As of tomorrow, I will be writing a review on the dropzone suspension that I purchased off of ebay. I am apporaching this from a neutral point of view and realizing that I needed something to at least get through the summer.

For a visual inspection, the parts appeared to be nice for the money. The shocks and struts were made in Argentina, but from reviews on WRX and 240SX forums, they have a good track record of reliability for a street-driven car. Very stiff and not bouncy, which is what I was looking for. The springs are very nice quality, being stout and having a good finish on them. They are TUV approved, which leads me to beleive that they aren't total garbage anymore. That FAQ is a little out-dated and people switch their product lines when they deal with low cost compnenets like dropzone or KSport or D2 or anything like that. Just saying that they might be better now than they were before, that's all....

I will write if they are good or @!#$ty, so count me in as the residential guinea pgi for this long argued problem. Please, no grilling or "calling people out" here, this is simply an informative post because I am tired of hearing people say how horrible they are that haven't tried them and I'm tired of hearing people complain about those who have the money for Eibach or Tein and don't care to hear the dropzone opinion. So, as of tomorrow, we will see....


I'll have a sig someday..............

Black: Sorry to "call you out" on this one. But what test equipment are you using? I for one really don't care what changes they've made, who has approved them, or any other PR BS. If they have changed the design, all I want to know is Spring Rate and Sag.

The spring rate should be easy enough to measure. Put a few hundred pounds of weight on it (and exactly known amount) and measure how far it drops (again an exact measurement), do some division and you'll probably come up with a number that's way too high for our cars (like 500+ isn't uncommon).

As for Sag. You might just have to drive on them for a while, as I doubt you have machinery that can compress and release them several thousand times. Measure their uncompressed height before and after. If we're betting on this, put me down for 0.22" sag after 10Kmi.

What this topic needs far less of is personal opinions; whether from experienced drivers, engineers, or average Joes. We need real empirical data on any updated designs.

i'll be looking forward to this review

100 bucks says they are @!#$ty

and before you consider that wager you may wanna look at this post
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=3&i=105654&t=105654

well maybe if he reads mine, and sees that mine is making a noise and his doesnt then maybe he can help me out...im anxious to here this review. im hoping i did something wrong with the install...

if he is putting these on stock struts, they will blow
and i will laugh
because all his answers are in the sticky

themarin8r wrote:if he is putting these on stock struts, they will blow
and i will laugh
because all his answers are in the sticky

the struts that dropzone sells as their own struts are rebadged oem struts so basically it is dropping on stock struts.

im gonna stay out of this though cuz ive had plenty of people who told me i dont know what im talking about so from now on i will let you all find out first hand

if they are re-badged stock struts, how come they ride a whole lot better than when you just drop with springs on stock struts or with just coilovers?

thats because the struts they are giving you are brand new. on the stock supension you have to take into account the miles already on the stock struts.

the struts they sell are rebadged oem struts. they will blow eventually just like any other strut but these struts will blow quicker. if anyone wants to have a conversation about this then just pm me cuz im not going on in these threads

chev_cav04 wrote:if they are re-badged stock struts, how come they ride a whole lot better than when you just drop with springs on stock struts or with just coilovers?

if they ride so much better how come you have a noise problem when you hit bumps?

that is the only problem though. the actual ride is smooth itself.

chev_cav04 wrote:that is the only problem though. the actual ride is smooth itself.

That ride will change. Maybe it is bottoming out like C.T.S. told you. And I read that you spent $362 on this set up...Double that and get some good stuff.

I called up both dropzone and eibach and my shop doing the work called the spring works. They usually do 4X4 but I had them test a set of sportlines next to dropzone and he said that they were indentical in spring rate, only difference were markings on the springs. Rates were around 210 front and 155 rear, which is about what sprotlines are according to Eibach themselves. I would think that with this, the springs should at least be a good alternative to the more expensive springs. I would think that these would be like goldline, just lower priced. As far as ag, you're right I don't have the outragoeusly expensive equipment needed to test that. However, 10k will be about four months the way I drive in the summer so i'll let ya know...

I spent about $275 dollars on the whole setup, that was shipped. So, costwise I couldn't really buy any expensive setup for double that. Ideally, I would've loved to have bought Koni Yellows for my Ground Controls and porbbably still will after I get the money. We'll see here in afew hours what I think and I hope it sheds some light on the "quality" issue that's so hotly discussed here on the org.


