KYB v Stock v BC Coilovers/Tein Coilovers

[nathanMR2]

Ive been thinking for a while now that my suspension could do with a refresh given the age of the car, the mileage its covered and considering all the other mods ive done to the car.

Ive currently got the following-

TTE springs fitted
Uprated drop links front and rear
Uprated rear ARB (im waiting on a front)
Uprate rear and front ARB mounts
TRD front upper strut brace
Corky's mid brace
CHE rear lower brace (im waiting on a front)

I don't really want to spend a massive amount as the car rides well now and im doing it rather for piece of mind and the fact that the suspension is looking a little tired/rusty in places.

Ive missed out on a few bids on ebay for 2nd hand BC's which I was a little gutted about as I think this would probably be my ideal route if I could secure them at the right price. Im not really wanting to pay full price for them  s:? :? s:?

This leaves me considering something else and the only thing new which seems a reasonable cost now is the KYB shocks from Camskill. I was hoping to try someones car that has these as some point in the very near future but for people who have tried them how do they compare against the BC's or Tein's.

Reading on the internet I see mixed reviews and many people suggesting (with other cars) that they are no better than stock.

Should I save my money and wait for the BC's/Teins to come at the right price? Thoughts please...

[Wabbitkilla]

I've driven cars with all the options listed.

Teins - Really nice, good handling and ride quality, the things that put me off were the way adjusting ride height reduces the travel capability of the strut and affects camber directly. IMHO they're over priced.

BC BR Series - 7/5KG springs, these are pretty harsh, but the damping control is superb. Adjusting height doesn't affect damper travel, 6/4KG springs are easily available. Ride height adjustment leaves your camber alone too. Spares are easily available, price is really good (especially as I can go pick them up). The guys at BC-Racing.co.uk are really helpful and knowledgeable.

KYB + TTE springs - Actually they are better than the oem units, their damping control is superior and the ride is subtly better than standard while retaining great comfort. I was really surprised by these ... ok you don't get the ultimate adjust-ability of the "proper" coilovers, but how often do you feel you need to alter your settings.

Ok, I do adjust my dampers on the BC's, but it's mainly just a summer <-> winter adjustement, or depends if I have a heavy load.

When you consider what you would want to replace when fitting KYB's ... you will probably be wanting topmounts too, then the price difference up to the BC's isn't that much. They're damned good value for what you're getting and they have proved their longevity in my case.

Something I would strongly recommend when fitting "proper" coilovers, be liberal with the copper slip when putting them together to fit on the car. Our British weather and use of salt in the winter really isn't kind to the threads. The units don't actually corrode ... but the threads get "concreted" with the crud of Britain.

[nathanMR2]

That's a useful write up mate thanks. So in essence KYB's are good value for money and are definitely a reasonable upgrade.

Whats the pros and cons with staying with standard top mounts?

BC's are what I was looking for ideally. I don't see me having to adjust them really. Its not like I track the car much, so to me that's no real biggy.

[Wabbitkilla]

I would say with KYB's the standard but renewed topmounts would be absolutely fine, replacing them for pillowball types improves the accuracy / feedback you can get from the road surface but are really only in their element with full coilovers. It's a bit like when you first fit the strut tower brace, the turn in just gets more precise.

I seem to remember the TRD Sportivo kit actually uses the KYB dampers, so they are definitely an upgrade over standard.
I like the hard ride of my BC's and I only really use the car for the fun drives ... I have the other car for everyday use so I can get away with having the MR2 set up harsh. You notice cars more with coilovers when pushing hard, after all that's what they're designed for. When we were in the Highlands I could easily recognise the handling characteristics of none-coilover -vs- coilover cars. In high speed bends with undulations the standard type suspension tends to pivot corner to corner ... coilovers just crouch down and get on with it.

If you go for coilovers, then I recommend you stick to the ones with adjusters at the top end, the upside-down types are just asking for problems in our climate imho ... then they are the more expensive units.

