Question about coilovers!

[RynoLGT]

Hey y’all! Just wonder if the Raceland 4th gen classic coilovers were a reputable product for a budget build! What is the quality of them? Are they gonna be junk in a year? Thank you all! 

[BoozeRS05]

The jump off for what most of us will consider good/passable is about $1000. You might be totally fine with those COs, but it would be a better idea to get upgraded suspension assemblies or at minimum a BCBR level CO in my experience.

Koni struts, new top hats and a good sport spring would be significantly more competent and longer lasting.

Be aware as these cars age the alignment bolts and the control arms, both front and rear, might need replaced too. Especially when lowering 

[m sprank]

What do you consider a budget build?  What are the plans?  Is this just a "car" and you want to customize it a bit?  Are you expecting performance or just a look?  If being honest those coils are junk.  But whats junk to me might be exactly what a 17yr old is looking for. 

I stopped by a local tire shop last week when I spotted three lowered Subies in the parking lot. A local "speed shop" uses the balance services of the tire shop.  Never even spoke with any of them.  Took one look at an exposed coil as a tire was being balanced and walked away.  If thats what they sell and install, its 90s Honda scene and I want none of it. Trashed cars.

[silverton]

I went through three sets of coilovers on my GC.  cheap $500, mid range $1000, and expensive $1500+.  I hated the cheap and mid range. the car was awful to drive and I hated it.  The $1500 set was really nice until the car was stolen and they blew a couple of them. 

I replaced that set with KYB AGX's and SPT springs; I fell in love with the car again.

[shralp]

Sorry to say, $549 for a set of coilovers means you’re getting warmed over dog crap…

[cheeseenlo]

I agree with @BoozeRS05and @shralp 100%.

With CO's you get what you pay for. Yes, the price ranges are wide with offerings which are relatively the same if you compare apples to apples in terms of adjustments. They lower the car and you get a knob to adjust dampening. But what really matter is long term reliability. The lower end / budget friendly CO's will get you to your desired height of the car. I can't speak for the ride quality for these exact COs but I would think they won't be great. You'll need to compare them against another set of COs or aftermarket setup.  But I can guarantee they won't last nearly as long as a mid/high end product. 

I have a set of RCE Tarmacs for almost 10 years now, the bodies themselves have zero rust on them. Springs are still perfect except the helpers (chipped/rusty) which are basically compressed all the time. The collars have never seized on me. I run them with a 500lb/in or 9kg spring front and rear. My previously setup was Konis w/ Epic Engineering lowering springs. Rears had a saggy butt spacer. The Tarmacs rode better than the Konis IMHO. 

[NORULZleggy]

m spark is correct. It depends on what you're going to do with your car. My car sits in a garage and so does my buddies STI. we hit some nice back roads, and we never track or do autoX events.  I personally sold and run what I sell. I have run Tein street coilovers on my 08 2.5i and I just had the tire gap taken out and the car ran so smooth. I had those on the car for 5 years till I sold the car. I ran the same set on my 09 WRX with no issues. 

I now run ISC N1 V2 Coilovers on my 06 LGT, I sold the same set to my buddy for his 04 STI. They have the tipple s street springs so it makes the ride very nice, and you will not need to get you back adjusted after a back road cruise. They do run about 1200-1500 if your buy through them. I will be real with you, they are 13 way adjustable and damper blah blah, but we had our shop install them and they set it and we never touch it is the key.

I have seen people get 500-700 dollar sets and I will not hate on them, get what you want. You neck with hurt, back will need alignment, lol

[RynoLGT]

4 hours ago, m sprank said:

What do you consider a budget build?  What are the plans?  Is this just a "car" and you want to customize it a bit?  Are you expecting performance or just a look?  If being honest those coils are junk.  But whats junk to me might be exactly what a 17yr old is looking for. 

