Objective Review Of Aftermarket Shocks. Can't Find One.

[sheepscloth]

Guys.

Being a car geek, I obviously have a desire to modify and improve my car.

However, it is a bit of a jungle out there. How do you filter facts from opinions?

There are loads of personal reviews out there: "I bought this bla bla and it is great, highly recommend it". These kind of reviews are totally subjective( although it gives confidence if other people are pleased), as people generally rationalise their choices to be the right ones.

Then there are the manufactures themselves. But they all claim to have the best products and seem to compete merely by using unconsolidated claims, a slap of gold paint and a pic of a sexy girl.

How do you find objective tests?

For instance, at the moment I am looking at which shocks to choose for my TS, so I have tried to search the net for proper( objective) scientific product reviews, i.e knackered shock vs standard shock vs Koni vs Bilstein vs KYB vs etc etc.

I want to see the effect on braking distance, acceleration time, cornering speeds, level of transfered vibrations, amount of roll and laptimes on a test track, etc etc.

Theese kinds of reviews are common when the topic is tyres, you see all the data, dry handling, wet handling, noise level etc etc, so based on your budget you can easily choose the product.

Why does these kind of objective test not exists( I cant find any) when it comes to all the goodies we geeks like to put on our cars i.e shocks, brake pads, anti roll bars etc etc?

Is it because the manufactures don't want us to see that their product are not as superior as they claim? Or perhaps because there is no improvement( ouch :!Removed!: )

Without objective like for like tests, it is impossible for the consumer to choose the product.

If you want the best, all you can do is to chose a known brand and pick their premium product, and hope that the "trusted" brand is not !Removed! you!

Anyway, if any of you guys are aware of an objective review of aftermarket shock absorbers then I would like to see it.

Sincerely

[CorollaD4D]

"or instance, at the moment I am looking at which shocks to choose for my TS, so I have tried to search the net for proper( objective) scientific product reviews, i.e knackered shock vs standard shock vs Koni vs Bilstein vs KYB vs etc etc.

I want to see the effect on braking distance, acceleration time, cornering speeds, level of transfered vibrations, amount of roll and laptimes on a test track, etc etc."

i doubt you'll find such a test. just make a new post and detail what you'd like and im sure some recommendations will follow. we are lucky on here with a large userbase who doesnt mind getting stuck in or modifying their cars, so recommending a set of lowering springs/coilovers etc should not be a problem.

[sheepscloth]

But that is exactly the point. I can find lots of recommendations(opinions) but no objective comparative data?

maybe its just me?

[farhanali89]

you cant compare coilovers, shocks and spring combos yes you probably could but it depends on what aspect.

Ill take this on board to coilovers. Most aftermarket coilovers for our car for example. BC, D2, K-Sport are all made the same and rebranded. If you got a set of coilovers for a mk5 r32 from k-sport it will share the same build structure as the ones for the corolla t-sport.

The only difference is the way they are designed to fit, there basic with a universal pillow ball mount, The same shock absorber.....TThe same spring with the same fast road rate as the other car...Its not going to be about which is better than what on the coilovers its all down to how its set up for which driving style.

Some of us will give a subjective review of saying my coilovers are great but most of us have just had standard tracking done....Where as some one may go ahead and have the coilovers set up extremely well for track use ie corner weighting them, fine tuning the camber on the pillow balls etc etc.

I would say scrap the spring and shock combo get yourself a set of coilovers and have them properly set up to your liking, its a hit and miss with the shock and spring combo for yourself as there arent no third party reviews so what you may want from your suspension can only be fine tuned with a set of coilovers.

[sheepscloth]

Thanks Farhanali

Coilovers are ultimately what I would like, but at the moment I cant afford them.

Although I am specifically looking for shocks at the moment, then my point was more why there aren't many scientific reviews out there of aftermarket parts? I know that sometimes Redline magazine tries.

Cheers

[farhanali89]

ah defo know what you mean its because the market is not huge for our car at all. You cant go wrong with kybs but i would still strongly suggest even going for tein basics at a squeeze without the damper adjustment or even a set of FK coilovers for around 500. FK make great stuff for the german market and they make basic coilovers for the corolla to, They should be a vast improvement from shock and spring combos which could not give you a good balance. Atleast you know with the FKs that they will have the correct match of spring rates for the shocks on there coilovers.