Best $600 coilovers?

That's kind of low for decent coilovers, isn't it?

I recall that last time I searched for some coilovers out of curiosity, I found only one lower-priced-but-sketchy-looking option at around 600 or so bucks. Cannot remember the brand for the life of me.

From what my buddies tell me, never go cheap on coilovers.
 
Best $600 coilovers? s***. You may as well just cut your springs and call it a day.

For $600, sway bars ahd/or camber plates is what you want.
 
Most cars decent quality coil overs start at the $1k-$1500 range and go up from there. P5 isn't exactly a "common" model for import/upgrades like a Civic or even a Miata so pickins are going to be slim. Maybe i'm just a cheap ass but I couldn't justify dropping that kind of money into a $2000 car.

Just one man's opinion, it's your money do what you want... but I think You'd be better off with a set of decent shocks and some Tein or Eibach springs. The P5 handles pretty good in stock form, unless it's a dedicated track car I think you'd be throwing your money out the window dropping that kind of coin on suspension. You'd never be able to utilize the full benefits. It would be about the equivalent of buying a Jeep, spend a few thousand dollars putting ARB front and rear lockers, a $5k long arm suspension, gear reduction, etc in it. Then never leaving the pavement. Sure you have a ton of money and probably one of the nicest built Jeeps around but if you never use it then it's pointless when you could have the same "looking" jeep with some tires and 3" lift springs for a few hundred dollars.
 
I have a feeling he's not worried about ride quality or track times. This guy wants hella flush. Buy any old coilovers off of ebay. Your car will be low and the wheels will look cambered out. Your fillings will fall out and you'll piss blood, but that's the price you pay. There's not too many coilover options for a Protege these days and none of them have a decent ride.

If I'm wrong about the hella-flush thing, then your best option is probably to get on Racing Beat's website, buy some Tokico blues and a set of their springs and enjoy your P5. :)

http://www.racingbeat.com/Mazda/Protege.html?id=NXtrMAkw
 
Putting money into a protege to make it handle well is worth it. My friend had a very low mileage protege in the past with suspension that practically felt like it left the factory, and the car handled very well.

Keep in mind that if you have worn items in your suspension like ball joints or bushings, that will degrade handling considerably and you wont know it until you actually refresh your suspension, so theres that.

You can spend the price of the car itself on modifications like an LSD, coilovers, sway bars, camber plates, etc but you will have yourself a brilliant handling vehicle. The protege is a good platform for going fast around corners.
 
Putting money into a protege to make it handle well is worth it. My friend had a very low mileage protege in the past with suspension that practically felt like it left the factory, and the car handled very well.

Keep in mind that if you have worn items in your suspension like ball joints or bushings, that will degrade handling considerably and you won’t know it until you actually refresh your suspension, so there’s that.

You can spend the price of the car itself on modifications like an LSD, coilovers, sway bars, camber plates, etc but you will have yourself a brilliant handling vehicle. The protege is a good platform for going fast around corners.

as fast as that whopping 100 horsepower will let you lol (drive2)

sorry had to throw that in :) As I said, just my opinion and to each their own. But if I were going to drop the price of the car INTO the car I think i'd just buy another car. For example, if I wanted a wagon that handled well I think a better choice would be to pick up a WRX wagon... they handle just as well (possibly better) than a P5 but are AWD and turbo from the factory. You can find a decent 02-03 for around $4-5k and out of pocket costs would be about the same as dumping a bunch of money into a P5.

I like my P5 don't get me wrong... but i've been working on cars and owned many cars for many years. I know what the P5 is... a *very* reliable, cheap, A-B commuter car that's peppy and fun to drive. In that category I think it is top of the list. I can't think of another car in the $2k range I would rather have for that purpose. But what it is NOT is a race car or what I would feel is a vehicle worth dumping thousands of dollars into performance upgrades.
 
as fast as that whopping 100 horsepower will let you lol (drive2)

sorry had to throw that in :) As I said, just my opinion and to each their own. But if I were going to drop the price of the car INTO the car I think i'd just buy another car. For example, if I wanted a wagon that handled well I think a better choice would be to pick up a WRX wagon... they handle just as well (possibly better) than a P5 but are AWD and turbo from the factory. You can find a decent 02-03 for around $4-5k and out of pocket costs would be about the same as dumping a bunch of money into a P5.

I like my P5 don't get me wrong... but i've been working on cars and owned many cars for many years. I know what the P5 is... a *very* reliable, cheap, A-B commuter car that's peppy and fun to drive. In that category I think it is top of the list. I can't think of another car in the $2k range I would rather have for that purpose. But what it is NOT is a race car or what I would feel is a vehicle worth dumping thousands of dollars into performance upgrades.

Personally I disagree. A properly modified protege would be able to go faster into corners than cars costing exponentially more with exponentially higher levels of power. A WRX might be faster, but the engine is full of problems and they do not handle as well as a protege. The protege is not about high power levels, its abot enjoying the chassis around corners. It would be a blast with coilovers and a limited slip diff.
 
As someone that works around Subarus all day long, I would (and do) drive a P5 over a GD WRX.
 
I found a place that builds them out of El Paso, TX I think. 900ish for some decent stuff. Yellow Speed Racing USA. If you've saved up 600 already, what's another 3? :)
 
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