Standard disclosure: I am not affiliated with this vendor. I am only a satisfied customer trying to bring awareness to a pretty cool product.

For those of you looking for an alternative for racing dampeners for your FC and FD, allow me to bring your attention to RedShift Motorsports. Formerly a Honda only tuner, the company has taken a new direction to offer race proven custom dampening in an "easy on the wallet" solution. We've all seen custom valved Penske, MCS, etc. solutions starting around $6,000 and going up from there. What if you could get the same performance in a solution that costs about a third?

In a nut shell, Redshift is taking coilover kits from BC Racing, modifying the internals with custom pistons and shims from Bilstein, and tailoring custom dampening curves for your racing application. What you are left with is an BC mounting hardware with a tuned adjustable Bilstein dampener. If you're interested in taking your track monster to the next level, reach out to Chris at RedShift. Facebook: RedShiftMotorsports

I've personally had this setup on my autocross car for two years now with no complaints.

 

If anyone is interested, they are running a sponsorship program that will get you up and running at cost:

https://store.redshiftmotorsports.co...7B4fRouWm1yl9k

 

MCs doesn't start at 6k. If you aren't aware if them Check em out.

 

You're absolutely correct, MCS doesn't start at 6k when you buy a single adjustable off the shelf kit... However when you start looking at double adjustable with remotes and custom valving? $6k is very common for a kit. I should have been more specific what I was comparing.

The product offered by Redshift is a 100% custom solution for your specific racing needs.

 

I wouldn't even want the BC hardware on my car.

 

If you have the means to buy something else from a different vendor? By all means! I'm not here to debate the quality of coilover kits made in Taiwan. This option is for those looking for race valving on a budget. Keep in mind that these modified BC kits come with upgraded spherical bearings in the mounts along with Swift springs. While this option is not for everyone, a double adjustable kit for less than $2,000 and triple adjustable for less than $2,500 is pretty appealing for racers on a budget.

 

Is there any proof that these are better than other readily available coil overs for $2k

 

There have been several individuals that have been having good success with RedShift valving, myself included. (Although my driving skill isn't at a national competitive level yet) The most recent success of someone running this setup was at the SCCA 2018 Time Trials:

(From the RedShift facebook page) "For those who don't know, we have our first SCCA National Champion in Justin Tilus his Vision SpeedworksCivic Si that won T5 class at the 2018 SCCA Time Trials Nationals. His comment about our suspension is very telling! Justin says, "Fantastic stability through high-speed elements, but very reasonable ride quality on the street, (even with high spring rates.) Nothing else comes close at this price point!""

 

I dunno, at that price point I think I'd rather just stick with some Ohlins.

 

Kind of what I was getting at. But I don't know the custom damping compares to the general online offering. The higher priced FP spec from SBG does come with customization.

 

So here's my experience. They spent some time talking to me about what I wanted to achieve. I ended up going with double adjustable with remotes. I have a first gen and could have run single adjustable non remotes in the rear and saved some money. Everything is cutsom valved for my cars setup and range of spring rates I want to run. Im a cheap skate usually but after reading reviews from the BMW guys and then talking to MCs I decided that they were the route to go. The only thing I didn't like was their rebuild costs are double koni and Bilstein race shick options.

I'd at least give them a call. I'm spending less than 5k and my stuff requires some machine shop time.

 

I get it if you have no other options for an FB. But for an FD, we can get Ohlins FPSpec for less than $3500. Would these really be better? If better and cheaper then they could start selling.

 

 

Look revalved shocks for your specific setup is generally going to be better than off the shelf components designed for mass markets.

Especially if you have any aero on the car.

 

I've been a little hesitant to jump in as to why this option is "better" than something like Ohlins because I honestly don't speak dampener language fluently. I know enough to be dangerous. I strongly encourage anyone who is considering track use of their vehicle to reach out to someone like Chris at RedShift to understand why custom valving is important for competition.



