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Raceland coilovers?

5K views 54 replies 12 participants last post by  ecugrad  
#1 ·
Hey guys, I know theres probably a bunch of these threads asking about the raceland coilovers. But I wanna know how they would be for a track day use. my car isn't a dedicated track car...(for now:rolleyes:) but i wanna know how they would do for daily driver and track use. I also do tend to drive dirt roads too and would like to know if any of you have tested them there? thanks!
 
#5 · (Edited)
#7 ·
When you buy used Konis, you lose the warranty. In my experience, Konis require a good warranty since they don't have good quality control.

Many have reported that the H&R Race Springs work well with OTS Konis. Once again, my experience has been that for track use, you want monotube dampers. Ignore this advice at your own peril.
 
#9 ·
While not perfect, those are a great place to start. I run them myself as I could not justify the cost differential to the Bilstein PSS9/10 kit. The biggest issue is that they lower the car a little too much if you are interested in performance (which you are).
 
#11 ·
The biggest issue you will have is with ground clearance for dirt road driving. While the Mr. Stancypants crowd will disagree, IMO the highest setting is still quite low if you are running on anything other than smooth asphalt. You can always run something like this to get some height back. Since the kit is adjustable, you can use those to add just ½" if you want. Doing so would probably help the roll center location a fair amount as well. I haven't plotted the instant centers on my car yet, but I have a feeling that when I do, I will be figuring out ways to increase the ride height.
 
#12 ·
the Mr. Stancypants crowd
That's cute.


Could have just given your opinion on the subject at hand and went about your day, but you had to drag in the people who go low and get a jab in for no apparent reason. Nice.
 
#17 ·
Let's get back on topic before I actually moderate something.
10-4. Like everything else, the coilovers are going to be just the start. Since they contain springs that are relatively soft, you are going to have significant front end roll (exacerbated by the aforementioned assumed roll center location problem) and will need a way to combat the loss of grip this causes. There are two ways, and IMO employing both of them is best.
1) Add bigger sway bars. Without a limited slip (and even with if you aren't careful) the larger front can cause a loss of corner exit traction, but it is a net positive in my experience. The larger rear is a must.
2) Camber. Check my build thread for how I did it on the cheap. On a dual purpose car, how much you run is a big compromise when it comes to wear.

Overall, get out there and have fun. My Focus was 7 months old when it was first on track and the only mods were a 22mm Progress rear bar and a Winnie the Poo window shade for my son's car seat.
 
#26 ·
in my opinion do i think the new racelands will be on "top quality" level? no, these are not $1k coilovers, they are still going to be around ~500 from what i have read/seen but i know for sure that the quality and ride will be much better then the first batches of coilovers raceland made when they first came on the scene. hopefully these will be on the level of ksports or atleast close
 
#35 ·
A friend of mine ran AGXs with Intrax springs are they were not capable of handling the spring rate. Suspension was not very well controlled. It wasn't a pogo stick by any means, but you could tell that the spring rate was overpowering the dampers.
 
#37 ·
I would put that setup in the category of "acceptable if I have no better alternative", but since there are a number of better ways to go, I don't see the point. As you said, the AGXs will likely serve as a decent shock for a lower rate set of springs. I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at them if it were just to make a car a little more fun and responsive for the daily commute.
 
#45 ·
Install error is my guess. I know someone who had the same problem and he had overtightened the pivot bushing mount bolts which bound up the bar and bent the mounts. The bar not rotating properly started the fatigue cycle on the mounts with predictable results. Remember that the larger bars uses thinner bushings for packaging reasons, making overtightening even more of a problem.

Let me see if I can dig up some pictures that show what I am talking about.