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New coilover for my ep3

taspan

taspan

Messages
35
Hello you guys


It s time to change my old suspension kit (bilstein-apex) in my civic and i m between those two: bc ra and meister r crd+.
Has anyone tried any of them? Any other suggestions in that range of price?



P.S. I use my car both in track and road so i need something stiffer than now but not so extreme
 
Used Meister R and I think they are good on the road. Should be okay on the track too but I've not experienced them on track myself.
 
I’ve used MeisterR’s. Out of all the coilovers in that price bracket I’d go with them purely down to customer service they provide and they’re products are internally different to the rest of the market.


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Looking at pics of the B14 it looks to have a single adjuster so not not separate ride height from spring preload adjustment. They also don't have damping adjustment and I believe you need to either re-use your existing top mounts or buy new ones.

I have BC RA's on mine, been on for 8 months. Decent quality from what I could see before I put them on. At the moment there's no corrosion, they haven't loosened and I've adjusted the ride height since fitting them and the threads weren't seized. The rear interior of my car is stripped out and the BC's arrive setup for a standard car, so mine was a little front-endy and skittish at the back due to less weight. Dropping the rear down a bit and knocking the damping down on the rear damper sorted it.
30-step damping adjustment on them that actually makes a difference with 3-5 clicks. I usually run lower damping settings at 12 front, 8 rear which works well on the road and plenty of increased damping available for the track.

The pillowball front mounts did actually give me a little more steering feel but that could have been due to the old original top mounts not being at their best.

The only downside for me is that even on the minimum settings they are a little harsh at low road speeds. Pick the speed up a bit and they work great. I guess they spent more time getting the high speed damping right and not the low speed. Saying that it's no worse that the original suspension that was on the car which was crashy at ANY speed!
 
Holloway96 said:
For the same price you can get Bilstein B14's.

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Fantastic for the road, your usual German build quality and inverted set up means they’re strong and reliable. But for track they’re limited having to use your standard mounts, (or having to buying some aftermarket for camber/caster adjustment) fixed dampening (B16’s are adjustable and more expensive) and using spring preload for height adjustment has its downsides.
 
Holloway96 said:
Use camber bolts? I'd much rather use a quality coilover than cheap Taiwanese crap!

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I don t trust the made in Taiwan quality too but here in Greece is the new trend mostly because of the value for money.
 
SmegHead said:
Is this based on personal experience of the units suggested or just hearsay?
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Yellowspeed, Meister and BC are practically made at the same factory. Bilstein are TUV approved and are much better in quality. They'll also be better on the road.

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Holloway96 said:
Yellowspeed, Meister and BC are practically made at the same factory. Bilstein are TUV approved and are much better in quality. They'll also be better on the road.

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Interesting points and I'd be interested in your source(s) for that information, however sharing manufacturing space isn't uncommon nowadays especially offshore. This can be simply the same unit that's been re-badged to completely different kit of widely differing quality.
Your last two point are rather subjective and would be useful to know what your particular experience of these coilovers are that has led to those conclusions.

I'll admit that there are some reviews to be found on the internet of the certain manufacturers coilovers from a few years ago that called quality control in to question, though it shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot of these companies do actively develop and improve their products which is why more recent reviews of the BC stuff are very positive which swayed my decision to get them - from what I can see they fixed the early issues they had.

A lot of people rate Tein, I think they're poorly made rubbish but that is based on experience of them some years back. Perhaps they have improved since.
 
At the end of the day, I'd rather spend the extra money and make sure I've got quality items that have had proper R&D. Suspension is the one thing keeping the car straight on the road, buying lower quality cheaper coilovers is not something I'd be willing to risk personally.



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Holloway96 said:
Yellowspeed, Meister and BC are practically made at the same factory. Bilstein are TUV approved and are much better in quality. They'll also be better on the road.

