YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

Everyone talks about getting coilovers instead of springs for this or that reason. Does anyone actually have them and can anyone post reviews or comments about what's available and what to get? I know there are threads for Evo's and RA's. I want to hear about lancers!

Thanks

Default_User

Coilovers are great IF maintained properly.
I've heard of BC coils failing because they weren't set or maintained properly during winter.
Albeit they are under warranty, it is a PITA to take em out, reinstall the old ones, send the BC's to HO for inspection, and get them back to you, then reinstall....

That being said, I am completely content with a quality set of Lowering springs matched with some Koni Yellows. Downside being height adjustability. Upside being ease of replaceability.

If you are ballin' I would suggest Tein w/ EDFC

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

Not ballin' but definitely ok with spending money for a quality product. I'm a coilover noob so any pointers or advice or reviews would be awesome. I'm looking for streetable ride quality with great handling. Firm is ok but jaw-rattling is not.

Also do you need an alignment every time you adjust the height?

Any more reviews or input?

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

No one has any coilovers and has no input?

evo_soul

HSD coilovers hands down are an excellent option. The one thing I never liked about the OE suspension was that it didnt inspire confidence going into hard corning. There were things I would do in my old Mazda but couldnt do on my brand new Lancer. The feel was spongy, the car felt like it was tipping left to right. When you get out and look at the car and how much height there is its easy to see the intention of KYB and Mitsubishi was more daily driving vs. any seriously driving capability. The fact that these struts fail when lowed more frequently than one would expect doesnt help.

The car itself is crying out for proper suspension. While not all coilovers are equal, i am will to lower the bar to even some lesser brands vs. sticking with an OE setup. Coilovers on a Lancer is awesome, because the car responds how it should. Feels planted!! But putting it on a Ralliart unleashes so much more potential.

Getting back to my own personal Lancer. My 2008 Lancer GTS was always the source of a slight bit of bitterness. I spent $30,000 dollars on a nice car. Then in 2009 Mitsubishi made a better car, in 2010 Mitsubishi made further refinements and the ralliart was in full effect. Which made me wish I waited one or two more years.

Now..... with this one single upgrade, I feel like I am surpassing being on par with those other cars. Thoughts of trading my car in for a Ralliart diminished just a little bit. It became a bit more fun. Much more inviting, when I had to choose between one of the 3 cars parked out our house for a local drive. I find myself getting back into the Lancer again.

On the road, the car feels firm. The monotube coilover feels firm but by no means back breaking. My Mechanic "Pips" set me up with a decent setup. I didnt go nuts with the dampening force adjustment. keeping even keel and setting it right in the middle. From there Pips says I will be able to figure out if this is too firm or just right. Tweaking over time will help me learn the capabilities of the car.

Either way, I am happy as well. There are other coilovers at there. A dime a dozen some will say. But I back this brand because the reputation is there for reliability and and enduring level of performance. The damn thing just doesnt die. And thats what I look for in just about everything I buy.

EVOSOUL,
125,000km Lancer GTS 2008, Reborn 1 week ago

villero1834

iTrader: (1)

GOT MEGANS , lol love them rocked them for almoust a year no problems at all , why would u go with coilover instead of springs , simple , if u look at all them civics u can see how bumpy they are if they hit a pot hole it looks like the car has hidraulic suspension lol , u wont get that with coilover cuz it has damper adjustment , also u wont get any camber wear ( when the tire stays in an angle) cuz they have camber adjustment , a huuuge example why to get this , i just installed my turbo on this previuos weekend and as most of u know the steering wheels pulls to the left at higher torque , well not with coilovers , since im soo low to the ground the pull is really minimal , u will love to take corners at high speeds without a prob , believe me they are worth every penny , got mine for 850 shipped dont go with track series or u gonna hate ur self too stiff , street series are stiff and good for bumpy rides also

villero1834

iTrader: (1)

forgot to say they are way lighter than stock ( just in case u are serious about getting the best out of ur car hp to weight ratio is a plus , and if u ever want to sell ur car just put the oem susp back easy as cake

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the pic and the awesome review! I'm on 9glancers as well and they talk about BC Racing coilovers and it sounds like they're awesome for the money. I was planning to order a set before I ordered some new rims and tires. My main concern is the streetability of a coilover setup. I'm not planning on tracking the car or anything, I just want to be able to enjoy some spirited driving around town; to be able to shred some tight bends and curves.

