View Poll Results: coilover poll
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Coilover Opinions
Coilover Opinions
In the next few weeks ill be buying a coilover setup for my '98. Im looking for something that is pretty much bolt on so a Koni/GC > * setup is basically out of the picture. Unless i can use Illuminas but IDK if its worth it/even possible.
I cant justify spending $1500+ on coilovers for a $2000 car so JIC's are out as well. Even though if I had the money they would be my choice hands down. Im on Illumina/S-Tech now and im fine with the ride but not so fine with the handling and ride height. So what are we left with?
K-Sports_
I like that they are bolt in and have the camber and dampning adjustment. Also the price is right as im looking to spend around $1000.
D2's_
These also bolt right up which is nice and also have camber plates as well as the dampning adjustment. Ive read these are the same as K-Sports but they have teflon coated threads which is nice.
Tien Basics_
Tien makes great parts but i dont like that you have to use your strut mount. also no camber plates and no dampning adjustments. Ive read these are very comfortable, but wont give too much of a drop and are not as agressive as other coilovers.
Nex_
These look nice and are not a bad price but are not dampning adjustable and they dont have camber plates but i guess camber could still be adjusted a little. They say that you lower ride height without reducing strut travel which is a good thing. Looks like the Tiens are not like that but are K-Sports and D2's the same?
All thought and opinions are welcome. Thanks .ORG
I cant justify spending $1500+ on coilovers for a $2000 car so JIC's are out as well. Even though if I had the money they would be my choice hands down. Im on Illumina/S-Tech now and im fine with the ride but not so fine with the handling and ride height. So what are we left with?
K-Sports_
I like that they are bolt in and have the camber and dampning adjustment. Also the price is right as im looking to spend around $1000.
D2's_
These also bolt right up which is nice and also have camber plates as well as the dampning adjustment. Ive read these are the same as K-Sports but they have teflon coated threads which is nice.
Tien Basics_
Tien makes great parts but i dont like that you have to use your strut mount. also no camber plates and no dampning adjustments. Ive read these are very comfortable, but wont give too much of a drop and are not as agressive as other coilovers.
Nex_
These look nice and are not a bad price but are not dampning adjustable and they dont have camber plates but i guess camber could still be adjusted a little. They say that you lower ride height without reducing strut travel which is a good thing. Looks like the Tiens are not like that but are K-Sports and D2's the same?
All thought and opinions are welcome. Thanks .ORG
I love my Teins. They ride quite nice for a lowered setup.
I dont really see the improtance of the 36way adjustable setups if its just for daily driving. If your tracking the car and have to adjust suspension to different tracks then of course but for DD seems like overkill to me.
I dont really see the improtance of the 36way adjustable setups if its just for daily driving. If your tracking the car and have to adjust suspension to different tracks then of course but for DD seems like overkill to me.
out of those i would go tein just for quality reasons assuming they will be used for daily driving purposes. the single tap design is a downfall but if you are not slamming the car you should be ok.
the ground control/koni setup is another good option.
d2 and nex seem to get ok reviews but i'd still take one of the above options over them. bc racing is another option i would put in this class if they have been released for the a32.
just say no to k-sport.
the ground control/koni setup is another good option.
d2 and nex seem to get ok reviews but i'd still take one of the above options over them. bc racing is another option i would put in this class if they have been released for the a32.
just say no to k-sport.
yeah this will be a DD setup. id be looking to get the car quite low at times. is the main problem with coilovers like D2 and ksport that people dont maintain them, and run them in the winter. id be able to pull them off in winter amd go through them. thanks for the help guys.
i understand what it means when they say for nex, it lowers the ride height without losing strut travel, and i know thats a good thing. do any of these other coilovers work like this or the lower you go the less strut travel you end up with?
EDIT: i just read for teins you loose suspension travel the lower you go...what about Ksports and D2s?
i understand what it means when they say for nex, it lowers the ride height without losing strut travel, and i know thats a good thing. do any of these other coilovers work like this or the lower you go the less strut travel you end up with?
