[kalare]

Originally Posted by phudlow12

I'm still on the fence spending 1kish on a set of coilovers, or just buying better quality springs for a lot less. anyone have an opinion?

Do not buy only springs without shocks/struts. It will be...less than optimal. Your stock shocks/struts are not damped or valved for the different spring rates and their bodies are longer and not suited to lowering. If you don't want to run coils and only want springs, get some new bilsteins as well.

[phudlow12]

Originally Posted by kalare

Do not buy only springs without shocks/struts. It will be...less than optimal. Your stock shocks/struts are not damped or valved for the different spring rates and their bodies are longer and not suited to lowering. If you don't want to run coils and only want springs, get some new bilsteins as well.

thanks for the advice, I was thinking the OEM shocks struts would wear faster. I've heard great things about bilsteins also.

[koichim3]

have st v1 coils for 10k miles now, can't be happier with them.
sometimes I even wish it stiffer, but it just a well done setup that you don't feel harsh at all.

unless you slammed it very down, or I just can said this setup won't sacrifice the comfort for DD.

[ModBargains III]

Originally Posted by phudlow12

I'm still on the fence spending 1kish on a set of coilovers, or just buying better quality springs for a lot less. anyone have an opinion?

Don't get springs, I've done that before it's not the right way to go. I've done two sets of springs, a spring/shock combo, and I'm now on my SECOND set of coilovers, and trust me, if someone told me in the past to go with a good quality, but still inexpensive set of coilovers before I had to spend all my time and money to get those springs and shocks on my car before hand, man oh man I would have been much happier.

When you buy springs, you'll eventually have to buy shocks/struts for that combo because your OE shocks will wear out much quicker than normal, so because of that, lets say you want to go with a good overall performance shock like Koni Yellows, which is well known from this forum to be one of THE best shocks. You'll end up paying between $650-$750 depending on where you find it and your overall performance improve, but seeing that you spent $250 earlier to buy your springs, you might as well go with coilovers at a similar price

[28BMWM3]

My m is lowered with them, love them, but I did buy camber plates.

[ClAlpha]

Back to the issue of corrosion, the product guys on the Audi forums have been using to coat their ST coilovers is called Boeshield T-9.

http://boeshield.com/

It's a product developed by Boeing to protect aerospace parts against corrosion, so it's definitely not a knockoff item from some infomercial!
Cleaning and re-lubing the shock bodies, threads, and perches at least once per year is necessary with this coating however. It's probably not for everybody, but for this deep of a cost savings over the KW V1 coils, it seems worth it to me.

[///M3Fresh]

Honestly you just clean them (hotwater/pressure washer) once a week, and you will be ok. This is only during the winter months. You need to stop thinking about how they will do, They will be fine in the snow and the winter months, they are susension parts, I am sure that there was some though being thier design and durability of the kit.

[M3SMITHNWESSEN]

I love them!!!! Best ride even on the streets in new york!

[fugh understeer]

hows the spring rates and what kind of shocks does it use?

[ModBargains III]

Originally Posted by M3SMITHNWESSEN

I love them!!!! Best ride even on the streets in new york!

Well that's good to hear! My customers are always telling me that they're always unsure of getting coilovers in NY, I guess this might change a lot of peoples minds!

Originally Posted by fugh understeer

hows the spring rates and what kind of shocks does it use?

Spring rates are progressive, so there's no real exact number as it depends on how much the spring is compressed. This will give a much more comfortable feel than a full on linear set up which is more performance oriented.