Drift Spec Suspensions

[AdvanTech]

I have a question. Even though the Drift King himself developed a suspension exclusively for drifting (Kei-Office), then how come alot of the other big names are using different brands like Tein, Tanabe, JIC, etc.? Thanks for your help!

[QuickStyle]

gotta represent yer sponsor

[AdvanTech]

Originally posted by AdvanTech
I have a question. Even though the Drift King himself developed a suspension exclusively for drifting (Kei-Office), then how come alot of the other big names are using different brands like Tein, Tanabe, JIC, etc.? Thanks for your help!

lol I see..

[panda_3ight_6]

I personally hate when people use the name "drift suspension", these suspensions where not developed just for drifting, with the excluion of a few, Coil over systems have been around for many years used in many differnt types of racing. JIC, Tein, Tanabe all those companies are doing is taking somthing they made for 1000, and selling it to you for 3000, just because they assembled it and put their name on it. Is you car the same as a car of the same model and year? No, all cars are different, Is your style the same as anyone elses? No, so why buy a mass produced suspension part, when 9 Times out of 10, you A. Wont be able to tune it correctly, and B. Have terrible driveabilty.

I'm not saying that a coilover system is bad, Its great if used correctly. Think, when you order on from Tanabe, your getting a set spring rate, Is that spring rate exactly what you want for your car? Maybe so, but what if its just a little bit to hard or soft? Then your car isnt going to perform to its potenial.

Also, all the parts of a coilover system can be purchased at racing suppilers all over, Tein and RSR, even sell they're parts septratly I belive JIC does also, If I had the money I'd just buy the parts sepreatly and tune it specifily to my car, and my style of driving.

[AdvanTech]

Originally posted by panda_3ight_6
I personally hate when people use the name "drift suspension", these suspensions where not developed just for drifting, with the excluion of a few, Coil over systems have been around for many years used in many differnt types of racing. JIC, Tein, Tanabe all those companies are doing is taking somthing they made for 1000, and selling it to you for 3000, just because they assembled it and put their name on it. Is you car the same as a car of the same model and year? No, all cars are different, Is your style the same as anyone elses? No, so why buy a mass produced suspension part, when 9 Times out of 10, you A. Wont be able to tune it correctly, and B. Have terrible driveabilty.

I'm not saying that a coilover system is bad, Its great if used correctly. Think, when you order on from Tanabe, your getting a set spring rate, Is that spring rate exactly what you want for your car? Maybe so, but what if its just a little bit to hard or soft? Then your car isnt going to perform to its potenial.

Also, all the parts of a coilover system can be purchased at racing suppilers all over, Tein and RSR, even sell they're parts septratly I belive JIC does also, If I had the money I'd just buy the parts sepreatly and tune it specifily to my car, and my style of driving.

hmmmm... You make some very good points, but would a fully-adjustable coil-over kit be able to let you tune the suspension exactly to your needs, or would a setup that you put together be better?

[panda_3ight_6]

With set spring rates, and un educated drivers not knowing what damper rate to set. I dont think so... but who knows...

[X-nobody]

you could always order a specific setup from JIC or TEIN..
just name your valve, springs, rebound.. etc..
or like you said you could try to piece things together

I feel the TEIN or JIC's are worth it, though try to shop around and you should find them at a better price then what most people insanely charge you for.

They're better than koni, kyb, tockico, thus you'll pay more. Besides you sell something for profit its the only way.

I haven't personally tried the drift specifc coilovers but coilovers in general are a good investment, I've tried a few of the tein and I like them very much, the cars felt good and solid.

short good story that I won't forget.. there's this civic Si that out ran a cop on some twisty back roads... D-block+tein HA... copy never stood a change

Having adjustablilty can't hurt, if you got someone that knows what they're doing you could try to tweak your car's setup.. or heck jsut try experimenting for yourself. Easy things are just changing height front or rear for weight distribution.. rebounds.. just feeling what happens is a good learning experience..
learning make yous a better driver...errr drifter

[banged240_drift]

a good thing to do in my oppinion is just wait
learn about what a difference in spring rate acctualy means and hwo they will function differently
and with rebound, etc and then ide say when you feel comfortable snatch em up and go by testing different things out

[AdvanTech]

I guess it would be a good idea to drive other people's setups and figure out what I want from there right?