I'll have a sig someday..............

so is your car currently sitting on this dropzone setup?

Just got it back!

So far so good. I want to wait to write anything substantial for about 1,000 miles or so, which shouldn't be a problem given I have about 800 miles of planned driving in the next week. I like the drop, espsecially since it should settle a bit lower than it is now. The irde is good, not jaunty or anything like that. We'll see in about one thousand miles or so.


I'll have a sig someday..............

See one problem i see is that the come with brand new struts and those will take a while to blow, if they are rebadged stock struts. It may take as much as 4 months to blow and at that time you may have gotten use to the ride and will say they are fine. I would not have posted. I would have installed waited about 2-4 months then given a review. Any set up is going to ride good on new struts even if they are stock struts. Most people here put on springs on struts with lots of miles on them.

Also another factor is your road conditions if you roads are pretty smooth the time the may go out may take longer. IF you live in a place that has bad roads you can blow struts in less than a month so there are lots of factors. you may drive on smooth road and they last if you are good a year. Someone else deiving in a place with bad roads the struts may only last a month or two. There are many factors that determine the life of the struts.

So please to all who may read this take what i am saying to heart because there are factors here that are not accounted for. Plus the fact like myself in the past you get use to your ride and you think everything is fine till you drive in another cavalier that has something that isworking properly they you realize that your set up is not working like you think, i have been there twice with Eibach Prokit on stock. It sucked after 4 month.
Then Intrax it sucked after 3months. Now my ground control and Koni ride so much better and i have it lower than the intrax.

I will go out on a limb here because to me my rides a little bit better than my friend with Koni and Sportlines. Also, our car ride alot better than KYB on Pro kits that have been on a car for a while.

So everyone here think about it don't jump on the bandwagon from a new install. wait a while if after a couple months he is fine with it i guess we shall see. I just also know many people in my area don't like Dropzone and couple places here will recommend against it.


2004 Grand Prix GTP (Competition Group)
SOLD-->1999 Z24 5M-#30 to register on JBO
"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all the people'
all the time

Well, my roads are both good and bad. Grand Junction has great roads, where as Denver does not. I travel between the two, but live in Denver, so I also get a lot of highway driving, and in the mountains too. Overall, I get a fair amount of diversity when it comes to roads.

Don't just go buy this stuff for sure. I will be reporting on this monthly for the next four-five months and then a yearly after that. This is a review on LOW COST suspension, to see if its' worth anything. Konis and GC are not low cost, believe me. 1,000 for parts and then labor, etc. these were less than 30% of that, so take that into consideration when reading this.

Other than that, see you in a few days after I drive it some more and get some pics.


I'll have a sig someday..............

Well, i've had some good weather to try out a suspension. I drove about 500 miles highway to Moab, Utah and around Arches National Park, encountering anything from new pavement to broken sections to the most rediculous potholes you would ever see. The car rides very well through such things. The drop is leveling out and looks fantastic, ride is better than I expected.

SO far so good, ive driven highway city, dry, wet, snow, and ice within the past few days and the setup seems to work very well. No harsh jaunty ride, just very smooth thus far. I'm sure people will think its too soon to say, but this seems to be a great temp. suspension until I get S-tech springs this summer.

Any feedback is welcome!






I'll have a sig someday..............

Do what you do man! Dropzone is a great short-term use set-up that'll get you around until you can purchase something better.


N2O + Bolt-ons = 220Hp/250Tq

Coming Soon:HpTunersPro, EagleConnectingRods, WiescoPistons, 13sec2200

i had the springs, they sucked monster balls...

bouncy as a fat lady with large tits running down the street....



Portage, MI

^

Did you buy just dropzone coilovers or springs or what did you buy? You said dropzone suspension?

it doesnt matter if its springs, coils or struts. their all garbage

I auto x'ed with my DropZone's and I never blew a strut. 20K + miles on them too. So you know I wasn't easy on them...

I dropped my car the very next day after buying it new from the dealership. Drove it into the shop and knocked it out. Ran stock height for 14hrs or so. I have plenty of people who can back me up on that too, like SpeedRacerZ.

I liked the stiffness for auto x, but a I got a lot of complaints about hide harshness. I didn't care about that though. I also installed the S2000 spring dampners in the rear around 15K. That really stiffened them up...

I liked the ride height. Sat nice and even, no wheel gap. I think they are a good alternative to the more expensive stuff...

Just my experiance. Who knows, maybe I just got lucky...







Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.