Coilover Review, longer than expected:

I originally wanted to up my spring rate from what i'm currently running 6/3.7kg front/rear rate on my HKS S-Compact coilovers. These coilovers have given me, what I think, the perfect balance of daily driven manners and spirited driving. Looking forward towards a K-swap and getting back into HPDEs, I started looking into coilovers to see what was available and with big brother google watching, it started bombarding me with advertisements. One of those advertisements came in the form of a new vendor that we have on the Fitfreak forms, MaXpeedingRods. I saw some items on their website that I was curious about that I can use in another project of mine, mainly some internal engine components for a spare LS motor that I have, along with one of their generic turbos. They didn't really have an application for the GE8 fit, but did see that they had a GD3, which works out since it's a more aggressive 10/8 setup, linked here:

https://www.maxpeedingrods.com/product/coilover-suspension-lower-kit-for-honda-fit-1st-gen-usa-model-2007-2008-damper.html

Seeing people put GD3 on their GE8, I decided to try them out, since the spring rates were right around what I was wanting to ultimately run. Total cost shipped to me was around $280 with a special promo code that I used. Before diving into a more-track oriented coilover, I wanted to see how bearable a 10/8kg setup is on the GE8, figuring that the valving should be relatively matched to the spring rate they're offering.

Packaging:

The package shipped out from City of Industry, CA and arrived to me the next day (I live about 15 minutes away from the shipper address). Everything was well packaged and were individually bagged. Although the exterior of the box had a dent or two, there were not scratches or blemishes that I could see.

Build quality:

Finish and machining looks good, spanners gripped on to the locking collars solidly and the locking collars spun very freely on the shock body. The rear spring perches came with two set of rubber dampening (top and bottom) which was nice, since my HKS rears only had a rubber spring seat for the bottom, but not the top where the threaded spring seat interfaces with the body. Also, the rear spring perches from the MaXpeedingRods coilovers look to be made from billet aluminum compared to my HKS spring perch made out of steel. Small weight difference, but a weight difference nonetheless.

Installation:

Straight forward, except for the fronts, due to the differences of mounting mounts for the brake lines and vehicle speed sensor lines which wasn't a big deal. I was able to swap the fronts without removing the cowl completely, which was a plus this time around for me.

Impressions:

To give some context, I've owned a few macpherson front/rear strut cars along with double wishbone front/rear cars ranging from "lesser" quality brands like Megan Racing (Street spec?) to mid/higher quality brands like the JIC FLTA2s, Buddy club racing spec, zeal B6, Tein RA, Tein SRC, KW V3, HKS Hipermax, Cusco Zero2r and the Cusco Zero3x, with spring rates ranging from 8/6kg on the macpherson setups and 16/16kg on the wishbone suspension setups. Since these are non-dampening adjustable, this can be seen as a pro or con if you like to tinker with rebound/compression. With the higherspring rates, I was worried that I was going to regret that decision.

Thankfully, the valving meshed well with the spring rates on low, medium, and moderate speeds and the car feels very planted without feeling uncontrollably bouncy, though it's less compliant than the HKS coilovers. However, I do feel that the rear's shorter spring, combined with the dual height adjustability of the shock leads to a very short travel shock travel that can sometimes lead to harsh jolts as if it hit the bump stops in the rear. When I put the Maxspeeding coilovers on, I adjusted the rear shocks shorter than the HKS fix-length, which may be compounding the issue by compressing the already-short spring even more. I haven't driven on it long enough with enough frequency to confirm this, but it usually occurs on medium speed (~35-50mph) undulations in the road that are more on the abrupt end of things. Aside from that, the 10/8 spring rates have been comfortable enough in the short term for me to recommend this setup for people who can tolerate a stiffer-than-normal ride on coilovers that will want to take their car up to the canyons for spirited driving, or want to take their cars on the road course, as long as they accompany it with the appropriate tire.


Setup:

2013 Honda fit sport, GE8

16x7 +43 SSR Type C rims, 205/50/16 Ohtsu FP7000 tires

Progress rear sway bar



Thanks for looking and hope this helps shed some light on these coilovers.

Nice box


Wide variety of products.



Springs are quite a bit shorter than the HKS

 

Would you say this is a better route to go vs just a set of lowering springs? Looking for 1-1.5” drop, spirited daily driver. Currently supercharger is removed as the piggyback sh!t the bed but eventually will be going back on.

 

Quality coilovers are. These are not.

 

it would depend on:

-are you doing the work yourself? The cost of installing springs can be 2x the price of installing full coilovers
-how tolerant are you to NVH? Although these are quite a bit stiffer than most off the shelf spring offerings,the stiffer springs lend itself to a placebo that the car is handling on "rails" although it may not be the case due to over taxing the tires,alongnwith the dampening not being matched to the spring rates

If you're tolerant to a rougher ride and you're looking to have flexibility on lowering,these may be for you. The build quality is good,but definitely do not expect for the ride to match the price.they are harsh with no ability to adjust dampening

 

I will have HKS coilovers for sale shortly if you're interested. Those have wonderful dampening,matching the spring rates (6/4kg ?) With inverted front struts

 

What sort of price are you thinking? (Pm me otherwise this could get called a classified post and be deleted)

 

Petawabit - to answer your questions - I’ll be doing to the work - not sure what NVH is - don’t mind a stiff ride but don’t want a time attack feel when driving - not too worried about adjustability in height just to get the stance right and get it a little lower.

I would be very interested in the HKS’s unfortunately price is king for me right now. My son turned 6 mo old today, we have a basement that has to have an interior french drain installed, and have to do work to the work truck. This will be my last mod to the car other than a tune for the supercharger. For the next several years most/all money will be nonexistent. Had some Godspeed’s springs ordered but that got canceled due to no product availability. Could validate spending the difference on these coilovers if they are a better option for spirited daily driver over the Godspeed’s. Otherwise, the difference in cost needs to go to a better place. Sometimes I hate adulting. Anyway, really looking to do this last mod while I can.

I guess the real question is, these maxpeeding coilovers vs sub $200 lowering springs. I will be doing all work. Thanks very much for the input thus far.

 

Have more photos of it apart and me working on it than together but here are a couple.







and this last one it's "lowered" thanks to a whole bunch of wood loaded up inside.

 

Don’t do either. Sheesh.

 

Why is that mike? Is it because both options are crap or the money. Money was budgeted and set aside to do this.

 

I’m interested if you haven’t had any bites yet