EDIT: i just read for teins you loose suspension travel the lower you go...what about Ksports and D2s?
Last edited by QNO_A32; Mar 16, 2009 at 10:00 AM.
The Nex is new since I last looked into coilovers so I don't know anything about it, but of the other three the choice is clear: TEIN. You won't lose significant travel as long as you're not dropped more than 2" (and IMO it's foolish to drop more than that because of the LCA geometry, impracticality of driving around town, and it just looks bad).
If you're looking at rolling your fenders, it sounds like you want to drop it pretty low, in which case you'll probably want the D2/K-Sports. I would go with the GC/Shortened Koni's instead unless you don't like the idea of having pieced together suspension. IF you can find a used set of Progress coilovers I'd go for those I've been very happy with mine.
On a street driven car dampening and camber adjustability should be an oversight in my opinion. I'm dropped pretty low and I barely needed any camber adjustment. The less moving parts, the better.
On a street driven car dampening and camber adjustability should be an oversight in my opinion. I'm dropped pretty low and I barely needed any camber adjustment. The less moving parts, the better.
I am dropped on TEIN and the ride is so comfortable. I have had these for over 3 years now, tracked the car from time to time and they are still going strong. I would say I put about 24000 miles on them so far
did you buy your ksports new? how are/were they? im gonna search a little on gc/illumina, thought about it never really saw anything though.
spend the money and get ground controls on konis, ive heard mixed reviews on d2's, nothing good about ksports, and tiens are tiens absolutely nothing bad about them but nothing great about them either. if u insist on these brands i would go with the tien hands down.
No, I bought them used. I just sold them in fact. I had issues with mine blowing, which I never fixed. Had I fixed them, Im sure I would've liked them a lot more. Supposedly, Ksport has 'revamped' their struts. Should this be the case, that in theory would put them above D2s and Teins. Besides the blown struts, there really aren't any issues with them.
No, I bought them used. I just sold them in fact. I had issues with mine blowing, which I never fixed. Had I fixed them, Im sure I would've liked them a lot more. Supposedly, Ksport has 'revamped' their struts. Should this be the case, that in theory would put them above D2s and Teins. Besides the blown struts, there really aren't any issues with them.
Tein does alot of research and development in regards to suspensions. They have a great history and have proven to make qulaity products.
With all the issues people have had with the K Sports on this site alone, not to mention the tons of others who dont drive Maximas, I cannot say the same for them.
One member here even stated that when he contacted K Sport about warranty work they stated they do more warranty work on other companies coilovers then their own, which didnt make sense to me. Why would they work on other companies suspensions?
If you wanna go low:
-ksport
-D2
-nex (with a set of camber bolts)
For a RELIABLE setup thats more comfortable than s-techs with a similar drop:
-Koni/GC
-Tein basics
But thats just from the choices listed up there. Too bad they dont make BCs for 4th gens. If I were in your situation, i'd get some 5th gen BCs and just relocate one of the lower strut mounting holes in the front. You will have a setup that is comfortable for a daily driver, reliable, and for the times you just wanna slam it, you wont loose suspention travel.
And yes, this has been done before.
I agree 100% that it destroys the geometry if the setup is not optimized.
But I dissagree that a drop of more than 2" looks bad. It all depends on the setup. I'm dropped ~4" lower than stock all around. With my wheel choice and style i'm going for, any higher than this will just look retarded.
-ksport
-D2
-nex (with a set of camber bolts)
For a RELIABLE setup thats more comfortable than s-techs with a similar drop:
-Koni/GC
-Tein basics
But thats just from the choices listed up there. Too bad they dont make BCs for 4th gens. If I were in your situation, i'd get some 5th gen BCs and just relocate one of the lower strut mounting holes in the front. You will have a setup that is comfortable for a daily driver, reliable, and for the times you just wanna slam it, you wont loose suspention travel.
And yes, this has been done before.
But I dissagree that a drop of more than 2" looks bad. It all depends on the setup. I'm dropped ~4" lower than stock all around. With my wheel choice and style i'm going for, any higher than this will just look retarded.
