Budget Coilovers

[Stormchaser]

Hey all

Looking at fitting some coilovers to my R33 series 2 gtst as the stock ones are stuffed.

Have been told that the BC range aren't very good and I should go for the HSD HR range. (only problem is I cant get any for 3-4 weeks)

Whats the consensus?

[Daleo]

Hey all

Looking at fitting some coilovers to my R33 series 2 gtst as the stock ones are stuffed.

Have been told that the BC range aren't very good and I should go for the HSD HR range. (only problem is I cant get any for 3-4 weeks)

Whats the consensus?

Rubbish.

BC's are great. Search BC coilover and see what you get.

[weapon_unknown]

I put in Bc V1 just this sunday and im absolutley loving life. when i put them in i dialled them into the hardest settings it was tight around highspeed corners but a bit bouncy on normal driving(kicked out heaps aswell). I then dialled them into the middle settings and i haven't changed them since. The ride is nicer then the stock suspension and when you see a nice tight bend the car will just move the way you want it to. Heaps of control eg. if you want to kick it itll just powerslide nicely with no backlash like the stock suspension. A relative has hsd hr in his s13, and mate when he had his 180 had bc v1 .. go figure.

[jjman]

Iv got the BC's (V1-Vs) in my R33 GTS-T and they are awesome. Iv got the 8kg/6kg ones.

Iv had both HKS and Tein's in before n they feel way better than those.

wind up the damping n its track-taught, wind it back off to mid-way in the front and softest in the rear n it is perfect for street driving (tho still plenty stiff enough in my opinion) and thats the setting i was running when doing this-

if ur not into driving briskly n the odd track-day then maybe go for the softer spring rated ones. 8/6 is still pretty firm in most people's books. Perfect in mine though...

[No Crust Racing]

A mate of mine and I bought BC BRs for our S13s, the value was hard to beat. The BR's are larger piston and body than the V1s but come with the same 8/6 spring rate. As you can imagine this is quite firm for an S13 but both cars are 99% track. He's drift and I'm circuit so for me I have them set a bit softer and find them to be quite good for the money. 8/6 in an S13 is also the jap way of going about suspension setup (high spring rates and standard sway bar) and seems to work well enough in my car. When they are set too firm and with max camber (around 2.5-2.7 deg front on my car) they will burn up tyres very quickly.

I had HKS HyperMax IIIs on my 33 GT-R and Sydney Kids Bilstien kit on my 33 GTST. The BC's are the easiest to adjust base height wise and also have better camber adjustment than both of the others.

I do not doubt that my HKS setup would outlast the BCs in reliability though.

I had a top locking nut come loose on my front passenger shock after only 2 track days so keep an eye on them. You will get a noticable knock in the front end if this happens.

Also remember there is no camber adjustment on the rears so you will need some offset bushes or adjustable arms.

I've had mine in the car for around 18mths but that's oly equated to about 3000k's of driving. Some around town but about 6 motorsport events (DECA, drift, Track day).

My mate has been drifting on his every chance he gets (Winton) and driving it as a daily up until just recently when he bought himself another car as a daily. His have had harder use, no leaks that I know of.

Edited August 23, 2011 by ActionDan

[Stormchaser]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I have a few questions.

Firstly - in reference to this

Also remember there is no camber adjustment on the rears so you will need some offset bushes or adjustable arms.

Does this mean I need the camber arms right away if I plan to run standard ride height for now as this will mainly be a daily/ very limited track car.

Also when I called a shop to get a price on the HSD's he mentioned that he could get the BC HR's for $1299 which seems about the going price however he mentioned that I could get them with the pillow ball mount design for $1350 is this a good idea?

Just to turn the whole thread on its head (LOL) Would I be better off to invest in some better quality spring/ shock combo's for around the same money? Am I going to really gain anything getting coilovers for a street car that MIGHT see a track a few times a year, or am I completely off base with the cost of good shocks and springs?

Cheers

Edited August 23, 2011 by Stormchaser

[jjman]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I have a few questions.

Firstly - in reference to this

Does this mean I need the camber arms right away if I plan to run standard ride height for now as this will mainly be a daily/ very limited track car.

Also when I called a shop to get a price on the HSD's he mentioned that he could get the BC HR's for $1299 which seems about the going price however he mentioned that I could get them with the pillow ball mount design for $1350 is this a good idea?

Just to turn the whole thread on its head (LOL) Would I be better off to invest in some better quality spring/ shock combo's for around the same money? Am I going to really gain anything getting coilovers for a street car that MIGHT see a track a few times a year, or am I completely off base with the cost of good shocks and springs?

