Why no Cheap Coilover and/or Springs for FCs?
 

I've always wondered why there are no cheap coilover and/or springs available for FCs. For instance go on Ebay, type in "coilover" and you get hundreds of listings. Many of them are for <$100 for all four corners. You can even buy these for some fairly uncommon vehicles. Given the variety of applications available surely there are other vehicles with front suspension similar to ours.

I seem to recall hearing about some sort of drawback with these kinds of 'cheap' coilovers.

yeah, they're peices of shit to be frank

You get what you pay for...

because rx-7 market is very small and does look much more into quality and brand names.....taiwan/chinese manufacturers are not targeting on it....

u see u could get body kits for hondas for few hundred, but body kits for rx-7s are going to cost you almost 10x more...

same with taillights - watch out for tons of euro/altezza for every type of car, but none for rx-7.....

i do deal with taiwan/chinese manufacturers and their prices are really cheap for things which they are producing in huge amounts....for instance some wholesale pricing :

Aluminium Oil Caps USD3.00/PCS
Short shifter for HONDA CIVIC USD7.50/PCS
Blow Off Valve
Bov-2801 USD5.00/PCS
Bov-2802 USD21.00/PCS
Bov-2803 USD21.00/PCS

lots of types of aluminium wings - $40 each

coilovers for various types of cars $40 for set

shift knobs $3 for each....

should give u idea.....

Well by "cheap" what do you mean i mean if you want to pay like 100 for the springs and like just as low for the shocks, what kind of system do you think your gonna get? I mean its all about the quality, think about it. For example a great set of srpings is the Eibach set. You can get them for like 300 then the shocks will be like 90-130 for a good set, so thats around 800 for a good system. This would be good quality, after all you want somthing better than you stock system right?

Who the hell wants Altezza tail-lights on their RX? As Dan H said, you get what you pay for. Why would you want to sacrifice your ride and maybe even safety with a set of cheap coilovers by some company that was making those tailights and aluminum wings the week before. If you don't have the money for a decent set-up then just go with a set of decent springs with your stock shocks or some aftermarket ones. Cheap coilovers are not the way to go!!!

I agree w/ most comments here, but keep in mind just because something is mass produced and they can lower their prices, doesn't mean it's poor quality. More often than not, there is probably something of better quality -- but if you all didn't by mass produced items you world would be a cold, dark, and lonely place. :)


Bottom line: You need to find a product line that is right for you. If you're comfortable buying a $100 set of coilovers and replacing them more often, then go for it. Just find the right balance of price, quality, value, etc. for you.

Just don't put Altezza lights on there. :D

check airdynamicracing.com and look for coilovers. They are $189. I doubt they are of much quality though. If anyone does buy them post your thoughts on them.

are we talking about real coilovers here?

a real, adjustable coilover (not simply for lowering purposes) is not cheap; although the definition of that is subjective.

I think a decent functional coil over system for ~1000 is a great price.

didn't K2RD make well priced coilovers with agx's and GC's?
Price doesn't always get you a great product. HKS's and APEXi coilovers are way too expensive and they aren't all that great from what i've heard.

I didn't read the whole thread just the first think that snrub wrote, and yes there are you can order them from JC whitley, or whatever that really crappy cheap rip off crap is. Like every one says you get what you pay for. And there springs are like $80 or somthing like that. I havn't looked for them, but I read that in the RX-7 performance handbook, and I would just like to say that that book doesn't really tell you anythink about how to modify your car. About the best section of the book is the history of the RX-7. All of the rest is mostly bull, and a bunch of jibba jabba, with the acception of 1 paragraph in each section. :offtopic:

Tein makes a flex damper system that is 16 way adjustable for around 1000. Add the electric controller and you get a something like a 24 way adjustable system that you can control inside the vehicle. I think 1000 is a reasonable price for a high quality suspension setup that is proven to perform.

