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Coilovers

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Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
You reminded me of something!! The other day, one of our club members asked me to give him some tips on the track. We went out in his 2014 GT and I noticed the car was handling better. After the track session finished he showed me his new set of Yellow racing Coil overs..... (thats what they are called no racist intent here, and yes they are made in China).... They looked pretty good with a nice camber plate included, I think the whole set cost him about 900 bucks and the car did handle better...... I use Chinese equipment at work all the time and some are really great (90% of the performance at 40% of the market price) BUT..... Thats the last time I am going in his car. Just don't trust 900 buck coil overs. Things break all the time..... and some things break sooner then you would like!!
 
You reminded me of something!! The other day, one of our club members asked me to give him some tips on the track. We went out in his 2014 GT and I noticed the car was handling better. After the track session finished he showed me his new set of Yellow racing Coil overs..... (thats what they are called no racist intent here, and yes they are made in China).... They looked pretty good with a nice camber plate included, I think the whole set cost him about 900 bucks and the car did handle better...... I use Chinese equipment at work all the time and some are really great (90% of the performance at 40% of the market price) BUT..... Thats the last time I am going in his car. Just don't trust 900 buck coil overs. Things break all the time..... and some things break sooner then you would like!!
Roger that.
 
6,360
8,180
My personal opinion is that 90% of us will never be able to use coil overs to their full advantage anyway.
The 10% that will, will immediately appreciate why folks spend $10K on Penskes.
So why not just use the standard type suspension..name your poison BMR, Steeda, Vorschlag, Ford Racing, Cortex...(sorry if I missed anyone) and save the money for tires and brakes, which you will surely need in droves. (..driving school..)
Unless you just like to mess with things mechanical..then it's all justified.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Unless you just like to mess with things mechanical..then it's all justified.
I may resemble that statement! :D ;)

Seat time and driver education is a given around here. Everyone could use more. But I disagree a little about what the 90% *should* use. I don't think somebody has to be in the 10% to use or appreciate the added grip, functionality and even comfort of having better dampers.

I think of it this way: Better dampers make better use of *every* single tire you buy afterwards. To me, that's money well spent.
 
I may resemble that statement! :D ;)

Seat time and driver education is a given around here. Everyone could use more. But I disagree a little about what the 90% *should* use. I don't think somebody has to be in the 10% to use or appreciate the added grip, functionality and even comfort of having better dampers.

I think of it this way: Better dampers make better use of *every* single tire you buy afterwards. To me, that's money well spent.
I resemble that too. :p

While I certainly wasn't using the JRi's I purchased to their fullest it was easy to appreciate the improved ride on the street and their ability to better control the car at speed on track. I'm a fan. Now I'm not talking $10K Penske's but JRi/MCS level of dampers that cost $3-4K.
 
My personal opinion is that 90% of us will never be able to use coil overs to their full advantage anyway.
The 10% that will, will immediately appreciate why folks spend $10K on Penskes.
So why not just use the standard type suspension..name your poison BMR, Steeda, Vorschlag, Ford Racing, Cortex...(sorry if I missed anyone) and save the money for tires and brakes, which you will surely need in droves. (..driving school..)
Unless you just like to mess with things mechanical..then it's all justified.
Well said. I just want the ability to adjust ride height. I love my koni yellow and just want to add height adjustment
 
Can anyone comment on the maintenance associated with coilovers? I understand some need servicing every season, others every 2 to 3 seasons. Plus a rebuild every so often. I have been told the service fee is $75 to $150 per corner. I assume it's no problem to remove and reinstall in my garage. May need an alignment after reinstalling. Any other costs associated with maintaining coilovers?
 
6,360
8,180
Depends how many days you do each season. Once a year seems excessive for HPDE. @blacksheep-1

Absolutely, We run about 3 full hours per race weekend, that's full out, bouncing off curbs, running wide open. I'm not sure when the shocks get rebuilt because that's part of the maintenance program, I know when we did the west coast swing there were some back to back races and the shocks weren't torn down. Phoenix has a relationship with Penske which is in Reading, Pa so I don't know that arrangement, so I can't give you a definite answer.
It seems in most cases that the street guys are rebuilding their shocks every 20K miles..I would think that if your car is a street/ HPDE deal then you would want to do them at least every 2 years.
More importantly, is the need to realize when a shock has failed, unless damaged by an incident shocks don't normally just "give up" but fail gradually, since that happens you can be fooled into thinking that the shocks are fine when in fact, they are starting to go off.
You could also contact Carter Schrader at Hoosier Midwest, they are also a shock dealer.
 
Anyone with JRi or other coilovers that use a threaded strut mount have trouble with the right side not staying tight? I crank down the lock nut, but the strut slips after a few events, or in the case of what happened today, slips enough that the clamp on sway bar mount I am using turns into the wheel, which is troublesome. :)

The strut mount sleeve I have is steel and has places in the back for set screws but i am reluctant to use them as it will trash the threads on the strut body.

I am thinking red loctite is the best answer here, and frequent checking. Left side stays tight.

DaveW
 
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Anyone with JRi or other coilovers that use a threaded strut mount have trouble with the right side not staying tight? I crank down the lock nut, but the strut slips after a few events, or in the case of what happened today, slips enough that the clamp on sway bar mount I am using turns into the wheel, which is troublesome. :)

The strut mount sleeve I have is steel and has places in the back for set screws but i am reluctant to use them as it will trash the threads on the strut body.

I am thinking red loctite is the best answer here, and frequent checking. Left side stays tight.

DaveW

Are you talking about the threaded spring perch shown here:

upload_2018-8-20_11-12-8.png

If so, then yes, you should tighten the set screws. They do not have to be super tight. If you do not overtighten the set screws, they will not damage the threads on the shock body.

Or, are you talking about some sort of sway bar end link bracket similar to what is also shown in the above photo?
 
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Can anyone comment on the maintenance associated with coilovers? I understand some need servicing every season, others every 2 to 3 seasons. Plus a rebuild every so often. I have been told the service fee is $75 to $150 per corner. I assume it's no problem to remove and reinstall in my garage. May need an alignment after reinstalling. Any other costs associated with maintaining coilovers?

Depending on how many events you run, once a season may be needed. I pulled my JRI's after two seasons for service / rebuild and found that both front struts were completely dead - which explains why I was having such a hard time dialing in my cars handling for a good portion of 2017.

I run 8 -12 HPDE events per year with no street driving. Based on this, JRi recommends that I have my shocks and struts serviced every season. With shipping, the rebuild / service cost a little over $500 for four double adjustable shocks. It is just one more thing to add to routine winter maintenance.
 
Actually, neither. Mine thread into the strut mount with a piece kind of like this

MMD-R00DA1-P_bottom-detail2_LG.jpg

Mine thread into a piece that looks kind of like that (steel, no pinch bolts) and then there is a lock collar like on the spring end to hold it tight. There is *also* a sway bar bracket similar to the one in your photo that clamps on the tube. The collar on the right side keeps loosening up, allowing the strut to rotate and then the sway bar bracket bites into the wheel, or if swings the other way, you get 600lbs of wedge. :)

DaveW
 
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Gotcha. Am I correct in understanding that the lock collar has provisions for set screws? If so, don't hesitate to tighten them. Again, if you don't go overboard, they won't damage the threads cut into the shock body.
 

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