Coilover Review: DC2R, DC5R, EP3R, etc

[cordz]

Coilover choices!!

As much as it's more ideal to do everthing in one hit you dont get to feel the changes of individual components. The sense of which I find is valuable data you build up for your own benefit and over time makes you more informed to make future decisions in parts selection and problem solving.

Probably going to do it in a few hits but grouped to some extent, such as coilovers+camber arms, bushings+swaybar etc. Which leads me to a exciting topic!!

Guys,

Looking for a set of coil-overs for my baby. The need for them was exposed at WP when the car just had so much roll and slower turn in from the king springs installed.

Im looking at currently getting Skunk2 PRO-C coilovers with rates either 12/8 or 14/10. Delivered from JHPusa.com for $1453 excl tax.

Budget is coilovers under 1500. tracking car once every 3 months.

Ride comfort is not a priority.


Any suggestions!? or experience with Skunk2's suspension products?

[EG30]

Staying away from Skunk2 products if you can, they dont call them junk2 for no reason.

The only things they do brillantly are the marketing and packaging ie the boxes the ship their parts in.

Apparently their quality was good some years ago before they became famous.

Both my Skunk2 front and rear camber arms failed within a year, no after sales support whatsoever from the dealer I bought them from ie 999 auto in Qld. They had since change the designs of the ball joint and bushes. If they cant get the design and quality of simple camber arms right....good luck with coilovers with many high precision parts require to work properly.

I'm running GC/Koni setup left over from my EG with now rides on Monoflex, works very well on the street and in my eg it was competitive in events.

If I had to do it again for dc2r I would choose between new GC/koni, new HSD or used Monoflex. They are around the $1500 mark.

I would definately stay away from the glorified Taiwanese brand like BC, Buddy Club, Skunk2, STD, D2 etc where your $1500 buys $100-200 in build quality and R&D and the rest marketing and profit for the manufacturer and its middlemen.

[tinkerbell]

great post EG30

[benson]

GAB SS are great as well. I used them in my integra

Priced around the 1200 mark. Pm me for more info

[cordz]

Staying away from Skunk2 products if you can, they dont call them junk2 for no reason.

The only things they do brillantly are the marketing and packaging ie the boxes the ship their parts in.

Apparently their quality was good some years ago before they became famous.

Both my Skunk2 front and rear camber arms failed within a year, no after sales support whatsoever from the dealer I bought them from ie 999 auto in Qld. They had since change the designs of the ball joint and bushes. If they cant get the design and quality of simple camber arms right....good luck with coilovers with many high precision parts require to work properly.

I'm running GC/Koni setup left over from my EG with now rides on Monoflex, works very well on the street and in my eg it was competitive in events.

If I had to do it again for dc2r I would choose between new GC/koni, new HSD or used Monoflex. They are around the $1500 mark.

I would definately stay away from the glorified Taiwanese brand like BC, Buddy Club, Skunk2, STD, D2 etc where your $1500 buys $100-200 in build quality and R&D and the rest marketing and profit for the manufacturer and its middlemen.

That's great information, but your experience with old designed camber arms may not be true ATB for their products. Most reviews on hater-tech and etc have nothing but praise for them. But your right, their marketing and middle men figures seem huge. So you still ruunning your GC or monoflex setup?

[EG30]

That's great information, but your experience with old designed camber arms may not be true ATB for their products. Most reviews on hater-tech and etc have nothing but praise for them. But your right, their marketing and middle men figures seem huge. So you still ruunning your GC or monoflex setup?

I'm running the GC/koni setup in our dc2r, and Monoflex in my EG trackcar. The GC was bought for my eg and used in there originally before I replaced them with Monoflex and expected significant improvements but didnt eventutated that way.

[lukits01]

If I had to do it again for dc2r I would choose between new GC/koni, new HSD or used Monoflex. They are around the $1500 mark.

I would definately stay away from the glorified Taiwanese brand like BC, Buddy Club, Skunk2, STD, D2 etc where your $1500 buys $100-200 in build quality and R&D and the rest marketing and profit for the manufacturer and its middlemen.

doesn't HSD fall into the same Taiwanese category?

