Hi guys, ok I'm in a bit of a dilemma here.

Recently I started getting a noise from one of my rear coilovers (JICs)

Now yesterday I took out the rear coils (JIC) and installed the OEM coils (On the rear ONLY)

Now the noise is gone so obviously one of my JIC coils in the rear was busted.

Now my question is:

"Is it ok to drive the car with OEM coils in the rear and Aftermarket (JIC) coils on the front"

Of course the front end is lower than the rear now and the rear is slightly lifted but driving wise and handling wise it feels ok. But would this mis-match of coilovers cause me any problems in the foreseeable future?

Would you advice that I install the front OEM coils now since the rears are OEM as well?

Would it be adding more stress to the chassis or coils somewhere because the fronts are JICs and the rears are OEM?

and I don't plan on going for aftermarket coils anymore because the roads here are just too f*cked to deal with on a daily basis.

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I would just go OEM if you're not planning to fix the coils.

Any pictures of the busted coilover? Maybe JIC can warranty it?

You prefer OEM over JIC coilovers?

 

well I can take a pic but tbh you won't see anything. Even when I took it out I'm shaking it and putting it under pressure (as much as I can) and no noise.

It's only when the car's weight is on it and goes over bumps it sounds like the worst metal to metal noise you've ever heard, there's something very wrong inside them but I'm not sure what.

To be completely fair to JIC, their coils are great and I love them in every way. BUT the roads here are sooooooooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooo F*cked you won't believe me unless you actually come here.

I've had the coils on my car since March 2009, and they have been flawless.

But a few months back I drove over a brick or something on the motorway which bent 2 of my rims!!!! Now I bought new replacement rims and once I put them on the rear coil just gave way.

Do I prefer OEM over JIC......For THIS country..... HELL YES!!!

Driving with any sort of coils or lowering springs in this country is just RIDICULOUS!!! no Joke. I forgot how well the OEM shocks can deal with the bumps and huge pot holes we have here which is what I'm driving on 24/7.

If I was back home in London I'd definitely stick with the JICs, there's just no comparison with the stocks in handling improvement.

But for driving on F*cked up roads EVERYDAY.....Sorry but I'd rather stick to the OEMs.....Took me nearly 2 years to figure that out

I'd still say JICs all the way if you're in the states or a country that have drivable roads.


I'm still waiting for a definitive answer from one of u guys if anyone can help out. Thanks.

 

My guess is, for a little while, you should be okay. But soften up the fronts to match up with the rears if you can (or get them as close to each other as possible) -- it will help balance things out a bit. You can, of course, also raise the fronts a little.

 

Hey Mike, Thanks for the feedback I was hoping you'd reply to this thread.

Well currently the front coils are at the highest setting and on the softest damper setting as well lol.

I'll try and take a side profile pic of the car so you guys can get a sense on how un-even it is (it's not that bad) and driving the car feels fine.

I just need to add more camber to the rear rims since I put the OEM shocks back on. I think right now I've got a bit of positive camber lol they look a bit funny

 

Always glad to help

So even at full height, the side profile is still uneven? Those JIC's are even lower than i thought.

As for handling balance, a lot of things can be done to help get it back to how you want it. Here's a very good article (PDF) explaining things, but pay special attention to the table on page 3 -- good rundown on how to correct for oversteer/understeer.

http://www.mservicegarage.com/Resour...20Dynamics.pdf

 

I really should take a pic of the side profile, I forgot to take one today and I arrived and it was already dark.

Thanks for the info Mike I'll make sure to have a good read tomorrow.

I'll post a pic tomorrow hopefully.

 

Ok here's the side profile pics, any feedback would be appreciated:

 

DROP THAT MONSTER!!!

sorry had to say it hehe

It doesn't look too bad. You should be ok as long as you don't drive too fast or anything.

 

What huh lol I'm nearly always driving fast

So you'd recommend fitting the OEMs on the fronts as well? I mean is it dangerous driving like this? or could I damage anything?

 

Well it's gonna take a while before u fix the rear coils so might as well stick with the OEM coilovers all around.

 

So the rears are using OEM coils but JIC shocks, or OEM on both? It seems rather high even for OEM.

As long as the springs are equal on all four corners (i.e. JIC's) then having OEM shocks in the rear is no different than having the JIC struts/shocks on all four corners, but the rears set to soft, IMHO.

 

The rears are oem shocks and springs which is why it's riding high (I think)

The front shocks are JIC.

Now that I think of it, I'll try and install the JIC springs in the rear along side the OEM shocks and see how that changes things.

Do you think the OEM shocks will be under any more stress when using the JIC springs in the rear?

I dunno if I'm going to get the JIC shocks fixed. Maybe in the future but not anytime soon.

 

^ the oem shocks will be under more stress anytime the car is dropped and will give out early but should not be to much of an issue to swap out later down the road.

 

^ do you reckon that the oem shocks will be softer even with the JIC springs?