It sounds like you're really endorsing a good set of coilovers and that they reawaken the love of the lancer. That's just what I needed!

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

villero, did you have problems with the megans? You said you rocked them for almost a year without problems. I'd like to "set it and forget it" once I have the feel that I like.

Also when setting ride height, do you just use a measuring tape and try to get the fronts to match and the rears to match?

evo_soul

I have owned BC racing coilovers before in the past and for reasons that I dont want to go too deep into, I dont think I will be be buying another set again. Dont get me wrong. I think BC racing is a good company that turns out a fair amount of coilovers at a decent price. But their mid range and lower end coilovers in the past were ok. But the constant issue would be they would start to make excessive noise and you would have to rebuild them at the 1 to 1.5 year mark. Now I dont believe in trash talking a brand. There are very few brands I would say negative things about unless I have a damn good reason to. One of the very few would be Dunlop. Straight up, the OE tire we have on the lancer GTS "18 inch" is down right criminal. compound on top of that the nickel and dime behavior you get with customer service when you report issues with the tire. Makes me never, ever wish to buy a Dunlop Tire in my life. Think I am being too harsh .... look at what 300 reviews of this SP 5000M tire on tire rack says, and you will get what I mean. http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...irePageLocQty=

Where am I going with this. BC racing is not in a negative catagory like Dunlop is. If you follow the history of BC racing and some of the megans that are made by the same factory in Taiwan. BC Racing has gotten exceptionally good at improving build quality from decent to "good" and mastering the logistical hurdles of warranty replacement and out of warranty rebuild. This would be BC Racings strong point. So I give them A for effort on these fronts. The reason why I gravitate to the HSD brand is because they build exceptionally durable kits. While many write off HSD coilovers as a kit they never heard of before or just another chinese made coilover. They couldnt be further from the truth.

HSD coilovers are and always have been made in Korea. And they have been turning out damn good coilovers and OE KDM market products for sometime. When I dug deeper into the history of the brand what other people think of it. It led me to customers in the UK and in Australia. I would say other than the USA west coast. the UK has some serious weight in the EVO community. But you never see these two communities interact. The Atlantic ocean is a good description about how wide apart these groups are when it comes to what brands they prefer and what isnt. Now for anyone who really does there home works. You will see that the coilover is respected and has proven itself time in and time out. Driftworks, the UK distributor for the brand when as far as even offering a 30 day money back policy. WTF??? when have you ever heard that?


In their own words from there website....

"We’re so confident you’ll be impressed with the quality and performance of our coilovers that we offer a 30 day, no-quibble money back guarantee. How many other companies would offer you that?"

When I made a friendly call over to them, I asked, how many kits have come back? The rep chuckled and said, they simple don't. He even mentioned that in the early days, when they were selling out, they begged for a kit to come back so they could refurbish the kit if needed and fill that demand. When I heard that, I said to myself, this seems like the real deal. So I kept digging, saw so the feedback from the countless group buys on those UK forums. LancerRegister.com is a good example. When you see people compare the kits to others you can see that its constantly held up higher than the normal competitors in the pack.

Then about a year+ ago, a few personal friends got there hands on the kit. Again the same result, "pretty good" handled well on the track, held together during a rally, offered a super slammed look and was still drivable. on and on and on. And I have friends that in to just about everything, RWD drifters, Time attack, etc... etc... .

For me, that says something. I try to go around and find the stuff that is bullet proof. Cause thats the stuff I want on my car. Its also a learning experience. I have been wrong about stuff before once I learn what else is better out there. So my mind isnt closed or locked in to anything. I run a local car club here in Canada. And have tons of guys asking me. Hey , what do you think of this, or what do you think of that. And for me, I simply recommend the things I know work. Cause if there is one thing I have learned is. " you can cut corners, and sometimes you will luck out, but there is always that one time that you will not, and it costs you time, money and your sanity trying to fix it." It just has to work.

