Budget coilovers - Opinion's or suggestions please?
- Thread starter Blueie
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If i had the cash for an S3 i wouldnt be ******* around with budget anything lol
This thread is about the pros and cons of budget coilovers
. Warren i here you .but on the 8P there is not to many ''parameters of adjustment'' At all .You raise or lower then you let them settle a while .Then you take the car to a qualified garage and they check alignment and adjust to suit ? Are You saying that people shouldnt be doing the job ?
Ok what i am saying is this ,If you search this site you will find a particular person who payed for fitment and the garage fecked the job up .Its on here or E38 .Anyway what i am saying is that not all garages are competant with them.I would rather do most of my stuff myself as do most Enthusiasts ,Ok Some can afford to pay for fitment some cannot .I can afford it but i enjoy doing it,My car has now settled And will be properly re aligned this week somtime, At a cost of around £45 tops .I could have got lowering springs and used the old shocks but tbh my setup was well on its way out anyway.
I had the chance to buy cheapies off a guy on here and went for it .I had a few teething problems dropping it to low .Rub a dub stuff .I am to old for a bone shaker so back up it went and now its near on perfect?
If people fit them then complain about tyre wear or terrible noise/stiffness, then thats because as you say they have ''self fitted'' expecting that to be the final job ,not having it set up correctly afterwards and expecting it to be hassle free , perhaps they should not be lowering there pride and joy in the first place ...
I think the manufacturers should be forced to explain more in depth about the pros and consand a better explanation in the boxes , then we would not have so many probems and complaints
This thread is about the pros and cons of budget coilovers
. Warren i here you .but on the 8P there is not to many ''parameters of adjustment'' At all .You raise or lower then you let them settle a while .Then you take the car to a qualified garage and they check alignment and adjust to suit ? Are You saying that people shouldnt be doing the job ?
Ok what i am saying is this ,If you search this site you will find a particular person who payed for fitment and the garage fecked the job up .Its on here or E38 .Anyway what i am saying is that not all garages are competant with them.I would rather do most of my stuff myself as do most Enthusiasts ,Ok Some can afford to pay for fitment some cannot .I can afford it but i enjoy doing it,My car has now settled And will be properly re aligned this week somtime, At a cost of around £45 tops .I could have got lowering springs and used the old shocks but tbh my setup was well on its way out anyway.
I had the chance to buy cheapies off a guy on here and went for it .I had a few teething problems dropping it to low .Rub a dub stuff .I am to old for a bone shaker so back up it went and now its near on perfect?
If people fit them then complain about tyre wear or terrible noise/stiffness, then thats because as you say they have ''self fitted'' expecting that to be the final job ,not having it set up correctly afterwards and expecting it to be hassle free , perhaps they should not be lowering there pride and joy in the first place ...
I think the manufacturers should be forced to explain more in depth about the pros and consand a better explanation in the boxes , then we would not have so many probems and complaints
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Genuinely, I'm not saying people shouldn't 'not' be doing anything; they're free to do whatever they want.
Part of the reason I don't have a nice shiny set of Ohlins coilovers is I couldn't afford them either, but it comes back to what you want from the car.
Too many people buy coilovers because it's the done thing. Many probably understand little more than 'they have them on racing cars so I should have them'. Whether they need them or they are the best thing for your needs are something else.
As you say some garages can feck up the fitting of these things, so it's not easy. Coilovers were designed to adjust the travel and rebound rates of particular tracks / surfaces, whereas Joe Public tends to set them up and forget them as you don't think 'I'm driving on motorways today, so no speed bumps so I'll reset my damper and spring rates'.
What I do find astonishing is some of these coilovers are cheaper than competent spring / damper set ups, and for me that raises some 'questions' in terms of value engineering, lifespan and performance.
I have questioned this across various forums over the years, and not to be contentious or awkward, but to make people ask the right questions for themselves rather than taking a what often seems an automatic choice. It's a personal opinion, and not one meant to be judgemental of anyone, if nothing else it's a plea to ask people to make safe decisions and make sure they pay for proper set up and alignment etc. to optimise their purchase.
Part of the reason I don't have a nice shiny set of Ohlins coilovers is I couldn't afford them either, but it comes back to what you want from the car.
Too many people buy coilovers because it's the done thing. Many probably understand little more than 'they have them on racing cars so I should have them'. Whether they need them or they are the best thing for your needs are something else.
