Brief review on cheapo Ebay/Jamex style Coilovers.

I bit the bullit and bought some of those cheap fixed damping coilovers from Germany. These appear to be identicle to those Jamex, V-MAXX etc coilovers that seem to be on everyones minds at the moment. Initial thoughts? Build quality looks neat. Finished nicely with no rough edges or shoddy welding. They appear to be galvanised rather than stainless steel but its cool. Sorry for the crappy pics as the proper digi cam needed a charge.

The test car: My 1.8l '91 Driver.

Standard height with G60 steels.





Now for the coilies:



Fitting was easy enough as it always is with coilovers. I can't comment on actual drop but i set the fronts with a further 55mm thread under the platforms and the rears with a further 80mm thread under the platforms. So This should have given a medium drop. Here are the results after just over 100 miles of driving.









The ride quality. Well, its certainly NOT crashy. Bumps and potholes are easily absorbed and doesn't cause any drama. However, the ride at this height is a little bouncy especially over undulations. I will be raising the car another 20mm or so and see how it rides then. I didn't intend to go this low anyway. . I feel as though the shocks are slightly underdamped on the rear for the kind of drop attainable. They are performing similar to my friends Koni coilovers with the same drop but when he has the damping on full soft. When he puts the Koni's to full hard, this problem goes away. I would say, for the money, this kit gets a but only for road use. I dont think it is appropriate for track work. However, an adjustable damping kit is also available! .

Gurds

 

Nice write up - thanks G.

 

Coillies sure look shiney when new, lets see if they hold up to the nice salted/gritted british winter roads. How much were they if you don't mind me asking?

I don't understand how adjustable right height coillies work with fixed dampers, surely if you set it to a low or high setting then the shock would be operating one of its shock absorbing limits?

 

Thats a nice drop, looks very cool.

 

Wether you have coilies low or high, the spring is only getting compressed the same amount because the weight of the car does not change nor the compression of the spring, so as long at the dampers level of damping is the same threwout it travel the ride should be the same too, hence what the spring assistor is for, it stops the main sprng becoming dislodged in the daper body when the spring platform is wound down but the cars weight is not on them.

 

Gave it a wash and raised the back a further 20mm. After reading the thread on Helper springs vs dual progessive type coilover springs, I got my head under the arch and had a look. The helper springs on the rear do not fully compress when the car is on the floor. This might be why the ride is bouncy. Might try swapping them out for softer ones to try and eliminate this problem.



Gurds

 

good work G!

 

Sounds like they might be mk3 grade helper springs.

 

Thought about that but the supplier confirmed that the kit was for the mk2 chassis and even asked if there where any special requirements for heavy sound installs or bigger engine conversions. It did state in the literatur that they have designed the helper spring to act as a progressive spring together with the main coil.

Oh yea, the kit is a Formel K kit. Check out the website for prices as they are silly low.

http://www.formelk.de/

Gurds

 

did you wax them fully on assembly.
advised to do so so stem the inevitable corrosion.

did so on mrsB's and they adjust fine still when req'd.
(actually less corrosion on them than my PSS9 bilsteins!)

 

The fully adjustable kit is €799. Ouch. Bit higher than the €295 for the non-damping adjustable coilies. Could get KW V2s for not much more.

Good write up though, nice to see a budget kit isnt a total waste of time.

 

Will do Bill. Is the kit on Mrs B Lupo a little bouncy too or not?

Gurds

 

Formel K is a company you should steer well clear of. Their Polo kits have a really poor rep on the German forums.

The ****ers owe me money too...............

Essen 2004: Large stand, lots of kool show cars, airbrush ladies and so on. You get the drift.....

Essen 2005: Tiny boot, no products on stand. All products had to be prepaid. When they where going to give me some money for my 4-branch, they could only repay me 200 euro,'s, just.... Got 150 EUR in notes, rest in small change. This was after a long day @ the show.

I would not trust this company when it comes to any guaranties, check their ebay feedback too.

A mate fitted some Formel K collies to another mates Mk I and the resistance in the shocks was comparable to an bicycle pump...................

Finger Weg as the Germans would say.....

(BTW they used 11 months to deliver a 4-branch for my Polo)

 

Really? Damn! I just bough the kit as it seems to be manufactured by that BV Hiltrac company as opposed to Formel K themselves. It doesnt seem that bad at the mo. Maybe they changed the product? My stuff came through within the week.

Gurds

 

nice drop

 

have you any pics now they have been on the car for a month

 

no bounce on mrsB, but its springs on rear are seperates on lupo.

had the same non compression of assister springs on an ibiza cupra the other week.
wrong spring rates supplied... and have been discussing with BV Hiltrac these past few days over it.
20n/mm/100mm assister springs are too stiff and bounce.. they should compress and be no more than 10n/mm rates.

 

This is what I found with my mk2 kit too. The spring assistors don't compress fully when the car is on the floor. They need to be softer as you said.

Gurds

 

found it

 

Still going strong?