Editor note: In this article, Miguel Lugo will be sharing his 3-month experience with us regarding the MaXpeedingRods 24 Way Coilovers on his civic si, in terms of noise, handling, and adjustability.
Why did I get them?
Like I stated before my car had reached the 200k mile mark and the rubber was definitely starting to show some wear and tear. I knew I was eventually gonna have to get myself a new set of shocks. That’s when I saw the MaXpeedingRods Coilovers and I thought ”Why not, these should go great with my new set-up.”
My first impressions were the box being organized like all things should be.
Something I noticed was that there were no paper instructions in the box for these. Instead you get the instructions for those specific Coilovers on maxpeedingrods.com website.
How to Grease MaXpeedingRods coilovers?
In order to prepare the coilovers I greased the front struts and the pillow ball with some Napa Silicone grease since I read that some people were having noise issues with them.
After driving around it still made a little grunt especially in the parking lot, but I easily fixed that by spraying some WD-40 silicone lubricant directly on the pillow ball to push the grease down to lubricate it better.
Here are a few videos I decided to share that show a little more of what I did to front struts. (Not a tutorial)
- These Coilovers come Pre-Loaded out of the box.
- Loosening spring will mean you will have to Pre-Load the spring 7-10mm.
- Only loosen it if you have knowledge of how to set Pre-Load on the spring.
First, I screwed everything apart and started to grease all the parts that could develop creaking noises after installing.
Then, after greasing everything really well, I set the preload to 7-10mm as stated in the installation manual and tightened everything back up.
I applied some napa silicone grease on the metal shims of the coilovers and on the pillow ball.
After greasing everything I set the preload and tightened everything back down to prepare it for installation.
Note: I only did this to the front struts, I wouldn’t grease the springs in the rear. In the rear, I only lubricated the Strut bushings to avoid seizing in the future.
Difference in handling before and after the coilovers
So if you were to try and install these yourself, just make sure you have some prior experience and necessary tools before attempting to do this.
That said, bolting things up was pretty straight forward except that I ended up having to cut one bolt on the rear struts, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a new bolt.
Here is a picture after installation.
Before I installed these, the car handled pretty well around corners since it comes with sport suspension, but compared to having coilovers you could feel the suspension travel similar to driving a boat.
As you could see in the video, I was able to lower the car about an inch and still have minimal to no rubbing issues.
Basically, after installing these, I can go around corners with a little more “Confidence” since it feels more planted than before.
That’s where the adjustability of these coilovers come in.
These specific coilovers allowed me to adjust damping front and back by 24 clicks soft to hard.
So as far as adjustability goes, I believe the 7k springs and the 24 clicks are good enough if you’re aiming for a daily setup. You can definitely get them softer than the OEM shocks if you wish to do so.
That said, if you’re going after a track or drag racing setup, I would get some stiffer springs for the back since they still have about an inch of flex under load, which is set for a daily setup.
Conclusion: noise, handling, and adjustability
Noise shouldn’t be a concern if you prep them with grease and maintain them properly. Three months in and after applying some WD-40 Silicone lubricant over the pillow ball grease, I haven’t had any issues with the Coilovers making embarrassing creaking sounds.
Handling definitely improved over my stock suspension as I can now take turns in a more spirited manner.
Adjustability was decent for the price range of these Coilovers. I believe 24 clicks should be enough to satisfy any daily drivers out there that want to do business in the front and party in the back.
