BC coilovers for the GT4, yes its for the GT4 Options

[yellowchinaman]

Hi guys and dolls.

BC have recently developed some coilovers for the ST205.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BC-Adjustable-Coilov...A1%7C240%3A1318

Normally eveyrone in the UK only buy Tein an TRD coilovers and tent to avoid every other brands when it comes to coilover.
Recently in GBP isnt doing so well and Tein has also anounced a huge price increase hence putting me into the "definately cant afford" status.

Well the new BC coilovers have adopted the idea of using the origional housing of the stock Super strut shocks and changing the inserts like the D2, k-sport and G4's. In a nutshell it's a crap design but BC's inserts are different as they require you to cut the stock shocks down and allowing you to use the full length of the coilover shocks.

Here are some pictures I've been sent and I've been convinced to be the first to try a set in the UK.










Untill now I've not heard of BC before in the UK but after doing some research, I've found that they're pretty good.
So what's everyones opinion with BC around the world on other cars? Has anyone experienced using them before?

Ray

[celica3000]

last week search coilovers for my celica and find this bc coilovers
it is more cheap than megan racing and tein
they have a site in uk

[yellowchinaman]

That's not the same one Celica3000.
This one is for the ST202 and they never made one for the ST205 untill now because of the complicated superstrut design.
They are a lot cheaper than other brands and I'm more interested in their reputation with other cars.

This post has been edited by yellowchinaman: Jan 25, 2009 - 9:01 AM

[celica3000]

yes, i see it is st 205
i share the information to the guys see it is cheap and read about thesse coilovers

[VinT]

Ray, very usefull information. thanks.
Will you buy them?

This post has been edited by VinT: Jan 29, 2009 - 1:23 PM

[yellowchinaman]

yes I did. Arrived this morning and I'm the first in the UK to have them. I'll be writing aup a review after I've fitted them.

[NGHTKD]

Im going to get these for my Celica...
prefer them over the aliminium D2's, these seem stronger + as you mentioned, reasonably priced.

[yellowchinaman]

Ok so I've had a good inspection of the BC coilovers and read the leaftlets that came with it.
I'vealso taken some close up pictures and voice my thoughts and elaberate on a few features.
The kit for the ST205 is coilovers are the BR Type which is BC flagship Gold and black product.
THere is a thinner one available in the UK which is the V1 design and they are red and black.
The difference is a bit like the Tein Super street and Super drift.

The entire kit looks like this.

None of that silly purple, or metalic blue colour.
It looks sleak and looks like it does the job.
The kit comes with 2 keys, on eslightly larger than the other for height adjustments.
Also included is a long alan key for adjusting the top mounts.

The first think I noticed was its Triple lock ring design boasting that common alu rings chew up the threads after a few adjustments.
I couldnt help thinking the key isnt as heavy duty and thick as the rings its self and that the hooks looked a bit shallow and that after a few slips, I could end up rounding off the rings.


But when placed on teh rings itself, it actually felt quite sturdy but I still didnt like the hooks of the keys being slightly rounded.


The groves on the rings where at a slight angle where the key hooks on quite tightly. Still I'd be cautious about ajusting it at the wrong angle.

Next thing I noticed was that the top and bottom ends of the springs where welded at the tip unlike normal lowering springs on a normal SSS setup.
There is also a L shaped ring seated at the top and bottom of the springs.
This is all so that there is no squeaking or rubbing of metal on metal like what you'd find on TRD and Tein lowering springs. I'm not sure if other coilovers have the same design feature.


Now this set comes with adjustable "TRUE CHAMBER" topmounts in the front but not the rear.
What they mean by true chamber top mounts is compared to the D2, these align upso that the adjustments can move in a perfect horizontal motion not in a 45 degree angle.

The top mount looks pretty impressive. I've seen the TRD and Tein top mounts and this looks like its the business. There's no Hard rubber but made of I believe solid steal same as the rear. Though the rear is not adjustable, it is already fixed at an angle.



The front has bearings which helps reduce the damping force delivered to the pillow and is suppose to be very durable.


Next off is the actual cylinder. They are 53mm pistons which is suppose to be larger than other street competitors that uses 44mm pistons.
And because its not the actual cylinder being inserted into the SSS legs, it is larger and holds more volume.
Wthin the springs, I couldnt help noticing that teh rubber gater which keeps the dirt off looks a bit flimsy. Yes it does the job but it does look like a gineric part.

Pulling it back I discovered what looks like a bump stop inside the gater.