You've all weighed in now about how crappy they are :), but let me put it to you this way, what do you pay for some soft springs from Racing Beat, Eibach "Pro-kit", intrax, ST, etc? Now imagine you're able to run some stiff 2.5" eibach ERSs or equiviant real spring.

If you take a look at the actual coilover part it is simply a threaded sleave. How is that going to break? Besides I don't really want coilovers, I want to be able to put on good springs. Is there a drawback to this sort of system? (fact no hearsay please)

Yes K2RD and GC are suppose to have good quality unit, but it seems to me that there might be another way...

Edit: Thanks for the link, turns out there are some.

I'm not nessisarly doing this, I'm investigating.

They don't have that cheap stuff for our cars, because they know their isnt a market for it all, as with hondas etc, their is, none of them have enough money, and they dont really care about how fast they go, just that they can say, "Ya man, i just got some coilover's installed now!" They know people who drive an Rx7 are probably driving it because they are a little bit beyond the honda boys and girls, and are actually looking for quality parts.

yeah snrub dont get coilovers they are a major pain in the ass. Its better just to get the spring and the shocks. I have coilovers on my accord and it was such a pain in the ass getting the car to a perfect equal hieght i dont want to deal with it anymore.

Well again, chris_stampe posted a link with some for $150. :) RylAssassin good point about it being a pain in the ass.

Still, why wouldn't I want to do this, especially if I'm looking at them from the perspective of them simply enabling better springs?

Go for it. Let me know how you like whatever you decide to get too. ;)

supply and demand.

For a street setup you can't beat AGX's and the GC coilover kit for price/ride/handling/adjustment. The Tein products are fantastic in every way but will be a couple hundred bucks more for features us everyday driver's might not use. The EDFC electronic adjustment is a gamble...I wouldn't get it bc they make noise in most of the cars we've installed them on (WRX's). Once you have the AGX's and GC kit the Tein pillowball mounts are a GREAT addition down the road to adjust the alignment more aggressively and get rid of the stock mushy upper mount. You'll notice even tighter turn in and a lot of response improvement.

yeah, coilovers are a pain. i have a hardcore AutoX setup on my Subaru and it gives me such a headache on race days. i would only recommend them if you REALLY know your shit about suspension. since i am still learning i decided to just get a good spring/strut combo for my T2. anyway, it will perform just as well to the avg. weekend racer that a $2000 coilover setup does since they won't even notice the difference in the dampening and subtle changes in the weight transfer from it. but if you have the money...

If all you're talking about is the threaded collars, then GC's units are about $400. Not that expensive. This does not include the struts, camber plates or springs.

Rob

I've still yet to hear a compelling arguement against some of these cheap coilovers, anyone? :)

With the cheap coilovers, they arbitrarily will have a sleeve made to a given size. But, keep in mind that shock bodies come in different diameters. Therefore, while the sleeve may fit most or all shock bodies (for a given vehicle), it may not sit on the perch properly.

The set screw can be made from a rusting metal.
Therefore, the screw would rust and possibly be stuck in place. (I could've sworn that even Ground Control encountered this situation a number of years ago. I think they have since corrected that problem).

Plainly, I just don't like them. They seem to be a "mickey mouse" solution to me. Along the lines of those coil inserts that you can purchase at Pep Boys. If I want to lower my car, I would just purchase aftermarket springs and shocks.

spring/shock combo advantage lowered height and adjustable dampening depending on shock used. these are also i believe to be called dynamic meaning there is no actual spring rate.

okay coilover setup height adjustable and adjustable dampening depending on shock used.

good coilover setup height adjustable adjustable dampening and custom valving also re-valving to your needs.

good coilovers for price can be ground control, apex ws, tein ha/ss, jic (not flt-a2). these are around 1000 each.

supply, demand, quality.

if you don't have the money or don't want to spend the money for coilovers either don't buy em' or buy a civic so you can get those plastic $100 coilovers. :D (not really plastic)

actually the GC kit DOES come w/ springs...2.5 inch eibach race springs in your choice of a TON of rates or let them pick one for you depending on the purposes of the car.