I wish I had the money to be able to send free test sets out to some of the shop owners. Maybe some kind of test could be worked out if there was a track day or some kind of driving event coming up, but ither than that, I don't now what to day. You could give it a shot, I'm sure you'll be carrying the line after you drive on them.
So the Bilstein dampers had the best ride quality out of what you've driven on. The thing about ride quality is that it's directly related to grip. People tend to think that poor ride quality comes with a better damper, this isn't the case. The biggest part of ride quality is influenced by the high speed compression characteristics of the damper.
On better dampers, a digressive compression curve is available. This will provide the needed amount of force in the low speed range and then fall off in the high speed range allowing for the bumps and road inputs to be absorbed by the suspension rather than transmitted to the chassis. This is an available feature on Bilsteins, higher end Konis, Penske, Ohlins, etc.
On other dampers, the compression curve is linear, so in order to get the low speed control needed, the high speed compression damping is too high and transmits everything from the road into the chassis. Sometimes less low speed compression is used to try and get the high speed forces down, but this hurts the performance of the damper as much as too much high speed does.
The main function of a damper is to help keep the tire on the road. Think about everything you feel in the driver's seat when driving on subpar dampers. That force is also seen at the contact patch, so if it's disrupting you in the driver's seat, think about what it's doing down there. That kind of input is very unsettling for the car. But if the spring and damper are doing their job and absorbing the impact and dissipating the energy from it and allowing the tire to not get beat up, it will be much better for grip.
So that's why a lot of the JDM and other Asian country's dampers aren't as great as people think. There's a big difference between stiff and harsh, stiff can work, harsh is never good.
So yes, my setup is better than Megan, but that's not really the discussion here. I will also say, that I would be pretty sure that a normal Bilstein damper paired with a good spring setup would also be better. It's not just Megan, it's most of the common coilovers. And the biggest problem is that compression curve being too much for the car. And I'm basing this on a lot of empirical data, not just my opinion. Although I haven't seen dyno plots for every setup and every car, 99% of the time, the asian damper curves aren't that good.
So if you want me to give Megan's a better review, then how about sending me a set for free and see if it changes my mind. I'll even send them back after I test them.
Tim
