The biggest limiting factor when it comes to cheaper coilovers is that the valving is complete ****.

Yes you can get a height adjustable coilover with camber plates for maybe 200 bucks more than a quality Koni or Bilstein shock, but the actual valving is nowhere near on the same level.

I'm not saying these shocks are bad...I have no idea and have nothing to go on. Most people look at "features" and advertising junk...the real differences are inside and hard to decipher for most. I'd love to see a shock dyno plot.

 

I have a basic understanding of dynos, but they mean squat without knowing spring rates, car weight, etc. Most dynos I've seen of the 'cheap' brands, the first 20 clicks don't do much of anything. Good shocks are spread out and have good high and low speed dampening...talking about the rate of change (or knee I think). My lingo isn't up to par, but I can pick a Chinese shock out of a line up. I'm pretty sure that's why he does it the way he does; asks about vehicle use, etc. He valves them all different based on the end user. I'm pretty sure he doesn't keep a single kit on hand...just what I gathered...

As far as marketing stuff; I mean, would you buy it if it said, "Coilover, you know what it does."

Look at BC, they're page overwhelms you with info (no shock dyno though) but they go through all the nuts and bolts. It's impressive and only a small percentage of people with coilovers give a crap about shock dynos. It lowers, handles better and it's cheap. That all 99% care about.

Just my $0.02/ opinion/ etc.

 

Absolutely. The 32 levels of damping on a cheaper coilover means precisely ****, and is purely marketing nonsense. Also, lowering on coilovers without corner-weighing the car is, in terms of performance, a waste of time. Call me a purist, but nobody does it right anymore. It's all about flush, poke, stance, etc these days.

 

Spring rates and other details are very important, but I can get a pretty good idea if a shock is crap with a shock dyno plot even without that info.

The marketing stuff is tough...I work for a suspension company and end up writing some of the press releases so for me as a technical person I have to translate as much as I can to what people can understand. My issue with most marketing material is that it doesn't really tell you anything important and almost all of the low end stuff have the exact same "features" anyway. Dual height adjustable (a cost saving measure most of the time), 32 clicks of damping adjustment (all 32 clicks suck, all 4 corners are different, non-linear change with each click), and camber plates included (using crap pillowballs that wear out too fast). Of course no one cares, they just see the features and assume they're great.

I'm in a grumpy mood. I'm not saying these are bad...and actually from your conversations with him I'm optimistic. I'd still love to see some dyno plots.

- Andrew

 

You're right, most people look for familiar features. All of the popular brands out there (Taiwanese) are the same imho just a distinguishing color. BC is on the front line, everyone follows suit.

I like to buy from smaller places. I like local business and 'cottage industry' types do the best work at a premium.

 

Well said. I do proper ride height. In fact I never even asked how much the suspension lowers. 1-1.5" is max for me. I like the tuck, but it's not for me.

 

I have KW V3 that are getting close to 5 years old. They were valved for a mini and 450 lb linear springs installed. They work great... I contacted KW to find out about getting them rebuilt and that would cost around $185 each and take around 3 weeks. This repair is not covered under warranty. So be careful about what you take as a lifetime warranty.

 

Are your coilovers leaking? Doesn't sound like it, sounds like you want more valving for more spring. So that doesn't sound like a warrantable item. The price tag of $185 for kw sounds fine but the turnaround time of 3 weeks is a bit long, but I guess that's because you are requesting custom valving.

There are some people who do have the expertise and knowledge to revalve kW but they are few and far between.

What are you doing that 450 lb/in springs are not sufficient?

 

5 years is a pretty long time, that's impressive.

 

GPToyz I didn't say I wanted to change the performance of any part of the spring or damper Just rebuild the parts that are going to wear out. I would like to do this BEFORE anything leaks and becomes an emergency. My rear bump stops need to be replaced and If I replace them I would like to rebuild the dampers at the same time. No need to R & R those parts 2 times. 450 pounds is fine not sure why you think I said it was not.

 

Andyroo
5 years and around 25K miles. I know they will eventually wear out Not sure what parts are covered and what the KW warranty would cover for a lifetime.

 

Gotcha.

 

Well, I switched gears...literally. Sold the R53 and bought a C300 so I'm getting Coilovers for that. Sorry I couldn't do a review on them.

My Mini was about to hit 100k and the deal was too good to pass up.

 

You're going to miss the MINI.

 

Actually, I'm not. I got so tired of the constant little problems.

Has anyone ordered coilovers from Flatout? I'm curious what your impressions are. I ordered the C57-1 with external reservoirs; few changes (for the better) from the setup I had a few years ago.

 

Totally. The more complicated and expensive car should prove easier to maintain
I kid. Enjoy your car. I too sold my MINI, in favor of a turbocharged 2005 Miata.