I've had the VMAXX coilovers fitted for 8 months or so and I'm not convinced by the ride.

At higher speeds - 80-100kph they seem fine to me and I love the way the car corners, and the way it looks with the drop in ride height.

But on 50kph roads the ride is kinda harsh and bouncy and SWMBO is starting to object.

So what are other brands like? I don't expect stock levels of comfort but there must be a better option than this that still allows a drop.

There are, but you have to pay

You want something with adjustable damping and possibly rebound

Spax RSX / PSX, KW v3, etc

I use my weitecs every day and i think they are spot on for daily use.

27k miles and 2¼ years later, and my Weitecs are still great....

Wishing I hadn't been talked into the VMAXX now

Main reason I went for them was local availability.

Weitec`s here too for over 18 months, fit and forget, can`t beat them on a daily driver

Got vmaxx on mine,been on over 4 years with no problems,mine rides better now without helper springs and chopped down bump stops but I know that's not the ideal situation for most people,have you checked to see if your hitting the bump stops?

KW V3 come out at $3k NZ

Soo..

Weitec GTs I'm looking at about $1150 bought in UK and landed in NZ

Spax RSX about $1500

Local guy has Yellow Speed fully adjustbles for $1300 but I've never heard of them. Has them on his S3 and says the ride is better than VMAXX and they're decent quality.

Also has H&R for $1850 which is good as buying in UK and shipping would be about $2300

H&R list two types for different axle weights - eh?

I remember when you were on abot them.

I have weitecs mate and they are choppy!

Try raising the ride hight 10mm mate. That made a mahoosive diff for mine and it cornered better too.

Failing that KWv3 get my vote. Not fitted mine yet(STILL) lol. I've got mine to a really nice stance and feel so not playing now till next year after winter.

Unless you get something adj mate they will all be harsh. Personally the weitecs are best at around std hight imho.

Billy

The VMAXX don't go as high as standard!

Will raise it up and see how it goes.

I'll look after your V3s for you if you like.

Ha. Yea mate, you and 90% of the members lol.

That's not good tho if they don't go to std hight. My weitecs go higher than the 4x4 lol. Thought as it said they lower 30mm from std I wouldn't go too low so about half way down threads and OMG it was a lot higher than std lol.

Couldn't you buy some and keep then in this country for so many months then ship over? Will that avoid tax?

Billy

No they tax you on the goods value AND the shipping cost regardless of whether you paid tax in the country where you purchased them :S

Been reading some writeups of Spax RSX. Don't seem to come out well, both in build quality and ride quality.

KW V3 come out at $3k NZ

That's basically the same as the UK list price.

They are expensive, but imo you worth it.

Weitec's don't even come close. KW v2 is significantly lower performance. KW v3 just seem to know how to react to every type of dump or lump they come across. Doesn't seem any type of surface, road condition or speed they don't like.

They're a bit like Koni FSD, in that they change character depending of how faster they're working. When working hard they operate of factory settings. This means if you've set them soft, they stiffen, and if you've set them hard, they actually soften.

ps

Loads of height adjustment too

(sales pitch over )

We do a lot of orders for guys in New Zeland and Australia, give me a shout if you need any prices.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Wound them up about 10-15mm and the ride's about the same if not worse :S

Better get saving I guess if I want to make SWMBO happy.

She just suggested we take her car on a 1500km road trip - it's a 2.0 Mazda 626 auto. Nooooo!

I'm starting to think I bought the wrong wheels. Or it's too low. Or something.

Weitec Hicon TX seem to be in the middle ground price-wise. They're rebound adjustable so presumably equivalent to KW V2s - which wouldn't be such a good thing by all accounts.

WOW,

I would say a combo of too low and the fact your tyres are wider? didnt they come with 215 on? then you put 225 on?

