Any coilover for 1100$ used or new.

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

For under $1600 CAD you could get Buddy Club Junior Spec, Tein Super Street, Cusco Zero 1, or Cusco Comp-S. Shipping would be $140 CAD via surface.

[cobrAA]

Can I keep my RSR spring or I will need to change the spring too?

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Can I keep my RSR spring or I will need to change the spring too?

you won't need your springs anymore as the coilovers have them. You just pop out your old spring/shock combo, and put in the coilover.
Basically this is one you get:

[spd-dmn]

Some interesting stuff in this thread for sure.

One thing people are forgetting to mention (and something that MOST people often overlook) is spring rates.

The problem with a lot of the "name-brand" stuff coming out of Japan is that they tend to employ springs that are wayyyyy too stiff for most people's needs.

It's not a problem per se if the buyer is willing and able to swap out their default springs for custom rates, but this is not always an option.

You are usually flat out of luck if you want the adjustability value of a coilover combined with the comfort and grip of a separate spring & shock setup.

Some manufacturers will give you a choice of spring rate but I find that many people do not pursue this option and stay with the default.. especially if they buy used.

A coilover with 14 kg/mm Front and 12 kg/mm Rear springs will naturally ride much differently than one equipped with 8 / 6 or 9 / 7 springs.
Imperfect surfaces (aka every street and most race tracks) call for softer springs.

Consider that your average lowering spring springrate is on the order of 3-5 kg/mm.





The other interesting thing is how much price and name affect people's perceptions.

The fact is that the VAST MAJORITY of coilovers coming out of "Japan" are actually manufactured in China, Taiwan or Korea. A single factory produces coilovers for a dozen or more different brands.

Every brand, from Tein to Apex'i, from Kei Office to Buddy Club outsource the manufacturing process for some (if not all) of their coilovers.

In many cases the -identical- product (save for color), made in the exact same factory in the exact same way, is available from different companies with different brand/model names.

Of course there are some suspension brands whose high-end lines are developed and manufactured in Japan or Europe but these are the exception, not the rule. And they're not cheap. That's because they have the best R&D and the highest level of manufacture.

As already touched upon, if you have a street car and are not planning on entering it into the ALMS or FIA GT, coilovers produced in southeast Asia will serve you just fine.

Just be sure you are employing the correct spring rates for your intended use.

Have your car aligned after installation (corner balancing is ALWAYS a good idea, regardless if it's street or track use), clean and grease the coilovers regularly and experiment with damping settings to see what works best for you.

Half the fun of coilovers is tuning them to your taste after they've been installed!

But be sure to do it in a safe environment like a race track.

[Skym]

I've noticed while watching a TV program on a Lemans raceteam that most settings for suspension on Lemans racecars are worked out by suspension engineers before car touches a racetrack. Then settings are tested on said racetrack and get driver feedback, etc. But what was interesting is the settings suspension engineers come up with for that Lemans racecar actually produced the fastest laptimes. The drivers prefered settings made car easier to drive, but was slower laptime wise. That's why I said laptimes can tell you if the suspension setup, settings are working.

I like the Bilstein's, as it doesn't matter what car they are fitted to like a near to stock Supra or EVO 8, that said car can run quick laptimes compared to other cars with different brand setups from Japan, etc. Also a R32GTR can run flat 8 sec 1/4's with just circlip Bilstein's, upgraded springs, drag wheels with drag slicks.

Another area some overlook is swaybars to reduce bodyroll, increase lateral grip and tune the cars oversteer, understeer.

I've noticed that in Japan they tend to use higher spring rates due to running semislicks and to make up for the softer hollow swaybars. They essentially make their setups for racetrack use with rollcages, semislicks, etc, not street use, which I gather is what most of their customers want from a suspension setup.

From what I have learnt, you need to soften the spring rates to work with street tyres, stock chassis, etc. Some Japanese suspension manufacturers offer street setups, like Tein for example.

[Andrewc]

You also have to remember that harder springs have a higher energy potential so generally the dampers included with harder sprung coilovers are also not generally well suited for street use. Additionally, when lowering the car you are in fact losing suspension travel (not always the case but for street cars this is almost always the case) so your dampers are not being used to their best potential. Usually this loss of suspension travel is more detrimental to a cars overall handling than whatever benefit the lowering did have.
Japan has far more race courses within short distance compared to most other countries, so selling a track oriented suspension makes more sense there than it does here in Canada for example where most cars will see at most an autocross and the odd track day.
Softer springs will also transmit less energy instantaneously to your tires, spreading the load out over a longer period of time. This is why matching suspension to tire choice is important since running for example a high performance street tire, maybe even an all season compared to a slick or dot legal slick tire you can actually make for a dangerous vehicle that will show strong grip, then instantly lose control as the spring overloads the tires grip potential too quickly/violently.