I agree 100% that it destroys the geometry if the setup is not optimized.
But I dissagree that a drop of more than 2" looks bad. It all depends on the setup. I'm dropped ~4" lower than stock all around. With my wheel choice and style i'm going for, any higher than this will just look retarded.
How to you optimize the setup to not destroy the geometry by going with an extreme drop?
http://www.farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html
That's interesting reading, its long but its worth it. Pony up and do Koni inserts with Ground Controls. Its really not that much work, and that's the best suspension setup for the Max I can find. Jsutter basically has a set by step procedure complete with pics. Do a search and check out his How-To before you buy.
That's interesting reading, its long but its worth it. Pony up and do Koni inserts with Ground Controls. Its really not that much work, and that's the best suspension setup for the Max I can find. Jsutter basically has a set by step procedure complete with pics. Do a search and check out his How-To before you buy.
Only those who have experience with said coilovers should speak....not "I heard from my gf's brothers dad's best friends son said" or throw out blanket "XX FTW" w/o any justification/explanation etc. 
Even if they did "revamp" their struts which I doubt I dont see them being better quality then the Teins.
Tein does alot of research and development in regards to suspensions. They have a great history and have proven to make qulaity products.
With all the issues people have had with the K Sports on this site alone, not to mention the tons of others who dont drive Maximas, I cannot say the same for them.
One member here even stated that when he contacted K Sport about warranty work they stated they do more warranty work on other companies coilovers then their own, which didnt make sense to me. Why would they work on other companies suspensions?
Tein does alot of research and development in regards to suspensions. They have a great history and have proven to make qulaity products.
With all the issues people have had with the K Sports on this site alone, not to mention the tons of others who dont drive Maximas, I cannot say the same for them.
One member here even stated that when he contacted K Sport about warranty work they stated they do more warranty work on other companies coilovers then their own, which didnt make sense to me. Why would they work on other companies suspensions?
Aside from the fact that the struts have been weak in the past[I can not attest to the present], Ksports' issues compared to the other brands listed are neglieable if any. Not to mention they have their perks.
Also, FWIW, more people have Ksports then D2, Teins, JIC and Nex all combined. In other words, if 1 out of 10 people complain about any coilover, youre going to have 4 times the complaints about Ksports.
All Ksport talk aside, I am going Koni and Ground Control. Best setup hands down.
true to an extent, but i don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to know that k-sports blow (literally). that one guy who is happy with his set is probably a less accurate depicition of the product than the dozens of cases of those with problems. honestly, no one who has done their research should have first hand experience with the "orange hotness".
i also don't need to have fisrt hand experience with the gc/koni or tein setups to know they are not well suited to go low (significantly over 2" in this context). it is a design issue rather than a quality issue. if the op didn't mention wanting to occasionally go "quite low" then these 2 would be the obvious choices.
as for what's left, i can't speak on it cause i haven't tried them.
i also don't need to have fisrt hand experience with the gc/koni or tein setups to know they are not well suited to go low (significantly over 2" in this context). it is a design issue rather than a quality issue. if the op didn't mention wanting to occasionally go "quite low" then these 2 would be the obvious choices.
as for what's left, i can't speak on it cause i haven't tried them.
you know, i think i'm gonna be getting stiffer springs (525lb/in and 440lb/in) when i replace the insert(s). rubbing = fail. Koni's should be able to handle that yes? i want this thing to literally be on rails.
blah blah thats what its all about blah blah.
hahahah. SOMEONE needs to get JICs to go with that I30 19" ballin outta control setup...
you know, i think i'm gonna be getting stiffer springs (525lb/in and 440lb/in) when i replace the insert(s). rubbing = fail. Koni's should be able to handle that yes? i want this thing to literally be on rails.
blah blah thats what its all about blah blah.
you know, i think i'm gonna be getting stiffer springs (525lb/in and 440lb/in) when i replace the insert(s). rubbing = fail. Koni's should be able to handle that yes? i want this thing to literally be on rails.
blah blah thats what its all about blah blah.