Just dont turn as tight lol

Weitec do a rebound adj one never known ne one use them tho, most go for the GT or the KWs I did hear the v1 are damn good and the v3 the pinical but the v2 were crapp. cant remember the threads now think it was one I started asking about when I first went for coilovers but deff remember a few saying not to get them.

Mind I had my car low at first and never had trouble with it catching with 8x18 TD PR1.2 and 225 40 18 kumho 712 tyres on.

Rob, The poor ride is probably due to a combination of car very low, wheels bigger and wider tyres.

That combination on even a moderately good set of coilovers will cause a iffy ride.

I have Weitec GT's and you don't here much poor words on these , but add them to the combination or car low, heavier and larger wheels and they are not up to the mark either IMO.

As these lower quality coilovers do not offer rebound or damping you can not adjust them to suit your ride characteristics.

For most folks on here their ride height is way above mine and even yours so the weitecs are great as there are in their comfort zone and limit of their preset expectation. Take them out of that zone and poor ride. My ride is awful on my weitec's,(15mm of thread left) a lot of crashing and poor damping and the minute i raise them by 20mm it all goes away and we are back to a much more comfortable ride. I bet it would be the same for you.

The fact is, i could keep my car raised and live with a better ride but do not want to so the weitecs are going and i have a set of KW V2's to try. (hmmm) I have heard good news on V2's so why people think they are bad also??

Seems like you and i are in same place. Maybe try to raise them a bit more to get them in the zone of good damping.

I have heard very good news on the SPAX RSX's to as they offer similar to V2's.

I also have 225/40/18's on 8" rims and no catching. What is your offset Rob.

isnt the v2 and v3 similar in price tho?

the Weitec GT and v1 are the same, only one was green not yellow and KW were stainless not galvanised. £650 ish to £375 about that when I got my Weitecs.

The v2 iirc were around the 1K mark and the v3 were £1100 so for the slight extra money why not get the best ones pos? think that could be why I was told not to go v2? also was told ride was crap toobut then they are adj so might not of been set up right. I also heard the v3 were a lot harder than the Weitecs too by one or 2 ppl, even on softest setting(iirc was in a FS thread) but others say they are softer.

One thing I will say tho is before fitting the KW adj stuff make sure it all matches and all works, I had lots of probs with mine and managed to get it all sorted thanks to KW UK. now I have a BNIB set of KWv3 all matching up spot on doing the same things, ready to go on with new LCR top mounts and bearings lol. (Next year now)

Thoes rims Rob has are light weight ones 18x8 et 35 are they not?

Offset is 35mm.

My wheels are pretty light. If I recall the wheel and tyre are as light or lighter than stock. But obviously the profile is much lower.

I'll be interested to hear your opinion on the V2s.

strangely when I first fitted the coilovers I found the damping seemed to improve the lower I went but that doesn't make sense.

Could it be the VMAXX coilovers are tuned for being super low?

isnt the v2 and v3 similar in price tho? ... The v2 iirc were around the 1K mark and the v3 were £1100 so for the slight extra money why not get the best ones pos?

exactly that.

Does make you wonder why KW retail the v2 at such a high price.

Read some ok reviews on those Spax RSX, but have also read some reports of very poor build quality and bad fitment. Even a couple of tuners who returned demo sets and declined to stock them.

Came across a detailed review by a Mazda MX-5 tuner, who likened them to adjustable KW v1's (sorry link lost).

The ones the local company have are these:

http://www.yellow-speed.com/dynamic-pro-sport.php

Pictured are the ones the guy has on his S3 which used to have VMAXX fitted. He reckons the ride is much better.

They're damping and rebound adjustable.

They're half the price of the Kw V3s and probably for good reason but 3 grand is a lot of money.

I tried to get him to give me a money back guarantee

From some Googling I found people using them on MX5s and Lexuses and the odd Beemer and they all had good things to say.

I don't want to buy more suspension I don'[t like but local availability and cost are obviously big factors.

I find my Weitecs abit crashy, maybe I need to raise them up a little? Does look cool as it is though