JHew84

iTrader: (9)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEX-C...QQcmdZViewItem

I'm sure most of the comments will be along the lines of "you get what you pay for". I said the same thing when ksport first started selling their coilovers but from the few people I know personally with ksports and the one set I helped install they are pretty nice and definitly worth the money. Anyway, i'm just wondering if anyone on the forums has these? or if anyone has any opinions on them? I searched for "NEX" and "NEX coilovers" and couldn't find anything, so just thought i'd make a new post and see if these ones are even worth the time it takes to open up the ebay page.

- Later

rynberg

Just another knock-off ebay brand made in a sweat shop with no customer support. Caveat Emptor

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

In defense, that's what everyone said about the ksports and honestly they suprised the **** out of me. From the pictures they actually don't look that bad, knockoff or not if the build quality is there and they are sound coilovers, who cares? I'll go along with the customer support though, but in comparison to other coilovers you could afford to just buy another set if anything ever did go wrong and still not be spending near the amount as most everyone else .

I'm just really curious if anyone has actually bought these, or heard anything about them from anyone? I already knew there would be ebay skepticism , especially since i'm having my own doubts.

rynberg

Considering that some "name brand" coilovers have shitty damping curves (cough, JIC, cough), what do you expect from a knock-off brand selling for less than Konis and Eibachs?

Black91n/a

$650 doesn't buy very good quality. That's a lot of parts to get for the price, so the damping and longevity won't be anywhere near what they'd be for a quality product. It'll end up costing more in the end when these die, or fail to meet expectations, and you end up getting something decent.

You gotta pay to play.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Not to say you guys are wrong, but I did a little searching on other boards I'm on and people seem to be very pleased with these coilovers. The only complaint the SRT guys had was the stiff spring rates, but I think that had more to do with daily drivability than anything else. The GTi guys were extremely happy with them, only complaint was that at full drop it rubbed the inner tire a little bit, which doesn't suprise me. Quite a few people also commented on the damping and only had good things to say.

Just because they are cheap doesn't necessarily mean they aren't good. These knockoff companys can afford to sell their products for cheaper because they don't have the time spent in development, so they can just leech off the other "name brand" companys developments and make a quality product for cheaper. There is just as much validity in the statement "you get what you pay for" as there is in "your just paying for a name". I'd really still like to get some first hand opinions from RX7 owners though.

TRISPEEDFD3S

iTrader: (26)

The NEX company has two lines of coils. The SS and the GT. The SS is only height adjustable, and the GT can also adjust dampening. They make both the SS and the GT for the FD. The SS runs for $649 here http://www.prostreetonline.com/sku/ss1-md07.html, and the GT sells for $809 here http://www.prostreetonline.com/nex_gt_coilovers.html. Iheard they were based out of Berkeley, CA. I've heard about the NEX coilover being developed in 2004. I'm not sure if the company was being developed or the coilover systems themselves. I just know that I've heard of them back in 2004.

rynberg

Big deal. Most of the people you're talking about are a bunch of young kids without the money to buy anything better and who wouldn't know how to drive on a track if a gun was held to their head. Most product "reviews" are nothing more than the owner self-congratulating themselves.

Sorry to sound harsh but the truth hurts sometimes.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Well I think your comments are a bit presumptious, and incidentally wrong, although not entirely. A good amount of neon guys track their cars regularly, and successfully, what I got from the GTi guys is that the overall build quality is really nice, not a flimsy product, doesn't make funny noises, etc. I'm still looking for an opinion from an rx7 owner that actually has these though.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

You know, after reading one of DamonB's links where a guy dyno'd quite a few shocks, I think the best setup for around $1000 would be Koni's and the Ground Control coilover sleeves.

The article mentioned the inconsistent and unpredictable performance of some of the inexpensive coilover shocks. He said that Koni's had very consistent and predictable behavior on the shock dyno.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

The neon guys were working pretty closely with a rep from NEX, I wonder if I sent them some emails if they'd be willing to produce any information from some shock dyno tests... Never really crossed my mind, thanks for getting me pointed in that direction .

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

That would be a good idea if they have that information. At least you would be able to see what you are getting for you money. They have them and the dyno's turn out to look good for the shocks (and good enough for their spring rates), then it sounds like a decent deal.

Black91n/a

I'd agree with Rynberg, the guys who tend to buy these types of cheap coilovers are the young guys with no money and no frame of reference, so their oppinions aren't worth that much. The outside looks and build aren't what's really important for performance. Most of the expense and quality comes from what's inside, that's what gives good damping and long life. They're going to have to skimp there to make the price at the expense of longevity (seals) and damping (pistons, shim stacks, precision adjusters, etc).

