Advice on coilovers needed...

[DarrenGLS]

As i was a good boy last year santa left me some money for a lovely set of coilovers for the Jetta. Now, as there are many to choose from i need a little advice on whats good and whats not that will give a drop of about 70mm all round. Got around £400 as a top limit and was thinking of AP's or KW's at a stretch. At the other end of the scale i have seen JOM's, Raceland and similar for £180 ish. So the question is do you get what you pay for? Are the cheaper sets too good to be true? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[cobblers]

I've ran £350 ish FKs, and £180 ish JOM coilovers on mk2 golfs I ran side by side. Both were set at the same height (too low, really)

Yes, the FKs were better, the ride felt a little more controlled. But if I wasn't able to get out of one car and into the next, I'd barely have noticed.
The JOM ones were slightly underdamped, but not a lot, and the FKs slightly overdamped I reckon. Ride comfort was more or less the same.

There is a difference, but I'd personally be getting a set of £180 coilovers and spending the rest on making sure all the bushes and mounts in the car are sorted if your car is getting a bit leggy, like most are.

[RobinJI]

It all depends what you want from the car. Reliability wise, as long as you keep the threads greased the cheep ones are fine. My Scirocco's done about 40000 miles on a set of TA-Technix with no problems, including running for about 6 months/8k at a ~110mm drop. The ride's more than acceptable, the handling's good, and I managed 2nd in a grass surface Autocross series over the summer on them with about a 70mm drop. So in my experience, I'd have said that the budget set-ups can be fine.

However, due to the low cost, there's not much development put into each specific model. My Scirocco was actually on a set intended for a mk1 Golf, which worked out really well, ideal for what I'd want, and performed well, however the Scirocco is about 100kg heavier than a mk1 GTI, which they'd probably have been a bit over sprung and over damped on, let alone the much lighter base spec 1.0/1.1/1.3s. The best thing you can do with the cheep set-ups if find out from owners who are using them on your specific car, as me saying they were good on a Scirocco, doesn't mean that the rates are well off with the same makes set-up for a Jetta. I'd be cautious of a set intended for a golf as well, for the obvious arse back end weight differences.

If you want to go higher-end, then I don't have any real experience with variations in makes, but I would say to be cautious of having adjustments you don't know what to do with. If your happy playing with things, and think you're pretty good at telling how the car's reacting to changes in set-up, (or know someone who can do it for you) then the adjustment can be a godsend for running soft and comfy on the the road, and tight and hard on track. However if you don't know what you're doing with the dials, then they can be more of a hindrance than a help. Again, as with the cheep stuff, make sure you get reviews off people using them on the same model.

(Edit, as much as father jacks appearance in place of the word occasionally makes me giggle, unless it's on the first line of a paragraph it does really mess up a posts layout making it really quite hard to read, despite the fact it's not even really a swear word in the 21st century.)

[CIH]

Dec 30, 2011 18:16:04 GMT cobblers said:

There is a difference, but I'd personally be getting a set of £180 coilovers and spending the rest on making sure all the bushes and mounts in the car are sorted if your car is getting a bit leggy, like most are.

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[Al Ramone]

Dec 30, 2011 19:04:51 GMT CIH said:

Dec 30, 2011 18:16:04 GMT cobblers said:

There is a difference, but I'd personally be getting a set of £180 coilovers and spending the rest on making sure all the bushes and mounts in the car are sorted if your car is getting a bit leggy, like most are.

This

after reading the op, i was gonna say pretty much the same thing.
also gotta budget for tracking.

[DarrenGLS]

Thanks for the quick response guys. As i am only fitting em to improve the look of the car and for day to day driving, i now think that a £180 ish set would be sufficient. And as cobblers suggested i can spend the money left over elswhere, good point . No sense in spending cash where its not needed.

[borednow]

I reckon you do get what you pay for to a certain extent.

I was running a static drop set of TA Technix on the Derby and it was horrible. Lots of crashing and banging and so bad that I actually didn't like driving the car anymore.

I've just had a set of GAZ adjustable coilies for the front and it's made all the difference in the world. Firm but supple.
That being said I do have a set of TA Technix on the back though. They are mk1 golf ones but in the Derby with the bigger boot (which is currently filled with MDF, subs and amps) it's fine. I like the back to quite stiff as I hate when under acceleration the back end drops.

So I'd be careful about buying Golf ones for the jetta, unless you uprate the springs with something a bit stiffer.

Why not try 2nd hand first to find out if if the cheaper ones are ok? If so you can flog 'em on and then buy a new set of the same make if you're happy.

Good Luck!

[ChasR]

Depends alot on the car and the use IMHO.

As Cobblers said I would put the £180 coilovers on and spend the rest on new bushes.

If you do a shedload of miles (i.e more than 30k a year) I would then considering something from the lines of OEM or one of the reputable brands.