There's just too much crap in this thread.
Matching the shock to the spring doesn't mean anything, you're missing a huge part of the equation and that is the mass. And that's assuming you know the geometry and other variables of the car. Picking the right spring and damper combination takes a lot of work and a lot of calculation and time.
I haven't found many asian coilovers that are really matched very well. Their damping trends also aren't the best and that's why they are associated with a harsher ride which somehow people started thinking was a good thing.
I guarantee that no one in this thread has struts on their Supra. The supra does not have a strut type suspension at any end of the car, I know that a lot of people commonly use strut wrong and that is has spread. But supras do not have struts.
Coilovers or spring and shocks are all the same thing in different packaging. You can have an awesome damper that comes as just a shock and a crappy damper in a coilover, just because it's in a pretty threaded assembly does not mean that its properly set up for the car.
Bilsteins and Konis are good examples of off the shelf, OE fitment dampers that can be paired with spring sleeves and 2.5" ID coil springs to make a very nice and cost effective setup. With properly selected spring rates these setups should handle and ride better than any of the entry level asian stuff in terms of street/light track driving (meaning under $2k coilovers) in terms of street/light track driving.
A better setup would be something like IJ has and some of the setups I put together. Using good dampers valved for the car and how the customer wants it to handle. These are better than anything you can get off the shelf unless you're spending a lot of money. And surprisingly aren't as expensive as people think.
There are other springs out there that can be used and not just "lowering springs." I do not like lowering springs for anything other than a commuter car. If there is any intent to keep any of the performance of the car, I would suggest not using lowering springs.
Tim