I stopped by a local tire shop last week when I spotted three lowered Subies in the parking lot. A local "speed shop" uses the balance services of the tire shop.  Never even spoke with any of them.  Took one look at an exposed coil as a tire was being balanced and walked away.  If thats what they sell and install, its 90s Honda scene and I want none of it. Trashed cars.

Well im a newbie in the car community, but i'm severly interested in learning and getting into cars. At the moment, i am in highschool, i am making decent money so i am just going for looks, I do not want to risking f'ing something up in the engine installing mods going in blind, I want to play this smart. I have a few small ideas in mind. I would like to dip the care a unique color ( static violet purple) along with dipping my sparco rims a light gloss white. Also, a neat little subieflow banner. I know most of you guys might call the car "poser" or "typical highschool car" or like you mentioned, "trash cars" but i see it as a process of learning what works and what doesn't work, what looks good and what doesn't look good. Eventually (Most likely this fall/winter) i am going to start working on the interior of my car and build up the performance to match the exterior. That is where i am at right now. Thank you all for the support/ideas. P.S. your totally right, what is junk to someone who knows every nook and cranny of a car, might be perfect for someone like me! I will take consideration to your knowledge. Thanks again!

[NORULZleggy]

Dang your in Highschool with a 05 LGT , I wish I had a car like that in HS. I would tell you this, Do not mod the car, just make sure it is in top running condition. Don't try to show off in it. these old gals are strong but will act a fool if you try to test them. Do a banner, I had one in HS, and I had wheels also. I also had a glasspack and duals on my car, I still think it's cool till this day. Just make sure you do not go overboard. 

Make sure all maintenance is done

CHECK YOUR OIL

Change your oil

Enjoy it and have fun. the car might not be the fastest, but make no mistake it will make your respect it if you try to be a superhero. the all wheel drive can do weird things. I would like to see where you go with this car. keep us posted. 

[RynoLGT]

3 minutes ago, NORULZleggy said:

Dang your in Highschool with a 05 LGT , I wish I had a car like that in HS. I would tell you this, Do not mod the car, just make sure it is in top running condition. Don't try to show off in it. these old gals are strong but will act a fool if you try to test them. Do a banner, I had one in HS, and I had wheels also. I also had a glasspack and duals on my car, I still think it's cool till this day. Just make sure you do not go overboard. 

Make sure all maintenance is done

CHECK YOUR OIL

Change your oil

Enjoy it and have fun. the car might not be the fastest, but make no mistake it will make your respect it if you try to be a superhero. the all wheel drive can do weird things. I would like to see where you go with this car. keep us posted. 

Thank you for your feedback. Maintenance is all up to date fortunately, all i have left to do is replace the timing belt before a disaster happens in the future! thanks again!

[NORULZleggy]

1 hour ago, RynoLGT said:

 

 

4 minutes ago, RynoLGT said:

Thank you for your feedback. Maintenance is all up to date fortunately, all i have left to do is replace the timing belt before a disaster happens in the future! thanks again!

How many miles? Have you done plugs, and do the full timing belt kit Ansin (I think that is spelled correctly.

[m sprank]

Deff more car than I had in HS.  Mom refused to let me buy my dream '72 240Z so I had a crappy Sentra.  Lol. 

Well, that Sentra ended up going through MANY suspension set ups.  If you just want to drop the car an inch or 2, I would go with some Koni's and a set of Swift Springs.  Better reliability that those coils, better ride, less noise and BS (from cheap coils).  Not like your going to be adjusting ride height once you get it set anyway.  Cost should be similar and if you install the Konis yourself you are on your way to "learning" something about cars and manual labor. 

Others have mentioned and are VERY right, the important thing is keeping the car running and not blowing all your funds on mods then blowing an engine. 

[RynoLGT]

3 hours ago, NORULZleggy said:

 

How many miles? Have you done plugs, and do the full timing belt kit Ansin (I think that is spelled correctly.

I’m at 130k right now.

