SPL Parts Coilovers - Review

[Black240sx]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

??? S13 coilovers are available...

really???? my bad! sorry for the wrong info... I thought they are not avail till like next month or something,,,

[wootwoot]

kuah, are any other spring rates going to be offered or will i have to adjust with what is offered? these ARE what i will be purchasing but just looking for the ability to fine tune.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by wootwoot

kuah, are any other spring rates going to be offered or will i have to adjust with what is offered? these ARE what i will be purchasing but just looking for the ability to fine tune.

We will not be offering any other spring rates as we cannot afford to dyno the different re-valved shocks to see if they are properly matched to the springs...

[tastyratz]

Originally Posted by Black240sx

really???? my bad! sorry for the wrong info... I thought they are not avail till like next month or something,,,

thats what iv ebeen talkin about i have the s13 coils on their way to my house right now :-)

[tastyratz]

oh baby they came in today! boy are these sexy too!!! guess the little spl in the sky must be watching over our posts. why? because my coilovers have boots on them!! these things look UNBELIEVABLY awesome and well built. there are a few small dings here and there from what i see so far but for the most part all is well. they seemed to have paid attention to the majority of the sharp edges with only a few small parts of the perch locks having sharp edges which must have slipped by q.a. but who cares! im gonna be making sure i can do everything in my power to install these TOMORROW so i might have another review :-)

[KA24DESOneThree]

Mine came in today also. Works of art. They'll be in by tomorrow afternoon.

[Black240sx]

I'm still waiting for my S14 coils....

[nightwalker]

You guys know we are going to demand driving impressions from each and everyone of you!

(I just need a good enough reason to get rid of my HEs)

[KOUKI KA-T]

Mine came today as well, super nice. Going on tomorrow if it'll stop raining long enough for me to put all this stuff on:

[MakotoS13]

Originally Posted by KOUKI KA-T

Mine came today as well, super nice. Going on tomorrow if it'll stop raining long enough for me to put all this stuff on:

EXCUSES! get out there man and do your duty to the forums!

[tastyratz]

i dunno it seems like the worst of the rain hits tomorrow, if it clears up long enough im gonna do my install but its gonna be outside and i might be forced to hold off i could cry. i REALLY hope its not pouring tomorrow or anything...

[LanceS13]

Mine came in Friday and I installed them Saturday...hopefully getting it aligned tomorrow. I'm initially impressed. The ride is firm but not harsh. It's actually more comfy than the AGX/KGMM setup that these replaced even though the spring rates are doubled...likely due to the superior damping. Performance will be evaluated at the next autox.

[KA24DESOneThree]

I just installed mine. I need an alignment, but I'll get back to you on ride quality in 20 minutes.

*Edit: Ok, so it's been way more than 20 minutes. These coilovers rock. Seriously, they're like 10x better than my blown Buddy Clubs. Very confidence-inspiring, and not even harsh. I feel as though I spent my money VERY wisely.*

[tastyratz]

rain stopped im goin under the car now

[tastyratz]

is it me or are these things really hard to adjust? its my first set of coilovers too though... i have them on the car and im trying to adjust the height by the spanner wrenches but the center piece will NOT budge at all. i have the 2 aluminum perch locks sitting away from the knuckle mounts up front but the knuckle mounts will NOT slide a bit!!! am i missing something here?? i made the mistake on the fronts of not adjusting the height before i put them on since I was in a rush. I alsotried running them loose and then just going over the bumpiest terrain i could find and whipped around but the coilovers didnt settle to where i wanted them! passenger side is an inch higher off the ground than the drivers side. i want the drivers side a little higher than the passengers [ghetto corner balancing a bit. (by about 1/4-1/2 inch im guessing)] but the passengers higher than the drivers. the other thing i noticed is adjusting the shocks in the rear is completely impossible if you want to keep the rug pieces that go over the shocks. you either have to ditch them or cut a big hole because the bolt with the adjustable top sticks all the way up to the plastic backed rug thing and you cant get to it with that there. i cant give a judgement on ride quality just yet though because my rears were set all the way down when i put them in and it killed everything completely. also the camber plates are labeled with only a 0... what does each line represent? 1/2 deg 1 deg? i also think i was either given 2 right side front coilovers or someone made a boo boo designing thecamber plates because the lines/marks are only on one side and when viewed from the front of the car ones in the back and ones in the front of the plate. either way my big problem is adjusting the height without just compressing the springs... any ideas?

[s0ldats]

first of all driving around with loosened perches will not lower your car ::crazy::

those tick marks on the camber plates are merely for reference and offer no guidance on actual degree of camber.

front coilovers are the same on both sides.

