Originally Posted by nmrado

Define identical. 6061-T6 aluminum looks identical to 6061-T0 aluminum, but is ~5x stronger. Looks aren't enough. This is a classic case of "you get what you pay for" ...as with just about everything in life. Your statement implies that Megan EZs are a good buy. I won't say anything negative because I haven't owned a set, but I suspect this is flawed logic.

Originally Posted by gotap1

Foolish of me I did not even check the link. Well this has been a question I direly wanted to ask about these seemingly cheap or rather affordable coilovers. WHY are they cheaper? From the looks of it they seem to resemble other brands. Are they pretty much the same stuff just assembled by a different company? As this case MDU. I assume you can buy these coilover parts in say China and then you can put them together at your desired spec. If you happened to read through the FAQ page of Megan Racing they mentioned that altho' their coilovers are not rebuildable, you can buy replacement parts for their set to fix what ever is broken in your set (they also mentioned that the internals of their shocks resembles that of the Bilsteins). So it makes me think that in China you can source say a shock to your spec base on your spring rate just like as companies like BC Racing or Fortune Auto would put coilovers together base on the Swift springs of your choice. I highly doubt that they make all of the parts of their coilovers. Just like watches you can put together a good wrist watch by sourcing the parts. The only brand that makes all of their own parts is Rolex. So I think in coilovers I would think there's probably also a few left.

So given the facts would it be safe to concur that the best coilover set is the one base on your need and usage? If you would own the S for a long time then it would be logical to source a set that will offer you good service in terms of cost of rebuild, turn around time or even the question of the company still being around.

Now this said coilover has a buy it now price of $300 + shipping of $150. If this is identical to the Megan EZ Street series then it's a good buy.

Originally Posted by gotap1

Now for the material quality it's probably up to what is being ordered. I can imagine a shock body can made out of any alloy for the price.

Now if $500 is all you budget for a so called suspension upgrade and you can justify that then this MDU is it for you. But if you can wait a bit longer and save a bit more then you will have other options. Better? Maybe......if you have the skills to put it to test I guess.

Originally Posted by jonmizu

Originally Posted by nmrado

The material example was just to illustrate that it is impossible to visually tell the difference between some details. I didn't mean to imply that a 40ksi material was required for a damper tube.

I agree with your statement, for the most part. The bold part is really what I was getting at. The stock suspension works really well for a chassis that was mass produced. You can bet they (Honda & Showa) put in some engineering time behind the design to obtain the balance, performance, reliability and affordability they wanted. I bet you're right about the MDUs - they're probably very similar to another series of dampers that a given Chinese manufacturer produces. Chances are, they're a copy or based on some other design that doesn't have the engineering time behind it and thus the pedigree & performance to call it an "upgrade". But I digress....most people could slap these on, drop their car 1.5", be thrilled with the new appearance & "sporty" ride, and be happy with their purchase.

Originally Posted by Back S2k

buy them and report back

goodluck