[driftxtreem]

If you have a quality setup you should be allowed to set your own preload on the spring itself with out changing the piston location in the shock body. As for dampening every manufacture uses different piston and washer grades. You just cant call up and order. Shock dyno 30k then you need a few internal like a compresion valve, piston fluid washers, are you running a twin tube or mono, gas or oil, gas,oil mix. What pressure you going to set it at. Just slaping something together with some parts will be the worst you can do. I rebuils shocks every day theres more to it than you think. What about rebound rates verses compression rates. I could right a book here explaining it. My personal opinion is that JIC is a budjet pile then Tein comes to mind. As for kei there a good set up Im not pluging them but I know the quality. KYB, TOKICO for what you get there hard to beet what about Bilstien their a very good shock. Olins there are to many to mention but as far as a drift specific yea you have Kei and there are a few others but this drift specific crap is getting out of hand.

[Feint]

Money,money,money....$money$..$money$..$money$.Und erstand,no matter happens in the automotive industry,it's a business at the end of the day.If something can be capatalized,it will be.Drifting's big,why sit back when you can make some cash.Money makes the world go round,been like that since day one.Only people didn't do business with money back then,they bartered using goods.

Also,what might be good for one,isn't good for another.Just think about it,how many things do you like the exact sameway as someone else you know,not a lot.You have preferences,you have options,you have opinons.Doesn't matter what you do,as long as it works for you,and does what you want it to do,doesn't really matter what name it is,who made it,etc.

[AdvanTech]

Originally posted by driftxtreem
If you have a quality setup you should be allowed to set your own preload on the spring itself with out changing the piston location in the shock body. As for dampening every manufacture uses different piston and washer grades. You just cant call up and order. Shock dyno 30k then you need a few internal like a compresion valve, piston fluid washers, are you running a twin tube or mono, gas or oil, gas,oil mix. What pressure you going to set it at. Just slaping something together with some parts will be the worst you can do. I rebuils shocks every day theres more to it than you think. What about rebound rates verses compression rates. I could right a book here explaining it. My personal opinion is that JIC is a budjet pile then Tein comes to mind. As for kei there a good set up Im not pluging them but I know the quality. KYB, TOKICO for what you get there hard to beet what about Bilstien their a very good shock. Olins there are to many to mention but as far as a drift specific yea you have Kei and there are a few others but this drift specific crap is getting out of hand.

Sounds pretty complicated lol, but I think I want to start out with a coil-over system that offers alot of adjustability so that I can tailor it to fit my needs. And now that I thought about it, I don't want to pay a premium price for a name, so I think that now I'm just looking for a setup that can help introduce me to driving side-ways

[Chas]

Theres no such thing as DRIFT SPEC. Its all the same stuff. Some coilovers have differnt rates that make them better for drifting, but you can get custom rates from almost any company.

[AdvanTech]

Originally posted by Chas
Theres no such thing as DRIFT SPEC. Its all the same stuff. Some coilovers have differnt rates that make them better for drifting, but you can get custom rates from almost any company.

So you're saying that any coil-over made for grip driving will be more than good enough for drifting?

[JunpoweR]

Everyone uses diffrent brands because they like diffrent products, the way they work or mabey look..Who knows....
There is a thing called preference..
Also
Diffrent set ups work for diffrent people..Some like harder rates while some like softer..All depends on what you like basicaly..
If i had a ae86 I wouldnt use something that is the price of the car..Just go with tokiko blue HP with some eibach springs..

[Chas]

Originally posted by AdvanTech
So you're saying that any coil-over made for grip driving will be more than good enough for drifting?

Any coilover that makes your car feel right is perfect.

[driftxtreem]

In all reality you are setting your car up to grip. You are overpowering the car do engage a drift. Comon knowlage. Putting slick tires on the rear or over presuring them dont make it a drift setup. We use the ADVAN NEOVAS they are a grip tire this is what you need. GRIP. You need to beable to let off a recover grip insantly for control. Like driving on ice when your done playing you want the control back.