[Twinturbozs]

Originally Posted by tastyratz

i cant give a judgement on ride quality just yet though because my rears were set all the way down when i put them in and it killed everything completely.

so hows the ride quality? too stiff? what exactly do you mean by killi everything completely?

[tastyratz]

right s0ldats, they are the same but the thing i was talking about is the ticks on the front of the coilovers on one side and the back on the other which is purely cosmetic. if they are there for reference can anyone tell me approximately maybe ballpark what in their experience the ticks make for a difference? also does the 0 in the center represent stock camber since its the center or does the way they are mounted change it so the 0 is 0 deg camber? twinturboz: driving with the fronts on 8 and the rears on 1 is no fun because at the lowest setting i feel like im on blown shocks. the fronts seem to feel awesome but i cant give a real judgement on them yet because they arent properly setup or tuned yet. once i am satisfied i leveled the sides correctly and have everything in right i can then give my official opinion. sorry for the noobish approach but these things didnt come with any paperwork whether it be a printed receipt or instructions and ive never had coilovers before

[sykikchimp]

What I do to change height..

unbolt bottom of coilover from spindle.
adjust height of lower mount
re-bolt to spindle

[tastyratz]

thats what i was afraid i was going to have to do. i didnt want to have one piston extended more than the other so i didnt want to adjust from the top perches. im assuming the bottom mount is threaded now but i figured it was just loosely mounted with the perches holding it in place.

[d-wade]

How long did it take for you guys to receive your coilovers? I ordered mine on 8/24 and I'm still waiting.

[KOUKI KA-T]

Originally Posted by d-wade

How long did it take for you guys to receive your coilovers? I ordered mine on 8/24 and I'm still waiting.

Mine took 6 weeks, so you should have yours by the end of the month or so I would assume.

[KOUKI KA-T]

Originally Posted by tastyratz

right s0ldats, they are the same but the thing i was talking about is the ticks on the front of the coilovers on one side and the back on the other which is purely cosmetic. if they are there for reference can anyone tell me approximately maybe ballpark what in their experience the ticks make for a difference? also does the 0 in the center represent stock camber since its the center or does the way they are mounted change it so the 0 is 0 deg camber? twinturboz: driving with the fronts on 8 and the rears on 1 is no fun because at the lowest setting i feel like im on blown shocks. the fronts seem to feel awesome but i cant give a real judgement on them yet because they arent properly setup or tuned yet. once i am satisfied i leveled the sides correctly and have everything in right i can then give my official opinion. sorry for the noobish approach but these things didnt come with any paperwork whether it be a printed receipt or instructions and ive never had coilovers before

The 0 represents nothing, just like the ticks. Set the plates to 0 and get your car aligned, THEN it would represent stock camber settings. The 0 is just a reference point just like the tick marks..... It has no value of anything.

[s0ldats]

you don't have to unbolt the coilover from the spindle to adjust, just loosen the lower nut, and both upper nuts. then rotate the threaded body by hand to whatever height. if it comes close to the nuts, keep moving them lower/higher. same for the rear. (this is on s14)

[Brian]

thats how i adjust mine.


p.s. could they look more like Zeal please? hahah.

[s0ldats]

ding ding ding we have a winner of the "looks just like..." category!

[drift into a curb]

Installed these on an S13 this week and the quality is great. For $1100 though, they could weld on an extra brake line bracket. Initial damping of the coils seems great. The tires will squirm before the suspension does.

tastyratz, just cut out part of the carpet. We did it on the s13 and put the cover back on. The car looks stock except for the drop.

[tastyratz]

yea i just cut out a hole in the carpet today actually lol. i drilled a small hole and instead of using their knobs im gonna cut up some ricey knob style door locks i have laying around and rig them to fit on top so they poke out the little hole and can easily be adjusted. what do you guys have your damping set at? ive got mine on 8 all around and its still way too low. definitely an improvement on having the rears stuck at 1 but i gotta get more than that! ride quality isnt really that bad in these, they are well built and respond very well. drift into a curb is right, these things are solid and your tires will yell at you before you get a chance to compress.

[[email protected]]

Sorry about the trouble some of you guys had installing the coilovers, I finally had the time tonight to write up some general instructions:

Coilover instructions

[coldfire07]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Sorry about the trouble some of you guys had installing the coilovers, I finally had the time tonight to write up some general instructions:

Coilover instructions

Nice instructions. May I suggest you edit them to say clockwise to stiffen looking from the top on the rears and looking from the bottom on the front. That confused me at least :]

Also, it may be easier to use a small hydraulic jack to lift up the sway bar into position instead of removing it if the coilover is too short.