- Can you hear me?
- [Producer] Dude, that looks pretty dope.
- Can you hear me good?
Are you a value driven individual who prides themselves
on getting the most product for your money?
Well then, boy, do we have a video for you today
because we're gonna break down the best suspension
to get the most suspension for your money.
Outside of wheels and tires,
suspension is most often one of the first
big mods people usually do to their cars.
Whether that's getting a simple set of lowering springs,
a full-on set of coilovers,
or going absolutely crazy with air suspension,
it's one of the main ways to take your ride
to the next level from both a looks
and a performance standpoint.
With nearly endless options
it can be hard to narrow down your search
to one perfect setup at the right price for you.
So today we're gonna go over the most cost-effective
values of the bunch.
But before we dive right in,
go ahead and give that subscribe button
a big old gentle little smash!
I'm Sean and if you enjoy all things automotive
and want to see some behind the scenes action
here at Fitment Industries,
go follow me on Instagram @seanb.fi.
Let's get started.
So we pretty well all want to upgrade our suspension
at one point or another,
whether that's to replace some worn out components,
eliminate some of that pesky wheel gap,
or simply increase the handling and the feel of your ride
with some more performance minded parts.
And there's a lot of ways to do that,
but perhaps the most cost-effective way of all this
is doing a little baby spring swap.
Whether that's a lowering spring
or something that's just more performance oriented
and progressive,
a lowering spring set can be had
for two to about $400.
And it's honestly a really good way to go
for not a whole hell of a lot of money.
You'll be able to drop the car a few fractions of an inch,
sometimes a little more,
and you'll more than likely be moving
to a progressive spring with a much stronger spring rate,
which will stiffen up the car a little bit,
especially under a load,
making its handling more predictable
and providing more feedback back to the driver.
This is also a great option for you guys out there
with factory adaptor suspension and whatnot,
like the branded title Camaro, RIP.
We wanted to lower the Camaro a smidge
for that more aggressive look,
but we didn't want to get rid of its magical
magnetic rod suspension,
so we threw in a set of Eibach lowering springs,
changed up the stance a little bit,
gave the suspension a nice little kick
in the right direction without spending a ton of money
or getting rid of that already top-notch suspension.
And we host a ton of reputable brands of lowering springs
on our site to help you achieve any look
or goal that you may have with a lowering spring.
If you're looking for something a bit more aggressive
than just a spring swap,
changing out both the spring and the shock absorber
with a more performance oriented set
is gonna do everything you want a coilover to do,
but without the adjustment.
And even more importantly,
the setup will be matched together.
Matching set springs to your damping system
is important to keep the system in check with your goals.
If you just go throw a mismatched set
of struts and springs together,
you risk the chance of getting a setup
that can really be pretty stiff or bouncy
or all around very uncomfortable
and maybe even impact the handling in a negative manner.
Generally speaking, there is a relatively easy to follow
setup for specific makes and models
so piecing a kit together doesn't always mean certain doom,
but it can go south very quickly
if you're not paying close attention to what you're doing.
Luckily buying a kit pre-assembled
does usually net a discount and we offer Bilstein Pro
and Pro plus damper kits
for just about anything you can think of
starting under $600.
These are a great choice for those looking to upgrade
in the handling department without doing anything too crazy
or spending a ton of money.
From here your best bet of course
is gonna be a full on set of coilovers.
Coilovers are such a versatile tool
that can do all kinds of crazy stuff.
First and foremost you're gonna have the ability
to adjust your ride height.
Typically speaking this allows you to retain
your stock ride height
and then go all the way down to slamming it to the ground
and making it completely and utterly undriveable.
And coilover technology has come so far
in the last few years
that a lot of the tech that was uber expensive
just five years ago is now incorporated
into some really cost-effective coilovers of today.
Take the BC Racing BR coilover for example.
(Sean inhales)
The BR features a monotube shock design.
Now, to understand the benefit of a monotube shock
you kind of need to know what a twin tube shock is.
Essentially the difference between the two
is that the twin tube shock,
while it still uses the traditional piston
with holes in it to control dampening by flow,
it squeezes that oil into a second tubular oil chamber
that uses the gases to help with dampening even further,
whereas a monotube shock only has one chamber
and keeps the gases and oil in the same cylinder,
but it's separated by afforded pistons.
So as the main piston compresses that oil,
the floating crest is going to allow that oil
to slide to the secondary piston
and help dampen the system even more
by compressing that gas
while keeping the gases and oils separated.
The twin tube design is cheap to produce
and does a good enough job in most cases,
but it doesn't take well to abuse
and can start to cause aeration
between the oil and the gas under heavy abuse.
The BC Racing BR series also features a linear piston
and damping curve,
essentially meaning that the impact force
exhibits a consistent feel
throughout the entire stroke range.
