Well, I got my new coilovers installed over the weekend, and WOW!

It's nice!

Zeal Function X with 11kg front, 8kg rear rates. Got them from AutoRND - thanks Rishie!

My initial impressions are that the shocks are valved perfectly for these rates. I haven't tried the full range of shock adjustment yet, but plan to try the softest and stiffest settings today to get an idea of their range. I just set them to 10 all around initially, and they feel perfect for street use. No bounce whatsoever, but it's nowhere near a bone-jarring ride. And yet, feels like the car is on rails around corners!

I decided on these rates after asking around to a couple people running these coilovers. Seems like the default rates of 11/10 tend to induce a little too much oversteer, but depends on your preference. On the track, I'd rather have a stable car I can beat on, than a nervous car that takes all my concentration to keep out of the weeds (been there, rather not go back).

So, I know there are a couple people running the Function X, just wondering what your thoughts are. Any experiences I should know about?

 

When I first opened the box, I saw that they had already set them up at the factory - per the manual, preload was set at 1/2 turn, and the heights were set to "lower the car roughly 30mm". I was certain that I didn't want to lower the car that much, but you never really know until you get them on the car...

On a hunch, I turned all four of them up five full turns (height adjustment, not spring perch), which looked to be about 15-20mm above where they started. This turned out to be almost perfect - the front was maybe 1/2" lower than with the stock suspension, and the rear around an inch. After a lengthy test drive, I decided to raise the rears another 3 turns, since I scraped a couple times on some more severe driveway entrances. After that adjustment, no more scraping.

So I guess the out-of-the-box height lowers the car a good bit, but definitely the rear more than the front as it should be.

 

thanks for sharing your experience. I'm running Apexi N1 Pro coilovers with Swift Springs (14kg front & rear). The N1's come with 16kg front and rear.

After installing them i had my car aligned and corner balanced. I can't remember off the top of my head what the settings were, but the car drives fantastic. Did a couple of track sessions at Lime Rock and VIR and didn't have any problems with oversteer/understeer at my level of driving (beginner/novice).

I haven't ridden in a stock suspension FD in a while, so i can't remember what it felt like. The N1's aren't too bad on the street. I've daily driven the car with this setup and it wasn't bad at all.

 

Ive got the older model of Zeals, the B6 with 11kg/10kg rates and love them just as much. They only have six settings, six being the stiffest, and I leave them on 4 all the time. Still need to get the car corner balanced, but it drives great on the back roads... hopefully next summer I'll put a track day or two on them. Got mine from Rishie also, AutoRnD rocks-

 

Thanks guys for the positive reviews.

I can't express how amazing of a Coilover the Zeals are. Their engineering has been phenomenal for a street/track or full on track coilover.

I have never in my MANY YEARS of integrated Japanese coilover experience found a coilover to be as compliant as the Zeals. I'm not talking about just the FD either.

I have about 15 vehicles currently. I'd say 5 of them are running Zeals.

RX8, Two of my FC's, my RPS13 5.0L V8 and our Miata.

They are superb. They really are a treat. No other coilovers I've tried compare, nor have the servicability that Endless UsA offers.

I'm super glad you're happy with your setup. Got any pics?

Thanks, Rishie

 

i could never justify spending 2500 on those zeal coil overs, especially when im in college. I cant see them being that much better than the silk roads or the apexi n1 or midrange jic coilovers to justify the 1500. Now if i had the money that would probably be a different story as the zeals always get the best reviews on here, but damn they are expensive.

 

I'll post some pics tonight. They look awesome!

And thanks again Rishie, your shop is seriously the best I've dealt with. Your shipping guy even emailed me as soon as he saw that they were delivered to make sure I was satisfied. Very good service, which I don't see much these days.

 

Honestly once you've tried them you would see why they are justified. They will last longer than the others and be much more user friendly. A lot quieter than other coilovers and you won't have to go into KIDNEY SURGERY everytime you hit a bump.

MSRP:

Function Xs (6way adj), (9kg/8kg): $1900.00 plus shipping
Function X (30way adj. custom rates avl): $2300.00 plus shipping

Don't hesitate to ask about your club discount off of this pricing.