I've just ordered a replacement BC damper, I suspect one has gone "off" after 5 years and 70,000 miles-ish, the damper with locking rings is coming in at £106 inc vat.
The damper on its own (naked without lower mount, rings, topmount, or spring is £93 inc vat ... so they're not disgustingly expensive to replace, and the guys are easy to deal with for getting spares. They offered delivery to my home for £9 ... but I can easily drop by from work to pick anything up. Fitting them is a doddle tbh as you don't have to dismantly your old suspension to get the springs, there are just a few instructions. Just make sure you measure everything before taking your old suspension off so you can setup your ride height and cambers nicely with the new suspension on.

[Goeman]

You can get some MeisterR Zeta-R. I just want someone else to try them and tell me what they're like.   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[nathanMR2]

At near £750 they are way more than id be willing to pay. Its probably half the cost of what the cars worth now  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Ideally id be spending around £350 but be willing to consider up to £450 or at a very big push £500

[Wabbitkilla]

At near £750 they are way more than id be willing to pay. Its probably half the cost of what the cars worth now  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Ideally id be spending around £350 but be willing to consider up to £450 or at a very big push £500

s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:  They really have gone up!   s:scared: :scared: s:scared:

[nathanMR2]

Yeah not really as cheap as i would have liked but i guess coilovers usually arent the cheapest mod on the car and perhaps not something to want to consider doing too much on the cheap

Ive just had a fairly lengthy chat with a guy at MeisterR to discuss what he could offer us and if he could provide some more details about what they do.

It was rather refreshing to speak to someone who is clearly passionate about their product and saw the roadster and the club to be a great area to become more involved in.

I guess this arguement is swings and roundabouts really but the cars are getting cheaper so i would expect there are more and more people going to be using these for track cars and looking for coilover upgrades at a reasonable price. Or maybe is it the car is going to be brought by the everyday man/woman cheaply and do nothing but run it into the ground because it looks nice  s:? :? s:?

He was keen to mention that a lot of bigger brands look to make/set up coilovers for the mass market and a lot of that market is in the US where they want a stiff ride. This doesnt suit us and with our roads so given they are a UK based company they have been carefull to develop a everyday, userfriendly set up which should give a nice balance of performance whilst keeping all 4 wheels planted firmly on the road.

I understand they have done a lot of work with (dare i say it  s;) s;) ) the mx5 owners and their coilovers seem to really suit the car according to what he says. When i googled their group buys it was considerably less than £749.00! But he has confirmed that this is mainly down to our pillar ball top mounts where the price hike comes in.

Anyway he said he would be willing to reduce the price to the club for £599. Now this puts us into the ball park that prolex recently did on the BC's that got taken up very very quickly. I guess it would depend on interest if there would be any movement at all on that but i think £150 off is already a considerable jump. 12 months warrrenty is provided no matter if track or road use but he did say if you bend them on the track and they show signs of leaking its going to be hard for him to do anything about it, which is understandable.

Having said all this it is an untested product as far as the club is concerned and maybe its down to one of us to try them out and post a review. Im going check on my finances and have a think about it. Obviously this is way more than i really wanted to consider but he seemed confident that with the people the company have worked with for development of suspension parts that they very well designed and wanted to make sure that if there were any problems they would do everything they can to work with us to make it right.

Some food for thought....

[Ricky22]

Im in the same boat as you, cant seem to make up my mind either... starting to lean towards the BC's. Have you considered the koni's, reviews have been better than kyb's.

[andibell]

...Ive just had a fairly lengthy chat with a guy at MeisterR to discuss what he could offer us and if he could provide some more details about what they do.... Anyway he said he would be willing to reduce the price to the club for £599.....

Nath,

At that price I could be interested - Happy to be the guinea pig and write a couple of reviews as I've been through a few suspension set-ups now, so will be able to compare reasonably well. I'll drop you a PM with a thought; let me know what you think

[nathanMR2]

Look forward to it  s;) s;)

[doogz]

At that price, I'd have a set.

I've used BC coilovers previously on an STI i used to own and track, and was very happy with the quality of them for the price, and the adjustability made it easy to tweak the back end to be a bit more lively on track, then turn it back to a more sedate setting for the drive home.

*EDIT* Ah, seems I read that totally wrong, and you're not talking about BC's.

[Goeman]

I'm in two minds about what to do with my suspension. I can't decide whether to get by Gaz Gold refurbished and altered or try something new like the MeisterR.