[banged240_drift]

..Just go with tokiko blue HP with some eibach springs..

ive eibachs thier pretty nice, ive got the pro kit, ive got em on stock struts, lookin at kyb's in the future though

i would say this is a good way to determine some settings you like concernign spring rate and shock stiffness, there are less ettings to play with so you get a better feel for some of the few setting that coilovers have
we'll just call it having a few more experience points when/if you upgrade later

[abstrakt01]

Originally posted by driftxtreem
If you have a quality setup you should be allowed to set your own preload on the spring itself with out changing the piston location in the shock body. As for dampening every manufacture uses different piston and washer grades. You just cant call up and order. Shock dyno 30k then you need a few internal like a compresion valve, piston fluid washers, are you running a twin tube or mono, gas or oil, gas,oil mix. What pressure you going to set it at. Just slaping something together with some parts will be the worst you can do. I rebuils shocks every day theres more to it than you think. What about rebound rates verses compression rates. I could right a book here explaining it. My personal opinion is that JIC is a budjet pile then Tein comes to mind. As for kei there a good set up Im not pluging them but I know the quality. KYB, TOKICO for what you get there hard to beet what about Bilstien their a very good shock. Olins there are to many to mention but as far as a drift specific yea you have Kei and there are a few others but this drift specific crap is getting out of hand.

What would you reccomend for a beginner> Who wants a coilover set up, What kind of spring rates do you suggest..and what in your feeling is best for an s13..And if you dont think coilovers are the best first step, What do you reccomend.

[Chas]

Get some JIC's

[driftxtreem]

Originally posted by Chas
Get some JIC's

yea I threw a set in the trash can awhile back

[CrazyHawaiian]

They dont make many roadrace type coilover setups for the Camaro (its all drag stuff). I've been thinking about something ... if the rear shock from a 82-92 Camaro will fit on the rear of an AE86, then any coilovers made for the AE86 should also fit the 82-92 Camaro. DX, what you think about running Kei coilovers (for rear of AE86) on the rear of my heavy Camaro? Would the big difference in weight adversely affect the coilovers? I have another plan for the fronts, but do you think this might work? Lates!

[sil180sx]

Originally posted by Chas
Theres no such thing as DRIFT SPEC. Its all the same stuff. Some coilovers have differnt rates that make them better for drifting, but you can get custom rates from almost any company.

umm actually there is... take for instance tein HA and HE the HA if you drive on them you will be able to feel the difference from the HE when transfering the weight from front to back when steping on the brakes the HA doesnt let the front dip like the HE does... doesnt seem like an important factor? well when trying to choku and then take a corner allowing the front to dip down to transfer weight makes it alot easier to swing the car the other direction and by teins advertisement the HE are a drift spec coilover system. just my 2 cents

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by sil180sx
umm actually there is... take for instance tein HA and HE the HA if you drive on them you will be able to feel the difference from the HE when transfering the weight from front to back when steping on the brakes the HA doesnt let the front dip like the HE does... doesnt seem like an important factor? well when trying to choku and then take a corner allowing the front to dip down to transfer weight makes it alot easier to swing the car the other direction and by teins advertisement the HE are a drift spec coilover system. just my 2 cents

I think what he ment was there all the same, the only difference is the spring rate wich you can order custom from any company. I think he was being abit cynical on it.

[X-nobody]

Definitely over cynical..

I'm with sil180sx on this one..
There is such a thing as drift spec, why not?? there's track/circuit spec... drag spec... etc!

its just companies catering to the needs of the drift community.
The suspesnions are designed with the drifter in mind.. Whether it be through difference in shock valving or spring rates its a step in the right direction..

sure could order any combination of spring rates and valving but that would be more of a custom setup which usually equals more $$$! this way there's a small mass production run that equates to a cheaper end user price.

Btw, I beleive the HE's shocks are valved differently than the HA(not just spring spring rates), also with a greater variation between the front and back.