From my limited understanding: A company like Ohlins has a lot to consider when building a package. Things like mass appeal and customer liability all come in to play. Even BC and the other China knock-offs have to produce a product that feels good and is safe for mass consumption. With this philosophy, manufacturers have to *GENERALLY* design their dampeners with high rebound and less compression. This typical setup gives a car good responsive feel and an overall smooth ride that easily sucks up bumps. (IE: Great for the street.) If you look at the shock dyno graphs from a race builder, you’ll start to see that they flip these curves. Compression curves go up and rebound forces go down in order to maximize the tire contact with the road. (Obviously I’m skipping a lot of detail here to make a point. There is a lot more to it than just adding compression and removing rebound.)



Many kits like those from Ohlins are great for all around use. They function on the street and very well on the track. For most people? This is exactly what they need. However, if you want maximum track performance, a custom tuned kit with performance valving from Olins or Penske is going to cost a lot of $$$. This option from Redshift follows that performance mindset for those on a budget. You’re getting a track tuned dampener for max performance at a considerably less cost than the big name builders. IS IT BETTER? That depends entirely on your personal goals and how you intend to use them.

 

I'm not knocking either one. But I think it depends on a lot more than that. Which bilstein dampers are they using and how does that compare to the ohlins FPSpec that are already custom valved for the FD with track orientation in mind? I don't know if it matters, or if it's just advertising, but ohlins has the dual flow valving, does this allow for the streetability while still being valved well for track use. You can still adjust the dampening based on driver or track specific preferences.

So even though the bilsteins in the BC body can be valved to your preference, does that offer better performance than ohlins, that seem to be well below the expensive $6k+ options (Penske) these were originally compared to.

Bilstein offers a range of quality as well. They have some low end stuff and high end stuff. What actually gets put into the BC bodies at this low of a price point?

 

Just to clarify, this service being offered by RedShift is not inserting a pre-made Bilstein dampener into a BC body. Redshift is taking the BC dampeners completely apart, removing the BC piston and shims, then replacing everything with Bilstein internal parts. Bilstein pistons were chosen because on the shock dyno, these parts have shown consistency. (IE: The same configuration of shims from one dampener to the next provides the exact same results.) This was not the case with the BC pistons. As for what piston they are using: Redshift is using a hybrid Bilstein piston that allows for digressive flow on the compression stroke and linear flow on the rebound stroke. This type of piston has become very popular with a lot of manufacturers because it provides great street and track characteristics.

Ohlin’s “dual flow” valving is a standard feature on all dampeners and is just marketing. All dampeners have flow and valving in both directions, compression and rebound.

Considering performance, how a customer determines the performance of one product compared to another is a very difficult thing to measure. We can argue manufacturer claims till we’re blue in the face. The only real way to measure performance is on the track, on the same car, with the same driver, in the same conditions. In the absence of this type of imperial data, about all we can do is take the word from someone who is satisfied with a product. From my perspective? I don't have an unlimited budget and unlimited time to buy multiple suspension packages and test each. I have Redshift tuned dampeners on my car and have achieved some great results in my autocross class running a complete under-dog of a car. I'm just trying to get the word out to other people who may be in the same situation.

 

Pretty cool. The extra detail is great

 

Are you sure you don’t work for them?

 

Positive, but I do have an ongoing relationship with the company. For over two years now we have been tuning the dampeners on my car. Several revisions and a couple long shock dyno sessions later...

 

i was going to chuck this up as yet another coilover company, then i saw the part about bilstein internal in a BC body. Nice !! this could really be a game changer.
utilizing efficiently produced parts for the shock body hardware, and then proven bilstein internals for the intricate internals, great idea !

 

FYI the Ohlins DFV is referring to a secondary flow path for the oil under compression to bypass the compression valve when you hit a quick acting bump meant for potholes, road imperfections, etc to remove the harshness so that you can have track springs and valving with street comfort. It does not refer to flow through the valve in compression and rebound.

However, this Redshift product is very interesting for the FC. It's getting difficult to find sources of quality suspension for this chassis unless you go custom shock mount tubes like AWR and then fitting custom dampers that need to be specially valved for the car. This can get expensive in a hurry. With the new ST6 and ST5 rules in NASA I believe the FC can be even more competitive and reliable than they used to be. I will certainly be reaching out to Redshift to see what they can offer as I am buttoning up my full bridge FC for race duty in the next couple months. Thank you for sharing your experience.