Koni sport vs Tokico Illuminas vs Revalved Bilsteins

[Vat]

Yeah skittish sounds like it wouldn't meet my DD goals. I'm not desperate to lower it, she scrapes on some driveways already. Do the stock springs degrade over time?

I'm fussy with ride, and run the Flex Z's set at around 10 to 11 for road use. The ride's actually really decent, a lot better than the Bilsteins that were in it prior to that, particularly on primary ride impacts - the Billies are really good on the secondary ride stuff but crashy on primary hits (cats' eyes, holes, kerbs, that sharper impact stuff). I just wind them up to full hard for track work. I've had adjustable Koni Yellows in a Gen IV Liberty wagon a few cars ago and they worked really well. I'd be inclined to go the coilovers just for the ride height adjustability.

I run the Nebo-Glorious run with the Flex Z's pretty regularly with the softer settings and would describe the car as planted through there, certainly not skittish.

[captaincabinets]

Hmm. My diabolical plan for Illuminas hasn't really worked out. Was planning to get them shipped to a friend in the US and then forwarded. Four problems arose. Amazon jacked up the price in the time it took me to get organised. Hadn't factored in state tax. Amazon has delays of like 2 months on those parts, half of which were allegedly already in stock. Plus this takes me over the magic $1k for customs duty here. So suddenly my $900 plan is more like $1200 or so.

This is pretty much the same price as the new Tein Flex Z, and would have the advantage of springs included plus adjustable ride height if I wanted to play with it in the future. Plus local warranty. What you guys have been saying suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Which bumpstops would you guys recommend with these for comfort? Also, would there be an advantage to extended rear top hats for this setup? I've been reading about it but don't fully understand. Thanks

[hks_kansei]

If you get the teins (or adjustable coilovers in general) you don't need to worry about bump stops etc, they are included with them (they use their own stops anyway, so factory ones wouldn't fit regardless)

You basically get a big box with shock, spring, top hats etc all assembled and ready to bolt into the car.

I would recommend before putting them in that you go over them and check everything is tight and set evenly.
The factory don't actually set them up, they just assemble them enough to not rattle loose in transit.

[hks_kansei]

The price thing is why I went for the teins.

By the time I added up costs it worked out only slightly cheaper than the coilovers.

[captaincabinets]

Thanks for all your quick responses Kansei. Can always rely on you to reply to my threads!

That's good news. Drive away no more to pay. Very close to pulling the trigger on this. I take it the closest competition is MCA Blues? How would they compare on comfort? Much the same I guess

[greenMachine]

I revalved a set of PSS9s for the racecar a few years back, it was expensive but that included the new springs. Heasmans did it, I just told them about the car and its use, and that I wanted sufficient damping to handle stiffer than specified springs - they are now good for 1000lbs springs in the front.

I don't think that revalving is a way to cheap shocks, but it will get you valving to suit what you want. I could have bought a new set of shocks cheaper than the bill from Heasmans, but they would have been off-the-shelf valving. These days there may be more options, for example MCA and Xida have come along since then.

[captaincabinets]

Hmm. Finance minister has increased my budget. Thinking about MCA X-c. Hadn't heard of them until I had a look on their website for the blues. I've found one NC owner who's got them. Anyone heard of them being fitted to a NB?

[bear2230]

I have MCA's in my white car and they are friggin awesome. No they are better than that, they are really friggin awesome.
Get them, don't muck around with anything else, just get them.
Give them a call tell them what you use the car for (street/track or both) and they will give you a set up that you just bolt in and you won't have to touch them.
I have Bilstein PSS-9 on the silver car and the MCA's are much better.
Get the Blue's they are all you need unless you are going to get serious into racing.

Richard.

[sailaholic]

I'd almost agree with Richard with the exception of - get the X series not the blues.

The blues are a budget shock, they are good, but the X series gets the same valve assembly as the red and gold series.

Red have the advantage of being custom set up, golds are custom made and can use external canisters.

Good isn't just about track work. Good shocks pay off everywhere, comfort, track, grip, adjustment you name it.

I've bought ALOT for my car. The MCA reds were the investment I'm happiest with. The things I dislike the most / didn't work out is where I tried to cut corners. It cost more in the long run.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bear2230]

I have the reds but they were nearly another $1000 on top of the blues.
Nathan and Benny Tran set the car up with the Honda motor and I haven't touched anything. The shocks are set hard. So hard you cant push down on the suspension by leaning on the front wing but it drives beautifully as a daily. Not harsh at all and you can go crazy around corners and it just loves it.

[speed]

I have the reds.
The shocks are set hard. So hard you cant push down on the suspension by leaning on the front wing but it drives beautifully as a daily. Not harsh at all and you can go crazy around corners and it just loves it.

I can attest to this. Very comfy.
Much much much better than my bilsteins in my NA.

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[captaincabinets]

Awesome. Finally found a solution owners agree on. Will give them a call on Monday

[greenMachine]

I have Bilstein PSS-9 on the silver car and the MCA's are much better.

That is good to know, a perspective from someone who drives on both.

I didn't know about the MCAs when I drove your car at Marulan, or I would have paid more attention to the shocks' performance. What I remember of that ride was good handling and a firm but not unpleasant ride - and a certain amount of grunt ...