ZZP Coilovers

[Koniig]

Seriously considering ZZP Coilovers for the GXP.

Thoughts? Input? General conversation about coilovers?

Sure, why not.

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

I think dave will be of big help for you.

And I dont think he likes them.

[Koniig]

I was hoping he would chime in on this. As he is one of the few I've heard of who actually has them.

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

I think he bought his coilovers straight from HELD themselves.

[Bio248]

the design is basically a set of struts from our car with a threaded sleeve smashed onto them. you then run linear springs that are held in place by the threaded collar. the lower you go, the less strut travel you have and at a certain point you'll not be able to keep the car from riding the bump stops, but it takes a lot to get there. the top mounts are what are the 'special' parts about the coilovers. no one else makes a pillow ball mount for our cars besides held.

doing it on your own you could probably get away with making this stuff for about half the price of these coilovers, but you'd have to figure out a way to run stock top mounts (which isn't very hard, either).

[matt5112]

You'd still have all of the typical issues like rust in the thrust bearing and finding a boot solution to protect the strut.

[Mr D]

03 GTP. I bought my car 9mo. ago, it drove and handled like a wiley ski-boat towing a fat body. Finally got around to upgrading suspenion. Very frustrating ordeal, too hard to get real info, all I wanted was improved handling over stock. I decided to spend $ on the front, and put c/o on front, mainly because I read c/o were easy to adjust height--I wasn't sure what height would be good for me, and c/o offered high performance.

I like ZZP, in general, and patronize them for my own reasons, but they are FAR from perfect. I went to order the c/o from ZZP and they wanted $168 to ship from western MI to Chicago. Ridiculous. So I contacted HT Motorsports, the company that makes the kits, directly. And very glad I did.

Kind of silly, but ZZP advertises c/o made by HT Motorsports, but the guy / owner (?) Richard also works as, West Shore Fabricators, and recently purchased the company Arraut Motorsports, which is the name is transitioniing to & he does work under now.

Arraut Motorsports | HT Motorsports | West Shore Fabricators | Custom & Specialty Car Parts | Fiero | W-Body | J-Body | Kit Car | Honda

His website(s) is too dense, incomplete, and pourly organized. Regardless, he treated me right! I suggest you contact him directly, too. I'm guessing he can help you with what you need. He sells complete corners, and components. I bought struts from kyboutlet, and c/o kit which has everything else I needed--except tude of sealent to hold threaded sleeve in place around strut body (sleeve SLIDES nicely over strut). He has wide variety of spring rates, he cut the perch off my struts for fair price, didn't try to get over on shipping, shipped promptly. The kits as 5min. to assemble, so don't waste $ on buying assembled.

He seems to be kind of a 1-man show, so calls and emails might take a day or so replies.

I'm sure your GXP handles way better then my broke down GTP ever did, and it hurt my wallet, but udgrading struts was best spent $ for me.

[gtpsleeper]

any review Ive heard said they were over rated...

my .02

[Mr D]

Success is a factor of expectation.

My 03 handled terribly, anything would have been an improvement. I think factory design was not wanted either. For me, it was not just about look of lowering, more about how it handled, esp. hitting hard corners & sharp lane changes at speed without fightiing with a bunch of roll.

My brother had a GXP, totally differnet ride. I wanted to upgrade to get a ride closer to what stock GXP has. Depends on what your looking for? Lowering? Handling? Adjustable?

C/o definately comes with sticker shock. But I did the math. The kit, w/o struts, was $350 for fronts. The springs are $100 pair. That means the kit, w/o struts or springs is $250, thats $125/corner for; threaded sleeve, adjuster nut with washer, custom top plate, hardware--you just need to buy silicone sealent. Now add up tradition build, top plate+bumber+boot+isolators= not that much of a premium for c/o. BONUS--b/c there is no spring perch & you can easily, quickly lower spring so it is not comprssed, c/o are 10x easier to get on and take off.

The thing that made the most sense moneywise for me was to buy a complete strut assembly, but there is not un 'upgrade' option for that. A c/o kit lets you select strut, spring compression rate, and ride height, all independant of each other.

Over-rated? I don't know. So far, I got what I wanted.

[matt5112]

these coilovers come with a downgrade in strut quality.

Yes, and picking all those fun spring rates everyone forget you need a strut valved for that spring rate.

[Mr D]

1st, the GXP is one of best american sports sedans of its time. I dont know what kind of improvements anyone would hope to get, other than just adjusting ride height for asthetic/personal pref.

ZZP RE-sells c/o made by Arraut Motorsport. ZZP sells limited selection of options, 1 option is AGX struts. If AGX is in fact a downgrade for GXP owners, then don't get c/o from ZZP.

If you get the c/o kit without strut direct from Arraut, you buy the strut you want, cut the perch off, and assemble. Arraut has options other than KYB.

From my very limited research, mis-matched spring-rates and strut valving is an issue for everyone that lowers cars, lowering springs or c/o. Anyone with correction to this, please offer up solution to properly match strut/lowering spring combos, I'm sure lots of readers would benefit.

[Bio248]

the correct solution is to get the struts revaved for the specific spring rate you intend on running.

[Mr D]

Hey Bio, can you give us quick run down of what it takes to revalve? Can it be done to any strut? Any reputable shop or specialty? Approx. $?

[Koniig]

From what you guys are telling me, I almost feel like I should just put springs on th Bilsteins. Canucks to be specific.

[Mr D]

What's wrong with your ride? What do you want, lower, stiffer, softer?

[matt5112]

$50-100 seems average.

What you SHOULD do is get lowering springs and revalve and shorten rod.

OR do coilovers with your existing struts, revalve and shorten rod.

[Mr D]

Matt, is that $50-100 for each strut?

And, can a shop revalve any strut, ie the Excel-Gs I put on a couple of weeks ago?

[matt5112]

Thats each.

Those that can, seem to specialize in mono-tubes.

So you'll have to ask them about twin tubes.

Some struts (of both designs) might not be rebuildable either.

[Koniig]

What's wrong with your ride? What do you want, lower, stiffer, softer?

Oh, nothing is wrong.

Just need to get off this 4x4 status.

Wouldn't mind a little bit stiffer ride either.

[Mr D]

Thanks Matt.