Eibach/Konis vs. D2 or Ksport coilovers

[Lil Blue Bastard]

Just wanted to get some opinions on the subject. I am in a position where I could get the Eibach/Koni setup for about 150 less than a set of D2 or Ksport coilovers. Which do you think is a better setup? I have done some searching on here, and I didn't really find anything that compared the two.

I am planning on making the car ready for autocross or circuit racing. It's definitely not going to be my daily driver, at least not for long distances anyway...

[Michel]

I'd stay faaaaaaaar away from anything that has D2/Ksport/Megan/G4 stamped on it. Seriously. Do some searching on that other big mr2 board, I'm sure you'll find LOTS of info. I've had Ksports on my previous car. Nothing but drama.

[q-authority]

The Eibach/Konis will give you a much better ride than any of the coilovers you mentioned, as the coilovers all come with incredibly stiff springs and valving, and have been more designed with track racing in mind. Additionally, I have seen various threads, where people have pulled these coilovers apart and have consistently found lesser quality valving, etc., along with bad friction designs. You get what you pay for, sort of. They will also need rebuilding before the Konis would ever begin to wear out. Also, you will end up having to use the supplied pillowball top strut mounts that are supplied with the coilovers. Yeah, they provide easy camber adjustment, but if you don't race that isn't necessary. The pillowball mounts will also tend to transmit a bit more vibration than the oem mounts and will not last anywhere near as long as the oems.
If you just want superior handling, but reasonable ride comfort, the Koni/Eibachs are the way to go.
If you can live with the harsher ride, and don't have really bad roads, the coilovers might be an option, and in that case you might consider the newer/lesser known BC Racing coilovers, as they supposedly make an inverted strut design, which is definitely superior to the standard designs, and less to screw up in manufacturing. The only downside is that you'll have to mount and external oil/gas(?) cartridge somewhere nearby, as the inverted design requires these pieces be external.

[Lil Blue Bastard]

Thanks for the input guys. So next question:

Should i get the Eibach pro-kit springs and koni shocks and call it a day, or do I go with the GroundControl "coilover" kit (since they use Eibachs, and are height adjustable)? I'm not looking to drop the car a huge amount, just enough so that it doesn't look like its ridin' high.

Thoughts?

[q-authority]

The GC's are a nice set-up, but if you don't need the constant height adjustability, or go to the bother of cutting off your bottom spring perches for more flexiblity, I'm not sure that I would bother with them. The standard Eibachs will already give you about 1" of drop and you don't have to worry about the possible spring looseness that GC's can occasionally exhibit when presented with very long suspension travel, as they are not pre-compressed.

[Lil Blue Bastard]

Excellent! Thanks g-authority. That's just the kind of info I was looking for.

[mach5mr2]

The Eibach Pro-Kits are progressive springs, like most 3rd party springs that fit the stock perch. If you want to do any racing, then you will want linear springs, and Ground Controls will be far superior to the Eibach Pro-Kits. The springs that Ground Control sell with their kits are actually Eibachs, although they are the standard 2.5 inch diameter springs. They are linear and you can pick your spring rates, and change them whenever you need to with different rates. You don't have to cut your stock spring perches to install them.

John

[Lil Blue Bastard]

That is definitely good to know! I will probably go for those then, since racing is probably what this car will be doing most of the time.

[KaDuWin]

Originally Posted by Lil Blue Bastard

Just wanted to get some opinions on the subject. I am in a position where I could get the Eibach/Koni setup for about 150 less than a set of D2 or Ksport coilovers. Which do you think is a better setup? I have done some searching on here, and I didn't really find anything that compared the two.

I am planning on making the car ready for autocross or circuit racing. It's definitely not going to be my daily driver, at least not for long distances anyway...

You might also consider heavy duty Bilsteins which have a higher pressure rate than the Konis. Konis have 350 PSI per cartridge vs the heavy duty Bilstein which has 420 PSI which is a complete strut replacement as opposed to a cartridge replacement like some of the konis are.

I have Bilsteins on my MK2 with stock springs and the handling is substantially better. Besides the pressure rate, the actual Bilstein strut is actually twice as thick as the stock Tokicos that come with the car from the factory I was gonna do Eibach springs but ran short of cash.

Either way you are almost always better in the long run going with a name brand like Bilstein or Koni over a strut like a Megan, D2, etc. The valves are better, the designs are more reliable, my Bilstein has a pressure rate which is equal to most of the coil over setups, and no additional hardware is needed it is a direct OEM replacement fit.

[q-authority]

Originally Posted by KaDuWin

You might also consider heavy duty Bilsteins which have a higher pressure rate than the Konis. Konis have 350 PSI per cartridge vs the heavy duty Bilstein which has 420 PSI which is a complete strut replacement as opposed to a cartridge replacement like some of the konis are.

I have Bilsteins on my MK2 with stock springs and the handling is substantially better. Besides the pressure rate, the actual Bilstein strut is actually twice as thick as the stock Tokicos that come with the car from the factory I was gonna do Eibach springs but ran short of cash.

Either way you are almost always better in the long run going with a name brand like Bilstein or Koni over a strut like a Megan, D2, etc. The valves are better, the designs are more reliable, my Bilstein has a pressure rate which is equal to most of the coil over setups, and no additional hardware is needed it is a direct OEM replacement fit.

Unfortunately, Bilstein hasn't actually made a strut for the MKI in quite some time, and I don't believe they ever made a complete strut assembly unit for the MKI. The only struts they made for it were heavy duty cartridges, which I once had, and they were not even adjustable.