JOM/FK/Ta-Technix coilovers

[androt]

Hey guys. The spring is almost here and I'm doing a reasearch which coilovers should I buy. I have to mention that in my case form > function (don't hate me) and therefore I'd like to see pictures of your cars lowered especially on JOM coilovers (Blueline, range 20-60mm). I know that they are cheap and perhaps crappy, but I'm a student and don't have enough money to buy some awesome-branded coilovers at the moment. Currently I have my A3 on FK 55/40 kit and the rear end is too much up in the air :/ The front is almost okay, but I'd like to have the possibility to go even lower.

So, I would extremely appreciate if you could post some pics of your cars, most of all I'd like to see JOM coilovers on the lowest setting. I hesitate that the 20-60mm range would please me, because FKs for example have the range of 20-100mm. Thank you very much!

 

[colicabcadam]

and one would assume that if you are a student you wouldn't want to fail an MOT because of leaking shocks either ? or smash your sump on a speed bump lol

budget coilovers are crap, it's been discussed many times and they end up costing the original purchaser more money in the long run anyways.....

 

[coatesy]

just adopt some fatty's to sit in the back of your car then it will be sound ....




but id listen to what has been said a million times before, you get what you pay for, cheap in price usually means cheap and nasty and wont last long.

 

[16Klappe]

and one would assume that if you are a student you wouldn't want to fail an MOT because of leaking shocks either ? or smash your sump on a speed bump lol

budget coilovers are crap, it's been discussed many times and they end up costing the original purchaser more money in the long run anyways.....

Here we go again...

You are wrong, and yet again jumping into something with sweeping statements on something you clearly have no personal experience of.

My girlfriend has JOM/Jamex coilovers which I fitted myself over two years ago. Prawns car has the same units fitted roughly the same time, several friends of mine have the JOM/Jamex kits and they are very good. In the FAQ stickie at the top of this forum is the original thread I made which many other happy owners have posted in and used as a fitting guide.

Forget what that joker says and go out and buy a set, because they are good quality, a good ride, easy to fit and cheap.

 

[androt]

Thanks 16Klappe, your topic motivated me enough not to forget buying cheap coilovers! Perhaps I don't run them for a long time, but if they will last at least year or two, it would be a total success and maybe for then I have the money to make a better purchase

 

[Grazam]

Perfect well i have just ordered some AP coilovers so when they get here ill post some pics up so excited now they cost £465

 

[colicabcadam]

yes, go and put £40 a corner suspension on your car, why don't you GOOGLE the problems people have had with them ??? leaking, creaking............

honestly some people never learn, but you'll most likely ignore everything people say because you're budget wont allow otherwise

 

[androt]

God damn it, I have googled it a thousand times, I know what quality they are and how they act, but please keep it to yourselves, this topic is not about the quality, I just wanna see how low they go!

 

[jezzy]

i bought the cheapest of the cheap and mine have been fine.
only time will tell
good luck

 

[AARON77]

It's all about budget
We al have different budgets and what mite be good for you in your budget mite not be good for others and their budget

Just do plenty of research of the coils that fit your budget and take it from there dude
You will find untold posts on here about coilies so it shouldn't be to hard
Good luck

And good work grazam you done ok there with the ap coilies very good for the money!
so I've been told by many ppl
I almost bought them myself but just thought stuff it in the end and got myself the Kw v1's!
Which I absolutely love

 

[16Klappe]

yes, go and put £40 a corner suspension on your car, why don't you GOOGLE the problems people have had with them ??? leaking, creaking............

honestly some people never learn, but you'll most likely ignore everything people say because you're budget wont allow otherwise

Broken record...you're wrong, they aren't that bad at all, as with all of our little "arguments" on here I am talking with hands on experience of a product I actually own and use daily. You are talking about an illinformed internet opinion.

As for how low they can go, Prawns car looks pretty sick on them with his S4 wheels and 20mm spacers -

And here with my girlfriends on 17's behind -

 

[sportstractor]

Oh my, it's down to you mate, I personally wouldn't stick budget suspension on any of my own vehicles...

