waiting to happen and a complete waste of money. I'm fully aware that there are higher quality options out there, but I am still interested to hear your anecdotes about the viability of going for the cheaper option.

A couple of additional questions:

Is there anything specific I should be on the look out for or wary of when looking for coilovers?

In general, if put these on a soft damper setting, are they likely to be too stiff for day to day use? I don't mind if it's firm but I don't want to be rattle myself or my car to bits, or have it so stiff that it's actually dangerous on bad weather or imperfect road conditions.

Are there any reasonably priced alternatives that you can recommend?

What specific advantages do some of the more expensive alternatives (eg. Tein) have? Just general build quality?


Thanks!

[AJPS]

8kg front and 6kg rear in a fwd corolla would be absolutely shit house everywhere except on a billiard table maybe, even then

what car do you want them for?

[dove grey 64]

Bit hard to comment on coilovers i haven't used before. Can say I'm very happy with the shockworks in my car. Quality product and if anything goes wrong with them i know exactly where to go to get them serviced.
Chances are you'll buy those cheap coilovers and dislike them, try to sell them and get sfa for them as they are already a cheap unknown item, people with money would be suss on why your selling them, the kids with no money would be lowballing you for them and you just lost close to $700 on a set of suspension you could have put towards something that you should have at least an expectation of quality in.

I'd personally go for strut insert replacement and springs for a daily on a budget.

[Konakid]

As above, some AJPS springs at an appropriate rate for what you want to do with the car combined with some KYB(budget) or Bilstein (pricier) shocks.

[rthy]

[rthy]

[Matt]

I've driven on cheap coils before like bc's and tbh a new set of kyb and ajps springs handled better.

Why most people rate the cheaper aspect of the coilover market is they replaced 25+ year old shocks with new ones. Anything that dampens the suspension travel a little will do better than the busted items.

Another thing often with the cheaper range is they use a valve code which is generic across their entire line of parts.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Agree with you matt, I always suggest people restore the cars suspension before modifying it as quite often people aren't even actually aware how capable the stock components are when properly maintained. Same goes for brakes. Then once your suspension and steering is working right you can look at what needs to be changed to give the desired results. There are a lot of cars with schizophrenic suspension systems that seem to make no sense as the owners have not known what they were really trying to achieve and focussed on that. Nor do they do any Empirical testing to confirm whether said modifications actually created any benefit.

My biggest pet peeves are:
Home wheel alignments.
Too low at the expense of safe handling to achieve looks.
No Droop.
Cheap shocks and too stiff springs. (sierra falcon combo deserves a bullet to the dick of anyone who suggests it)
After market swaybars. (tbh are not needed on corollas at all IMO)
Lockers. Its got a lifespan of hours.
15x9s on cars with shoddy bushings and bearings and bad alignment.
Making coil overs without incorporating a bearing and possible brake up grade.
Buying idiot proof kits as opposed to researching your own methods of success.

Don't you want the chance of building a freaky fast and unique car? Your limiting your chances if you just limit yourself to buying other peoples unwanted shit and never creating anything yourself.