Why buy coilovers vs. shocks struts

[nissenc1337]

I'm curious because a set of bilsteins and springs will run me about $1,000 another $100 with GT500 strut mounts or more with better caster camber plates from Vorshlag or MM.

Well, that gets me into coilover territory which means i can have control over ride hieght, which is nice. But if i'm honest i'll spend 99% of my time commuting to work and sitting at car shows, maybe hitting a track 1-2 times a year.

What's going to give me a bearable ride on my commute but also let me have fun while at the track? I'm assuming coilovers are harsher than shocks and struts.

 

[Kyle55]

Only reason to get coil overs is if your a serious autocross or want to adjust the height for looks. Or if money isn't an issue

 

[4.SLOW]

The main thing is that the bilstein shocks are very high quality. When you buy coilovers at that price, you are giving up on some ride quality.

If you mainly use the car for a daily driver/car shows, its really up to you. If you think you can't get low enough on springs, or just can't get the right look with them, I would say go for cheap coilovers. But if you want good ride quality, I would go with the bilstein shocks. Also, the bilsteins will more than likely perform better on a track than cheap coilovers.

 

[nissenc1337]

I was looking at the Eibach Pro-Street setup. Eibach makes good stuff right? Maybe $1,300 falls into cheap coilover territory since kits usually run over 2K

 

[4.SLOW]

The eibach pro-street kit is kind of in the grey area. Eibach stuff is said to be good, but it is the cheapest of them.

To be honest, I will not buy another eibach shock product. I have had a lot of issues with their shocks blowing out on me (I'm on my 3rd pair of rear shocks), and every time I've had to go through a major run around just to get them warrantied. But thats just my experience, most people love their stuff.

If you are ready to buy coilovers, there are a set of the eibach r2's for sale on this site for $1100+shipping, and I don't think it's sold yet. But I doubt it will stay long at that price.

 

[Zandura99]

I did the sportline kit and love it. The Pro kit will give even more ride quality. still look good, and with a slightly oversized rear tire (you can get away with 28") the wheel gap gets eaten up.

A decent coilover at that price range by eibach is this:

1 35125.711 FORD PRO-STREET-S COIL-OVER 1264.00 (figure 30 bucks in freight)

did not ride as smooth as the eibach pro kit. we did a side by side test with a fleet of bmw 3 series. The Pro-Kit rode better than stock (springs dampers and we added sways) and was faster around our track. The coilovers (with new sways)were pretty slammed, and they did not ride as smooth as stock, or the pro kit, but were a tad quicker than the pro kit. It was a good side by side, with the bone stock suspension as well as stock dampers and pro springs. That is what sold me on the setup, we were using a 2011 bmw 328... which is typically considered a really good handling car from the factory and the eibach setup outperformed it hands down.