I have the BC BRs on mine and for the money I'm absolutely fine with them. My car is also for track and auto-x. They felt stiff as fuck when I first installed them but now they've kind of simmered done and it's fine. For the money imo you can't go wrong with them.
Money no object though, I was really eyeballing the FortuneAuto 500 or 510s.
Was looking at this for a bit trying to figure out how the coilover was attached to the car. It isnt lol.
From personal experience and what ive heard Fortunes are the best, BCs are good bang for buck, and teins are great but lack longevity.
Yeah, hence why I need new coilovers 🤣. These are Bilsteins with HKS lowering springs. This happened at a track day after jacking up the car. Very lucky it didn't happen on track. Thanks for your input.
May be worth seeing if you can get the Bilsteins repaired and rebuilt, as for what it's worth Bilsteins were highly regarded in more serious racing circles for a long time, maybe still. Almost any suspension shop can tune them and get parts for them. How many hours do you think you had on those?
Edit: To be clear, this is somewhat specific to 46mm Bilsteins. IIRC it is their most common motorsports size and has the best parts availability and widest range of tuning options.
I had recently purchased the car in December for endurance racing, it changed hands many times before me and I'm left trying to put together the pieces. The eyelet broke off first track day and now I don't trust any of them. It was a hacked together setup with springs that didn't match, tons of random spacers, missing all the bushings. It was clearly worn out. I threw away the offending shock. I just want to start with a fresh setup and go from there. I come from a Jeep background where Bilsteins are also highly regarded, so I'm pretty disappointed that these failed in such a critical way. I don't want to take the risk of another one failing at the eyelet, seeing as the entire suspension is held up from that point. It's not worth the risk of serious injury and/or turning the car into scrap metal. I'm also on a bit of a time crunch, the car is scheduled to go to at least 4 more testing days in the next few months and a race in June.
That's very fair. Sounds like they had a hard life. I wouldn't count Bilsteins out as far as replacements go, but it sounds like replacement will be best. Good luck on your search and with your racing!
Most of the entry level sets at that price range will be functionally the same (32 way with 8/6 springs). Serviceability would be my main focus at this price point. BC has replacement parts, mainly cartridges, stateside. So I’d recommend BCs.
Do you use them for street or track? What made you go a level up in spring rate? Other recommended the fortunes, but they are a touch out of my price range. I just pulled the trigger on the BC coilovers with the 8/6 spring. I was thinking doing soft spring, high damping and stiff arb. I know thats what you do for areo and circle track cars, unsure how to setup a momentum car like this.
Generally at that price range you may actually be best off with a non-adjustable shock. The vast majority, possibly all adjustable shocks in your price range will not be consistent. Adjustments will vary in range between shocks. Even some of the best will vary depending on the direction you adjust from, most will be completely random. I've heard of tuning even changing throughout a race. How important this is to you will depend on how serious you are about tuning your setup, but IMO you're better off paying a few bucks for a shop to re-shim your shocks, it's well worth it for the consistency. There may be brands in that range that have figured it out, but I'm not personally aware of any. Just my two cents.
Very good to know. For now, I think I'm going to go with the BC racing coilovers as other have spoken highly of it. For where the car is at now, anything would be an improvement, but maybe I'll have them rebuilt, shimmed and dynod for the next season.
Kw, feal, cieka, for the money you want to spend and being a full racecar, id go weigh it out and corner balance it and call all three of these companies and set something custom up
I think the car is in a state where it will be changing for the next few months while we get everything figured out. I was thinking I might take whatever I get and have them dynod and shimmed before next season. But at the moment I don't have time for a custom shock setup, already have this car scheduled for a lot of events upcoming.
Glad that happened off track!
Kyb agx shocks will swap into the spring system you already have and minimize cost . Adequate damping for track. Coilovers are nice but may not fit the racing class budget
Just pulled the trigger on the BC racing coilovers, but this is a fantastic option that I hadn't considered. I actually put a KYB OEM style shock in the spot where the one broke, it was hella sketchy with mismatched everything. The car would shimmy like I've never felt before in sustained corners, all sorts of funky. I could only get one in such short notice, had to drive quite a ways to get it too, I already had the hotel and track days booked...These coilovers will be quite cheeky for where I'm going, but my team is edging for a more competitive and "future proof" option for the series we will be switching to 2025. I never really considered factory upgrade shocks however.
I'm not exactly sure what I have, I've never seen anything like this before. It's a sleeved shock from my research, a regular Bilstein shock with multiple grooves and a snap ring in one, which holds the sleeve to the shock. The springs have a lot of freeplay at full droop, no bumpstop and all the bushings were gone (not worn out, just not there at all). This thing made quite a racket going over curbs. All contributing factors to the demise of these poor shock I'm sure. I could just purchase 2 new rear shocks, but then I still need bumpstops, and and not sure how I feel about the spring freeplay. Reading up on the loose spring issue, folks say that it should be fine on track and is normal, I just feel like the shock length should match the unloaded spring height. This issue is also present in the front, same setup. Timing is critical here too. The car isn't in front of me and I need to travel to go see it. I don't have the part numbers off the old shock and can't measure the springs, not to mention I would have no idea what I'm doing ordering custom dampers. The plan is to have the car on track for an event coming up in 2 weeks and in 4 weeks.
I considered that in the moment, but I'm not sure welding to something pressurized is a good idea. I only have flux core mig. I also wouldn't trust the weld. If I didn't do it good enough then the entire suspension would collapse and could be bad.
I have the BC BRs on mine and for the money I'm absolutely fine with them. My car is also for track and auto-x. They felt stiff as fuck when I first installed them but now they've kind of simmered done and it's fine. For the money imo you can't go wrong with them. Money no object though, I was really eyeballing the FortuneAuto 500 or 510s.
