Megan Racing Coilover shock install and first impressions
 

I know there was a thread for Megan Racing coil overs, but I wanted it to be clear that this is about a real install with real results. The other thread just seemed to bash Megan Racing without much substance. The other Megan Racing coil over thread on this forum is in fact what spurred me to buy these coil overs. Maybe a leap of faith, but I try to support SoCal businesses since I live there and the product actually looked good in the pictures.

I agree that Megan Racing brings products to market at a low price point and the fit and finish is not as nice as more expensive brands, but I am concerned primarily with performance, not reputation or "wow factor". If I were, I would be driving a Porsche Cayman S for $70,000.

Down to the nitty gritty. The shocks were $900. The install went fine. No modifications were needed. The length of the shocks was fine. Some people have suggested they are too long because they are designed for the G37. They are not. When I first set them up, the car was almost 3" lower than stock. I couldn't even get it off the rack because it was so low. Total low rider show car, but not driveable.

I raised it to 1.75" lower than stock (picture below) and drove it for a while. It sucked:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...utt/toolow.jpg

It scraped the exhaust on speed bumps. It scraped the air dam on little bumps under braking. The front tires scraped on the fender liners during cornering or braking.

Then it raised it to 1.30" lower than stock (picture below):
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3.../justright.jpg

Now it looks good and rarely scrapes (no full profile picture yet). It does touch down the Stillen exhaust on big speed bumps, even when I go sideways over them. It doesn't scrape the fender wells.

On to the damping characteristics.... They have 33 levels of adjust with 0-8 recommended for race, 9-18 for auto-x or hill climb and 19-32 for street. I told my installer to set them up for 9 at all 4 corners. They messed up and gave me 9 from softest, which is actually 23. It was a little softer than stock. I changed them to 8. It was too stiff for road use. It was bouncy and tiring. Traction control light would go off on entry to corners before apex because it was "skittering" around. I changed all 4 of them to #12 and they are now a bit stiffer than the C6 Z51 Corvette or C6 Z06 suspension, but ideal for what I call agressive street driving. I've had adjustable Koni's on a supercharged Mustang Cobra, TRD non-adjustable on my lowered Yaris and Pfadt's on my C6 Corvette. The damping characteristics and spring rates are similar to the Pfadt's, but superior to the Koni's and TRD's I have had in the past.

If This coil over system operates for 20,000 miles trouble free, I would give it the highest rating possible. I definitely like it and my 370z handles better than my C6 Corvette did with the Pfadt coil overs. If this system gives me problems, I will report them promtly. The least negative camber I can get with stock adjustability at this ride height is -2.5 degrees rear, -2.0 degrees front.

Here's front and rear install pictures:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...acingfront.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...Racingrear.jpg

Cheers!

-Phim

Thanks for the writeup Phim.

I agree with you there, I've had more expensive shocks in the past and still had reliability issues. sometimes the bargain brands do give you a lot of bang for the buck, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Thanks for the review and pics :tup:

About how long should after market suspensions last, lasting 20k seems a bit short. Everything looks good though.

Interesting. Are the height adjustments capable of getting closer to stock height? I'd like to stiffen up my car a bit (probably swaybars and maybe some chassis stuff first, but maybe some coilovers later), but I'm trying to avoid much drop. Ideally I'd like to stay within an inch of stock. The parking lot entrances around Houston suck, I scrape up the front spoiler pretty badly as it is, no matter how hard I try not to.

I personally love Megan Racing's stuff. I had their street coilovers on my 240SX for about a year with no problems, got into an accident and totaled the car, bent the lower A-arms on two corners. Took the coilovers off and they were fine, so I put them on my next 240. Never any problems even after that.

They really are excellent for the price.

Thanks for the writeup. How difficult is it to adjust damping?

The Megan bashing isnt unfounded. I hope you get to your 20k miles without rattles or anything falling apart. Thanks for the review and for taking the risk to test something out! Let us know how things progress and how they do on the track.

At 1.3" lower than stock, the rear is approaching its maximum height, but the front still has a ways to go. Now that I've driven it more, I've had a few run-ins with low lying objects...usually parking lot entrances in Bakersfield, CA. I think I want to bring it up another .2" to .3" inch. I'll see how much I can get out of the back, then match that in the front. I'm going to wait for a month to let it "settle" before I realign it. On a side note, my tuning shop knew I would be in for multiple adjusts and charged me $650 for install of shocks/sway bars with with 3 yr/36,000 mile guarantee on align, with agreement that I would get realign at 1 month. A little pricey, but the right thing to do, IMO.

On a side note, I have about 250 miles of "spirited" driving on these coil overs and the handling is outstanding compared to stock. The car still tends to understeer while braking, but I think that is a function of 245 width tires and a 54/46 weight balance. Other than that little quibble, this car is outstanding! I rented an '08 911s in Vegas a few months ago (7k miles on it) and the handling prowess and feel of my 370z with coilovers and sway bars beats the stock 911s hands down.

