Budget coilovers - worth the gamble?

[Firestar_3x]

Busted, he's clearly driving around in a Robin Reliant.

 

[Howard]

Robin Reliant.

If that wasn't deliberate, give me your address NOW so that I can come and slap you.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Confusing and intriguing at the same time.

 

[Howard]

Sorry.. Pet hate of mine is when people call the Reliant Robin the Robin Reliant

 

[Firestar_3x]

You can tell its been a long week, i'm going mad, didn't even spot my mistake!

*Opens Energy drink....

 

[Lostkat]

Just worked out that I've done approx 20k miles on them since May last year, for those interested.

 

[Lopéz]

I might take a gamble and go for it, I don't mind a hard ride, in fact I actually like it. Oh, and I'll fit stronger washers before fitting them

From memory the original damper has a pretty hefty retainer on it but I seem to remember it didn't fit - although to be honest I don't really remember, I might have just elected to stick with the coilover parts and taken nothing from the OE setup. If the original retainer fits I think I'd use that, as it's a solid metal collar rather than the washer that came with the coilovers.

From my experience with suspension, you will need to change them again within 2 years.
Cheap is often cheap
Jack with no axle stands = muppet

I'm using a scissor jack to raise the beam so that I can get the damper rod in the right position.Otherwise I'd have had to push it up by hand and try to secure a nut from inside the boot whilst doing so, which is nigh on impossible. Scissor jacks are brilliant for anything like that, raising exhausts so you can get tight rubber hangers on, getting engine mounts back in etc etc.

All suspension wears out if you drive it hard. On your average hatch or saloon you don't tend to notice it, but on an 80s hot hatch you really feel the difference when they start getting tired.

So the moral of the story here is that they were cheap and people were not sure of the quality of them. You fitted them correctly and carefully, and then they broke shortly afterwards. Thus leaving the average joe who would have paid a garage to fit them in the first place, stranded in france, needing a potential recovery all the way back to england, followed by another garage bill to correct the damage.

Great Worth the gamble for you as you know what you are doing, but after your story i would pretty much take that as a no go product!

Oh I definitely see your point, but the way I see it your average Joe won't (shouldn't?) be looking at fitting this sort of aftermarket accessory.

 

[Jez]

Oh I definitely see your point, but the way I see it your average Joe won't (shouldn't?) be looking at fitting this sort of aftermarket accessory.

Thats very true matey, oh i wish i could make fitting things like this look as trivial as you seem to! I couldnt even change my front discs recently as the bolts were too tight

 

[Gaijin]

Was the option of having a fourth too expensive for you Gaijin?

Busted, he's clearly driving around in a Robin Reliant.

Totally busted.

Can't remember why I didn't take a pic of the perhaps I was still cleaning it.

Still, they are well sold now and no complaints!

 

[Hungryjoey]

I have a set of JOM (Something very similar to the OP) in my toledo. They are firm, hold the road a lot better and allowed me to drop it a lot. That was only 5k miles ago, not a lot but they are holding up very well. I just need to get my Front ARB replaced with one that doesn't rub off the driveshaft now.

For the price and even if they did only last 2 years at -70mm on harsh roads in Ireland - I would be happy. Although I have read many people who have had them several years with no issues.

 

[4T5]

Lopez is a Real Man, Fact !!!

 

[Lopéz]

Found this thread accidentally whilst Googling for something else.

The coilovers have been on the car for a further 2 years and another 40,000 miles, so a total of 3 years and around 60,000 miles.

I took them off a couple of weeks ago to fit uprated G60 top mounts and remove the helper springs and they are still in fine fettle. Thanks to my liberal use of chain grease the threads have not even siezed (though they did need a reasonable effort to crack the locking rings apart as you'd expect)

Not a bad purchase, 3 years and 60,000 hard miles out of a £165 coilover kit is pretty good IMO.

 

[Dr Who]

If you are gonna fit coilovers, buy a big tub of vaseline and smother the threaded sections with it. If you buy cheap ebay ones you can save some for your **** as well

Trust me, when you come to adjust them you will be grateful that you did, as those threaded sections corrode very badly in less than 12 months, I will never fit them for road use again, only a track car that gets a lot of maintenance.

 

[Lopéz]

If you are gonna fit coilovers, buy a big tub of vaseline and smother the threaded sections with it. If you buy cheap ebay ones you can save some for your **** as well

Trust me, when you come to adjust them you will be grateful that you did, as those threaded sections corrode very badly in less than 12 months, I will never fit them for road use again, only a track car that gets a lot of maintenance.

Did you read the thread old bean?

 

[The Running Man]

Interesting my mr2shocks are oe bilsteins not leaking per say but at 16 years old i had thought about a short second hand set of coils for it as its much cheaper than new shocks and springs all round.

 

[mattyfez]

My experience is if you set them up hard you will need to get them rebuilt more often.

 

[Dr Who]

Did you read the thread old bean?

Yeah, you used chain grease, but it isn't as good as vaseline

 

[Mr_White]

Lithium grease, yo.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Mine are still working fine too, touch wood.

 

[Dogbreath]

Yeah, you used chain grease, but it isn't as good as vaseline

It's almost certainly not a good choice for applications that requite "biological compatibility", but chain lube goes on runny and then thickens up into a relatively non sticky finish so road crud doesn't tend to stick to it.