Coilovers

[bboyt3nsk]

How long do say a set of apex or kei office or tanabe coilvers usually last depending on regular street and performance driving???

[Brothaman240]

long enough

[GRiDRaceTech]

Brothaman, your posts are both interesting and insightful. Your knowledge astounds all of us.

bboy- I've heard anything from one to three years. This is including autocrosses, drifting, and track days. Now, I'm not quite sure how correct that is, but it's certainly better than "long enough."

[Rayspeed]

abit off topic but....i see some cars having the shock cylinder side facing ground where some have them facing upwards.

whats the difference between the two mounting positions?

[GRiDRaceTech]

The inverted design is inherently more rigid and allows a longer travel. It also creates more friction in the system. The increased rigidity also allows less camber change under heavy loading.

When a motorsports-oriented shock or coilover set is bought, one has to take into account that it is not meant to last 100k miles or anything of the sort. It's meant to be rebuilt every once in a while because it's stiff and subjected to much abuse.

[turbo_blitz21]

Coilovers last as long as you take care of them. If you use them a lot then dont expect them to last for more than 2 years. Put if you rebuild them and and really meticulously take care of them then they will last you a lot longer maybe 4 or 5 years prob more.

[Pruto]

companies with US support will rebuild your coilovers fairly cheaply. IRC rebuild on my Apexi N1s are $80-100 each corner.

anyway, rebuilds good. It really depends on how often you drive them hard. can be as short as 6 months and as long as a few years.

[mranlet]

Are you talking about a spring and perch system, or the entire coilver assembly with damper and everything?

-MR

[bboyt3nsk]

damper n everything

damper n everything

[mranlet]

They should last a lot longer than a year or two... Like anything mechanical, if you take care of them and don't abuse them (running super high dampening on streets with potholes, etc) then they should last you quite a while. Rebuilds will help prolong life tremendously as well.

As Wayne would say "put it this way":
By the time they need replacing you'll have something else that you'll want to get anyway, so don't worry about it.

-MR