Like if you hit kind of a two inch bump
on the street or curbing on the racetrack,
you'll feel that force of the impact.
But then if you were to hit another bump
that was twice as large,
or roughly four inches in height,
the impact will feel twice as large as that two inch bump.
Whereas a nonlinear may progressively
get more aggressive.
Using the same example,
if a two-inch bumps exerts two inches worth of force,
a three inch bump may exert even double the force
of that two inch if that makes any sense.
With a ramp up and increasingly become more aggressive
the further the shock is compressed.
All BC Racing coilovers are full body
so you're looking at height adjustment
independent of that preload,
which is something you didn't see on a coilover
in this price bracket just a few years ago.
They also offer one of the widest ranges
of damping adjustment with 30 clicks of compression
and rebound adjustment simultaneously on the BR series.
That's right, these bad boys have both compression
and rebound adjustment
even if it isn't independent from each other.
From there, you're looking at camber plates
on most applications and even rear camber plates
on a couple of different vehicles as well.
Custom spring rates are available as well
as swift spring upgrades.
If you do order custom spring rates
the coilover will come with custom valving
paired with those custom spring rates.
BC Racing coilovers are also fully rebuildable
with all parts available for purchase
and feature a one year manufacturer's defect warranty.
The amount of features these coilovers offer
at a sub $1,000 price point is an absolute game changer.
So it comes as no surprise that these are
one of our most popular units that we sell.
BC Racing's BR series coilovers
knocked the value proposition straight out of the water.
But these are not the only ones either.
If you wanna buy into the legacy brand
that is Tein suspension,
you can get into Tein Flex Z coilover kit as low as $817.
Tein is one of those brands
that has been around for a while now
and has a fantastic reputation
for making really quality products
at a price point that presents great value.
The Flex Z utilizes kind of that old school
twin tube damper design
and the twin tube design is good for being cost-effective
and has a slight bit more of comfort attribute to it.
Whereas a monotube setup will be able
to kind of handle more abuse like we talked about earlier.
So if you're wanting to retain a more comfortable ride
without huge demand for back to back to back abuse,
the Tein is going to be one of the best choices for you.
You're also getting that full body design, upper mounts,
and adjustable compression damping with EDFC compatibility,
which stands for electronic damper force control.
What this does is it actually attaches to the top
of this Tein Flex Z coilover
and allows you to remotely adjust your damping
from the inside of the vehicle, which is pretty cool.
Now, this is a separate unit, but it is a nice addition
if you choose to go that route.
You're also looking at pillow ball mounts here
and built in camber plates where applicable
and Tein takes a lot of pride
in their rust-proof coatings as well.
With that, these coilovers are fully rebuildable.
So five years down the road if a shock fails,
you can simply remove the shock portion
from the body and replace it
instead of needing to buy a whole new assembly,
which is pretty cool and it's going to
save you some money long-term.
This should be your go-to coilover setup
if you're looking for a more comfort oriented setup
with all the adjustment of a much more expensive coilover.
Another huge value here without the adjustable damping
is the $525 Function and Form Type 1 coilover.
Function and Form has been making coilovers
since 2005 and has quickly been soaring in popularity
by offering a pretty healthy coilover
at an insanely low price.
For just $525 you can get yourself a full body coilover
with upper strut mounts included
with spring rates that match the preset damping.
That's pretty crazy.
This is probably the only coilover under $550
that offers a full body setup,
which is absolutely crucial for not having a bad time.
This is the kind of coilover that's gonna take
a good bit of abuse being super low
by utilizing tried and true products that are very reliable
as opposed to spending all their money on the latest tech.
Without any adjustable damping
these probably aren't going to be as versatile
with street ride quality as some of the
other options on this list either.
However, at this price point,
Function and Form is undoubtedly the best option for you
if you're on a super tight budget.
There is no more excuses for buying no-name products
with shoddy build quality with the price of these coilovers.
But that's about gonna wrap it up
for the best suspension values going into 2021.
I hope this video can help you narrow down
your choices and inevitably down to making the decision
that's best for you.
(Sean burps)
What are you guys running on your rides?
Did they make the list?
Let me know.
I'm genuinely curious and I try to respond
to as many comments as I possibly can.
If you wanna snag yourself up any of these coilovers,
they are all in stock and ready to ship right now.
So head over to fitmentindustries.com
to browse the most comprehensive wheel, tire, and suspension
store of all time.
Don't forget to subscribe to stay notified
with our daily uploads.
And if that's not enough for you
go check out our second YouTube channel,
Fitment Industries Garage for all kinds of
other technical content.
I'm Sean at Fitment Industries,
@seanb.fi on Instagram.
Thank you so much for watching.
Peace.