Sure they may track the cars, but unless you've experianced something good you don't really know how bad it might be. Just because it's better than the worn out OEM stuff doesn't mean it's a good coilover.

I'd want to see shock dynos of any coilover that I'd buy, it's a lot of money to spend based on reputation and web talk alone.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Duly noted, thank you, I did a lot more than read the first page of a review post. I dug through pages of bullshit pulling out useful posts and recognizing members who showed a good working knowledge of suspension, some of which had used "name brand" "expensive" coilovers in the past and would have a better idea what to look for when testing the coilovers on their car. Agree'd it is a lot of money to spend on web forum reputation alone, but at this point what else do we have? I do not plan on buying a set of coilovers because people say they will be alright, but the more information I can gather the better, am I wrong? Your post also has a lot of presumptions that aren't necessarily true, unfortunatly it isn't always as cut-n-dry as your trying to make it sound, even if it is most of the time . What's the worst case scenario? I find out they are junk and now there is a referance post on the RX7 forums so when someone searchs they will have a definitive answer. Best case scenario they actually check out alright and we now have a cheaper alternative to more expensive coilovers, I don't see any reason to discount it's credibility before having some real evidence though, just the same as I wouldn't advise someone to just go out and buy a set without looking into it a little bit.

Yeah definitly mahjik, I think i'll try getting ahold of the rep on the neon forums maybe, they had a phone number posted. No garuntee's i'll actually get around to doing this anytime soon (in case there are any lurkers also interested ) but if I do i'll update with more information.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

agreed, main reason I started this thread was to see if anyone had any experience with the company and the RX7 specific coilovers, doesn't seem anyone has so i'll do a little digging myself.

jkstill

iTrader: (11)

I would agree with that, and elaborate a bit.

Many product reviews (any product) done by consumers are worthless. You see comments such as 'This XYZ is complete garbage' or 'My car handles much better with ABC shocks/tires/whatever'.

Just look at the reviews on the Tire Rack. Not too many of them are objective.

When someone can tell me in what way a product is good or bad, what they liked or disliked and why, then the review is worth considering.

Anything else is just taking up space.

Black91n/a

You're right about it not being cut and dry, but I see something that cheap and I know that there's no way that they can be making a product of equivalent quality to say a Koni, for that little price. All the stolen technology in the world doesn't buy quality seals and good QC.

The standard shock dyno plot only tells part of the story, formatting it in different plots tells you different things, like hysterisis doesn't show up on a normal plot because they adjust all the values to start at zero. Ideally I'd like to see all the different formats for a given coilover, but that's not always possible. I've added some shock dyno plots to show the differences, in the one you can clearly see hysterisis, in the others you can't or it's hard to make out.

I'm just naturally cautious with this stuff and I don't want to end up with hundreds of dollard worth of my hard earned money going down the drain because I bought crap. I want a brand that I can trust that I know will support the product in the long run. I just don't trust these new companies to do that and to be around in 5 years when I need a rebuild for instance.

It sounds like you've been doing a good job of researching them, I always like to see reviews where they had something else, and especially if they go to the track with the car. But keep in mind if they're replacing a dead suspension, it's not likely that it was working all that well before, which will skew their preception. This happens all the time with tires, the old ones are worn out, hard and crappy, so the new ones feel great in comparison.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Those will come in handy, thanks man. I'm thinking I might just link the rep to this thread and see what he can do as far as getting a set of their coilovers onto a shock dyno. So if you have anything else you'd like to add by all means lets hear it, and that goes for anyone else as well.

Do you have any prices on what quality components in a shock assembly should cost? I can't imagine it being a whole lot. A lot of money gets put into the dyno testing and other things that the more reputable companys have already done, they have to recover it somehow and that is all factored into the cost.

The quality control I can't argue with, smaller companys are less likely to be able to handle certain things, but at the same time they are more likely to want to please their customer base if they want to stay in business. The rep on the neon boards was being really attentive and answering questions, working really hard to get them a nice streetable coilover that could also be suitable for the track.

Black91n/a

It's really that shock dyno time that's what you want to be paying for, because it helps them develop a better product that's more reliable.

I don't know what the components would cost, but there's plenty of small, inmtricate and high precision pars, which by their nature are expensive, as well as expensive high pressure seals, especially in monotubes, which run at several hundred psi.

Smaller companies also run less volume, meaning they'll have to pay more for the equivalent part than a high volume maker.

ProjectRESuperG

The company responsible for the NEX name is located in Hayward, CA. Their "claim to fame" are budget wheels under the brands: ADR, RS Limited, and more recently Stern. NEX coilovers are produced in taiwan. This is just for your info.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Thanks man, I knew the hayward CA part but the rest is news .

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Stupid question but are these coilovers just a direct fit or do we still need the rubber mount?