Coilovers - spent all morning looking

[crak]

Lots of heated debate on coilovers. KW is the best but do not make coilovers for track on the ralliart. http://forums.evolutionm.net/09-ralliart-brakes-wheels-suspension/615649-coilovers-street-track.html

KW spotclub - evo only
KW V2 - just for DD and not track use (say if i am wrong but this is what I found http://forums.evolutionm.net/09-ralliart-brakes-wheels-suspension/615649-coilovers-street-track.html)
http://www.jscspeed.com/catalog/Mitsubishi/09_11_Ralliart/Suspension/KW_Suspensions_Coilovers_for_09_11_Mitsubishi_Rall iart.html
BC Racing is good - nothnig stood out nothing out of the ordinary
Stance - not much
HSD - lots of good reviews, but they can possibly corrode
Tein flex - twin tube design not effective for autox, they corrode over time.
http://www.jscspeed.com/catalog/Tein_Coilovers_for_09_11_Mitsubishi_Ralliart-12880-1.html
Fortune Auto 510 V4 (just came out) seem to be very very good. http://jbautosports.com/fortune_auto/fortune_auto_510_series_v4_coilovers/cy4a510/i-542365.aspx
AST - http://www.ast-suspension.com/sportline3.asp?make=Mitsubishi

Pretty much, I spent all morning and didn't really come to a decent conclusion. I like the fact that Fortune Auto are the only ones that have shock dyno results.

However I need something that can I can track and DD. 70%track/30%DD. I don't care about comfort I just want something that works well on handling, wont corrode from salty roads in the winter, backed by a decent warranty and will last a long time.

Thanks in advance.

[Markspd6]

Pretty sure they have $3k KW club sports for the lancer, I'll recheck later..

The reg KWs can be upgraded with stiffer springs and valve work..

As far as I know, we can only use lancer coils, so don't even look at the EVO stuff, or you'll get mixed up..

[crak]

I kinda want plug n play. So I hope to find a set where I have to mod everything to make it work properly. So far, the Fortune Auto coilovers look really temping with shift spring upgrade and rollers to dampen the shock noise.

KW's are worth it, I just read some people saying they are not good for track use and all I do with my ralliart is autoX most of the time. The sportclubs are for auto X but on the KW website they do not sell them for ralliarts:(

[Markspd6]

no idea what theyre talking about? I use KWs on my speed6 track car and theyre fairly adjustable, youd be surprised how much affect just adjusting your rebound can do... i think theyre not liking the suspension when your dropped, KWs are progressive, so for a really lowered car, theyre shit!! if you wanna be slammed and still ride ok, you need BCs.. mine will most likely need some aftermarket endlinks or swaybars to be fully track ready, but thats expected..

either way, try Crossover auto.com tell him you need my deal!! he carrys most major brands cheap and ships fast!!

[crak]

eaither way I shall thanks for the heads up Mark!

[MikeW-RRE]

What kind of metal does not corrode when bolted under a car and driven on salted roads and never washed or oiled? I am not familiar with this metal or coating used in shock absorber and coil over construction.

Eibach used my car for measurements and is working on some coil overs. Prototype stuff should be available by the end of the year.

Mike W

[Markspd6]

What kind of metal does not corrode when bolted under a car and driven on salted roads and never washed or oiled? I am not familiar with this metal or coating used in shock absorber and coil over construction.


Mike W

ok, this is some kinda riddle.... anyone?

[MikeW-RRE]

It isnt my riddle, the riddle belongs to the OP:

However I need something that can I can track and DD. 70%track/30%DD. I don't care about comfort I just want something that works well on handling, wont corrode from salty roads in the winter, backed by a decent warranty and will last a long time.


Mike W

[crak]

I like giving you guys riddles.

I am hoping from user experience someone could contribute on the lifetime and sustainability of their coilovers, based off usage, heat, environmental wear n tear, etc. If its all good, then its all good. If there have been issues with corrosion causing the nitrogen to escape, I would like to know about it.

[Mkid]

You can look into D2 RS coilovers too. Thats what I am running. I've never tracked my car though so I can't help you in that department.