I have not even thought about the plugs yet! I would imagine they are okay but you never know haha. 

i am planning on changing out all belts, the water pump, and radiator all in one so I don’t have to keep taking the engine apart lol. Because I know just the timing belt alone will take me a weekend, maybe more…. And A LOT of forum reading and YouTube watching. 

[Febreze Mee]

FWIW, to address the comment from the OP of "part of the learning process...what looks good, what doesn't look good" I would highly recommend a NFS game. I don't say this to be facetious. It's significantly cheaper than buying parts in real life, and spending real time just to install said parts just because you want to "try it on" so to speak. Hell, even Forza Motorsport 7 has a BL LGT in it.

As others have said, and for good reason —they have a lot of experience with these cars— you should focus on actively maintaining things to keep a nice vehicle. More than just spark plugs, oil changes, and the two timing belts you'll probably get to do. These cars are 18yrs old now, and things that last the life of the car are starting to fail. HVAC door actuators, MAF connectors, gas tanks. In addition to a having a savings for a new short block, I would set aside money to fix some of these for when they inevitably fail. 
 

Check your recalls. Have your brake lines been tended to?

You own a nice car and could continue to own one well into your adult years if/when you begin to think about starting a family by just considering these things. And please don't spend the money it would cost to dip/dunk/wrap/paint this car if you don't plan on keeping it awhile. Otherwise, Mike will get a $500 clapped LGT shortly, when the FS thread "Purple 05 LGT in need of a home and short block."

I wish you a positive ownership experience. Please read all of the stickies atop the sub forums. Welcome aboard! If you haven't already, introduce yourself and car in the New Members section and post up some pics. 

[silverton]

6 hours ago, RynoLGT said:

Well im a newbie in the car community..... I know most of you guys might call the car "poser" or "typical highschool car" or like you mentioned, "trash cars" but i see it as a process of learning what works and what doesn't work, what looks good and what doesn't look good.

As someone who put himself around 10k in debt building an NA-T, it's far cheaper to build it right the first time.  Read read read, learn learn learn, then buy.

You can only pick two of these three when building a car. Cheap. Fast. Reliable.  I went the cheap/fast route, not a good idea, as the cheap parts never hold up when you want to go fast.

[boxkita]

coilovers! in HS! sorry raceland is a honda brand. literally the last mod you want to do on this car, followed by putting on a "cold air intake ". both add lots of problems for no value.

an 18yo lgt with 130k miles pretty much needs a full maintenance cycle done on it. Especially if it came from a rust belt or salt state.

coilovers- rce, fortune, isc, jrz, koni, ohlins, etc are good. getting a corner balance from a race shop is better. coilovers don't magically make your car ride better.

[Pleides]

Leave your car stock until you're 200% certain that everything on it works and it's in good shape. If the car is rusty then I'd suggest not investing any money into modding it. It's an 18-year old car. My car has 241K on it and I've replaced more parts than you can imagine, sometimes by myself and sometimes though my shop. These were not tremendously cheap cars to keep running new and they're definitely not now. Change the oil every 3-4K miles, make sure your suspension bushings are in good shape (they aren't based on age alone if they haven't been replaced in the last 5 or 6 years), make sure your axles are in good shape (the right front one probably leaks) and make sure your wheel bearings are good. After that, keep the car clean inside and out and be proud of it, THEN start modifying it. If all you want is for the car to be lower then sure, Riceland coilovers will do you fine, but the car will ride like shit, handle worse than stock, and those COs will last a year or two before they're completely blown. 

Also, only @Febreze Meereally touched on it, but there are much better things to do with your money in high school. I know that this won't stop you from spending money on an old Subaru, but if I get to yell at clouds... 

 

Edit: just checked from the post history - you're in Massachusetts. I am 100% certain your car has a decent amount of rust.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Pleides

[boxkita]

invest in par15, helicoil kits,  penetrating oil (not wd40) and a torque wrench so you can torque them to the correct value