It's such a crucial component, something not worth cheaping out on in my eyes... I'd would rather stick to standard suspension, or even look out for decent used konis, eibachs or bilstein sets. Reliability and ride is so much more important that 'stance' in my eyes. Think you can get weitec hicon units for around £400, which isn't bad, not sure how there rated. DPM performance have a good choice at good prices.

 

[16Klappe]

Oh my, it's down to you mate, I personally wouldn't stick budget suspension on any of my own vehicles...

It's such a crucial component, something not worth cheaping out on in my eyes... I'd would rather stick to standard suspension, or even look out for decent used konis, eibachs or bilstein sets. Reliability and ride is so much more important that 'stance' in my eyes. Think you can get weitec hicon units for around £400, which isn't bad, not sure how there rated. DPM performance have a good choice at good prices.

I have Weitecs in my car, and despite being good for track they are hard for road. Lou's cheapies are a MUCH nicer ride on the road...

There are as many horror stories for expensive coilovers as there are for the more entry level ones. The problems come when they are poorly fitted, overloaded, dropped lower than their suggested drop (having assister springs removed etc) and smashed into speed bumps and potholes.

Prawns Weitecs had to be replaced, I have many friends with 306's which had to have their Bilstein B8 etc shocks replaced. Price does not always mean quality and reliability. As long as the ride is not harsh there is a strong argument for cheaper coilovers on a daily driven road car.

A suspension unit is literally the most basic thing in the world, there is very little to go wrong internally. I am not saying that the Jamex coilovers are as good as the higher priced models but they are more than high enough quality for road use on a sensibly lowered car. On a track or fast road car I am sure they wouldn't last long, but this guy and 99% of people don't care about that.

If my Weitecs go I WILL be replacing them with Jamex because for the driving I do the Jamex's are more than good enough nad my 500 quid coilovers are wasted. Apart from looking pimp and the snobbery factor...

Of all the people I would have expected to say they aren't very good and don't get them you're the last James!

 

[sportstractor]

Of all the people I would have expected to say they aren't very good and don't get them you're the last James!

mate, It may or may not be wise, but iv always bought based on you pay for what you get for... And with a little research this is usually true. Iv no doubt that the expensive units do occasionally fail, if you google any product you will see somebody moaning it broke, iv seen it on asn a few days ago with s3paul? But it's all to do with the failure rate, which I expect is massively higher on the cheaper units... How they can design, build and ship a coil over for £40-50, it seems mental... Then if they do fail, do you reckon they honour their warranty?

I'm not slating their products, can't comment on the ride... Iv never bought sub £400 damper kits. I just personally would just stay standard if funds didn't allow.

 

[16Klappe]

Prawn's Weitecs were replaced I think, my friends Mk3 golf's JOM coilovers were replaced after 11 months when he hit a pot hole and bent the strut. I say it was a pothole...He drove through a set of cones and through a manhole cover which was being replaced lol!

 

[S3 Paul]

Can your opinions not be in a nicer tone?
Some times people choose to argue just because to agree with somebody so ***** doesnt sit right,
I know alot of people with cheap coilovers. AP FK JOM APEX and when i asked what they recomended to replace my koni's if i needed to and not one of the said the set up they had,

If the OP is looking to go LOW then alot of the "sporty" and more expensive kits will not be what you want. My S3 is sat a half turn of maximum drop on the rear and to me its right. To alot its sat too high.
If when the kit was designed it was with motorsport in mind... sitting full on in the weeds wasnt what they set out to do.
If its looks go cheap. Nearly any set up that low will be crashy and bang anyway

 

[16Klappe]

Can your opinions not be in a nicer tone?
Some times people choose to argue just because to agree with somebody so ***** doesnt sit right.

My opinions do come in a nicer tone, but I don't think what I've said is an opinion...I see it as a fact being challenged by ill-informed opinions.

"It isn't arrogance if you actually are better than everyone else"

 

[S3 Paul]

In which case i will read it as arrogance

 

[16Klappe]

In which case i will read it as arrogance

Haha, down to you bud :thumbsup:

I'm not that bad, I promise!

