Does anybody know anything about the DMS coilovers? The thing that caught my eye about them is the 50mm shock piston. I know the importance of having that extra thickness from riding motorcycles. Thicker means less force per unit area. Helps with that high speed stability feel and taking those disorienting bumps at speed. There's nothing like a ride that feels somewhat luxurious even when you're coming down a mountain at demonic speeds.

 

and what are the disadvantages of having a larger shock piston? Surely there must be a reason why all coilover units aren't that big...

 

Large pistons are for higher resolution when limited travel is required. Everything is about controlling the rate of fluid displacement in a damper. So if your car is tuned to have little shock travel, a larger diameter piston allows for greater capacity to travel between the orifices during jounce/rebound. However, I was told that for most streetable cars that have decent shock travel, larger pistons may not have any huge advantage.

 

It's a swedish company, they have a pretty good page, but they don't offer a bolt-on for the FD, you'd have to go full custom. I'm going to look into it for next season. Maybe they can be talked to making something for our cars, their HQ is a 15 mins ride from where I live/work.

 

Cool. If you do look into this, keep me/us updated.
In 2003, I am looking to go to high end coil-overs.

 

Actually Ohlins delivers a couple of options to FD owners, but you will have to import them from Japan.
Here is a pic of the Ohlins PCV, they go for ~17,800jpy. The external resoirvoir adjustables go for ~28,000jpy

 

There was a Silvia article in Sport Compact Car discussing "Bang for Buck" coilovers. Check it out.

 

17,800 jpy=148.54 USD
28,000 jpy=233.67 USD

Or, do you mean 178,000 jpy / 280,000 jpy?

 

$2330 would still be pretty cheap compared to penskes if they offered relative performance...

 

Just for info sake. What attributes are you guys basing this poll on???

Handling, streetability, trackability, the best compromise. What are the specs we're looking for. Cause this is a very relative poll with a huge margin of error.

 

Best handling ofcourse.

primarily track

 

I have a set of DMS 50mm struts on my 240SX; they've been on for a little less than a year.. Currently, the spring rate is 8.2kg front, 6.2kg rear. I might bump this up to 10, later. The car is being daily driven, and with the struts set on agressive dampening, the ride will warrent complaints from a female passenger.

With what you're recalling with motorcycles in the general 'feeling' of a larger strut, I could not agree more. I would have described the same sensations.. Adjusting the dampening to then yeild a smooth ride on city streets makes that female's heart melt.. (it really does, too!)

I am really very suprised that in this poll DMS currently has '0' votes (I intend to put my vote in after typing this).. then again, I suppose that is mainly due to DMS not being very well known outside of rally crowds.

Granted, well into $2000 for a set would keep most people away.. However, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything else that offers such a large piston with independent bump and rebound adjustments, and is fully rebuildable..

I don't want to suggest that the coilovers are only good for impressing the ladies with, however, apart from autocross and very spirited drives in the mountains, I havn't finished building up a car to make its trip to a track worth while.. I mean, I've still got the stock steelies on this car.

 

I'm glad to see some people using the DMS coilovers on here. I plan to take out one of my cd's next month and pick up a set of them. I've checked out the company website a few times and they actually have a 60mm piston set up but I don't think its available for anything but a few cars or something. From what I remember, it was more of an ultimate rally tool than something offered for street cars.
The Ohlins gear was always what the people back home would drool over. Like you were a stud if you had an Ohlins steering damper, fork, or rear shock on your bike... rare rare rare...and expensive. But those fancy pieces to give you what you pay for and they have very unique handling characteristics. You'll be happy with them, but you won't be unimpressed with something else that's $1000 cheaper. I'm very tempted by the prices of the Tein and JIC options, except my car will be exposed to a fairly wide variety of road conditions where I'll be able to get good use out of the benefits of having extra damping capabilities. And for those of us who live in places where the roads aren't as smooth everywhere as some new, updated infrastructure cities, prehaps a bit of rally handling is what we need to keep our tires down to the ground around the patches and imperfections that make racier suspension handle worse. I'd rather have some confidence instilled in me from my equipment, not the feeling of driving on the edge of the blade.....well, at least not all the time. I think I'll go with the DMS. They offer a lot of potential for under 2k. I'll leave Ohlins and Penske for the studs out there who seek the classy stuff.

 

Dents, dips, and imperfections in the road not only make for a rougher drive with a real stiff setup, they can also harm the suspension. In another thread Fookntite said he's driven many of the various setups out there and the A'pexi are his first pick, awesome performance and streetability as well. I think the Tein RA's are one of the more track oriented setups and therefore not as streetable. I hit a dip on the freeway at about 120mph on my way to SS5 and now my front left koni-yellow shock is leaking; heard from someone else that they're notorious for that.

 

I run DMS 50's on my subaru and absolutely love them they are a great set up, by far better than most of what I've seen from the japanese market.

 

What exactly do you mean by "seen" do you have any basis to compare? Have you driven any other setups such as the A'pexi N1's?

 

This is my point also. I've been watching this thread and haven't responded because my basis for comparison is limited. But here goes...

I have the DMS coilovers on my FD. Spring rates 550# front, 450# rear. These are the standard rates, others can be ordered and revalved for the different spring rates. Adjustable from the top for compression and rebound. Top mounts are not DMS, they require the Ground Control mounts for the FD. No brake line attachment for the front, so you have to come up with a method for attaching the brake line. No big deal though.

I've just recently installed them so my experience is only on the street so far. With the settings mostly on the "soft" end of the scale for bump and rebound, the initial compliance is softer than stock. This is for fast movements such as expansion joints and bumps in the road. It is much stiffer for slow movements such as when cornering or dips in the road. It does "hobby-horse" some at street speeds but really is quite acceptable. So the verdict is that it IS streetable. I have many miles on the track with the stock suspension and it becomes, sort of, your old friend. I'll have to give an update on how the new DMS's perform compared to the stock suspension when I finally get them on the track this spring.

Mark

 

M2 says that they were going to supply the DMS's for the FD, so that might mean they make everything work right and fit well. http://www.m2performance.com/psuspen.htm

 

I got mine from Jason at the RX-7store, but it is the M2 setup. They supply the DMS shocks and springs (shipped to M2 from DMS) AND use the Ground Control top plates for mounting. It is a perfect fit, no compromise. They don't have the brake line bracket but it's really not hard to attach.

Mark

 

so you're saying the $600 unit that M2 sells includes the DMS shocks and springs? I thought it was just the ground control coilovers...

 

Buddy Club has been overlooked but there is actually a US distributor...

http://www.superhightechnology.com/p...invID=BC-DAFD3

 

Do you have any information on that suspension GoRacer?

 

(very similar to JIC FLT-A2) 15 way click adjustable, inverted mono tube, aluminum housing, camber adjustable, hight adjustable without loosing shock travel. JDM spring rates are 10kg/10kg and recomended JDM price is $178,000yen/set.

The US distributor is in Pomona, CA Click "here"

 

Whoops sorry, too late to edit above reply.

$358,000yen/set and spring rates are 10k-22k front and 8k-20k rear. The same spring rates (10kg/8kg) are recomended by Tri-Point Engineering and M2 Performance.

 

Awesome, thx for the info GoRacer! I wonder how they compare to the JIC FLT-A2's and the A'pexi N1 suspension (fookintite seems to think this is the best unit available).

Btw, I noticed in your sig you have heavy *** chrome wheels, seems like you're a performance guy, so what gives? LOSE THAT CHROME!!!