Advance Design coilovers

[Elephant]

Anyone going to be at Mid Ohio the first weekend in April or Putnam Park the second weekend? No bling, no pics, no worries, just good driving and good fun. Anyone?

Oh, regarding AD's....I had a set long ago (which I think I sorta said earlier) but never installed them. The fronts are inserts as Skafrog said, they look pretty much like any other insert except they're red and I think the body is aluminum. So I sold them to a friend of mine locally for his KP car. He installed the whole set up and I think he drove the car maybe two weekends. I think his only comment was that it was a big improvement over dead Koni's. ; ) Then he sold everything off and is now E30less (poor sap).

Perhaps I missed it.....did you mention what rates you plan on running and the purpose of the car? I'll try to reread the thread.....

Skafrog...no worries. ; )

Cheers.

[Jean]

Well, obviously the reason for this thread is to talk about the AD stuff, not just pictures, sorry e-blinging does not apply. There is plenty of that elsewhere with slammed rides and stretched tires. :drink:

[Skafrog]

Well, I am wasting time in this thread.
I dont really have anything else constructive to say. I figured since everyone wanted to see pics, you thought it was a different setup, considering you even called GC to find out that they are not a different strut assembly. Then you say you are researching info on the setup. I just wanted to make it clear there is nothing "special" about how you go about installing them, taking pimpy photos, and e-blinging your ride. You order the coil-over kit, camber plates, and the shocks. Same as a koni / bilstein order.
I leave the competition as an exercise to you. I didn't win it, I was part of a team.
Jack, sorry to turn this into a nightmare.

[Jean]

Yea, plenty of times.
Advance Designs are not a special suspension setup. They are an insert, the same as a bilstein, koni or otherwise. It's not a coil-over system, you still need all the adjusters, springs, perches, etc etc.
AD's are very stiff shocks, you might end up being overdamped if you are going to run softer spring rates.
Why are you planning on running these shocks?

Did I say they were special ? Do they have to be special or do they have to work better than OTS stuff , what matters here? I said they aren't off the shelf like Koni/Bilstein. Since they are obviously designed to work as coilovers with the right hardware why does it matter if they aren't COILOVERS from the box if they'll be used as such anyway ...

I don't see your point. If you got something constructive to add go for it, otherwise you are just wasting time.

Saying your won DM isn't saying much, w/o listing competition in the class ;)

[Skafrog]

Yes, they are an insert but to say they are the same as off the shelf koni/bilsteins is not fair if not wrong. Recently a guy switched over from Koni/Eibach combination to AD and shaved over 10 seconds at a track (not autox). That's a BIG difference.

Dude, no one is saying they suck. What the hell are you reading? I said they are an insert, which is exactly what a Koni or Bilstein is. I didn't say they perform the same, but yes, they are in fact an insert, which is 100% correct. If I said "AD's perform the same" then yes, call me out on it.

I was commenting on the fact that every person on here besides Jack wanted pics, and who the fuck cares about pics? It's an insert. All you are going to see is a red tube with two adjusters at the top. You cant quantify the stiffness from a picture, or the shortened body for reduced stack height.

Oh and BTW we won 2005 Regional DM and 2nd Place National DM with blown Koni's, so dont push the improved track times too much.

[Jean]

Yes, they are an insert (You CAN order them with modified strut housings with all the hardware if you like, or save the money and modify the strut housings yourself) but to say they are the same as off the shelf koni/bilsteins is not fair if not wrong. Recently a guy switched over from Koni/Eibach combination to AD and shaved over 10 seconds at a track (not autox). That's a BIG difference.

I already have the perches and springs (500front/650rear) and it's quite easy and not expensive to get another set of springs if I find I need to...

Local fast SM guy with a quattro TT just ordered an AD set for his car on Koni adjustables to get closer to the times of the other fast SM car on KW v2 custom valved coilovers.

[Skafrog]

Yea, plenty of times.
Advance Designs are not a special suspension setup. They are an insert, the same as a bilstein, koni or otherwise. It's not a coil-over system, you still need all the adjusters, springs, perches, etc etc.
AD's are very stiff shocks, you might end up being overdamped if you are going to run softer spring rates.
Why are you planning on running these shocks?

