Yes, I bought the $258 coilovers from ebay. Flame if you want, I know a few people on here that already will. I will try and give the best review I can for everyone here.
Previous Set-Up:
My previous suspension was h&r sports with no spring pads on stock shocks. Since my car was pretty low they blew pretty quickly (a few months after install). It was pretty decent even after they blew as far as street/city usage goes. As far as canyoning/performance orientated driving they were blah, not stiff enough and really just bad, but i continued to canyon them for a good 2 years after install.
Reasons for buying Raceland:
They were cheap and my suspension was blown. My thoughts were, ****, nothing could be any worst than blown shocks and for $258 shipped, that's a deal i can't pass up. So i pulled the trigger.
First thoughts:
They were packed nicely. All the parts had little stickers on them saying "made in china". All the parts looked like they were made pretty well. All the welds looked good, nothing cheap or flimsy looking.
Second thoughts:
After installation, the car felt great... but coming from blown shocks anything would feel pretty damn good to be honest. I didn't really break them in at all, the 2nd week i had them i was in teh canyons. LOL. I felt a lot more of teh bumps on the street then when i had my spring/shock combo. As far as canyons go i thought they were pretty soft, I like my car to ride pretty stiff *insert ghey joke here* After about 1k miles they finally "broke-in" and the ride got a tad bit stiffer, but i liked it.
Just this past weekend I was out on the track with them, they felt pretty good. I actually raised them up to get some more travel out of them and they handled A LOT better, but that comes with all suspension. Like i said before a bit soft for my liking but they were definitely decent, especially for the money i spent on them. Even my buddy who drives spec miata said he liked the suspension after riding with me.
As far as the drop goes, I know a friend who has his car pretty fuking slammed on them.
The problems:
I've driven this on this suspension for a little less than 2k miles now. One thing that did happen was that one of the tabs that were welded on to stop the strut from going further into the knuckle broke off. I emailed Raceland and they sent me out a brand new one. The only problem, they sent the wrong side. :facepalm: I let them know and they immediately sent out a replacement. They also sent return labels to send them back the old struts.
My other friend who will hopefully will post in this thread hasn't had any problems with them so far.
Overall:
I find this suspension to be pretty damn decent for the money. I drive my car pretty damn hard and they've stood up to my beatings. They drop pretty low, even though the suspension feels horrible that low. As far as street driving goes, they are really great. As far as performance driving, they are decently stiff, but not close to as stiff as i wanted it, but i'm not complaining too much. I think that if you keep these at a pretty decent height and add a good set of sways it'll be pretty good.
I also recommend you get some shorter swaybar endlinks because the mount for them on the coilover is pretty low and they will go really fast. Mine did.
The only question now is: How long will they last?
I hope I've given you guys a good insight on this suspension. If you are on blown suspension and need something to drive around on for a while I say go for it. If you aren't I say just keep saving for something a bit nicer.
-Raj :hi:
UPDATE POST #16
Previous Set-Up:
My previous suspension was h&r sports with no spring pads on stock shocks. Since my car was pretty low they blew pretty quickly (a few months after install). It was pretty decent even after they blew as far as street/city usage goes. As far as canyoning/performance orientated driving they were blah, not stiff enough and really just bad, but i continued to canyon them for a good 2 years after install.
Reasons for buying Raceland:
They were cheap and my suspension was blown. My thoughts were, ****, nothing could be any worst than blown shocks and for $258 shipped, that's a deal i can't pass up. So i pulled the trigger.
First thoughts:
They were packed nicely. All the parts had little stickers on them saying "made in china". All the parts looked like they were made pretty well. All the welds looked good, nothing cheap or flimsy looking.
Second thoughts:
After installation, the car felt great... but coming from blown shocks anything would feel pretty damn good to be honest. I didn't really break them in at all, the 2nd week i had them i was in teh canyons. LOL. I felt a lot more of teh bumps on the street then when i had my spring/shock combo. As far as canyons go i thought they were pretty soft, I like my car to ride pretty stiff *insert ghey joke here* After about 1k miles they finally "broke-in" and the ride got a tad bit stiffer, but i liked it.
Just this past weekend I was out on the track with them, they felt pretty good. I actually raised them up to get some more travel out of them and they handled A LOT better, but that comes with all suspension. Like i said before a bit soft for my liking but they were definitely decent, especially for the money i spent on them. Even my buddy who drives spec miata said he liked the suspension after riding with me.
As far as the drop goes, I know a friend who has his car pretty fuking slammed on them.
The problems:
I've driven this on this suspension for a little less than 2k miles now. One thing that did happen was that one of the tabs that were welded on to stop the strut from going further into the knuckle broke off. I emailed Raceland and they sent me out a brand new one. The only problem, they sent the wrong side. :facepalm: I let them know and they immediately sent out a replacement. They also sent return labels to send them back the old struts.
My other friend who will hopefully will post in this thread hasn't had any problems with them so far.
Overall:
I find this suspension to be pretty damn decent for the money. I drive my car pretty damn hard and they've stood up to my beatings. They drop pretty low, even though the suspension feels horrible that low. As far as street driving goes, they are really great. As far as performance driving, they are decently stiff, but not close to as stiff as i wanted it, but i'm not complaining too much. I think that if you keep these at a pretty decent height and add a good set of sways it'll be pretty good.
I also recommend you get some shorter swaybar endlinks because the mount for them on the coilover is pretty low and they will go really fast. Mine did.
The only question now is: How long will they last?
I hope I've given you guys a good insight on this suspension. If you are on blown suspension and need something to drive around on for a while I say go for it. If you aren't I say just keep saving for something a bit nicer.
-Raj :hi:
UPDATE POST #16