I'm expecting 60+k miles from them, which will be longer than I own this car. I was just saying that if $900 coil overs go 20k miles, that's good enough for me because this is a low mileage "pleasure only" car.

Apologies for the images, they're from iPhone.

Just hand turn the knob on the top of the shock. There is 32 clicks. Here's a picture of where the front adjust is:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...rontadjust.jpg

The rear is more challenging. You need to remove the fat anchors that go into the palstic side panels in the rear cargo hatch, one on each side. Then gently pull the plastic side panel away and little plastic tabs inside will give way and let the panel be pulled loose. Then you can see the adjuster knob. Squeze your hand through the small hole to turn the knob. Then gently press the plastic panel back into position, feeling the tabs re-seat into their correct spots, then push the single, fat , locking tabs in each panel, then push in the center of the locking tab to "lock" it. It takes me about 10 minutes to do front and rear adjust, but it can be hot and dirty. I put on gym cloths and set a little box fan next to me to cool the intake runners and whatnot.

Here's the rear adjustment:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...rearadjust.jpg

Cheers!

-Phim

Thanks for the pics.

Side profile picture of the final drop you ended up with?

rabble rabble... megan racing... rabble rabble... hate them... rabble rabble...Z looks good... rabble rabble...

Not yet. Going to wait for a month for the springs to settle, then do final adjust. The first picture was -1.8". It's currently at -1.3" and still scraping on some objects. Also getting tire rubbing under hard cornering over bumpy surfaces.

Thinking about going to -1.1" because of scrapining in front fender wells and undercarriage (with stock sport package wheel/tire combo).

Will post pictures when I get final height adjust and alignment done.

I've had megan racing coilovers on 2 of my past cars, and they are excellent build quality. They are in fact made by the same company that produces coilovers for Apex'i, Greddy, ETC. If you want to bash Megan's quality, you might as well bash the other companies.

Taiwan Bor-Chuann= BC-racing =

My only gripe about both sets I've owned, (WRX and AE86) was the valving was not refined. Mostly the fact that the shocks did not have enough rebound dampening and I would get some really nasty high speed bouncing on rough freeways. However, seems the OP likes the handling characteristics of his setup...

Sorry I've been lazy. Well, I've been working on other projects.

Final specs are that by my tape measure, I am lowered 1.2". That is 26.5" pavement to fender, front and rear. On the final ride height, my rear camber was -2.6 degrees. I was a little much and went with SPC camber kit. Final alignment is -2.1 degrees front and -2.2 degrees rear.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...utt/Camber.jpg

camber before was this:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...utt/before.jpg

Camber after was this, but also with 15 mm Ichiba spacers:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/0153.jpg

Car now looks like this:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/side.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...earquarter.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...ontquarter.jpg

In regards to Mattjk's comment, I think the compression and rebound are well matched. I don't see any bad handling characteristics, but this is my first car with coil overs. After 1200 miles on the Megan Racing coil overs, I have settled on 10 clicks from the firmest setting and the car handles phenominally. My driving experiences include 2006 Corvette Z51, 2007 Z06, 2008 911S, 2008 Cayman S, 2009 335i with sport package (coupe) 2004 360 Modena and a variety of less sporty cars. The 370z with this set up is the best handling car I have ever driven. Steering is light and responsive, with excellent feedback. Lateral accelleration is phenominal. Cornering is incredibly flat. Transitions are flawless. Road handling at 90-100 mph is as stable as 50 mph. I haven't had the car faster than that for prolonged periods to really know how "soft" it gets at high speed. I am absolutely thrilled with this car other than the fact that it is underpowered compared to some other sports cars on the market and compared to some of the cars I have driven.

That's a fine list of cars there... if you say the shocks handle washboard stuff well, I will seriously consider the megan's.

I'm leaning toward these also, bang for the buck is my game!

I'm surprised 1.2 inch drop, lowers the car that much. It looks good though just was expecting more wheel gap with such a small drop.

Coilover explosion level 9000 - Subaru Legacy Forums

Hopefully you have better luck than that guy.

Sorry, I still won't run taiwan junk. For the guy that said that BC is the one making the coilovers for APEXi and Greddy: He is dead wrong, even if he is correct. When was the last time a greddy or APEXi coilover detonated?

He hit a pothole...I've done that and broke a coilover housing in to two peices(expensive set too) before.
Now if the car was driving along and didn't hit something then I would see your point.
Any coilover can be trashed since the housing is so narrow! If that car was up north then I bet that it was a gaping hole he drove into. I used to live in NYC and have seen these killer potholes everywhere.
I work at a dealership and I always have folks coming in and blaming the vehicle if something breaks even though they hit something...same thing here. This hasn't swayed me is my point!

I know the positive camber makes your wheels look better, and compliment the vehicle more, but wont it affect your conering negatively?