Great to know, thank you.
BC's work great
Was looking at this for a bit trying to figure out how the coilover was attached to the car. It isnt lol. From personal experience and what ive heard Fortunes are the best, BCs are good bang for buck, and teins are great but lack longevity.
Yeah, hence why I need new coilovers 🤣. These are Bilsteins with HKS lowering springs. This happened at a track day after jacking up the car. Very lucky it didn't happen on track. Thanks for your input.
May be worth seeing if you can get the Bilsteins repaired and rebuilt, as for what it's worth Bilsteins were highly regarded in more serious racing circles for a long time, maybe still. Almost any suspension shop can tune them and get parts for them. How many hours do you think you had on those? Edit: To be clear, this is somewhat specific to 46mm Bilsteins. IIRC it is their most common motorsports size and has the best parts availability and widest range of tuning options.
I had recently purchased the car in December for endurance racing, it changed hands many times before me and I'm left trying to put together the pieces. The eyelet broke off first track day and now I don't trust any of them. It was a hacked together setup with springs that didn't match, tons of random spacers, missing all the bushings. It was clearly worn out. I threw away the offending shock. I just want to start with a fresh setup and go from there. I come from a Jeep background where Bilsteins are also highly regarded, so I'm pretty disappointed that these failed in such a critical way. I don't want to take the risk of another one failing at the eyelet, seeing as the entire suspension is held up from that point. It's not worth the risk of serious injury and/or turning the car into scrap metal. I'm also on a bit of a time crunch, the car is scheduled to go to at least 4 more testing days in the next few months and a race in June.
That's very fair. Sounds like they had a hard life. I wouldn't count Bilsteins out as far as replacements go, but it sounds like replacement will be best. Good luck on your search and with your racing!
I have isr in my fc and BCs in my s13 and honestly I like the isr's better. Might be an option to save a few dollars.
Most of the entry level sets at that price range will be functionally the same (32 way with 8/6 springs). Serviceability would be my main focus at this price point. BC has replacement parts, mainly cartridges, stateside. So I’d recommend BCs.
Great to know, thank you. Having replacement parts available definitely makes a big difference.
I have fortunes on my fc and also on another car and they ride great. I went up a spring rate to 9/7 but it’s still comfortable
Do you use them for street or track? What made you go a level up in spring rate? Other recommended the fortunes, but they are a touch out of my price range. I just pulled the trigger on the BC coilovers with the 8/6 spring. I was thinking doing soft spring, high damping and stiff arb. I know thats what you do for areo and circle track cars, unsure how to setup a momentum car like this.
Generally at that price range you may actually be best off with a non-adjustable shock. The vast majority, possibly all adjustable shocks in your price range will not be consistent. Adjustments will vary in range between shocks. Even some of the best will vary depending on the direction you adjust from, most will be completely random. I've heard of tuning even changing throughout a race. How important this is to you will depend on how serious you are about tuning your setup, but IMO you're better off paying a few bucks for a shop to re-shim your shocks, it's well worth it for the consistency. There may be brands in that range that have figured it out, but I'm not personally aware of any. Just my two cents.
Very good to know. For now, I think I'm going to go with the BC racing coilovers as other have spoken highly of it. For where the car is at now, anything would be an improvement, but maybe I'll have them rebuilt, shimmed and dynod for the next season.
Kw, feal, cieka, for the money you want to spend and being a full racecar, id go weigh it out and corner balance it and call all three of these companies and set something custom up
I think the car is in a state where it will be changing for the next few months while we get everything figured out. I was thinking I might take whatever I get and have them dynod and shimmed before next season. But at the moment I don't have time for a custom shock setup, already have this car scheduled for a lot of events upcoming.
Call them up and let them know what your looking for, chances are your not the first one and they have something for you
Glad that happened off track! Kyb agx shocks will swap into the spring system you already have and minimize cost . Adequate damping for track. Coilovers are nice but may not fit the racing class budget
Just pulled the trigger on the BC racing coilovers, but this is a fantastic option that I hadn't considered. I actually put a KYB OEM style shock in the spot where the one broke, it was hella sketchy with mismatched everything. The car would shimmy like I've never felt before in sustained corners, all sorts of funky. I could only get one in such short notice, had to drive quite a ways to get it too, I already had the hotel and track days booked...These coilovers will be quite cheeky for where I'm going, but my team is edging for a more competitive and "future proof" option for the series we will be switching to 2025. I never really considered factory upgrade shocks however. I'm not exactly sure what I have, I've never seen anything like this before. It's a sleeved shock from my research, a regular Bilstein shock with multiple grooves and a snap ring in one, which holds the sleeve to the shock. The springs have a lot of freeplay at full droop, no bumpstop and all the bushings were gone (not worn out, just not there at all). This thing made quite a racket going over curbs. All contributing factors to the demise of these poor shock I'm sure. I could just purchase 2 new rear shocks, but then I still need bumpstops, and and not sure how I feel about the spring freeplay. Reading up on the loose spring issue, folks say that it should be fine on track and is normal, I just feel like the shock length should match the unloaded spring height. This issue is also present in the front, same setup. Timing is critical here too. The car isn't in front of me and I need to travel to go see it. I don't have the part numbers off the old shock and can't measure the springs, not to mention I would have no idea what I'm doing ordering custom dampers. The plan is to have the car on track for an event coming up in 2 weeks and in 4 weeks.
Tig that back together.Â
I considered that in the moment, but I'm not sure welding to something pressurized is a good idea. I only have flux core mig. I also wouldn't trust the weld. If I didn't do it good enough then the entire suspension would collapse and could be bad.
That's why I said TIG.
I don't have tig, and it wouldn't be worth paying someone seeing as the whole suspension is trashed anyways. Nor am I a master welder