I'm planning to lower my ride. I'm having a constant dilemma whether I will buy a set of coilovers vs. lowering spring w/ stock strut combo.
I've read a lot of reviews regarding them but still choosing between those two.
I wanted the ride to be as comfortable as stock or even better.
Inputs / suggestions / comments would be good.
Current Plan
For Coilovers:
Silvers Neomax
Tein Street advance z
For Lowering Springs (using stock strut):
Tein H-Tech Springs
or KYB Lowfers Sports plus lowering springs combo.
I've always used coilovers. I like to fine tune my setup to my taste and would be disappointed to not have any adjustment with a strut/lowering spring setup. If you aren't completely satisfied with the strut/spring look you will need to buy something adjustable anyway.
Had BC Racing coilovers in my Infiniti, I liked them. Will give them a try for my SJ later.
Silvers' spring rates are ridiculous, unless you are going offroad rally racing, skip it.
Teins look okay on paper, but they are not getting good reviews. But as far as I know they are the only one offering electronic remote damping adjustment, so if you don't need that convenience, skip it.
That's good feedback. How long did you have them over those 20k miles? And are you in a snowy region?
Mine was also around 20k miles and that's about 3 years time, didn't have issues but I'm in south TX so no snow no rust.
I'm glad to hear that! The Cygnus X-1 are Fortune Auto coilovers with their own recommended specs. I spent time with Geoff talking through what I wanted given that I didn't keep my FEALS due to comfort issues with it. His recommendation was their comfort spec (7k/6k) with OEM top hats and Extended Travel (5" travel instead of the usual...think it's around 4 or 4.5") with swift springs. Based on FA's feedback we went with 8" in front (7k) and 9" in rear (6k) to ensure coil bind wouldn't be a problem with the softer rates and taking advantage of the extended travel.
I have the STI damper kit which comes with the STI struts made by KYB and STI pink springs. They come at a premium but you get OEM quality and I think it’s the sweet spot between coilovers and pinks+stock struts. This is the same set that comes standard on the Forester Ts.
Here's mine experience with coilovers since I have a 18 Forster. I first got a set of silvers they rode decent and the build quality is pretty top notch. Only gripe with them is that the spring rate was way too stiff in the front for our chassis, didn't come with koyo bearing so there was spring bind, and I couldn't go low enough. Had the silvers on for about 5K and got a set of BC's BR extreme lows with swift springs. The pros they came with koyo bearings so no more spring bind issues. They also had camber adjustments in the top hats so that's a plus. But the spring rates seem a little too soft and the dampening is a bit harsh. If I had to do this all over again I would probably get a set of BC DS coilovers or maybe a set of Fortune Auto's if they ever make some.
I know this is for the SJ, but I got the Cygnus X-1's installed on my SG forester and comparing to the SJ specific FEALS, these Cygnus are significantly more comfortably while still retaining the near the same performance as the 8k/8k FEALS.
At first I was quite concerned as these were EXTREMELY bumpy...worse at full soft, and slightly better at full hard...Turns out you need to turn up the tire pressures with coilovers over the OEM recommendations.
32/30 the tires were bouncing as they were taking all of the initial impact with the suspension being so much firmer. Aired up a modest 36/34 and the whole ride was transformed like I'd never seen that little of pressure to be able to do. Now the tires are much firmer which means you aren't bouncing around on them and the suspension is able to do its job. Now I am getting good range of dampening and went from preferring full hard (24 clicks) to near full soft (5 clicks) as the suspension NEARLY rides as well as stock (bit harsher but very tolerable).
I'm really impressed with these coilovers and would recommend them.
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