[DaveSTi]

Final Impression of the BC Racing BR Series Coilovers:

I feel that these are a great budget coilover. Yup, I used the words great with budget together in one sentence. Over the past year, I've taken the heat for standing up for these things and quite frankly, I'd do it all over again. They perform well. They improve the ride quality. For $1000, what else do you want?

Clicks make a difference in ride quality and performance. It's apparent that this isn't a subjective feeling of improvement either. Countless people who use this coilover system happen to find similar settings on theirs for comfort and performance. Too many for it to be subjective. I've done back to back damper adjustment tests with unknowing passengers and asked them if they noticed changes. As little as two clicks and the responses have been affirmative.

I have not experienced any problems with them that could not be fixed by checking the spring preload, or lubing. I have had a great time on the backroads around here and had fun wringing out every last ounce of damper oil in them at the Tail of the Dragon with back to back to back to back runs through.

My advice with these is to know what you're getting into and know what your plans are with the car. For a budget autocross setup, these are the ticket. You will compete. These have gone to Nationals and with an amazing driver, have done very, very well. Countless autocrosses have been won or placed with these. They are not a mythical setup put together by a 3 fingered blind 10yr old in a far east basement.

Now, with that all said...there are downsides as one would expect in this price range. For me, it was namely two issues that I felt could be improved. The first one was strut travel. 122mm. Even the Bilstein PSS9 comes with 134mm and the AST/KW setup are over 160mm up front and 190mm plus out back. that's substantial for a street car. The second issue was the valving. It was apparent that over crazily repeating bumps that would make PennDOT blush, the valving couldn't keep up with the extreme movements of the suspension. Over the worst bumps and potholes, you'd get the rebound-induced bounce that would shoot you up in the stock seat like a trampoline at times. Chalk it up to running on basic Tokico-level shocks.

Lastly, I'd like to add something that I've come to realize after more years in this aftermarket game than I should have...namely, it's not really about the product itself all the time. Sometimes, its really more about the level of support and knowledge thats out there for the part. Josh at Import Image has done a fantastic job with keeping customers happy and if anyone is stuck on which budget setup to buy, that kind of service will make the decision for you that much easier.

So my final review on these coilovers considering price and level of ride quality and performance is a very solid 3.5 stars out of 5. That's compared to all the suspensions I've riden on from Stutgart to Tokyo to Detroit. Not a bad compromise.