coilover vs strut

[bjmauck]

I have a 99 gsx non DD. Wanting to lower car. Street/ 1/4 mile driven. I'm looking at eibach/kyb new or used tein basic coilover used. Around same price. Wondering about ride quality?

 

[Flash]

I've had exactly both. Depends on the Eibach spring you want, Sportline or Pro Kit. I had Sportline and it made the car too low. The Tein Basics are a good entry-level coilover. In terms of handling the Eibach/KYB and Tein kit were pretty similar. I felt the Tein's were a bit more stiff which was nice.

The Tein Basics are a great entry-level and daily driving coilover. It's soft enough to be tolerable everyday. But the reason I got rid of mine was because I felt my goals for the car were going in the opposite direction from what the coilovers could handle. Just depends on your goals. At the end of the day its Tein and its a good quality product for the money.

 

[JMiller]

If it price your looking for MEGAN Racing has some "EZ street" 15 or 16(cant remember) way adjustable coilovers for 699.99 i have never used them though.

 

[Flash]

He never asked about Megan Racing coilovers.

 

[kawgomoo]

you can get the tein basic new for about the same price as agx/eibach is new.

The basic issue with lowering coils and struts and the loss of suspension travel due to lowering. You are just shortening the spring which in turn compresses the strut. Now you are halfway to bottomed out before you ever start driving.

With a true coilover, the lower perch is threaded and adjustable. This allows you to lower the ride height while still keeping the strut fully extended. The spring perch collar is used to set preload on the spring. As it should be.

Any coilover/lowering spring combo that allows the spring to become free when the suspension droops is imho very poor setup.

The problem is, neither setup you chose has any advantage over the other honestly.

The tein basic allows adjustable ride height, but at the cost of losing strut travel. the lower you go the less control over the suspension you will have.

Lastly, the tein basic is a chinese made product. I think this puts it in the category of other entry level coil overs like ksport, megan, d2. So mentioning other china brands seems relevant to the thread... dont be a ball buster

Since you have a 2g i would spring for koni's if you wanted struts. At least they are good for life and they still make them for your car. Us 1g guys are just SOL.

 

[bjmauck]

I'm only looking for about a 1.5 inch lowering. Trying to decid the best route.

 

[JMiller]

He never asked about Megan Racing coilovers.

I was just informing him of some coilovers that cost about the same as a strut and spring setup if price was the reason he wanted to know the differences.

 

[housegsx]

lastly, the tein basic is a chinese made product.

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[kawgomoo]

well sweet! i was told the basic damper was chinese while the flex was made in japan. i am COMPLETELY averted to running chinese suspension on my car. {i enjoy my life}

i have only ever owned a flex for a suby {cause i got it used for way too cheap} my pockets dont typically have room for exotic suspensions.

I will say i have read alot of hatred about tein..but there flex system made that suby a raped animal to drive. lots of fun, we even jumped it over train tracks and live. so as far as tein quality. im a believer. just never ran there lower end product. there lowering springs however have never impressed me..so that made me shy from there basic dampers as well.

yet all that aside.

you still cant move the lower perch on a basica damper. and they say you can run stock height. So you are obviously packing down the suspension before ever leaving your driveway.

 

[housegsx]

True, but my tires will bang off the fender plastics before they bottom out so it might be a moot point on DSMs. I'm certainly not claiming that they are some race ready type setup, but they've served their purpose for me for years.

BJ, I think your deciding factor is going to be how stiff you want your car. Probably all of the springs you have listed are 100+ less spring rate than the coilovers.