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Track use coilovers

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
What's everyone using for track day coilovers? I'm running BCs right now but I'm not certain they will behave well in 25 min sessions. Just list your setup and what you like about them for people conflicted on actual track day coilovers.
 

jmason

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Frederick, MD
Bilstein PSS10. I like the easy adjustability. I can change from street setting (max soft) to front/rear track setting at the same time I install/remove my track tires. Just turn a knob. There are more setting levels than I need. Big downside is that I couldn't get replacement parts. And I wasn't even trying to get a warranty replacement, just straight up buying a replacement strut. Bilstein said no. Had to get a complete replacement set!:mad::mad: I was very tempted not to go Bilstein again, but couldn't come up with a suitable substitute that met my needs and budget.
 

UroTuning

GolfMK6 Official Vendor
Location
Tampa, FL
Ohlins is going to be the best option for track use. We are a vendor for them and can definitely help you find the right set for your car.
 

Navi

Autocross Champion
Location
BK/NYC/Hamptons
I'm on Bilstein PSS10 and they are decent. I would say a little more for spirited driving than track but they would suffice. I have two friends using Ohlins and that's the route I'm going to end up going. They have nothing but good things to say.

AST and JRZ both have interesting offerings out there for track set up. There is also a Moton setup.
 

tmw2442

Autocross Newbie
Location
Approved NPC storage contanier
Car(s)
Mk7 R
Ohlins or ASTs...if you dont have Ohlins money
 

Mini7

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport PP
I like my AST5100’s on my Cooper S.

The Ohlins work great for a dual purpose car.
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
Sweet I see a lot of good options on here. I was really interested in the ast coilovers because of the true coilover rear function and being able to utilize your spring rate in the rear. Ohlins look like a really good option but I would need to budget for different springs since I dont think they lower a whole lot and come very soft. The top dog ast are over 5k lol definitely dont wanna spend that much
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
I also found a couple sets of kw v3s but I dont think those are really worth the money. They seem to be the only ones doing twin tube design still which is inferior to monotube. The fortune auto 510 looks really good too for 2k so it would probability be between that and ohlins for my kinda budget at least
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
I'm on Bilstein PSS10 and they are decent. I would say a little more for spirited driving than track but they would suffice. I have two friends using Ohlins and that's the route I'm going to end up going. They have nothing but good things to say.

AST and JRZ both have interesting offerings out there for track set up. There is also a Moton setup.
I heard that the pss10s cant handle camber plates or something like that without breaking the strut shaft? I dont feel too good about that. Jrz looks legit also but I'm wondering if I can get similar results with less money. If anyone has researched the vwr tracksport coilovers I'd like an opinion on those too cause it seems as if they modeled their coils after ast and for 2800 bucks they offer a lot. Just throwing out ideas
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
The spec coilover for spec boxsters is still the PSS9 I believe. Take that for what it's worth...

I have the PSS10 currently, but haven't had a chance to get them on track yet this year. I almost went with the Ohlins, but my takeaway from local racers was that for twice the price, you don't quite get twice the coil. They're a bit better for sure, but not 1400$ better. FWIW on full soft, the Pss10 are stiff on the street, but don't punish you like the MSS springs and 034 springs (I wanted to keep DCC like a fool at one time). On full hard I drove over a train track and felt as if someone ripped a disc out of my spine.

It also comes down to how well you know how to setup your car. While most people can mess with a single adjustable to tune rotation just fine, stepping up to a 2 way starts to get more complicated and a 3 way is outside the scope of the majority of people who track their cars. Let's not talk about 4,5-way setups, bump stop tuning, etc. I would say start with what kind of tire you'd like to run, and build around that. If you plan to go to a slick ever, you need at least -3.0 camber front, and preferably -3.5-4.5. If you're running a slick, you'll also want to be running springs in the 650#+ range. That kind of setup on a 200TW street tire will just tear up the tire.

AST, Moton, MCS, Ohlins, Bilstein were my considerations. AST/Moton wouldn't give me any data or information on their dampeners, except for "Our dampers are really powerful so you can run soft springs". MCS I could only get from ground control it seems and ground control's level of communications was so poor (we're talking weeks of lag and following up to get responses), and considering how often those need rebuilt I decided that kind of service wasn't worth it. My friend waited for 12 weeks for a rebuild on a single MCS strut for his M3... Ohlins communication, detail, and quality all seem top notch and I would have pulled the trigger on them, except I had quite a few other things that happened all at once (popped a rim, changing jobs, new baby, blah blah blah life) and I just couldn't justify 2800$ vs 1300$ when I also needed a new fire suit and a couple rims :).
 

GTIfan99

Autocross Champion
Location
FL
Bilstein PSS10. I like the easy adjustability. I can change from street setting (max soft) to front/rear track setting at the same time I install/remove my track tires. Just turn a knob. There are more setting levels than I need. Big downside is that I couldn't get replacement parts. And I wasn't even trying to get a warranty replacement, just straight up buying a replacement strut. Bilstein said no. Had to get a complete replacement set!:mad::mad: I was very tempted not to go Bilstein again, but couldn't come up with a suitable substitute that met my needs and budget.

There's nowhere that rebuilds them?
 

jmason

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Frederick, MD
There's nowhere that rebuilds them?
It wasn't a rebuild candidate. The swaybar endlink bracket snapped off. It was the second occurrence. It had been rewelded once, but it was determined that it couldn't be welded a second time.
 

Mini7

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport PP
I heard that the pss10s cant handle camber plates or something like that without breaking the strut shaft? I dont feel too good about that. Jrz looks legit also but I'm wondering if I can get similar results with less money. If anyone has researched the vwr tracksport coilovers I'd like an opinion on those too cause it seems as if they modeled their coils after ast and for 2800 bucks they offer a lot. Just throwing out ideas

I suspect that VWR coilovers are relabeled/rebadged AST 5100 coilovers. They look just like my ASTs on my Mini.
 
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