Thanks, Rishie

 

So if Zeal Function Xs were in the $1665.00 plus shipping range how many guys would be interested?

Or the X in the $2010.00 plus shipping range who would be interested.

We really really try to do our best on following up with customers. I'd actually like to find time to have a conversation with each of you guys after installation which just doesn't seem to happen.

Michael, our customer service rep and operations manager makes sure to try and email everyone and make sure their packages were delivered timely and in tact.

These are new procedures I've implemented into our staff in the past three months. Things were getting so big that we needed to take a step back and work on our customer service more. I went ahead made some big changes in the company which are helping these things to happen.

Much appreciated, Rishie

 

I'd be interested in the Xs for $1665, but I noticed that the prices listed for the FC are about $400 more than that of the FD for both the X and Xs what would the FC pricing be?

On the difference between the Xs and the X, is the difference just in the coarseness of the adjustment, or does the X give a wider range of adjustment? Can they be serviced in North America? Are custom spring rates available, and if so how much? (I'd maybe want to go a little softer)

 

Yes FC is macpherson so it requires camber plates and is inverted in the front.

I'll PM you the price. Above is just a WHAT IF scenario, hehe. That all depends on the volume of order. How many people want to buy at particular moment.

Rishie

 

From my understanding of the differences between the X and Xs, the X shocks are valved specifically for the customer's specified springs before being shipped from the factory in Japan. So you can choose whatever rates you want, and they will be valved for those rates before shipping out.

The Xs shocks are also valved for their spring rates before leaving the factory, but they come with certain rates and that's what they're valved for. I think you can actually choose different spring rates, but the shocks will not be revalved.

The downside to the "custom" valving of the X is that they take about 6 weeks to ship from Japan, whereas the Xs can be bought off the shelf from dealer stock. That and the price difference - you're paying extra for the valving service with the X.

I also remember reading something about the X being valved "more aggressively", but can't remember where I saw that. I did as much research as I could on these before buying, but they're sorta rare, so there wasn't a tremendous amount of info on the web. Most of it was applied to other cars - these Zeals seem to be popular with the Evo crowd.

Did I miss anything Rishie?

 

Here's the biggest difference.

Xs: Can be valved for custom rates, but will cost extra
X: Choose any rate you want and no extra charge for valving

Xs: 6 Way adj
X: 30 Way adj.

To my knowledge Endless isn't really stocking the Xs coils in the states either. We are basically stocking one set per month of the Xs. For the most part they are all being built in Japan and shipped from there via air freight. 6 weeks is an amazing turnaround time for this purpose. Typically it would be 2-3 months from any other manuf.

I think you got it all. Anything you missed i made sure to emphasize.

Thanks, Rishie

 

I purchased two sets of the Zeal X's a few months ago - I have found them be a good comprimise between a full race setup and a street setup. Due to the fact that the units are not rebound adjustable it is very important to get the spring rates correct. I believe my rear spring rate is 2kg lower than the rear - I wish it was actually 3kg lower. The cars currently experience a notable amount of oversteer with this setup. The car does have a rollbar in the rear which adds a few extra pounds which would in turn require a higher spring rate in the rear.

Evan

 

From all the Zeal Shock Dynos I have they show to adjust both Rebound and Compression curves. Please check with your source for this info. If this is something new the I do apologize. I have several different vehicle applications and models of Zeal coilovers indicating that it adjusts both rebound and compression simultaneously.

Rishie

 

I also left my review on these quite a while back as well. I got the first set when they released if i recall correctly. These coilovers are ****-hot! I love them to death. Got them from Rishie as well.

Thanks Rishie!

 

What rates are you running?

And just out of curiosity, how do you set the shocks when driving on the street? I've been trying different settings, and these things get STIFF above 20 or so. So far, for the street, 10 to 15 seems pretty reasonable. We have border-line city streets around here - a lot of rough, uneven pavement.

Also, have you used these at the track? Any comments?

 

I'm running mine below 10 all the way around for the streets. Naturally this is on a RX8 tho.

I assume that's where you might want to be for the FD as well.

Rishie