[EG30]

doesn't HSD fall into the same Taiwanese category?

no it doesnt in my view

with HSD it isnt glorified cheap taiwanese product with different labels and packaging like many others

the quality of the fasteners and fittings is very good, I've been in Hondas with HSD and seen ones that had been in cars for over 2 years and no major deterioation/corrosion of the coilover bodies or leakage unlike many taiwanese cheap coilovers. All new coilovers look nice on the bench, but it's after a few years of service in the real world where the build quality or lack thereof really shows up.

Dampening range is effective and sensible also.

They dont spend huge sums of $ marketing either, you get your money's worth with them. They describe themselves as a 'own brand' company, meaning they dont just slap on their stickers on some cheap generic coilovers.

A friend of mine who is also a factory trained mechanic had a set of HSD fitted to his EM1. He is as fussy, anal and tight as you can find as a person, after much research he settled on the HSD monotube HR with the thick shaft in 12/10kg. In his 2nd tuning day outing with those coilovers with himself driving ( beginner with less than 50 laps experience at the time ) he clocked a 70.7s ( barbagallo long track ) on my datalogger. The car at the time still only had a stock B16a stock em1 cams, 262mm brakes with 4.9FD and lsd, a/c p/s still fitted and on half worn 3 y.o. 195 55 15 R888s. Car looked very composed from trackside despite the driver still learning the ropes of balancing the car around the cornering phases.

I have the same 12/10kg on my monoflex setup and his HSD definately feels even more planted and sturdy than mine. There is more headroom still to fit stiffer springs if req; whereas I have reached/exceeded my kg limit on monoflex without revalving.

For $1300 a set, they are really good value. I would love to have a set of them fitted with high kg springs and swap them over for events where high spring rate is highly beneficial and bumps are not an issue.

[cordz]

no it doesnt in my view

with HSD it isnt glorified cheap taiwanese product with different labels and packaging like many others

the quality of the fasteners and fittings is very good, I've been in Hondas with HSD and seen ones that had been in cars for over 2 years and no major deterioation/corrosion of the coilover bodies or leakage unlike many taiwanese cheap coilovers. All new coilovers look nice on the bench, but it's after a few years of service in the real world where the build quality or lack thereof really shows up.

Dampening range is effective and sensible also.

They dont spend huge sums of $ marketing either, you get your money's worth with them. They describe themselves as a 'own brand' company, meaning they dont just slap on their stickers on some cheap generic coilovers.

A friend of mine who is also a factory trained mechanic had a set of HSD fitted to his EM1. He is as fussy, anal and tight as you can find as a person, after much research he settled on the HSD monotube HR with the thick shaft in 12/10kg. In his 2nd tuning day outing with those coilovers with himself driving ( beginner with less than 50 laps experience at the time ) he clocked a 70.7s ( barbagallo long track ) on my datalogger. The car at the time still only had a stock B16a stock em1 cams, 262mm brakes with 4.9FD and lsd, a/c p/s still fitted and on half worn 3 y.o. 195 55 15 R888s. Car looked very composed from trackside despite the driver still learning the ropes of balancing the car around the cornering phases.

I have the same 12/10kg on my monoflex setup and his HSD definately feels even more planted and sturdy than mine. There is more headroom still to fit stiffer springs if req; whereas I have reached/exceeded my kg limit on monoflex without revalving.

For $1300 a set, they are really good value. I would love to have a set of them fitted with high kg springs and swap them over for events where high spring rate is highly beneficial and bumps are not an issue.

Wow now this is a great post.

You actually have me quite interested in the HSD's now basically because they are listed on otomoto.com for $1300 and its the cheapest and easiest monotube coilover available.

> Benson suggested GAB SS (monotube), but reviews have said there valving is way too stiff and bouncy and they do not come with hats as you are meant to use your stock hats.

> Skunk2 PRO-C's look great but after import tax they come to a total of 1550.

