What are the differences between coilovers and lowering springs in terms of performance, handling, ride quality, and the drop ill get?

I have a 10th ann RX7 and im looking to lower it. Right now my suspension is very soft and high, all stock.

Im looking at a set of Tein HR coilovers really good deal on them but they are used.
Also im open for suggestions for different brands.

 

i wouldn't buy used unless you know the seller and his car VERY well, or the company selling them is warrantying them (never happens).

as for your other questions, the answer is more involved than i want to type.
-lowering springs will be more mild in performance, handling, ride quality and drop.
-coilovers will tend to be more hardcore and uncomfortable, but depends on the specific model coilover.
-anything shitty or badly setup will ride like ***.
-the third option for a hardcore suspension set up is a real quality shock with a custom spring rate and some kind of c/o sleeve. ppl even custom valve their own shocks.

as for brands:
i say megan and k-sport is garbage.
alot of ppl will say go 'quality' meaning tein, silkroad, jic, etc etc.
but there's an alternate point of view (stating most shocks on japanese coilovers are garbage, and a better set up is koni/bilstein/penske shocks with a custom spring rate).
http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

 

Very awesome link. Glad Im not the only one who doesn't buy into this whole JDM BS.

 

yep, its usually an eye opener to those of us who learned on nothing but japanese cars.

 

You can't really go wrong with konis/bilsteins and appropriately matched springs. I love me some jdm parts, but I'll be damned if I ever put japanese suspension on my car. :p

 

no doubt that konis/bilsteins are top notch but it depends on preference... for me coming from blown stock suspension and just tracking rarely... i love my drift specs... not too bad for street but very much trackable... i got this set up cheap so thats another plus... most people i know that daily drive use the lower spring/shock combo... i just dont like that nothing is adjustable

 

I tend to agree with the link, but he has limited experiance with modern Japanese coilovers. The Tein Fex for instance, I've seen many dyno plots of them and they are really quite good, they're very reliable and durable, are rebuildable and revalveable in the US, have all the right features and are reasonably priced. Sure they won't compete with top shelf motorsports dampers, but for street/track use they're really quite good.

 

granted tein has many different coilovers and some may very well be adequately valved for what they run

i doubt the author of that article could possibly dyno every single shock on every single tein coilover, let alone every japanese coilover, so what he says has to be kept in context

its also possible that his context for 'garbage' kicks out alot of japanese coilovers that are for the most part quality as long as you run them within a narrow adjustment range (eliminating the crosstalk / linear adjustment problems).

i think this is the case with my silkroad rma8s. they are 8 way adjustable but the first 4 clicks are useless (way too bouncy), 5 is questionable, 6-7 seem adequate for the most part, and 8 is retarded stiff.

thats a gross oversimplification. i'm not talking about lowering springs and a off the shelf shock.

you should really fully read the link. it's a good read.