Guys, what is a better setup in 4th gen:

1. Ground Control Coilovers + Tokico ilumina
2. Tein Coilovers
3. other (same price range 750-900)

 

You will have to know what you find out. I have some ground control in my 280zx, and Love them. They are great. I want to get some coilovers for my car, but just can't decide what to get. I know I don't want to get those cheap *** one's off of ebay. Would rather spend a little dough and get better one's

sean

 

Tein SS

I would go with Tein or something of the same quality. if your spending around $750-900, go for the true coilovers. "you get what you pay for"

http://www.tein.com


[Modified by StickyTires, 3:43 PM 2/10/2003]

 

if you are looking for Tein quality.. you probably dont want Tokico's.... you would be better served with a set of Koni yellows. GC + Koni are approximately $900.

 

tein

 

I would go with Koni Sports + Ground Controls. They are just a more flexible option. You can choose whatever spring rates you want. The Konis have a lifetime warranty, and there are numerous places across the US to get them serviced. If you get serious about competition, you can get the Konis revalved for super-high spring rates and get the shock bodies shortened.

I would say the Teins are a little overpriced for what you get. But they are nice if you don't want to (or don't know how to) deal with spring rate selection. I've heard horror stories about the threaded bodies locking up and rusting.

Andrew

 

why buy half *** parts for $900 and put them together when you can get a complete coilover system from tein at the same price?


[Modified by StickyTires, 7:59 PM 2/10/2003]

 

Want to tell me how GC/Koni are half *** parts?

Here are a few issues that I have with my Tein HA's:
1. Coating, what kind of cheap garbage did they coat the Tein's with? I live in California and these never see snow, road salt, etc. Yet they're rusting, no one that I know of has a problem with the GC/Koni surface prep.

2. That damn squish noise. It's supposedly a very slight design flaw with the HA's (not sure about the SS) it makes the fluid movement audible. Doesn't hurt performance though.

3. Ease of ride height adjustment. I've yet to hear of a problem changing the ride height on the GC sleeve while the Tein's sieze if you don't clean them out every 6 months or so. I know, I've had one sieze.

4. Rebuilding... Yes, Tein USA is finally here but last I knew they didn't do rebuilds themselves. They subcontract some random company out to do the rebuilding of their own shocks and this leads to very high turn around times and possibly sub-par work. If at all possible I'm going to wait until they have their own facility (are they even building one?) to send in mine to get rebuilt.

And in the end, which costs more? The Tein setup costs more than a similiar GC/koni combo. Which performs better? Both can be dialed into (GC/Koni would be easier though as Eibach ERS springs are much easier to get) the same performance level. If I had the choice again I'd go with the GC/Koni.

 

werd up!!! I have Ground Control and Koni Sports...
i don't know anything about Tein, but from what i hear, GC/Koni is a better set up for the buck and hassle... and teins aren't worth it...
i have gc/koni and the coilovers rest perfectly on the perch and there is no gap betweenthe shock and spring, (barely) and i haven't expereinece any squeaking or odd sounds...

 

i thought 'real coilovers' like tein are better than combos like GC + koni.
I don't want some rusty ****, here in poland we have plenty of salt on the roads
Squeaking is not a problem for me, i think i even like it

I know GC/Koni is the best combo but is it really better than real coilovers?
Prices are allmost the same.

More opinions please!

 

wtf the site is being sooo slow right now it's annoying! Anyhow, think about it this way too. If you outlast the shocks, either the kits or the full, you'll need to replace them. If you have the kits, no biggy. Any shock can go (meaning you don't need to re-purchase anything special). If you have the full coil overs, you have to get another threaded shock, which is going to run you a bit more... just something to think about

 

lol GC/koni are half *** parts! you obviously has no idea what youre talking about. go utilize your new jdm suspension driving on onramps. get a clue.

 

i was thinking about that too.
So how long tein and GC/KONI should last?
I heard that any of these two will last "forever"

 

go tein ... I did and I'm 110% happy I spent the extra cash. Was going to go skunkworks on stock struts.