> BC's just look like they have a sub-par finish to the HSD's

The HSD's stock rates are 12/7, which after asking around the forum, sounds good to me.

But if i decided to up the rates to say 14/10 would that mean that the valving is not matched accordingly? (in reference to bold)

[EG30]

Wow now this is a great post.

You actually have me quite interested in the HSD's now basically because they are listed on otomoto.com for $1300 and its the cheapest and easiest monotube coilover available.

> Benson suggested GAB SS (monotube), but reviews have said there valving is way too stiff and bouncy and they do not come with hats as you are meant to use your stock hats.

> Skunk2 PRO-C's look great but after import tax they come to a total of 1550.

> BC's just look like they have a sub-par finish to the HSD's

The HSD's stock rates are 12/7, which after asking around the forum, sounds good to me.

But if i decided to up the rates to say 14/10 would that mean that the valving is not matched accordingly? (in reference to bold)

$1300 real bargain arent they, my fren paid $1450 or something and that was trade price rrp $1600 earlier this year.

Do they still let you choose the spring rates at $1300?

With the HSD he's been told unofficially they are good for up to 16kg at the front. Having been in his car and the damping setting of about half way was plenty enough for 12kg I can imagine even 16-18kg definately no problem assuming the dampening doesnt weaken quickly over time with wear. My monoflex came with 10kg/6kg ( and more impt very mellow damping style )setup from factory and you can go 2kg stiffer without any issues in general but any more than that it starts to stretch the friendship. Previous Tein RA/RE were much more aggressively damped.

Their springs are cheap to buy also from them, so you can get a few pairs of stiffer springs to play with front and rear to tailor to your needs and preferences.

12/7 a good starting point, will ride well with 7kg at rear with softer end of damping adj. With a stiff rear sway bar from ASR 24mm or cusco 25mm you would have good ride but still plenty of roll stiffness at the rear with immediate turn in. If down the track you find the power on is too gay ( ie too much squat under hard accel ) at events install stiffer springs at rear. DC2 has a long tail/longer overhang compared to the eg so you can afford to go stiffer springs ( ie +2kg more than eg ) without getting too snappy at the rear or too jidderly for the ride.

[cordz]

$1300 real bargain arent they, my fren paid $1450 or something and that was trade price rrp $1600 earlier this year.

Do they still let you choose the spring rates at $1300?

With the HSD he's been told unofficially they are good for up to 16kg at the front. Having been in his car and the damping setting of about half way was plenty enough for 12kg I can imagine even 16-18kg definately no problem assuming the dampening doesnt weaken quickly over time with wear. My monoflex came with 10kg/6kg ( and more impt very mellow damping style )setup from factory and you can go 2kg stiffer without any issues in general but any more than that it starts to stretch the friendship. Previous Tein RA/RE were much more aggressively damped.

Their springs are cheap to buy also from them, so you can get a few pairs of stiffer springs to play with front and rear to tailor to your needs and preferences.

12/7 a good starting point, will ride well with 7kg at rear with softer end of damping adj. With a stiff rear sway bar from ASR 24mm or cusco 25mm you would have good ride but still plenty of roll stiffness at the rear with immediate turn in. If down the track you find the power on is too gay ( ie too much squat under hard accel ) at events install stiffer springs at rear. DC2 has a long tail/longer overhang compared to the eg so you can afford to go stiffer springs ( ie +2kg more than eg ) without getting too snappy at the rear or too jidderly for the ride.

Well i think i might take the plunge as soon as i get my next payment.

is the cusco rear 25mm swaybar you have solid?

[EG30]

Well i think i might take the plunge as soon as i get my next payment.

is the cusco rear 25mm swaybar you have solid?

yeah solid as f**k.

feels like a bench press bar without the weight attached, much heavier than stock 22mm bar.

[fatboyz39]

GAB SS valving to hard? Doubt it.

[cordz]

GAB SS valving to hard? Doubt it.

... elaborate

[felixR]

I've got a photo of the Cusco Rear Sway Bar installed - click here