STD R3/R5 coilovers - any experience with them ?

[imthebro]

Does anyone have any experience with these ?

http://www.stdsuspension.com/suspension_r3r5.html

My current suspension setup is completely fried and I need a replacement fast and within a certain budget.

They come recommended from sources well informed and well versed at time attack , autoX etc...
I don't doubt their judgement for one second, but I want to see if there is any experience with these on an actual EP3or CTR.

I'm not looking to sped 2.5k$ on a KW variant 2 or a Tein or JIC
Springs can be swapped and they will adjust spring rates according to your needs if requested. My car is not daily driven and is only used for the track ( to get to/from the track)

Price is around the same as HSD, BC, etc... so I'm fully aware this is a budget coilover

Before I get any funny remarks, STD stands for standard suspension, not the other nasty thing.... :mtongue:

thanks

[Zzyzx]

Adjustable dampening force (compression and rebound) **

The highlighted part says they are ill suited for competition use. You'd be better off with something else, something with a decent damper under it.

[imthebro]

true... but define competition use...

I use the car for the occasional track day and autocross day... not as a professionnal racer.

If competition use means any kind of track day, then everyone would have to be running Motons or Ohlins. :-)

I don't mean to be sarcastic, but most coilovers do adjust compression and rebound at the same time from what I know, unless you go double and triple adjustable, but figure a different ballpark figure... $$$

[Zzyzx]

Most inexpensive coilovers adjust both at the same time, which is why they are inexpensive as well as what makes them sub optimum for competition use. The reason why they produce these bad dampers is two fold. One, they are cheaper to engineer and manufacture and two; their primary market is the import street scene where their dampers short comings would never be noticed. Really, whens the last time you saw someone time one of their back road hard driving trips? Given that, a street driver is never going to notice that they are a few tenths of a second slower per turn; as it does not matter on that scale. Where as a few tenths per turn is a Big F***in deal for autocross and such.

So really why would you be willing to shoot your self in the foot to save a few bucks right now? You are after all using the car in timed competitive events; events measured down to the thousands of a second I might add. Now if you were just planning on daily driving them with an occasional trip down a mountain road I'd say these dampers would probably fit 99% of your needs. But you are not, so why hamper your self right off the bat when you can skip a few events & save for something that isn't going to hurt you on track.

Anyway, I'll quote Far north racing on this

Remember this list:

Bilstein
Penske
Koni
Ohlins
Sachs
Dynamic Suspension

Not on this list? Almost certainly crap.
http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets.html

note I'm partial to Bilstein & Koni for budget reasons.

[USAF EP3]

That was extremely insightful. I was about to spend $800 on some D2 coilovers before I read this.

After reading what Zzyzx said, I'm be going with some Koni shocks in the rear but not sure what to use for the fronts. I was reading that extensive modification is needed on the stock struts to fit the Koni yellows to the fronts, but I don't have the stock front struts any more so I don't know what I'm going to do.

Nonetheless, this has definitely made me reconsider buying coilover brands such as Megan, D2, TEIN, K-sport, BuddyClub, etc.

I wanted to ask though, what's your opinion on the Progress coilovers? I don't think those adjust dampening at the same time.

I found this when I searched Google "bilstein ep3":

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2285419

[imthebro]

I hear ya Zzyzx and I agree with most of what you said , unfortunately life is full of compromises and this is one that I have to make...

I appreciate the insight !

[RedSiBaron]

koni+ground control...how far outside your budget is that? wondering, not being sarcastic

[USAF EP3]

How much of a hassle is it to install Koni yellows on the fronts? Is there even a write up for that?

Baron, are you talking about ground control sleeves?

[imthebro]

the KONI and GC combo is also being considered. I'm not dead set on any option at the moment.

KONIS are easy to install, I had Koni inserts at all 4 corners on my wrx and did the whole job myself. Nothing hard and I'm far from being a mechanic...

[RedSiBaron]

USAF EP3, Yes i am talking about konis with ground control sleeves, they come with eibach springs. The konis are super easy and come with instructions, just need to know what size your front housings are before you order them

Imthebro, well atleast you are considering it, its one of the most common and popular setups in scca and nasa from what I've seen

[Zzyzx]

I hear ya Zzyzx and I agree with most of what you said , unfortunately life is full of compromises and this is one that I have to make...

I appreciate the insight !

Ture, life is full of compromises. And if this is one you have to take, we'll be here to help you with any tuning issues that may arise regardless. Their website is kind of spartan when it comes to actual information (Yea marketing fluff), but it would at least appear that they want to make a good product.



I wanted to ask though, what's your opinion on the Progress coilovers? I don't think those adjust dampening at the same time.

Progress coilovers don't have any end user adjustiblity at all (Just like Bilstein). Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as the dampers are set properly from the start. Luckily Progress is a good company and if you ask is usually willing to help you out with damper rates. Bilstein on the other hand.. you'll have to find a tuner that can adjust them for you (There's plenty around).

As far as Koni's go, yes they are more problematic to install then a drop in suspension; but they are not that hard. The rule is, measure twice and cut once.


Imthebro, well atleast you are considering it, its one of the most common and popular setups in scca and nasa from what I've seen

Yup, because for the price they give you a pretty dam good damper. Single adjustable rebound only, with very little cross talk. Repeatable, reliable and rebuildable.

[USAF EP3]

Well it seems I'm in the same boat as Imthebro. I'm not trying to thread jack but no reason to start a new thread if we are in the same situtation :mcool:

I have $1000 right now to replace my suspension and i need to make the decision soon because my chassis is taken a toll from my front blown Tokico's. I have stock struts in the rear that are blown as well.

Going from what Zzyzx and Baron said, the Koni yellows w/ground control sleeves are the way to go.

The next auto-x season starts in September so all of my suspension and tuning for it is going to get done in August. I'm still confused about the whole cutting thing for the Koni's.

I don't want to run into any compatibility issues because of the other suspension components I'll be using:
DC5R LCA's, T1R inverted tie rod ends for DC5 (bigger hole on the strut arm), DC5-S knuckle/spindles + calipers