Originally Posted by
Vadim
Even if you run CSK's your still limited to stock mounts, thus stock spring replacements. That's because Koni yellow's are still tiny shock bodied, thus running a 2.5" universal spring + adapters gets hard. But running 2.5" universal springs opens your door to better spring options.
One thing you still loose, even with your setup, is adjustable lower mounts. Which means if you want to lower or raise your car properly you have to purchase new springs every time. You could lower/raise your car by adjusting the preload of the spring, but by doing that you are messing with spring poundage. But to top it off you do have to pay extra for billow ball mounts, and camber plates. This is why I prefer just going to coilovers that have all of that adjustable, lower perch being adjustable is a must for me.
Swift springs have been tested that they hold their spring rate throughout the cycle. They also use less coils so they won't bind. If you run cheap ass springs, then forget about it.
Also, any car builders putting any effort into their suspension (and you are if you build properly) will buy the appropriate spring (7" or 8" or 9" etc.) that best gets them into the ride height range they want. Then they can adjust up or down from there if needed. No need to adjust the mount point when getting proper spring length.
Most coilover brands sell crappy bearing plates with their pillowball mounts that aren't worth a damn and don't stand up to the abuse. They often sell an upgraded plate or race edition blah blah that costs you more.
I can tell you from working with suspension engineers and actually running shock tests and mount adapter testing to their fail point that most aftermarket coilovers are junk. I can also say that even with all the crazy adjustability they offer, most people can't get them dialed, or aren't willing to spend the time/effort to dial them in properly. Also, all those crazy 18 way and 32 way adjustables out there have VERY LITTLE TO NO change on the shock dyno.
I won't sit here and say CSK are the best, I know they aren't. Hell, I HATE KONI SHOCKS/INSERTS! But, I will say, that a properly set up adjustable CSK with Swift springs, and a quality camber plate/pillowball mount setup can run circles around 95% of the coilovers out there.
I will also say that running a maxima housing (or custom tube housing of that size) will allow the use of a Bilstein insert which in my opinion will get you much better results than the Koni inserts. NONE of these will out perform a Penske or insert other brand here high end race edition suspension. But none of us are spending 5 figures on our suspension, hell none of us are even spending $2500 on a suspension.