Cheers

Not at all, unless you plan to dump it on its arse n ruin the handling that way anyway (thereby making your purchase of coilovers useless in enhancing handling)

I dont have any camber arms on mine n with the stock camber at its most centred after being lowered on my BC's it is at about 1degree of camber in the rears with the car lowered considerably whereby i can just get a finger horizontal between the tyres and the guard lip- see pic. Sits beeewdifully

otherwise the standard BC's are available on here for 1200 delivered from Boostn Imports and include that pillowball - http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/292008-bc-racing-suspension-kits-for-almost-every-model/page__hl__boostn

this is the best quality and outcome you can get for that sort of money short of gambling on some second-hand teins etc that have no warranty...

You in Perth? id be happy to take you for a spin...

I

[Stormchaser]

Not at all, unless you plan to dump it on its arse n ruin the handling that way anyway (thereby making your purchase of coilovers useless in enhancing handling)

I dont have any camber arms on mine n with the stock camber at its most centred after being lowered on my BC's it is at about 1degree of camber in the rears with the car lowered considerably whereby i can just get a finger horizontal between the tyres and the guard lip- see pic. Sits beeewdifully

otherwise the standard BC's are available on here for 1200 delivered from Boostn Imports and include that pillowball - http://www.skylinesa...age__hl__boostn

this is the best quality and outcome you can get for that sort of money short of gambling on some second-hand teins etc that have no warranty...

You in Perth? id be happy to take you for a spin...

I

Thanks for the offer but alas I'm in NSW and will have to settle for your word

Seeing as I still only have the stock rims I wont be lowering it any more than stock until I get new wheels and then it will be minimal as the roads here suck.

Plan now is to get a set of the BC BR's with pillow-ball mounts. Will I need to get anything else while I'm at it, i.e bushes ect??

I'm guessing that if the condition of the shocks are what they are then the rest of the suspension will be close too?

[No Crust Racing]

As above, more camber adjustment is only needed if you go stupid low.

When the car is lowered it will squat and give you some negative camber, if you have too much it will chew out tyres really quickly. -1 is ok for a well handling street car but it does come at the expense of tyre life, you will need to rotate more regularly to get the most out of your tyres.

Buying something new for $1200 is a better option than buying second hand for a couple hundred less, I'd take a warranty on a OK quality new product over no warranty on a second hand brand name product any day. Especially when the BCs are being so well supported locally. You can just go back to your seller direct.

As for what else you need that depends on a few things.

If you do plan on lowering the car down the track, work out now from other cars around you if you will need camber bushes/arms toe or castor adjustment and get that gear now, especially if you are paying someone to install, cheaper to get it all installed at once and not pay for the labour twice. If you are doing the labour yourself then it doesn't matter so much and you can go ahead and just put the BCs in now and anything else later.

Now is a good time to inspect tie rod ends, rack bushes, etc etc and replace anything that is notably perished/damaged/worn. Replacing bushes is a good idea when doing suspension work so you get the most out of the upgrade.

[jjman]

Id say lower it a certain amount when you put them on. that way you

A: get a sense of your ride height and a first crack at getting it right- which can then be adjusted if need be AS you put the new rims on (so you are not trying to do it all at once which can mean rims off and adjusting 2-3x over..)

B: you can get a sense of what a given ride height will do to your handling. I put in some HKS Hyper-D's and they were low as and the way it affected handling was mad (the lower you go the heavier your steering becomes).

Finally, if you do indeed have shitty roads where you are then maybe consider the softer spring rates as 8/6 might get a bit much if you are constantly going over bumps n potholes...

Good luck...

[Hank Scorpio]

I bought Largus coilovers for my Cosmo, don't look completely sh*t.

[Stormchaser]

So got my BC BR's installed today.

So far so good, they feel amazing and I set them to the softest setting. I also left the height at the standard setting so I will have to look at taking it back up a bit as it scrapes on my driveway.

All in all I am pretty happy and I got them in myself in 3.5 hours.

One question I had was Should I wait for them to settle before getting a wheel alingment or should I go and do it now? I will probably raise them up while they are on the hoist as its gonna be easier to do it then.

Thanks for all the help in making my decision.

Stormy

[No Crust Racing]

If you've driven on them they are settled enough. Changing height is super easy (just requires a wheel off). The instructions will tell you how to do it(or get your suspension place to do it). Make sure you bring the C-Spanner along.

Good job on installing yourself, saved yourself a couple dollars.

[SKITTLES]

I don't know if you've done anything yet + I've skipped every post...

But I put Pedders Extreme A coilovers on my GTS25, tucking 17's with LP tyres. They're rebuildable, and definitely got a better ride to kings haha

Haven't ridden in my mates GTS4 that's dumped on GTST BCs, but I these pedders are going alright.

Price: $1900 installed, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone.