The finish looks 50/50 with these. The shiny end look very shiny and the welds didnt look too bad. Yes some bits looked like an overkill of weld

And some the rest looked nice and consistant

But look carefully at the black paint, it doesn't look very neat. I dont think it was powdercoated bup prayed and around the welds where quite a bit of excess flakes.

Last of all the actual inset.
This is the bit which needs to be inserted into the SS legs.
Its seperate from the cyliner and of clean metal allowing you to spot weld it to the legs.

I'm a bit sceptical about welding this because Im worried about the oil heating up inside the shocks.
But I guess they must have thought this through hence why the insert its self is hollow allowing it to cool quicker

I guess I'll only know on the day at the workshop.

One other thing. The Damping adjuster at the top.
It can be adjusted to 30 levels of firmness.
Unlike the TRD adjustable shocks which just have 1,2,3 and 4
It turns over about 3 times and clicks about every 2 mm of a turn.
It is great that it has 30 settings but I'm thinking that each time I change the settings I'll have to turn it all the way to soft, and count the number of clicks up to make sure its the same on both sides.

Well thats it for now. I should hopefully be welding these to the legs next week and please excuse my poor spelling and grammar.

[trdproven]

Megan coilovers are indeed getting cheaper. Got mine for 800 bucks or so and they used to be over 1000.

This post has been edited by trdproven: Jan 31, 2009 - 8:13 AM

[yellowchinaman]

yeah unfortunately for us here in the uk the GBP isn't ddoing so well so price of imports have gone u alot. Where as it used to cost about £1000 foro Tein coilovers here, it's not about £1500 because the price has gone up too.

[chacha]

please and thank you for keep us updated on this brand...we'll all wait for your opinions...

[celica3000]

good review
send email for bc uk ask shipping to portugal £45 more the coilovers £649
total £694- €787.63 good price
i am attemped to buy

This post has been edited by celica3000: Feb 1, 2009 - 7:06 AM

[azian_advanced]

i'm still stumped as to how these are installed. you'll need to remove the 'base' of your stock suspension in order to fit these? how are you supposed to do that?

[Culpable04]

I think that has to be done only for the super strut suspension, for normal McPherson that's not needed.

[yellowchinaman]

i'm still stumped as to how these are installed. you'll need to remove the 'base' of your stock suspension in order to fit these? how are you supposed to do that?

Its teh bottom legs of the superstrut which is costing a lot of money to make. Thats why D2, G Force, K Sport etc all offers coilover which is inserted into the legs like chaning the hydrolics. But this give a very short travel. Only 3 inchs I believe which is rubbish. Only TRD and Tein make a full superstrut coilover.
This one isdifferent because it requires you to cut the legs down to the bottom and they offer a bigger and logercoilover which in inserted in by about 2 inches and welded onto the stock legs.
This allows thefull travel of the full coilover like TRD and Tein but at less then half the cost.
Look at the first page and you'll understand

I think that has to be done only for the super strut suspension, for normal McPherson that's not needed.

Correct.

I had a bit of set back. The used legs donated to me had broken top ball joints so I need to order them first.

[azian_advanced]

i understand that part, i bought a set of blown superstrut shocks (i wanted it for the lowering springs and top mounts) and it looked like the 'legs' were welded to the struts. my question should have been: how much work is involved to remove the legs from the struts? i already threw mine out a long time ago. i thought they were useless but damn i should have kept them.

[yellowchinaman]

not alot. I've not taken the inserts out personally buy my friend who donated these old ones to me had D2's and he said they came out easily. But it was a messy job. KYB offers replacement inserts. as long as you know the sice and travel range etc.. you can get almost anyone to send you a set of inserts.

[whatthe]

Hey im doing some rearch on lowering my car, and BC coilovers seem to be in a good price range. I have a few questions...how long will these coilovers last (that is if the 205 is close to the 204) and a more generic question. Are coilovers rebuildable/repairable?

[yellowchinaman]

how long will they last is like asking how long is a piece of string?
There's no actual milage garantee but there is a 1 years worrentee.
All the parts can be replace. If you have a BC supplier in your country then you can order replacements parts. Anything specific to the ST205 coilover which is in need to replace would need to be ordered through performance guru in NZ otherwise it's all rebuildable.
I think they do make a macpherson version for the ST202 as well. Check on ebay.

[whatthe]

^yes they make it for the st202/3/4. Ive got my eyes set on these now, time to save up