I am interested in changing my struts due to the fact my 02 still has the factory ones in place. I don't want to spend a boat load of money but want the flexibility of adjustable suspension. I will more than likely never track my car but I do drive it. I was looking around and saw on ebay D2 racing coil over struts. I saw where some of the Boxter crowd has used them with some success but wanted some feed back from our group. They are obviusly not PSS9 or 10's but they are half the price. Any one out there know anything about these struts?
Thanks
B.

 

Sorry, havnt heard any feedback on those. I have H&R coilovers on my 4S. They were $1400 shipped when I found them on eBay. They are a big improvement over stock, allowed me to lower the car significantly but there is no dampening adjustment. Considering the $1200 it takes to install, align and corner balance I just couldn't justify $3000 for the pss10s. Now, if the ohlins were available 8 months ago I would of bought them instead at $2800+-.

 

D2's are basically the same as megan coilovers and are imo crap. I had a pair of megan's on a 3000gt vr4 a while back and ride was horrendous on street. They were stiff, jarring,and you would feel every bump in the road. Driving was almost like a video game where you would try to avoid any nuance in the road. The adjustment which allowed you change the settings did very little if anything at all. Basically you get what you pay for regarding coilovers. For the same price I would just get row suspension.

 

I have been reading other reviews for the Subaru guys and they are indicating improvements over the last few years. Still some mixed reviews. I appreciate the input guys.
B.

 

Don't bother.

D2 goes under a few other brands as well. They are a universal CO company and have absolutely ZERO R&D on Porsches other than fitment.

Their valve dampening is universal across the board regardless if you have Honda or Porsche. Their valving and adjustment range is a joke(search the shock dyno comparison done awhile ago which included these). Also, you can usually tell if the company is joke whenever they offer 24-30 position shock adjustments(purely for marketing). Can you seriously tell the difference between setting 29 and 30? The answer was a no when these were tested awhile ago. Noticeable difference only came on every 5-8 clicks.

If you want maximum dampening refinement with a broad curve to tackle all sorts of bumps and road imperfections for the street, Koni has quite shock dyno curves out there to demonstrate this.

However if all you want is stance and little else and are willing to risk questionable warrant service, be my guest.

Would I buy these for my Honda? Probably. For my Porsche? No.

Btw, I'm running factory GT3 Bilsteins.

 

I had D2 coilovers on a Nissan many years ago, they rode like garbage and clanked and popped. I would not recommend them. I recently put KW V2's on my Mercedes E55 and would recommend the KW brand to anyone.

 

Seconding all of what these guys said.
spent a lot of time in the japanese aftermarket as well and I wouldn't touch most of those "aftermarket" coilovers with a 10 ft pole. D2 is Taiwanese i believe and like other China/Taiwan brands, the valving is not of quality and the ride quality on these is ***** frankly. I wouldn't run them on my normal cars, let alone a 996.

Also, people say they want the adjustable suspension, but do they really ever actually use it? If you're not going to track the car, and you don't live in an area with a rediculous amount of snow you need to get through in the winter, you will probably just lower the car to an attractive height and leave it. In that case a spring/strut combination of quality will be a much better way to go.

 

Ohlins are that good?

 

These are my #1 choice and I would gladly pay a few hundred premium over the Bilsteins personally. Ohlins has some cutting edge tech that you won't find in other current COs and have a good amount of R&D into the Porsche platform. If you can foot anywhere close to $3k, these are the ones to get IMHO.

http://www.ohlinsusa.com/road-track-tech

 

Ohlins are outstanding. I had a set on one of my STi's and it was a better ride than stock, easy to adjust, and didn't give much flex. I was very surprised at how Ohlins pulled this off. My roomate at the time had Tien coilovers on his WRX and the ride was horrible compared to mine.

 

Unless you're tracking the car or raising/lowering the car for winter; a street car really doesn't need constant adjustments to get good use out of adjustable coilovers. Setting the ride height to where you want it is a huge perk over lowering springs. Also if you want adjustable struts to go with the springs, prices usually come up to the same price as coilovers. Then you factor in how much less coilovers weigh in comparison to stock-sized struts/springs.

IMO coilovers are a better way to spend money. But I'm not a fan of having things at a general setting, which lowering springs are the epitome of.

 

good to know... I was leaning towards x74 suspension and with my GT3 seat I hear the ride can be punishing on the street with that configuration but great for track...

so these are the way to go? I contacted Ohlins and they sent me pdf... spring rates are listed as 60nm/mm and 120nm/mm - don't know what the lb/ft conversion is here

these are better than PSS10? I must say I am an admirer of the lifetime bilstein warranty

 

Ohlins produces the best suspension components IMO.

 

Just use the term 'D2 shocks leaking' in a Google search...

 

Also common in cheaper Taiwanese/Chinese made CO's as they often use inferior rubber, seals, oils that are masked by shiny anodized parts and decals with great marketing campaign that is catered towards the broke college kid or the unsuspecting new comer into this hobby.

Also some of these companies try to market their products with a "lifetime" warranty. To me lifetime warranty doesn't mean much if you have to jump through hoops and wait 3 months to get them repaired or if you have to pay someone every year to swap out to a repaired set under warranty. It's just not worth it to a lot of people. If you ever take your car to auto-x or DE, kiss your warranty good bye as well.