I know I can search and find opinions, but I've seen that alot of coilover lines have been updated and changed as of recently and wanted to know what people are thinking nowadays. I know the two main choice are for me Tein Street Advance, or Powertrix Street/Race/Ultralite. What do people recommend nowadays?
I'd say the best brand you can afford. There's good coilovers, and there's shit coilovers. Unless they're tein, bilstein, ohlins, aragosta, kyb, they're probably mad in the same place. If you actually want an 'upgrade' for the sake of moar low, then you will get away with cheap crap, otherwise go for a good brand that has put the R&D into proper valving, strong materials, and has proven track performance. There's a lot more to shock absorbers than just spring rates and how low they go.
Yeah my main priority is handling, damping and ride quality, especially on Australian choppy rides. Low/looks comes second. What is the recommended coilover from the Powertrix lineup of three coilovers?
I wanted powertrix but there was a wait on them, so because I'm an impatient kent I went with these. http://www.conceptzperformance.com/...ar_Type=300&UID=20121221073912101.173.170.163 Not installed yet but they look pretty good for the price.
With the Tein Street Advance, are you thinking Aus spec or US spec? I'm using Aus ones, also using an EDFC in-cabin damping controller. Review? Hard to do, since I went from flogged out 23 year old OEM suspension to the Teins. And lowness or stance were not priorities, still on stock rims So take it with a grain of salt... I'm in rural VIC, the roads are fairly ordinary in places. Fun and challenging for sure, but not always smooth. Biggest worry is striking ripples or dips part way through a high speed bend with fat-assed gum trees and loose gravel on either side of the road BUT, no bugger watching or photographing you Mostly happy with the Teins so far. Still experimenting with the EDFC too. When a familiar curvy ( and rough ) stretch of road comes up, I can soften the damper settings to stop the R send from misbehaving too much. Positive note? The Street Advance seem to have lived up to Tein's promise to give you a more noticeable difference in damping adjustment compared to the Super Streets. You go from a lively / sporty feel to a bone jarring teeth rattling feel. Not often I get to use the fully hard settings on the local roads mind you, but on good Metro roads it feels rooly solid. Don't have to slow down for those big roundabouts Negative note? Spring rates on the Aus spec Street Advance are 7 front and 5 rear, versus 5 and 4 on the superceded Aus spec Super Street. So even at the softest damper setting you get a firm ride. No problem if your regular routes are halfway decent roads. Bit of a worry if you want to do some genteel cruising at good speeds on B roads Not sure if that helped or hindered. Best way to choose suspension would be to ride in as many Zeds as you can. Better yet, drive them :br:
Powertrix 100%, have had them in my Z for a year now and they are amazing man. You wont regret it. Handles like a dream without being too stiff that u feel every fkn bump in the road ( especially in Brisbane...) This is my Pic after i had them put in and lowered it. Can compare it to my Sig Pic- I got Powertrix SS 8/6 btw
I'm running Bilstein PSS9 but they're a step up (budget wise) from the two you mentioned. 8kg front and 6kg rear and valved to suit -very precise feel (which is what I want in a car that's driven once a month) but still quite bumpy, I wouldn't go that hard in a daily driver. Can't go wrong with Tein SS. The "AUS-Spec" Teins that ate imported and modified via Fulcrum suspension dealers are setup for Aussie roads with custom spring and valve rates. They actually tested then on a shock dyno to get the right "setup" rather than simply changing the spring. Buddy Club are supposed to be a good mid level Coilover too. Powertrix get lots of good reviews only question I would ask is how do the shock rates suit Aussie roads and if fitting custom springs do they re-valve them also? Why do you want coil overs? If the zed is your only car and you're just wanting to drop and stiffen it a little you might want to consider new struts with a lowering spring. You'll get better driveability for less $$. Re spring rates remember stiffer is not always better for comfort OR handling as the coils need to allow for weight transfer.
Yeah definitely my priority is handling and ride quality, having driven with stiff springs there is no damn point to it as it just causes the car to skip about while taking a corner on small abberations, stuffing up overall vehicle dynamics. Better is a softer spring rate with good damping to ensure bumps are absorbed and overall smoother transition. I wanted coilovers, I.e. the powertrix, as I thought it would have a formidable lead over a setup such as kyb agx/eibachs in handling.
So the ride quality is as far as I know firm yet stiff? You still feel the bumps but their absorbed well. What settings you have them on?