 

[AARON77]

Where's colicabcadam
He loves a row

 

[S3 Paul]

Not having a major pop. As i cant be bothered with it,
Just i would shy away from asking for help if i read alot of threads like this.
I understand from the threads from you and Prawn that your probably more track and race minded than alot of us S3 boys , Which i quite like and would love to see first hand how you lads get on.

 

[sportstractor]

In which case i will read it as arrogance

But that's what makes him so lovable

 

[16Klappe]

But that's what makes him so lovable

I even gave you one on the lips at new years, that's how much I love you. X

Selling me your S3 next April then?

 

[S3 Paul]

Why have you never had a GTIR?
This has confused me since the day you rated one so highly

 

[16Klappe]

Why have you never had a GTIR?
This has confused me since the day you rated one so highly

Insurance, chavy image etc. As A3's get more easily accessible to people with low IQ's and dip into the chav bracket of cheap to insure, smart and reasonably quick sub 1500quid cars I am getting drawn away a little bit. I have a Fiat 500 Abarth as a company car, so my Audi is just a bit of a toy really.

Not sure what I fancy next, R32 Skyline, Audi S2, RX7, Mk1 TT etc etc.

Audi : MODIFIED AUDI S2 COUPE (reduced)

or

Nissan : Nissan Skyline R32 GTR

Insurance isn't so much of an issue for me now, when I was younger and lived at home I was spending upwards of 100 pounds a week on insurance and driving whatever I wanted. Now my missus and I have got the house bought and I am old I can start getting a nice car again! My A3 was just the best of a bad situation really...

Oh but mainly because I could never get over how TERRIBLE they look from the back!

 

[S3 Paul]

Ive never seen a pulsar on the track. On the strip yes but never on the track,
"old" what is old these days?

 

[16Klappe]

Ive never seen a pulsar on the track. On the strip yes but never on the track,
"old" what is old these days?

21 HAHA!

The handling on the Pulsars is insane, a friend of mine has a VERY high spec GTIR which his says is like it's on rails. The short wheel base makes them a brilliant handling car in general. I've driven one once, it was 270bhp and it was a great drive...just very plasticy and dull inside and the back of them looks minging! Not sure what I'll get next, won't be a Pulsar though...I probably don't want to own a Pulsar because they just don't look nice and appeal to me.

 

[S3 Paul]

21?
old?
SH!t. im 35 next
Can i ask... If you had a R32 GTR would you still fit the cheap suspension ?
Or is it a case of ... cheap cars that are never going to be full on race cars dont need expensive motorsport set ups?

 

[16Klappe]

21?
old?
SH!t. im 35 next
Can i ask... If you had a R32 GTR would you still fit the cheap suspension ?
Or is it a case of ... cheap cars that are never going to be full on race cars dont need expensive motorsport set ups?

I would see it as...

If I bought a GTR I wouldn't fit coilovers to it! A GTR R32 is like the holy grail to me...Apart from an RS2!

But if I bought an ordinary R32 and If I was driving the car on the road, then yes I WOULD fit cheap coilovers.

If I was using the car as a track toy I would buy a more expensive set of coilovers, not because of quality but because of unsprung weight losses, adjustable damping and adjustable top mount setups.

I don't see it as a cheap car shouldn't have expensive components, I see it as a basic application doesn't need expensive components. The OP of this thread wants a set of coilovers to last him a couple of years so he can get some scene points and roll to Uni in style...Why would he need OTT coilovers that would do absolutely no better job than something a third of the price?

Just to clarify, I don't have cheap coilovers on my own car. I have a set of top flight Weitecs, but my girlfriend has a set of Jamex coilovers which I fitted a couple of years back, and when I get in her car the ride is just as good if not a little better than my Weitecs on a rough road.