I bought a set and have to say first impression is excellent!! The quality is very high! I've had H&R, Koni and Bilstein coilovers on past vehicles and these are actually nicer looking.
I decided to buy these since I promised the wifey I would attempt to find the best bang for the buck! (minus my wheel purchase) I will have them installed tomorrow. (shipped right to my work).
If I don't like them I'll buy another set is all! ;)

I'm curious to know what your impressions are because I tried sending a PM a couple of weeks ago to Phimosis asking about his impressions now, and he never responded. In for updates! :tup:

Actually so did I with same results.
I just went and pulled the trigger.
I haven't been able to find anyone who has had coilovers from Megan with issues! It's only been word of mouth from folks who haven't owned them. I'll let you know!

Coilovers installed!! All is good so far! Happily surprised by the CNC quality. Install went without a hitch! I believe the kit has gone through some changes. The top mounted adjuster in the rear is now side mounted. Now you just have to reach in above the tire to adjust dampening! Here are some quick pics!! (My Ebay Suspension)
3 days arrival time and packaged correctly!
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7...verdeli.th.jpg
Comparisons...
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3...vsmegan.th.jpg
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5...smegan2.th.jpg
Adjustment Locations...
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1...loseup4.th.jpg
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3...loseup5.th.jpg
Ichiba Camber Arms work just fine...
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1...erlink2.th.jpg
Settings have been adjusted to full hard and full soft to verify they work and boy do they!!!!
I have them set at 7 to 8 up from full soft right now. My Sway bars will be in soon so I may change them at that point! I've had the better name brand coilovers and these ride just like them.
I'm guessing that the workers get paid 5 dollars a week or something in order to establish the good pricing! I'll continue to drive and update as requested!

Good to know, Kev! How's the ride height? In for more updates soon! :tup:

hmm I've always been wondering how good these will be for our cars. I was debating on purchasing these for my civic hatch because of all the good reviews. It also helps that megan racing is down the street from my house... Hopefully more people will post their reviews about them.

Another Update! I just installed my Hotchkis Sway Bars and the vehicle is very stiff but
good!! Compliments the coilovers nicely!
I can go another half inch down in rear and completely tuck the fronts if anyone is wondering about remaining threads!
My TPMS won't register though! :icon14: Nissan couldn't get them to sync! Waiting on advice from VIP Status!

I'm about to pull the trigger on these or the Stance gr+ coilovers. I need a very basic street coilover system and these seem to fit the bill.

Phimosis & kevr6 >>> do you still give the Megan your seal of approval? have any issues arose?

The only thing I have noticed is that the dampening could be a pinch better with the spring rates provided but still good for the money!! So far happy with my purchase.
TPMS has been set and working fine also/ Decided to purchase my own Nissan TPMS tool!!

Hey Kev,

Did you also need to get a rear camber kit, do you have any pics of the car post-install, and have you experienced any rub or scraped bottom yet? :confused:

I just wanna know before I pull the trigger also. :tup:

Yes on the camber link for the rear.
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1...amberlink2.jpg
Yes I rub (front fender liner) at my current ride height on occasion at highway speeds or bad bridge transitions and major bumps. I've dialed up the coils a bit to help that but ride height would need to go up a half inch or so to eliminate completely.

^^^ occasional minor rubbing on a plastic fender liner is something I could live with for the perfect ride height/stance. Rubbing on suspension components, metal ribs, actual fender is a different story.

Ill be ordering these up very soon. FYI - just confirmed all new Megans coilovers for the 370z will have the rear dampening adjustment on the side like KevR6s...no more prying the rear plastics to adjust.

Hmm, that is interesting that you had a good experience with megan racing. When i had their coilovers on my 240sx there were a load of problems. For example the springs would pop whenever i turn the steering wheel, the spring perches would continuously loosen and the bottom mounts would also loosen. The final thing that made me sell them and never look back was the horrible dampening in them. I could barely feel a difference with the soft to hard settings.

Thanks for the update guys.. Im really a bang for the buck guy too and if these really offer "80-90 percent of coilover functions" for the street then its worth the money. But I would like to see if they can hold up to the abuse of the track...?

Im thinking under agressive driving the valving and oils used will eventually breakdown and wear really fast then you might just feel all spring instead of any damping.

Street and Occasional Track days - Bang for the Buck?

Full Track - May not be up to the challenge?

Any other Megan Racing Users please feel free to chime in?

Cheers
htt760

I've found that the dampening happens more on the downward compression but not on the upward motion. High speed constant bumps can get annoying. I haven't had any perch issues but there is a slight thunk on occasion from the pass rear. Now I've noticed this since it's gotten cold here so not sure if they are sensitive to ambient temps. Keep in mind, if I decide that the dampening is not good enough for my likings I will just buy another set and sell these cheap!

how do adjust the ride height for the front and rear.
In the rear, do you have to take out the bottom bolt and spin the lower half up (to lower) and down to increase height?

Same for the front as well, you need to unbolt the bottom bolt and spin the bottom of the coilover body?