As you say some garages can feck up the fitting of these things, so it's not easy. Coilovers were designed to adjust the travel and rebound rates of particular tracks / surfaces, whereas Joe Public tends to set them up and forget them as you don't think 'I'm driving on motorways today, so no speed bumps so I'll reset my damper and spring rates'.
What I do find astonishing is some of these coilovers are cheaper than competent spring / damper set ups, and for me that raises some 'questions' in terms of value engineering, lifespan and performance.
I have questioned this across various forums over the years, and not to be contentious or awkward, but to make people ask the right questions for themselves rather than taking a what often seems an automatic choice. It's a personal opinion, and not one meant to be judgemental of anyone, if nothing else it's a plea to ask people to make safe decisions and make sure they pay for proper set up and alignment etc. to optimise their purchase.
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Warren i have read your views before fair enough mate .Stick with springs and dampers .Might try them sometime myself .
What Fran says is good sense. I had some expensive Koni's on the TT where I had uprated ARB's, bushes, adj. tie bars etc to get the handling spot on... and it was. It was worth spending the extra knowing they would perform well and last (saying that the collars still siezed up).
I've stuck JOMs on my A3 as its a TDI and not gonna be driven hard. They do the job I wanted which is to get low cheaply. They arent too uncomfy even wound right down so I'm happy. Something I found was that an alignment made a big difference to comfort, even though the toe was only v.slightly out.
I've stuck JOMs on my A3 as its a TDI and not gonna be driven hard. They do the job I wanted which is to get low cheaply. They arent too uncomfy even wound right down so I'm happy. Something I found was that an alignment made a big difference to comfort, even though the toe was only v.slightly out.
Each to there own, as stated in the subject "opinion's or suggestions please?"
Everyone's taste, budget and shoes size are different. But your always gonna have problems with anything if you dont look after them properly, but for road use i think budget colies you shouldnt have much problems. But when your talking S3's, track cars and rallies then ye you will need to buy quality cause of the abuse they get.................... and if they dont get abuse you shouldnt have one lol
If the collar sieze up in 12months soak them in diesel walaaa!!
Everyone's taste, budget and shoes size are different. But your always gonna have problems with anything if you dont look after them properly, but for road use i think budget colies you shouldnt have much problems. But when your talking S3's, track cars and rallies then ye you will need to buy quality cause of the abuse they get.................... and if they dont get abuse you shouldnt have one lol
If the collar sieze up in 12months soak them in diesel walaaa!!
The question of longevity has popped up.
My APs (on Polo 9N if you recall), I think they're on the way out after 30k/3yrs.
Btw. On low fwd cars I've always found rear ARB addition works very well.
Along with updated/renewed bushes.
My APs (on Polo 9N if you recall), I think they're on the way out after 30k/3yrs.
Btw. On low fwd cars I've always found rear ARB addition works very well.
Along with updated/renewed bushes.
Back to the subject of the offset, what do you think is best?
How much did you pay for them?
The Ap's are £400 from Germany or £479 from the UK. Good posts guys!! I just got some KW springs which I am going to be fitting with FK struts and my mate will be fitting JOMS next week his car is on 18's (225/40/18) and mine is on 19's(235/35/19).... I'm very interested to see the difference between the 2 in terms of comfort and handling, his JOM's were £200 my springs and struts were £300+ shipping from Germany.
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If you are going to make a comparison, try and do it with your mates coilovers at the same height as your springs, as they will be firmer the more he decks it.
All the products I looked at (inc but not restricted to- 35mm KW springs and their shocks/springs combo, 35mm H&R springs and cup kit, Weitec coilovers etc) were cheaper than the UK equivalent by minimum 10% but usually by quite a bit more, that's including shipping which on a set of FK springs and shocks was £15.
For example though.... H&R 35mm springs are £175 most UK suppliers + shipping, say £185 say, on ebay.de those springs are £138 inc shipping, so quite substantial reductions to be had
YMMV on shipping costs but this can be overcome most times using suppliers whom are used to shipping to UK and have sought out cheaper shipping costs.
For example though.... H&R 35mm springs are £175 most UK suppliers + shipping, say £185 say, on ebay.de those springs are £138 inc shipping, so quite substantial reductions to be had
YMMV on shipping costs but this can be overcome most times using suppliers whom are used to shipping to UK and have sought out cheaper shipping costs.
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