With my experience of these kits the serviceable life of the cheaper coilovers is no shorter than that of a more expensive setup when used within the limitations of sensible road use. Just seems like lost money for something you won't get benefit from, IMO a set of Jamex coilovers and a rear ARB would give 10x the car and performance that throwing on a set of 5/600 coilovers would do. The expensive coilovers won't make the car go round corners quicker than the cheaper ones.

 

[S3 Paul]

I agree'd with the point made regarding the OP's needs
Sorry maybe not a GTR But say a GTST ... i only mention that as i had one for about 3 years as a weekend car,
It had TIEN? coilovers fitted and bychrist they were hard ! great on a track but down right useless on day to day roads,
I know a few people who swear by BC coilovers? Ive been in a car with these ( so im told £1400 ) on a scooby sti blob eye and it was very hard over bumps. no matter how we played with the damping... it was overly hard,

 

[Grazam]

lol im 21 aswell i have to say i can't really think of that many cars that i truly like the look of especially not any new ones, sad to say i prefere cars from the 90s and ill prolly almost always have one just cause they look better IMO

 

[16Klappe]

Tien stuff is VERY good quality and very much track spec components, I bet they'd have been rock solid haha! The cheapest R32 coilovers they do are the best part of 800quid...not built for road use really

Expensive coilovers will always be harsh, the reason they are so expensive is the light construction and the damping. I've never been on a set of properly expensive coilovers with adjustable damping which have been smooth on the road. The reason for the adjustable damping is obviously to keep the car level and predictable during cornering, I'm not sure if you've been on a track but cornering on a track is VERY different to cornering in the real world on the road.

This is where the likes of the Jamex kits come in, they are surpassingly soft and deal with carrying loads really well. Here's what we did to my girlfriends car...

40 bricks and 10 bags of cement in the boot lol!

And the week before we put an entire kitchen in it...

 

[sideways steve]

Im with 16Klappe on this,

having had lots of high performance cars with a mixture of expensive and cheaper than cheap coilovers I can honestly say I never had any issues with the TA Technix ones on my Corrado and they were about 18 months old when I got the car !

Its actually quite apt that you started talking about R32 GTR's as I had a very high spec one running 640bhp that now lives in Finland. It was fitted with a motorsport coil over setup that cost in excess of £3500 and in my opinion they were ****. They were properly valved and setup for road use and when they were about 3 months old both rears blew their seals and started clunking and one front one snapped a spring platform and began leaking. So you don't always get what you pay for !

I had a set of Ohlins coilovers on my Evo and they were amazing, but very very expensive. I had a set of mid range coilovers circa £500 on my RX7 and those were really good and I couldn't fault them. I had that car for about a year and never had any issues with them.

 

[S3 Paul]

Ha, There wouldnt be enough room for half that with my gay shallow boot,
Ive been on track a few times... silverstone ( when first reopened) and castlecombe and donnington park ( pre bulldozzer)
I found my S3 all be it with paper clip rear antiroll bar had way too much body roll meaning i had to shed alot of speed as a dare not carry it through a corner, The skyline on track felt much better as there was ****** all give in the car, My mk2 golf is stripped out so it doesnt feel a bad heading into a corner , the golf has a mix of G60 standard front dampers and koni adjustable rear with eibach springs all round , so atleast half the price of either of the other two set ups

 

[sideways steve]

This was the GTR sitting on the motorsport setup....

 

[Grazam]

Thats an amazing way to get new lows lol thats what you should do keep stock sus and just get a load of cement or lead weights whats the worst that can happen you go a little slower

 

[Prawn]

Again, much like sideways Steve, and Jardo with his cross experience of his and his girlfriends cars, I'm hugely in favour of cheap coilovers on a road car.

unlike most, I have both, not had one now have the other, I've got both, on two similar cars, and I drive both every week, so I'm fairly well placed to make a comparison.

Cheap coilovers arn't as good as my Weitecs. Not by a long shot. the ride is more bumpy and crashy, and damping control isn't anywhere near as good and you can get bounce at times.

However, most people are pretty average drivers as well, and can't make the most of their car anyway.