To answer your specific question. If your looking for daily driver comfort but want to lower your car + on a tight budget. I recommend Tein Basics. They get the job done, on a budget and are extremely simple to install and adjust. If you have never installed a coilover before, its important to find someone who has to assist you. There are somethings that are intuitive to experience car mechanics and hobby tuners. But if its your first time going beyond your normal level of experience. Get help. Suspension is something that can kill if you don't do everything right. Tein basics utilize an older twin tube technology, but don't let that fool you. Its reliable, yet inexpensive. The problem people complain about with this coilovers is that you couldnt do anything but use them as daily driver. Twin Tube coilovers are susceptible to failure if driven beyond its limits. (tracking, or driving on roads that you know arent good for your butt and your suspension)

If your not on a budget I would reach a little higher and pick up HSD's, there are a lot of good brands out there. But not many brands have commited to make something for the Mitsubishi Lancer or even Ralliart Platform. When I ask these companies, they simple answer is. There is no money in it? There is not a market to fight over. So the fact that HSD made something, is great. I wish other brands would join the fight.

I have the kit on my car. I could have picked just about anything else under the sun. But I made my choice and spent my own hard earned money on it. Its like everything else on my car. It has to work. Stop Tech Rotors and Pads, Body Styling parts from Rick Chong, INJEN intake, etc... etc... it just has to work.

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

Again evo soul, great post. I have not done coilovers before. I've already put springs on my car but I think at some point, I want to get a set of nice coilovers. Again, my concern is the reliability and comfort of the setup. Since I won't be tracking the car and really only driving on the street, I won't be pushing them to failure. If a coilover fails on the street though, that's something I'd like to know about brand xyz.

Comfort is another huge factor in my decision. I want the coilovers to be able to take all of the bumps and cracks the road throws out, but also be able to take a tight corner at a slightly higher speed than my passengers would be comfortable with. I have questions in coilover set up in general and I've been trying to find out as much info in it as possible before I purchase a set because I've read horror stories about a poorly setup set. Again, from what I've read, it's not clear if it is the coilover itself, or the user setup. Contrary to popular opinion, there is not any soild information on how to setup a set for the layman.

I have general car knowledge and have worked on several projects on my own, so learning and understanding is not an issue. The problem lays with not enough info, or too technical info. I will take the plunge at some point but I need some easily understandable facts (which I really am surprised there isn't more). I know a how-to will be extremely helpful for people like me that are interested in things like this, but without the racing circles or car clubs, can't find it.

evo_soul

Coilovers will be half the equation. To be very honest. Decent coilovers. In my case 7k Front & 6k Rear spring rate and a comfortable set of performance tires will translate into a very reasonable ride. I highly recommend going with a tire that is centered around comfort. The best example I can give you is the CONTI DWS tire. Very comfortable ride performance yet it can handle itself in an aggressive driving situation. Now I am speaking in general terms here, but for our lancer I would say you could tone down the harshness by 30% by getting away from the DUNLOP SP5000M tires. I am currently running on Conti DWS and testing the Sailun ZS+AS high performance all season tire. Both offer that comfort factor. Match that with the HSD coilovers or something in the same caliber and you will a very reasonable feel.

my two cents

YeOldeLancer

iTrader: (2)

More like 2 dollars!

Thanks for the advice. I will add this to my (very) mental database and keep this in mind for the future.

Lancer14

So I went to the HSD page to purchase the coilovers for my '14 lancer(Es) but they only give an option of the Evo X, does that mean I can't buy them? Or will the Evo coilovers fit my lancer??

ibroklc

Fortune auto has great coil overs. I have them on my car and they handle NYC roads and potholes great. You can also email or call them and tell them what you're looking for and they'll help you. Also they sell coil overs built for lancer with springs and everything already or you can build your own how you want.