 

I have GC+Koni combo.
Been running on it for two/three years now?
This past fall I had a rear koni blow out on me. I haven't gotten around to contacting Koni yet though (it's still sitting in my trunk ).

As for the GC sleeves seizing. I think of the four, three of them have seized. Not that I particularly care, because I'm happy with where they are. I doubt you should be adjusting them all that much anyway.

My gripe with my coilover setup is GC didn't include any instruction to cutting the sleeve short. As a result, part of my front sleeves and Koni shock were ground down as the result of repeated contact with each other. Yeah, and I really doubt either of them will warranty repairs for that.

Another thing: spring hats. What a PITA! Since the spring is so short, the spring hat usually falls down if you jack your car up (oil change, rotate tires, etc.). You'd then typically have to carefully hand guide those things back into place.

All in all, I'd just stick with a shock+spring setup unless you really need the options to adjust height or spring rate.

 

one thing you can do to keep them from seizing is to adjust them regularly. also use some WD-40 or some other protective (Tri-Flo works well). jack the car up, spin them down for X number of turns (say 20 or whatever). Coat, and turn back up 20. It's now back where it was, yet will help keep it from seizing. Same thing you do with engines when you park a car over the winter or something. You're suppose to go fire them up so all the parts stay lubed, etc.

 

they're half *** parts because they come in different boxes. tein comes in one box, therefore it's a true coilover. i never said that GC/koni is a bad combo. i just said if your spending $900 for them, go for tein. i've heard a few complaints about tein HA's, and nothing about tein SS. i've had no problems with my SS so far. IMO, i'm all for tein.

 

what about ground control on bilsteins..good yes/no

 

Did I just read that? You've got to be kidding me. So you're also saying that if I use remote reservoir Penske or Moton struts with Eibach ERS or Hypercoil springs it's being half ***? That setup costs far more than any Tein setup and is of race quality (as teams would buy it, not get it for free by sponsorship). Now, please enlighten me, why again is it half *** if they come in different boxes?

BTW I've seen the Tein SS's and they have all the same problems as the HA's short of the noise problem. The surface coat is still crap, the rebuild problems are still there, and the price still goes toward GC/Koni. Yes, it might be only $100, but GC/Koni setup is more tweakable (availability of parts) and is cheaper!

In short, if you don't want to think about anything and live in a nice environment go with Tein's. If you don't mind a little thinking (heck, you can just convert the Tein spring rates to lb/ft rates) and/or live in a not so perfect environment get the GC/Koni's.

 

do i need to do sign language or some **** for you? i never doubted the quality of other GC/koni suspension systems. i'm just saying why go through the hassle of getting parts from different places and putting them together when you can get teins and call it a day. you didn't read ****. here's a right back at you.

p.s. don't make me start a poll about Tein vs. GC/Koni to see how many will heads will prefer what system for around the same price.

 

lol @ people who call things "true coilovers"

 

LOL, I'll just have a good laugh at that considering you can buy Koni's and GC's from the same dealer easily. BTW did you ever noticed that I already admitted to owning a set of Tein's myself? Also, Tein's come in different boxes as well since they're shipped unassembled. The SAME amount of work is required to assemble once you have it in your hands. "Your ignorance is beautiful." Thanks for giving me a good laugh.


[Modified by TimeRacer, 6:29 PM 2/11/2003]

 

i was going to say the same to you. i know you own a set of tein. have a and keep smiling


[Modified by StickyTires, 9:40 PM 2/11/2003]

 

I have ground controls and tokico illuminas and I am happy with them.

 

Where did you hear that bull crap? Do you personally know anyone who has have his/her TEIN revalved that took long time?

I just had my HA revalved at TEIN USA. I dropped it off last Monday, and it was all ready for me to pick up last Friday. When I dropped it off, I also spoke to the person who actually do all the rebuilds. We discussed about what I wanted out of the rebuild. When I picked it up, he had the shock dyno graphs and explained what he did.

BTW, I had my HA revalved not because any shock had blown. I just wanna try out a different setup (rear-stiff rather than front-stiff) for auto-x.