I run Jamex cheap coilovers on my daily, wound about as low as they will go:

Aside from those, and a set of decent ARB's, the suspension is otherwise standard. It still handles well, corners nice and flat, doesn't cause my teeth to fall out, and I don't have a bad back.

And the bit that shocks everyone, 50 000 miles later, they're still perfect, and I've got no issues. I do more miles than most, and I don't hang about either, and I honestly don't see the need for anything better on a road car.

I've done the odd track day on them, and even taken it to the ring and lapped consistently under 9 minutes on road tyres with 200bhp. (don't think any of the S3 boys on the forum have managed sub 9 yet ).

So, unless you're the stig, you'll be doing regular trackdays, or you have an unlimited budget, than budget coilovers really are just fine.

If you just want it to feel a bit more firm, and look a load better, then you really can't go wrong.

 

[sideways steve]

Of course, there is another option but the car may not sit how you want it to.....

For me the right stance is the wheel and tyre filling the arch butnot the arch over the tyre, to get that look on my Evo 9 all that was needed was a set of eibach sport springs as the stock dampers were already short stroke bilsteins being the FQ340.

This setup gave a lovely ride height whilst handling was improved ten fold without it becoming too firm or bouncy.

If you could get some quality springs im pretty sure you would be able to achieve a good combination of the right look and useable handling.

The KW's on my A4 were wound right low when I got it and it was ridiculous, you couldnt really drive it anywhere as it would scrape everything. I wound them up a bit when I got it and had the wheel filling the arch which in my opinion looked better, the handling was also far better and I stopped hitting stuff too lol.

 

[DPM]

With suspension, and most things in life, you get what you pay for and generally the more you spend the better quality kit you'll get. It can also be false ecomomy sometimes buying a cheaper kit as it can lead to problems.

If you are going to go for budget, which a lot of people are at them moment as times are tougher, then the JOM are a good option and come with two years warranty but obviously won't be as good quality as some of the more expensive kits but still excellent value for money.

Buy them from a know company that aren't going to disappear so if anything does go wrong you'll be able to get it sorted out.

Hope this helps and if I can be any further help just let me know.

Damian @ DPM Performance

 

[colicabcadam]

why is it hard for people to understand one simple thing......

because something works fine for one person doesn't mean it will work fine for others, cheap components will have a MUCH higher fail rate because they are not built to great standards, come on lads, the JOM coilovers cost £150, that's about £37.50 a corner, there will be no quality there, cheap materials, cheap labour, and virtually no quality control

like i said, you may think you are saving money in the long run and you may think it's the cheapest way to make your car look "cool" with the girls, but i tell you what wont be cool, when you go for an MOT and the examiner tells you you've failed for leaking shocks, here's a summary of what could happen, it wont be cool when you take a female friend out in your car and it rattles like **** lol

failed MOT - continue to drive it and you risk getting it crushed, i think you even need an MOT if the vehicle is just parked up, your insurance is invalid etc etc points on licence too if you drive it i think ?
labour chargers removing faulty components - then where do you keep your car when it has no shocks ? because you are not driving it home with no shocks, or maybe's you'd do it yourself and keep the car at home on stands ?
warranty issues (do you really think these people offer a next day service lol)
cost of sending the faulty parts off
waiting for the faulty parts to be tested
waiting for the new replacements to be delivered
more labour charges / time fitting them again
and then the possibility of it all happening again next year and how the hell are you going to get around whilst your car is not usable ? bus ? hire car ? walk ? cabs ?


some people just have tunnel vision, i don't, you really need to see if it's worth you saving £300 ? the above will almost certainly cost you £200 if not more, plus look at the inconvenience caused, plus it could happen again

i just don't understand some people, they will happily spend money getting more power without any ifs or buts but will try to spend as little money as possible when purchasing a component that keeps the car on the road

and another thing, what's with all this low car lark, we live in britain, pot holes every where, speed bumps, also lowering your car involves a lot more than just coilovers, you need to get everything setup correctly by someone who knows what they are doing, wheel alignment, additional parts etc

also be prepared to have uneven tyre wear if you are just simply going to bolt them on and lower your car as much as possible