[FGrob]

I'm in two minds about what to do with my suspension. I can't decide whether to get by Gaz Gold refurbished and altered or try something new like the MeisterR.

If you want something a bit better try either Monoflex (not flex) - if you can get hold of them or better still go Ohlins, but it depends on how much you want to spend as they are both not cheap.

[ChrisGB]

KW V3 would be my next move I think. If / when the BCs wear out, that is probably where I will go next. Not cheap, but cheaper than Ohlins! I am waiting for someone else to fit them so I can glean a little feedback before committing the funds. Mind you, I really like the damping on the BCs.

Chris

[Goeman]

If I was spending that much I'd be going for KW V3 or maybe Intrax. I think I can achieve what I want for less than a grand. Tolerable for road use and good on track. The Gaz are good at the track bit. They've also rusted and now squeak a lot.

I just cheekily trying to get someone else to test out the MeisterR for me. They have a good reputation especially with the Honda crowd.

[FGrob]

If I was spending that much I'd be going for KW V3 or maybe Intrax. I think I can achieve what I want for less than a grand. Tolerable for road use and good on track. The Gaz are good at the track bit. They've also rusted and now squeak a lot.

I just cheekily trying to get someone else to test out the MeisterR for me. They have a good reputation especially with the Honda crowd.

The downside to KW is the ride height is achieved by spring compression and not seperate, otherwise I would have fitted them.

[Goeman]

My Gaz are the same as the KW. I set it up the springs to be under no compression when the car is off the ground (I took up all the slack but nothing more) so the ride hight is a product of that. If the suspension is made properly then it should be fine. It worked for me.

[PhillRC]

what about d2 ? I've fitted mine and I'm happy with the result, Havant driven it yet but I'm sure its going to be good, its got front camber adjustment on the top mounts and 36way damper adjustable front and rear, once i get to drive it ill tell you my verdict.

[Goeman]

I hope they work out for you. Ideally you're looking for a supple ride but still have taught handling and not much body roll. Please let us know how they pan out. Have you gone for their street or circuit set up?

I think that the 36 way adjustment thing to some extent is a bit of a marketing gimmick. Something with  36 clicks of adjustment may have the same span of adjustment as a damper with 14 clicks. One just has far more increments than the other. On a 14 way damper you'd feel a difference with every increment but on something with as many as 36 clicks you may need to adjust it 2 or 3 clicks before you could discern a difference. I have 22 clicks of adjustment on my Gaz and I'd say you need to move it 2 clicks before there is a discernible a difference in ride quality. After saying all that you'll probably only use less than half the span of adjustment if you were going from road to track. I use one click from soft for road use and anything above 9 clicks from soft will bounce the car off a race track.

I'm not saying one with more increments of adjustment is worse or better but I wouldn't choose or disregard a set of coilovers based on how many 'ways' adjustable they are. This isn't a rant at you PhillRC, it's just my opinion of the matter.

[Goeman]

Nathan, I don't know if you're still looking into this but if you can wait a few weeks then I might have some news on some new cheap street biased coilovers around the £500 mark. I can't say much about them right now.

[nathanMR2]

My circumstances have changed a little but be interested to see what you can come up with at that price

[steve430]

hi, just wondering if anyones running the fk automotive coilovers from the prolex site, decent bit cheaper than bc's, but is the extra price worth paying? cheers

[ant0]

hi, just wondering if anyones running the fk automotive coilovers from the prolex site, decent bit cheaper than bc's, but is the extra price worth paying? cheers

Funny you should mention the FKs as I only just spotted them over the weekend and have been searching for comments/feedback but couldn't find any.  They would be a lot easier to justify on the wallet at that price.

[dj2k21]

I have them on my 5 series. If you just want a cheap way of lowering your car and improving handling a bit then go for it. Luckily my 5 series is a big comfy cruiser but bumps are quite harsh and I imagine in an mr2 quite uncomfortable. Bc ones are amazing value for money and well established in the Honda scene. I know many people using them and rate them highly. I personally have tein with the additional EDFC system and I find them top notch. However it's all down to your budget I guess.

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