Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-240's-N-aMule
Golly yall... MoonFace is a shop outta japville that built the MoonFace s15 and 350z, two cars built heavily around time attack events. The shop used alot of their own suspension shit on the car including their own coilovers ie, the moonface coils. They are very proven on track so you cant really go wrong.
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That may be good on smooth roads, but how do these coilovers perform on less than smooth roads?
The biggest issue in this ongoing debate of either cheaper or supposed quality Japanese coilovers VS a custom Koni or Bilstein setup is the ride quality.
Now the fact is Japanese roads are known to be smoother and Race tracks period are smoother. So even with somewhat improper damping for the spring rate, a Japanese coilover or even one of the better budget coilovers i.e. KTS,Stance, etc.... would perform decently on a smooth track.
The real test comes though on less smooth road surfaces and how the damper with spring rate works then.
Now not everybody here drops suspension in their car and just takes it to the track only. So there is a certain amount of ride quality issue that comes into play.
I can personally say that the Generic habit of most current import coilovers of 8/6 tends to be oversprung for a lot of the dampers currently on the market. Which pretty much translates to a harsh or bouncy ride.
Does the car bob down the freeway over the uneven freeway surface? Do really rough surfaces react harshly instead of just a smooth single motion absorption? Thats a because of a poorly valved damper thats oversprung. If you actually adjusted the spring rates down the ride would improve though it would not completely compensate the poor damping.
Now we have certain members on the forum based in Japan who have little to no experience with a Bilstein or Koni setup saying there are good Japanese brands, which there may be. Although there are several American road racers that have tested Japanese brands and found poor results and tested Koni's or Bilsteins and found better, who feel most Japanese brands are just not that good.
Some of you are to young to know including these Japan based forum members. There was a time when there was absolutely no quality shocks aka dampers coming out of Japan.
It was not that long ago but long enough to be before a lot of you guys were even near a age to drive.
I am not saying that a small Japanese company cannot make a good damper. I am not saying all Japanese dampers are junk. I am basically leaning towards a just because its made in Japan does not make it good argument.
Until someone brings all these Japanese coilovers over here and road tests them on American roads and shock dyno's, them we will not know exactly about a lot of them. Until they actually try them themselves.
I will not argue against a road racer posting shock dyno tested information as he knows more than I. I will argue against the Japan o phile that thinks because its a expensive Japanese company it must be good, or because he has driven it on a Japanese road not an American road its a good coilover.
Thats a biased opinion at best with out any scientific controls in place and therefore is not conclusive.
To sum it up, this argument is going to go on and on until stuff is put side by side.
I am just tired of most people with not enough experience calling shit on posted scientific proof aka shock dyno's just because they are Japan o philes.
P.S. I do love a lot of Japanese stuff including my women. Though I will say Japan is not the technological leader of the world and if you think they are you need to learn more about things. They are good but not the greatest.
With all of this said I would love to see Moonface coilovers be good. I fear though, there is not enough product support here in the states to warrant buying them.
Again it would also have to be a test it to see if it works here, refer to my earlier statements about race tracks to understand.