drop zone

drop zone

im looking for a new suspension setup on my car, was looking into the kyb gr-2's and tein s-techs. I found this on ebay, and was wondering if it was a good deal or not. not sure how the forum feels about drop zone. so thought id ask!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33586&item=7964994297&rd=1

From what I heard, they are not that great.

Don't get them. They're a cheap knock-off imitation with very little research into the mechanics of our car's suspsension put into them.

so what is the "Best" springs & shocks for our cars?

there is no "best" suspension...but Tein makes good springs, as do Intrax, Eibach, and TRD. combine those with Koni, Tokico, or KYB struts, and you should be good to go. as far as coilovers are concerned, ground controls seem to be the only coilovers that anyone has tried. if someone had the cash to fork over for JICMagic's i'm sure those would be ideal.

great info, i'll keep this in mind next time

Someone on the old vvti used to love his dropzones. I've heard they're too soft for a performance suspension though.

ok, so im probably not going to get away with spending any less than like 400 just for parts for springs and shocks right? it would be ok to go with just the kyb gr-2's for now right? and later add the tein's im looking at? thanks for the info guys.

yep...it would be fine if you bought struts now and springs later.

If I were you I'd just do both at the same time. Save some money time and money on seperate alignments, assuming you align it after each time as you're supposed to.

it looks pretty promising... but oh well... i guess the good paint job and bright colors throw you of... hehe...

Since your just talking about lowering springs, don't get any cheap brand names like dropzone. Even though I love my coilovers. Coilovers is a different story. If your just sticking with lowering springs Tein is the brand you need to get or eibach and thats it for what I'd recommend. For coilovers, obx, dropzone with modification like mine, skunk 2, and ground control. Definitely do both struts and springs at the same time though. Saves you time and money.

as always, easier said than done. right now i cant afford both, but by the time i have enough money for both, i would have probably blown it somewhere along the way. Ill have to think about it though. thanks again guys.

ehh

Intrax makes a good spring...i know of 2 other people who have had them - Toyrolla and Vamp - as well as myself. frankly, i love the ride.

i have that exact dropzone setup on my corolla. i wouldn't recommend it. i mean, i can take turns like crazy now, with alot less body roll, but it is far from comfortable at all. it's just so bumpy!
but i'm selling that car soon, so whatever

you say its bumpy, doesnt that mean its hella stiff? performance oriented?

Too stiff and you won't have any struts able to keep up with the spring rate, meaning you'll bounce off the road. Look what happened to the first wide-body Corolla: bounce, smash into a street pole.

I used to have drop zone lowering springs and i thought the ride sucked, but then i bought teins s yech, and the ride is worse, but i love the look of the drop it gave me, i do have tokico blue as my struts, which i am going to change soon cause i drove to texas and back with a load and they are gone. but i do feel that my dropzone actually gave a better ride... i know i could pull corners faster with my dropzone then with my teins.. but the look is just beautiful with the teins. i personally don't think dropzone is a bad investment.. unless were talking coilovers.

Just to add to your post...in the best explanation i can give (warning: I suck at explaining stuff)

shocks are meant to regulate or control how much force it takes to compress (bound) or decompress (rebound) the suspension. They use the valves to regulate it, and when the valving is meant for 100lbs/in spring, it will have less resistence holding the spring back compared to if you had much higher spring rates, which would need to have shocks with more agressive valving for more resistence.

So basically, when you use like 350lbs/in springs on stock shocks with valving meant for the stock 100lbs/in. springs, the stock shocks will give the same amount of resistence on the 350lbs/in springs, which basically means, it's not properly controlling it.

So it'll be fine when the suspension compresses, but the force generated to compress it, will come right back on the rebound and give you that bouncing effect, or very bad tendencies when cornering hard.

how long are these after market struts supposed to last with a drop?>

From what i've been reading, OE replacement struts are no better than stock shocks when it comes to big drops. Meaning, they're just as prone to going out as the stock ones.

The difference comes when you have the manufacturer modify the design to accomodate a larger drop. But I think, if you're talking strictly bolt ons, unless you run high spring rates, you really can't go more than like 1.5-2" before the struts are compromised.

so when you say OE replacement struts, you mean aftermarket right? like kyb, tokico etc. are you saying that if i go with no more than a 2.0" drop, i would be just as well off going with a new set of the struts that my car came with? where are you getting this info from?

Yes, when I say "OE replacement struts," I mean aftermarket, like kyb, tokico, koni etc.

Most of my info is from reading about people's different experiences with the strut replacements. It makes sense if you consider the design of the OE replacement struts. They're meant to have the same bound/rebound range as the stock struts, which is a considerable amount. You drop it 2" or more, and you've lost quite a bit of range when the shocks are compressed. Basically giving you a greater chance of maxing out and hitting the bump stops.

I couldn't say for sure if you'd be better off with OEM over aftermarket with a 2" drop. If it's more of just improving the looks, get whatever springs or coilovers you want and see how it works with your stock struts. You never know, you may or may not need aftermarket struts. Just see how it works out.

but i thought even with any kind of lowering springs, the stock struts would get worn out in like a month or two.

ive had the tein and kyb combo for lil over a yr now and its the best ride quality ive seem to find. had intrax but ride quality wasnt that great but if u do get em. get both struts and springs at the same time will save u lots of money

As for me I like my Dropzone coilover and KYB GR2 setup. I think its comparably smoother then most of the cars around my area that is lowered. I had to do some modifying in order I can increase the travel on it and it rides smooth and firm. The only time it gets kinda bouncy is when I have the front end dropped all the way down and driving on roads with big dips and humps, but the bounce stops instantly. I've been using this setup for over a year and its very good. As for Dropzone springs I'm not a fan of it. Also most of the time when you guys experience a bouncy ride, it's due to the fact that the car maybe lowered and that the bumpstops have not been cut enough. Also OE replacement struts like KYB and Tokico is a must when you drop the car because the compression on it is stronger then the stock struts to handle more of a sporty setup. I can keep going on but that it for now.

Tokico struts also carry a lifetime warranty.

do the kyb's carry it as well?

not that i know of.

i wish someone would just give me the parts.. lol when youre on a budget, every purchase is a freggin adventure!