Coilovers - worth the hype?

randomhero199 · Jan 9, 2016

I'm new to the forum, looking at buying or building a JKU. I've owned desert prerunners, vehicles with sway-away, fox and king coilovers, so I'm familiar with them to an extent.

My question is, is the cost worth the hype? It seems like going with a nicely sorted traditional coil spring long arm lift is roughly half the $$. The other thing I've noticed after looking at thousands of photos, very few JKU's are actually running these kits, and most of them that are running coilovers are very serious builds. The issue I can see with coilovers cost wise is at at first glance it doesn't seem bad, roughly $4500 for most kits... BUT doesnt' include any arms, bump stops, steering, track arms - nada! That really drives the cost up to have a similar setup as a traditional coil spring kit.

I'm sure some of it depends on your plans. Mine are selling our newer RZR XP1k-4 door and having the jeep replace it, but also be a DD. I'm wanting to do a couple 5-12 days trips this year, mainly Continental Divide area, and also some of the off-road parks in Texas, but not looking to beat the hell out of a $50k jeep (if that makes sense).

Is the on-road, and off-road really that much better with a coilover setup?

Jackal01 · Jan 9, 2016

Did you see that you can buy King bolt on coil overs with everything you need for $3600 from ORE? You can also spend nearly that on their (EVO) Enforcer which has everything including King resi shocks. Several builds here have bolt on COs and they aren't "serious" rigs per se.

randomhero199 · Jan 9, 2016

It's $3600 for coilovers and mounting hardware... It's almost double with you add long-arms ($2400+), and the rest suspension components.

cozdude · Jan 9, 2016

randomhero199 said:
It's $3600 for coilovers and mounting hardware... It's almost double with you add long-arms ($2400+), and the rest suspension components.

The Evo bolt on coilover kit ($3600) comes with all mounting hardware, brackets, and brake lines needed. The Evo enforcer pro ($4200ish) comes with front lower control arms and the drag link flip kit.

NV375 · Jan 9, 2016

randomhero199 said:
It's $3600 for coilovers and mounting hardware... It's almost double with you add long-arms ($2400+), and the rest suspension components.

But you don't NEED long arms. It sounds like you don't need C/Os for what you mentioned. I know I don't need C/Os but I do want a DTD suspension under my jeep. One thing I would factor in is will you sale the jeep in a few years or do you plan to keep for the long term. I have spent enough on my 2014 I know I could not come close to breaking even if I sold it. Try to read some more on here about suspensions. Things like stock track bars with proper relocation brackets work very good. Don't be suckered in to a kit just because it has lots of items in it. Some of those items could hurt more than help.

Jackal01 · Jan 9, 2016

cozdude said:
The Evo bolt on coilover kit ($3600) comes with all mounting hardware, brackets, and brake lines needed. The Evo enforcer pro ($4200ish) comes with front lower control arms and the drag link flip kit.

I forgot about the enforcer pro. Still proves my point. Thanks.

wayoflife · Jan 9, 2016

randomhero199 said:
Is the on-road, and off-road really that much better with a coilover setup?

Not necessarily. First off, not all coil over kits are made the same. Second, it really depends on how you intend to use your Jeep. If you like to drive hard and fast across the desert, a good coil over setup will do wonders to help soak up the bumps and provide a comfortable ride. If you want really big flex on the rocks, a good coil over kit can provide significantly more compression and droop due to the position of their new brackets and overall longer length. That being said, a good coil kit with a set of big King shocks (such as an EVO Enforcer kit) can offer a better ride than a basic coil kit but due to the length of the shocks, may not provide as much articulation but really, just by a bit. While I run coil overs, it's only because I live and wheel out in the west. If I lived back east, I probably wouldn't be running them especially if I lived in the rust belt. Of course, that's just me.

cozdude said:
The Evo bolt on coilover kit ($3600) comes with all mounting hardware, brackets, and brake lines needed. The Evo enforcer pro ($4200ish) comes with front lower control arms and the drag link flip kit.

This is accurate info ^^^

13_gecko_rubi · Jan 9, 2016

wayoflife said:
If I lived back east, I probably wouldn't be running them especially if I lived in the rust belt. Of course, that's just me.

^^^ this.

I can tell you from personal experience running them in the rust belt on a DD requires a lot of care and protective coatings to prevent rust. Mine got trashed from the salt last winter, just got done rebuild them.

