Thinking about buying those cheap coilovers? Read this first.

[Matt D.]

When I bought my car a few years ago I immediately started autocrossing it. I figured in order to get it to handle the best I needed coilovers. I mean, who doesn't want coilovers, right? Not everyone can afford a $2000+ set of KWs and the like (I was eyeing Zzyzx at the time) so I opted to go cheap and picked up a set of Ksports from MAP. They seemed great at first, the car handled even better than it did in stock form, it really did feel like a gokart. Then I realized that if I softened the dampening knob away from full firm the car became very bouncy on the road as if they were blown, so I had to leave it at full firm constantly. Before too long the car started making all sort of noises in the front suspension, especially creaking when going over bumps. In the end the rough Minnesota roads took their toll on them and the front two were blown. Overall it seemed like a great investment at first for autocrossing, but the fact that the ride quality is so horrible on the street and there is little dampening adjustment in the mid range of the stroke (look at the shock dyno graphs) the whole idea of cheap coilovers was obviously a ridiculous one.

Since it was time to fix the suspension I chose to try out aftermarket springs on my stock struts. I was torn between the Swift Spec-R and GTWorx springs, but ended up getting the Swifts because I could get them locally, thanks again to MAP.

Once the Swift springs were installed I immediately realized that I no longer hated to drive my car on the street. They solved everything that annoyed me about driving on these terrible roads, and I was no longer embarrassed to have people in my car. The ride is firm, but comfortable. The suspension doesn't make stupid noises that it shouldn't. And so far from what I can tell is that the car doesn't handle any worse than the Ksports ever did. Mind you I haven't done anything more than rip around a few clover leafs on snow tires, but it feels just the same as the Ksports did. Though one thing I noticed is when going around curves at highway speeds if there are bumps that would normally upset the car with the Ksports, the Swifts just soaked up the bumps and the car stayed planted and didn't get nervous.

That being said, I am a firm believer that people should stay away from cheap coilovers. Save yourself some money and headaches and just buy a nice set of aftermarket springs. Cheap coilovers are nothing but trouble, but if you don't believe me you can search the internet about Ksports, Megans or what have you and find out yourself how terrible they are. Now, could things be different if I lived somewhere with nicer roads? Maybe, but that wouldn't change how cheap the coilovers are or how poorly they perform, the performance between the two is negligible. Just trying to do my part in helping people modify their cars properly and save themselves some trouble down the road.

[94SOHC]

You get what you pay for Matt. Duh! LOL.

[xveganxcowboyx]

I like my KW's. Real coil-overs are niiiiiiiiiice.

[Ol' Dirty Bakeoff]

I've seen and heard of a lot of KSports blowing the shocks.

That being said, there are plenty of decent cheap setups out there. But doing your homework is the most important thing. KSports came out and everyone wanted to rub their dick on them. The problem being, no one had done any long term testing with them....and even more important, no one had done and real world testing in a place as harsh as MN. You have to figure, we have highs in the summer around 105, so road surface temps hit 170. That radiates directly up at your suspension components on a hot summer day. Then we hit how many degrees below zero? I'm sure KSports probably work great down south. Here, they're worthless.


But you can get a great setup including Bilsteins and some custom rate springs or Ground Controls and be much better off. Heck, even if you have to rebuild the Bilsteins and have them revalved for higher spring rates, you're better off than most of the Korean made coilovers.

[tracer bullet]

Do you know the old and new spring rates? Also if either set was / is compression and rebound adjusted simultaneously or independently?

[Matt D.]

Do you know the old and new spring rates? Also if either set was / is compression and rebound adjusted simultaneously or independently?

Swift Spec-R
Front: 2.8-6.4kg / 157-358lbs
Rear: 3.5-6.8kg / 196-380lbs

Ksport Kontrol Pro
Front: 7.5kg / 420lbs
Rear: 7kg / 392 lbs

The Swift springs are progressive hence the range of weights. The Ksports are single adjustable, one knob adjusts compression and rebound simultaneously. Shock dynos have proven that this adjustment does not adjust compression or rebound in the mid range of the stroke, it only changes at the extreme ends of compression and rebound, and applies for most if not all of the budget (~$1000) coilovers.

[honda-tech'er]

So true man, with roads getting worser every year this will be what we'll be doing soon.

[homeryansta]

i take my ksports off every winter. They do ride about the same as my stock setup.

[87 Turbo]

For my DD, I just stick with shock/spring combo but I have HKS for the Supra.

[mesoungodlyfast]

You get what you pay for. Cant expect an entry-level coilover like the Kontrol Pros to be anything other than what they are; bottom shelf parts. IF you had wanted a good Ksport product, there;s 3 steps above those.

[kong_se-r]

Aren't full coilovers for off road use only therefore you shouldnt expect it to ride like caddy's especially on the streets of minnesota.

[Ne0z]

My Ksports are 2 years old on my scion and still holding up fine so far

[Viridion]

my ksports are 2 years old now, one full winter as well. they are holding up just fine and are way better than the koni yellow and ground control combo that I had previous. and at the time I got them for 500$ new so I couldn't pass it up

also the newer versions of the Ksports (black) are a lot better than the older (orange) versions quality wise.. but the MSRP stepped from 800 a set to 1200 a set so that goes right along with the increase in quality.

[tracer bullet]

The ride is firm, but comfortable.

The Swift springs are progressive

I think that's your answer. Softer on the road for the smaller compressions you get driving in a straight line, yet still stiff when you compress them further (ie steady state corners).

Also are you sure they're progressive? I haven't seen a progressive spring on a coilover, ever. They'd have to tighten the coils or change the wire diameter. Usually when springs are rated progressive they are actually linear springs but are run in combination with something else that's progressive (ie a foam bump stop) for a progressive combination. If you remember what a stock rear Eclipse spring looks like, where the wires wind tighter on one end than the other - that's a progressive spring. Any pics or links? I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I've never seen it and would be curious to know more.

[DriveSafe]

I like my KW's. Real coil-overs are niiiiiiiiiice.

+1 KW are the best suspension ive ever owned.

[Matt D.]

Also are you sure they're progressive? I haven't seen a progressive spring on a coilover, ever. They'd have to tighten the coils or change the wire diameter. Usually when springs are rated progressive they are actually linear springs but are run in combination with something else that's progressive (ie a foam bump stop) for a progressive combination. If you remember what a stock rear Eclipse spring looks like, where the wires wind tighter on one end than the other - that's a progressive spring. Any pics or links? I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I've never seen it and would be curious to know more.

I think you're confused. The Swift springs are what I put on my stock struts, they are progressive. The Ksport coilovers do not have progressive springs.

[turboimports]

Mines blew the left front corner. Other than that, consider I went through one winter of Minnesota. I thought it was a decent set up. Much better than any Ebay type set up for $50. I believe they would be fine if you were to use it on a track car or only summer months. No way K-Sports are going to hold up too long in winter with all those pot holes.

[Matt D.]

Okay, Minnesota roads aside, here is a car with busted Ksports that is in a warm part of the country. This happened within the past week, the coilovers are less than a year old.

[jrod13]

I just ordered a set from MAP. I was talking to Jordan, and I guess they have made a lot of improvements in the newer (black version). I just want to do some track days with them, and the camber bolts weren't holding the alignment. This was my fix for now. I store the car in the winter now. I think they will work out just fine.

[Matt D.]

I can't say the new version fixed anything, all they did was redesign the aluminum body that bolts to the suspension the the shock itself threads into. I'll put money on the shock dyno results not being much better than before.