Edited August 24, 2011 by SKITTLES

[Mano25det]

I have a 1998 R33s2 M spec ani edition, No mods done to suspension yet just have some Mantas gun metal grey ROH Rims (18's) with toyo's ( i think 225/40/r18) - could be very wrong with that size i deal with tyre sizes all day..

any way i have put off lowering my vehicle untill i get some coil overs and i have kept spending money on other things so i have not really done the research on the matter, wondering if any one could recommend some decent coilies for just street driving no track im from QLD gold coast. - if you have a recommended installer that would help heaps also... sorry for posting before i have done any research - pic related

[jjman]

So got my BC BR's installed today.

So far so good, they feel amazing and I set them to the softest setting. I also left the height at the standard setting so I will have to look at taking it back up a bit as it scrapes on my driveway.

All in all I am pretty happy and I got them in myself in 3.5 hours.

One question I had was Should I wait for them to settle before getting a wheel alingment or should I go and do it now? I will probably raise them up while they are on the hoist as its gonna be easier to do it then.

Thanks for all the help in making my decision.

Stormy

Good man. Get in, do your research, make a decision n make it happen. If only more people were like this instead of opening a thread. Debating the topic for 6 months n then doing something different anyway...

yeah i have mine permanently set on the softest in the rear n mid in the front (works well to firm up the pointy end n help turn in n feedback i found)

as far as wheel alignment goes u will want to get ur ride height sorted first as changing this alters camber n a few other things so set it right n then get the 4 wheel alignment done. Remember aswell that if you are running on 16 inch stock rims atm n then plan to put on 18's or 19's then this will lift things a bit again (only slightly but it might be enough to make your current ride height fine once the rims are on). Keep this in mind...

Enjoy.

[jjman]

I have a 1998 R33s2 M spec ani edition, No mods done to suspension yet just have some Mantas gun metal grey ROH Rims (18's) with toyo's ( i think 225/40/r18) - could be very wrong with that size i deal with tyre sizes all day..

any way i have put off lowering my vehicle untill i get some coil overs and i have kept spending money on other things so i have not really done the research on the matter, wondering if any one could recommend some decent coilies for just street driving no track im from QLD gold coast. - if you have a recommended installer that would help heaps also... sorry for posting before i have done any research - pic related

as per stormchaser's experience, its hard to go past BC's.

n they are dead easy to install urself so unless your really bad with the tools its shouldnt be a problem for you. Just make sure that you can undo all of the required nuts on the current suspension (tops n bottom) in case they have been done up mega tight or seized. That way you dont end up with 2 coilovers out n then unable to get the next out n have to take it to a shop to cut the nut off....

[No Crust Racing]

Good man. Get in, do your research, make a decision n make it happen. If only more people were like this instead of opening a thread. Debating the topic for 6 months n then doing something different anyway...

yeah i have mine permanently set on the softest in the rear n mid in the front (works well to firm up the pointy end n help turn in n feedback i found)

Enjoy.

+1 on taking action

+1 more on the setup, the rear will want to be a bit softer if you want grip, too many guys set the car too firm and wonder why she behaves like a drift car all the time. The spring rates in these are plenty firm already (8/6) so no need for high dampening. set it soft and it will hook up much nicer. Unless of course you like some sideways action

[Mano25det]

as per stormchaser's experience, its hard to go past BC's.

n they are dead easy to install urself so unless your really bad with the tools its shouldnt be a problem for you. Just make sure that you can undo all of the required nuts on the current suspension (tops n bottom) in case they have been done up mega tight or seized. That way you dont end up with 2 coilovers out n then unable to get the next out n have to take it to a shop to cut the nut off....

yeah i work on my car quite a bit but never touch the suspension side of things,

so you an adjust the height of your vehicle from the ground yourself? that way i can install them and just get the alignment done, and about the softness? or as stated above -1 camber? can this be done yourself? im guessing with the -1 camber you can not

Thanks again. did not want to start a new thread

[No Crust Racing]

yeah i work on my car quite a bit but never touch the suspension side of things,

so you an adjust the height of your vehicle from the ground yourself? that way i can install them and just get the alignment done, and about the softness? or as stated above -1 camber? can this be done yourself? im guessing with the -1 camber you can not

Thanks again. did not want to start a new thread

It's still gotta be jacked up, but you don't have to remove the shock, you just take a measurement sitting on ground, wind in or out how much extra you want on the shock body then put the wheel back on and take it off the stands.

You can adjust the camber yourself but unless you have experience doing your own alignments at home (string line etc)you'll just be guessing. Best to have that done by someone else, you can put the stock eccentric bushes at the same "point" in rotation but that doesn't account for anything that might be slightly bent on the car and beleive me it's more common than you think to have a .5 degree bend in the wheel hub carrier that throws everything out.