March Madness

(We really are going mad with all these new customers calling us to place orders! Don't worry we're happy its so busy ;-)

As we move into the month of March, we are excited to give you some new brands and product updates, as well as sales and new happenings and events you can find our team at. Before we get into all of that though, let’s answer one of the major questions we are being asked a lot lately:

On a daily basis we receive more than a dozen phone calls or emails regarding coilovers. The most commonly asked question is, “Whats the best coilover to go with for my car?” This is a great question and we want to spend more time to focus on a good answer. When looking for coilovers you will find many brands on the market today, so you ask yourself, “how do I choose one that will be in my budget and accomplish all the things I want it to do?”

Most companies will offer dampening, height adjustments, custom spring rates, special lowering options, and many other things that can easily confuse the average consumer. Most of the time your friends will tell you to go with a company which has a proven history within the suspension field, for example (Ohlins, KW, BC, Tein, Fortune Auto, etc). However, some of the new and upcoming companies have also taken tried and tested methods from those mentioned before and upgraded to make cheaper alternatives that are just as good. (Example D2, TruHart, KSport, Megan, Godspeed Etc). Your best way to decide what will work for you is to understand what the commonly referenced terms are how to understand them.

Here are just a few things you need to know when shopping for the right coilover setup for your budget!

Testing What type of testing do these coilovers go through (read up on the company’s site you are interested in going with or check YouTube most of the time someone has done some type of everyday usage testing to let you know their experience).

Customer Service What level of support do you get from the company that builds the product? A company that provides good technical support, and has a solid warranty program in place is the best option if you’re looking for someone who will stand behind their products.

Pillow-Ball or Rubber Mounting This is the primary way that most Coilovers are mounted onto the chassis. Some people refer to this as the top hat of the Coilover. Rubber is more of a comfort option vs. Pillow Ball which is track proven but more rigid in reflex. Some of the lower end coilovers do not come with either of these types of mounting solutions causing you to use your OEM mounts. Although this may seem a bad option, at times when your budget does not allow for an aftermarket top mount, it still gives you the flexibility of a height adjustable suspension.

Twin Tube vs. Monotube A twin-tube shock or strut has two cylinders: The base valve controls fluid flow between both cylinders and provides some of the damping force. The valves in the piston control most of the damping. The term Gas Shock usually refers to the same twin-tube design, but with one improvement. Twin-tubes are more prone to aeration because of their design where there is no separation of oil and gas. However, newer twin-tube shocks contain gases such as nitrogen which is more effective than oxygen. Monotube shocks have two chambers. The upper chamber contains the oil while the lower one has the gas.

Spring Type Linear or Progressive: Linear springs are great for track usage where as Progressive springs have been known to work better for the street usage.

OEM style versus a One Piece Coilover One piece coilovers provide more performance and allow for a larger range of adjustment vs the OEM style which allows for little to no travel in height but provide more refined ride definition.

Spring Rate and Valving Some companies will offer you this as an option. Depending on your usage and need, ie. track racing or going extremely low; these options may prove to work well for you and provide a longer life to the Coilover assembly.

Lowering Capabilities most consumers believe that a Coilover will lower their vehicle all the way to the ground and back to factory height. This is a common misconception. Companies often publish minimum and maximum heights for their Coilovers which can give you a strong idea if this range will fill your specific needs.

Damper Adjustments Dampening is just a fancy way of saying comfort. Some companies build in up to only 5 settings between which you can select this comfort level. On the other hand, mid to high end companies will offer 32 to even 48 way adjustability to fine tune your comfort settings.

There are a lot of things to keep in mind when making a good decision when choosing to purchase and use a Coilover system on your vehicle. Although price is always a limiting factor when making a purchasing decision for suspenion, it should not be your only factor. Many of today’s modern suspension companies offer budget friendly solutions that we can help you find if you still have questions after reading this article. Without information, it would be very easy to over purchase a system that doesn’t get used to its full potential. We are happy to provide the information required for you to make not only an informed decision when setting up your suspension, but one that is practical and will allow you to grow in the future if necessary.

New Brands This Month

This month we are focusing on adding a few new brands we get asked for quite a bit lately. One of those brands is VIS Racing, they have a solid long standing name in the after market business and create some of the best body modifications available, including their wide range of carbon fiber products. Another brand we recently added is, I Build Racecars, solidly invested in Subaru parts development, we are happy to have this boutique brand offered through our sales channels. We will also be adding Innovit Wheels this month, as well as Mickey Thompson Tires to our line cards. Remember, if you can't find a brand on this site, you can always checkout our other website: Speedzoneweb.com or fill our a Product Request Form.

Events in the Month of March

This month, we have already attended Clean Culture which took place in Heritage Park, right around the corner from us here in Kissimmee. As you can see from the main Blog picture, we brought back out our hidden shop car. She's been tucked away under a lift collecting dust for long enough and so we brought her out to show off the newest Aodhan Wheels, and modified the exhaust to shoot flames (cause that's what all the cool kids are doing these days!) If you want more coverage of that sold out event, which drew huge crowds and really great builds, checkout our Facebook page or Instagram.

Our next outing will be to Import Alliance Spring Meet 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia at the end of this month. If you haven't been to this event before, (we haven't) then apparently you're missing one of the best events of the year! With over 12,000 people, thousands of show cars, drag cars, drift cars, and two days of partying, this is the staple of the Import Alliance season. If you are coming, make sure to stop by our booth for a ton of new NRG Products on display, as well as lots of other new products we will be bringing out with us for the first time.