[Jean]

Just so you know, AD's on your car makes it into a pine board.

AD's are an insert by the way, everything is the same as a GC coilover suspension except AD's have a blue and red adjuster on top.

I am not sure what you mean, have you used / installed these ?

[Elephant]

Dammit, I didn't answer your question....yes, you can choose whatever spring rates you want with the AST kits. They are typically built for an average spring rate range but custom valving is no issue whatsoever, they can be built to whatever you like.

Cheers.

[Elephant]

Oh, I realize the AD's are monotube but a lot of your post was discussing Koni's which are twin tube. The AD's are more like $399/corner right? Or at least they were years ago, I don't follow the GC stuff really anymore.

Cheers.

[Elephant]

No biggie :)

FWIW the AD's like the AST are monotube. What nationally competitive cars out there are using AST coils ? Also, is there a choice of spring rates with the AST kit ? Looks like a quality kit utilizing the available camper plates made by another manufacturer.

A national winning car like the Sias tuning m3 below is on AD's :)

The AST's are relatively new to the US market but have been widely used in Europe for a long time.

Not that everyone and their brother will immediately switch from AD's but realize that there has been nothing in the US market that was of this design other than AD's or uber expensive Moton's, JRZ's, etc. That is one reason.

Other reasons include sponsorship....if you're getting something for free or nearly for free or there is something in it for you then certainly a product has merit...assuming it's decent, the majority of competitors anywhere will not take junk even if it's free.

I think a lot of it has to do with what has been available and at what price though.

I started shopping for suspension last summer for my car knowing that I wanted a race set up, IE something like a Moton. I looked into Moton's and JRZ's but the price is just plain crazy. As indicated in a previous post AD's were not a consideration. That pretty much left me with upgraded "street" kits or fully custom. I was pleased to hear of the AST introduction, it fit the bill at a reasonable price for what I wanted.

Cheers.

[Skafrog]

Just so you know, AD's on your car makes it into a pine board.

AD's are an insert by the way, everything is the same as a GC coilover suspension except AD's have a blue and red adjuster on top.

[Jean]

No biggie :)

FWIW the AD's like the AST are monotube. What nationally competitive cars out there are using AST coils ? Also, is there a choice of spring rates with the AST kit ? Looks like a quality kit utilizing the available camper plates made by another manufacturer.

A national winning car like the Sias tuning m3 below is on AD's :)

[Elephant]

Hello,

You should make another thread for AST kits with all the relevant information / links etc. IMHO if I was going to drop $2400 on a coilover kit I would also consider Motons and the like. There is a big price difference between spending $399 a side and $2400.

I've dealt with GC years ago, and recently and have no issues at all. Not my first time buying stuff directly from them.

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't trying to take over this thread with product pinging. I won't post anymore stuff about that here. I was just wanting to point to another option, that's all.

Regarding Motons...if you're going to spend $2500 you won't even get half a Moton damper set let alone a complete kit. ; ) But you're also not looking at equal product comparison the same way the $399/side is not the same as $2400/complete kit.

Cheers.

[Jean]

You can see what I have up currently for the AST selection (I'm actually working on more products for the catalog right now) here:

http://www.elephantmotorsports.com/ast-suspension-systems-c-114.html

Be sure to click on the AST technology links. You can also search bimmerforums for review discussions.

I have dealt with GC previously, both retail and wholesale, and let's just say I never ever ever ever will again for any reason whatsoever. To be blunt, if they were the only suspension available for any car, I either would not have a car or my car would have no suspension.

Anyway, I also deal with TC Kline stuff but not as much.

Cheers.

Hello,

You should make another thread for AST kits with all the relevant information / links etc. IMHO if I was going to drop $2400 on a coilover kit I would also consider Motons and the like. There is a big price difference between spending $399 a side and $2400.

I've dealt with GC years ago, and recently and have no issues at all. Not my first time buying stuff directly from them.