OK, going to go to coilover shocks. What would be the best bang for the $$$$$$

 

I had a set of Spax on for a while. They are a well known brand in the world of British performance parts and the price was significantly less than Bilstein. But I don't know if I'd recommend them.
The performance was superb. The shocks were non-digressive and the ride was intolerable. One of the rear shocks started leaking 6 months after the warranty expired.
I have a set of H-sport springs, Koni yellows and H-sport sway bars right now. Could be happier with it. It's much more appropriate for the street.

 

What's your goal? Are you wanting better suspension for the track? Wanting to lower your car? Just wanting coilovers to have them? Wanting to smooth out the factory ride?

Last year I was going back and forth between getting coilovers, or replacing the stock shocks with Koni FSD's. From everything I could find, and what most people said, unless you get a set of really good (and expensive) set of coilovers, you are better off just going with lowering springs and/or putting a good set of Koni shocks on your car.

There are some pretty cheap sets of coileovers out there, but they don't seem to have very good reviews from what I've seen. The valving in them in crappy, and the ride is pretty harsh. I wanted a firm ride that wasn't going to rattle your teeth out, but would still handle great. I went with Koni FSD shocks.

 

Coil overs are something that you don't cheap out on. IF you do, you will regret it. Save up and buy proper or simply don't do it. there are a lot of cheap mods like redux pulley and rear swaybar that can be done that make a difference.

 

Cheap coilovers are the typical "poser" or ricer mod...all show...aka.."hey dude, I got coilovers!!", but no go unless you spend some money on them...remember the "top gear" episode where they made lap times slower....lol.
Sure...you can lower your car with them...cheap ones do ok doing that...but ANYBODY that thinks they can improve handling with a mod that cost LESS a quality set of new shocks/struts is delusional.....
The spring rates are important....especially in minimally/non adjustable ones....
That is why the TSW/WMW KW ones are so popular...they are tuned for the mini' sususpension...but folks sometimes cheapout... And get other genaric kw's that have the wrong spring rates...sure they fit... Again all show...but wrong spring rate... So handle like crap....
If you do get a decent set of coilovers...do you know how to set up the dampening and rebound for best handling? Again the pre-set wmw kw's gain again....

And one warning....
Potholes have been known to snap coilovers in half or sheer mounts...
So buying a off brand e-bay special might be poor deal if you need to change them all out when one fails or cannot rebuild the struts when one leaks....

Me...I ended up going with koni fsd's...more about ride and stock height due to road conditions locally...
But if you want a lower car that HANDLES WELL, it can be hard to be the jcw springs and strut combo imo...durable...cheap...tested and tuned on track on our cars.....