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Strong comments. MeisterR have been in partnership with a U.K. suspension company to develop their internals so they’re far from the standard made in Taiwan.
Don’t get so hooked on the TÜV approved either. Yes the product has to pass quality checks to attain the approval but it’s also an excuse for the manufacture to bump up the price. There’s many products out there that would meet the TÜV status but the costs of getting that just to get the German market isn’t worth it. Especially with people like Bilstein and KW dominating the German market.
 
Lewisgame said:
Strong comments. MeisterR have been in partnership with a U.K. suspension company to develop their internals so they’re far from the standard made in Taiwan.
Don’t get so hooked on the TÜV approved either. Yes the product has to pass quality checks to attain the approval but it’s also an excuse for the manufacture to bump up the price. There’s many products out there that would meet the TÜV status but the costs of getting that just to get the German market isn’t worth it. Especially with people like Bilstein and KW dominating the German market.
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Meister is still made in Taiwan, yes it's designed here like all the other brands. But it's still made in an environment where quality will be compromised. There's a reason you can get a fully adjustable coilover for £800, because it's made cheaply.

The only Meisters I would buy are the GT1's but then again I don't have the budget and I won't be using those coilovers to their potential.

My car is a road car, hence why I've bought B14's. Yes it's not fully adjustable and there isn't a separate adjuster but I don't need the B16's because I don't use them. I would rather the coilover last me than start to leak in a year. My opinion only of course so don't shoot me down for it. Plus from 90% of people I've spoken to who have ran Meister, Yellowspeed and BC is that they're bloody awful on the road.

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I've got limited experience with coilovers, I ran eibach on my golf which were firm but forgiving, I ran jom on my other golf, very crashy and not comfortable in the slightest.

On my ep3 I had eibach springs, reasonably poised and not overly crashy. Now I have meister coilovers, a bit firmer than the springs, but with the damping wound back they are actually nice to drive with on the road. Pot holes are felt a lot more, but they are forgiving. They firm up massively when wound up and on track and I am really pleased with them. For the money I am impressed. The support and the spare parts shop is also helpful as you can get most parts separately in case you ever have to rebuild them etc.

Its the usual pays your money and takes your choice scenario.

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Holloway96 said:
Meister is still made in Taiwan, yes it's designed here like all the other brands. But it's still made in an environment where quality will be compromised. There's a reason you can get a fully adjustable coilover for £800, because it's made cheaply.

The only Meisters I would buy are the GT1's but then again I don't have the budget and I won't be using those coilovers to their potential.

My car is a road car, hence why I've bought B14's. Yes it's not fully adjustable and there isn't a separate adjuster but I don't need the B16's because I don't use them. I would rather the coilover last me than start to leak in a year. My opinion only of course so don't shoot me down for it. Plus from 90% of people I've spoken to who have ran Meister, Yellowspeed and BC is that they're bloody awful on the road.

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I run B14s on my Astra VXR and they are superb.

Firm enough for fast road enjoyment and improved handling but not crashy at all


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I heard of a lot of BC's fail after just 12 months.

I've used Meister R myself and found them to be very compliant when set up appropriately for the road. I sold them to a friend of mine who still has them on his car some four years on with no issues.
 
Recommendations on parts such as suspension is a funny old game, half the comments you get are people repeating stuff they've heard or read on the internet, which a lot of the time are single instance issues which get referenced multiple times making problems appear worse than they are, and you need to remember that people only usually bother writing lengthy posts about good or bad usually when they've just installed it, or when it goes wrong. You don't normally hear about the vast majority of people that buy, fit, use and it works with no problems.

I just managed to google loads of matches for problems with all the main players including Tein, Bilstein B14 etc etc involving quality control and crap warranty attitude from the manufacturer, so it's possible to have issues with any brand of kit.

I'd suggest the OP does some lengthy research on multiple forums for a variety of car marques to gauge wider experience of the different offerings if he hasn't already done so. Id also advise you treat opinions on parts from those who have no direct experience of them with a healthy level of suspicion.
 
Get yourself some Taiwanse finest them come back in a year when they start leaking.

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