[crak]

Thanks Mkid:) I am looking for experience with coilovers and autocross:) sacrificing comfort for performance.

[Exyia]

I want to comment but there just isn't much for RA's

all I can say is that
- corrossion will (eventually) happen with any coilover with really bad salts. all coilovers are made of metal
- the main component of a coilover is the shock. once the shock is made, lots of lower end companies adapt fitment/sizing to any car they can think of. this makes production especially cheap (BC's are the best example). whenever I see a cheap coilover, I assume all they did is take the same valving and just measure it to fit ___ car
- high quality valving is expensive. it costs a lot and there's no getting around it. you should see the dinky-looking valves I mess with at work, your jaw will drop at their prices. if I see a cheap coilover, I also assume the valving build quality/material is weak
- I highly prefer monotube over twintube, especially on heavy cars like ours

also, apparently BC no longer rebuilds/services their coils. They only sell you replacement parts. I find that somewhat surprising, as at least BC used to have decent service to match their budget price

[crak]

I want to comment but there just isn't much for RA's

all I can say is that
- corrossion will (eventually) happen with any coilover with really bad salts. all coilovers are made of metal
- the main component of a coilover is the shock. once the shock is made, lots of lower end companies adapt fitment/sizing to any car they can think of. this makes production especially cheap (BC's are the best example). whenever I see a cheap coilover, I assume all they did is take the same valving and just measure it to fit ___ car
- high quality valving is expensive. it costs a lot and there's no getting around it. you should see the dinky-looking valves I mess with at work, your jaw will drop at their prices. if I see a cheap coilover, I also assume the valving build quality/material is weak
- I highly prefer monotube over twintube, especially on heavy cars like ours

also, apparently BC no longer rebuilds/services their coils. They only sell you replacement parts. I find that somewhat surprising, as at least BC used to have decent service to match their budget price

I did read that BC was great on warranty work, its surplussing to hear that they are not putting in as much effort. Pretty much reading up on it, you get what you pay for seems to be the going trend. The FA 510's with swift springs look to be super promising. However, no one has used them yet from what I know, they only have tried the 500's and said they were grat. I couldn't imagine how good the 510's would be for autox using 9/9.

I did some reading and the twin tube design is a cheap system compared to the monotube. Apparently car manufacturers use the twin tube because its cheap, easy to create in bulk and gets the job done for normal street cars. Monotube is where its at if you want performance.

Thanks again to the link here: http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66230

oh, and Exyia, that was a very good read on how our suspensions should be set up for better handling. Thanks for that! EVO and ralliarts have the multi-link rear suspension. It would be safe to say that when updating suspension and say bars on an evo and ralliart it could done similarly. (minus housing differences, but the blaance and spring rates could be identical)

C

[Exyia]

oh, and Exyia, that was a very good read on how our suspensions should be set up for better handling. Thanks for that! EVO and ralliarts have the multi-link rear suspension. It would be safe to say that when updating suspension and say bars on an evo and ralliart it could done similarly. (minus housing differences, but the blaance and spring rates could be identical)

C

I thought the same

but when my buddy (Sean, not sure if he's on this forum) added a rear sway, I told him 27mm Whiteline is the proper size for our rear sway bar. Whiteline only offers a 24mm for the RA, which left me confused. I told him to run it full stiff to compensate for the smaller diameter

Then at the next event, it was FAR too stiff in the rear - almost tripoding in some areas.

Props to Whiteline not getting lazy with R&D. I would still agree that it's similar enough to use Evo X data/input for setups, because the RA crowd is still pretty small

KW is the only one I respect for twin tubes as their v3's work pretty damn well. I still prefer monotubes 100%, but what they accomplished with the v3 as a twin tube is pretty impressive. But our cars are so damn heavy that durability and heat should be a bigger factor than normal imo, so I would like to avoid heatsoak. But realistically in autox it's not likely to have a noticeable effect

[Markspd6]

just be glad its not the Independent rear suspension, like my mazda which has one less adjustable part, even on expensive KWs...

[crak]

RA is multilink:) just link the evo