That said the biggest benefits in my mind in addition to the articulation (which you can get close to with coils/shocks) are the packaging and adjustability for ride height. It is nice to be able to adjust the ride height to compensate for number of passengers, cargo, etc when you do different types of wheeling. The adjustability if the coilovers is great and horrible at same time. You can spend a fortune in springs, valving, v etc to get them right. If you buy a quality kit like the EVO one they have this pretty well set up already.

Several of my friends have asked would I do it again. I always tell them this. If you are staying same height lift and have a quality lift dont bother as you already have packaging figured out and your ride height is where you want it. If you are starting from scratch or going up in siz.e, consider them.

One last thing, you definitely dont NEED long arms. That picture is with essentially the EVO bolt on kit. I do have adjustable arms all the way around but they weren't required. You won't get more flex with long arms, it will just give you less fore aft movement as the shock drops as the arc is larger. The are some other benefits to long arms but definitely not a requirement.

Jknewbi · Jan 9, 2016

As some who lives in the rust belt.... What do you do to help protect coilovers? What can you coat them with? Once I save up, I'm deciding between EVO Enforcer with 2.5Kings or the Enforcer Pro.... Both I suspect will need some kind of salt protection.

13_gecko_rubi · Jan 9, 2016

I'm using Gibbs lubricant now. That or fluid film. Wd40 doesn't do sh*t

Jknewbi · Jan 9, 2016

13_gecko_rubi said:
I'm using Gibbs lubricant now. That or fluid film. Wd40 doesn't do sh*t

Thanks, was thinking along this line as well... Where I work we use an LPS product to protect machined parts from rust.

13_gecko_rubi · Jan 9, 2016

well, depending on how things work out, i think we're gonna go with these for sure. i'll let you know how they work out.

I coated mine last year weekly with wd. Nada. I'm not driving it this winter but I would coat them weekly with the new stuff if I did

randomhero199 · Jan 9, 2016

cozdude said:
The Evo bolt on coilover kit ($3600) comes with all mounting hardware, brackets, and brake lines needed. The Evo enforcer pro ($4200ish) comes with front lower control arms and the drag link flip kit.

Reading the fine print, the evo coilover setup states the adjustable arms in front are required, so the enforcer pro would be the best/only way to go. On another note, reading through details of both kits it shows coilover setup able to achieve 12" wheel travel, while the coil spring kit shows 14" of wheel travel, but it's $4650 with similar equipped shocks (king 2.0)

Also - with the coil spring kit there is no mention of aftermarket drive shafts being recommended, or required (I'm a noob, no idea if it's required on all of these lifts).

13_gecko_rubi · Jan 9, 2016

Yes you need aftermarket front shaft on all of them. Rear also if a 2 door

MedixJK · Jan 9, 2016

randomhero199 said:
Also - with the coil spring kit there is no mention of aftermarket drive shafts being recommended, or required (I'm a noob, no idea if it's required on all of these lifts).

13_gecko_rubi said:
Yes you need aftermarket front shaft on all of them. Rear also if a 2 door

Yea this ^^^. They may not say it, but its probably just implied if your serious enough to be shopping coilovers. Definately need the DS like gecko said...

NecessaryEvil · Jan 9, 2016

No matter what you get it will rust and corrode in the rust belt. I think coil overs are better in my opinion; however, they require a significant amount maintenance compared to regular coils and shocks. Especially if u want to drive your jk in the winter.

randomhero199 · Jan 9, 2016

Can anyone confirm the coil spring kit having 14" of travel in comparrison to 12" travel w/coilover. Another kit I'm eye'n is the metalcloak game changer, it's capable of 14" of travel, and sub $4k with their shocks which seem to have great reviews. That being said, it seems EVO is an awesome brand, and great people - their videos are really what has pushed me over the edge to dump some other toys and get into a JKU

13_gecko_rubi · Jan 9, 2016

If you are referring to the 6 pack shocks my buddy broke 3 of them in one year

Sharkey · Jan 9, 2016

13_gecko_rubi said:
If you are referring to the 6 pack shocks my buddy broke 3 of them in one year

Those things are a marketing joke.

JAGS · Jan 9, 2016

Sharkey said:
Those things are a marketing joke.

They call them six packs because only drunk rednecks fall for that shit. Lol.

Coilovers - worth the hype?

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