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View Full Version : Mitchell3's take on BC Coilovers



Mitchell3
11-30-2013, 02:30 PM
If you know anything about the time I've had my BC coilovers, you probably don't need to read this as you already know how much of a nightmare its been. However, for those who may not know..

In the spring I purchased a near brand new set of BC coilovers. Previous owner had them for only a few thousand km, and stated no issues to me when he gave them to me (take that as you will). They were dirty but looked fairly new. I had them put in and on my short drive I heard a loud clunking on the passenger side on most medium/hard bumps which could be felt in just about everything fairly slightly. It was evening by that time and I was in Toronto to get them installed and I live in KW, so I was going to have to get it checked out at home. Besides, now I'm certain in wasn't the installers doing.

I took it into a shop locally and had them look into it. They checked everything and the coilover looked fine so it would have to be inside the coilover or the end links. They replaced the end links which showed a very slight improvement. At some point they ruined my axle due to their shops procedure on taking out coilovers (this is a completely different thread which this has already been discussed in). So then I was without my car for even longer as it was the end of the day and they needed to order in a new axle. Once they had that on I could drive it again while I waited for a new coilover to come in which was overpriced and I later learned coming all the way from Taiwan. They told me 3 weeks for it to come in. Now, I know that is a load of crap, because with my luck it is ALWAYS longer than originally promised. I wrote into BC asking what the warranty is. He tells me its void as I am not the original purchaser. What kind of load of crap is that, what changed when he sold it to me? Just sounds like a bs excuse so they don't have to cough up a coilover. Over 4 weeks later it finally came in. By this point my coilover sounded like someone took it out and put a piece of wood in there instead. It was so bad and drove me ABSOLUTELY insane. The tiniest bump in the road CLUNK CLUNK. My favourite was when there wasn't even a bump in the road and it still made the noise. It was always a double clunk, basically like the apple juice caps on glass bottles everyone used to pop, but on steroids. Over the process of trying to isolate the location of the noise they moved the coilover to the drivers side (later to be significant) so it was even closer than originally.

Anyway, I got the car in and they replaced it. A feeling of relief to be short lived. Maybe a month at best passed as I happen to be on my way to the same shop just by chance to get my sideskirts on. I am driving down this road that is pretty awful for lowered cars. One of those road that feels like those motorcross bumps all in super quick succession. I hear a clunk every odd bump or so and I'm like NO DONT YOU DARE YOU STOP THAT SHIT NOW. After maybe 5 random clunks it was back in full force all over again. Back on the passenger side since the new coilover whet into the drivers side. I drove around on it for a few weeks as I was PISSED and unsure what to do. I did not want to pay for half a full kit just to buy one coilover again then wait another four weeks. By that time it would be September and all these parts and labour costs shattered any plans I had this summer. Luckily Dave the BMXer had some spare parts that I bought off him for a good price. I had it put in and it was back to normal.. For a week-ish. I started noticing a weird ticking noise in the rear for a couple of weeks. I never got it checked out as it wasn't a huge deal. It eventually went away but the rears a progressively been getting louder at just sheer random noise. I've been trying to convince myself that its just random stuff in the back shaking making the noise. I have yet to try emptying the car and trying that. Around the same time the passenger started clunking again on maybe every 100th bump. It has to be just perfect. Same with another one of the rears. Then the rear started doing it maybe every 50th time. Then it went back to never doing it. Then Thursday of this week I thought it was toast again. Clunked on just about every medium/hard bump just like the first one. Then I get in the next day.. gone. And thats where its at now. Every time I get in my car I am think okay how annoying is my drive going to be today.

Seriously I feel like these coilovers are just a joke. I have had so many issues and they just make the most random noises that NO ONE can explain. It isn't really fun to drive my car anymore, its just a constant cloud over my head; I am always worrying "please dont break please dont break" and when it is making a noise "omg these coils are such pieces of crap. What do they make them out of plastic? I hate this car." I have thought on numerous occasions now to just part it out because I'm just sick of it all, I make plans on whats next for my car and then the coils crap out on me again. Its even worse when you fork out money for mods and THEN they break.

I know other people have ran these coils with no problems. Great you are the lucky ones. I have talked with punkrockjohn and King1337 (i think thats his username) and they both have very similar results with their BC coilovers. So on that note I would NEVER buy BC again and would not recommend to anyone. I probably spent enough money on parts for these coilovers to have bought two brand new sets, and I feel like I got the value of half a set back. If they actually worked with no stupid noises then yes I would say they are pretty good.

Mr Wilson
11-30-2013, 02:42 PM
There's a reason they were only on my car for 4 months or so.

Hyperion
11-30-2013, 02:42 PM
There's a reason they were only on my car for 4 months or so.

And mine for 4 months too.
No wait, that was a different reason.


Why didn't you buy a whole new set when the price of a repair came up?

optiklenz13
11-30-2013, 02:49 PM
Yup. Never buying a BC coils again.. They are absolute crap.

r4mi5awi
11-30-2013, 02:54 PM
Reviews trump price any day. Maybe it was worth the risk since you got a good deal on a used set. Personally, I wouldn't take any product notorious for shitty reviews and multiple complaints even if they gave it for free.

Mitchell3
11-30-2013, 02:59 PM
And mine for 4 months too.
No wait, that was a different reason.


Why didn't you buy a whole new set when the price of a repair came up?
The first one I figured its still cheaper than a new set and then its done with. Little did I know it would be back. The second time I almost did but then Dave had two fronts for a good price so I went that route. Plus I didn't have the money to buy brand new. I am half hoping I just got a bad set and the fronts wont go again, but if that's the case I'm just half way there if the rears go. If they go again I am parting or buying a different set. I was thinking racelands but they don't go as low.. and they are less than BC's so that worries me. If I can I'll buy KW's.

I'm not going to lie, I hate myself for not buying air when I had the chance. It would have been extremely tight financially, but would have saved me so much pain. But then Lee would be stuck with it instead and I didn't want to offload my problem to someone else.

Mitchell3
11-30-2013, 03:02 PM
Reviews trump price any day. Maybe it was worth the risk since you got a good deal on a used set. Personally, I wouldn't take any product notorious for shitty reviews and multiple complaints even if they gave it for free.

I suppose I should have researched. Up until that point I heard them recommended a few times to other people, so I just went off that. I'd also next time find out from the manufacturer what their warranty policy is BEFORE buying. If I didnt have to pay for parts it still would have sucked, but a lot less.

Dave_The_BMXER
11-30-2013, 05:08 PM
Wild. I had mine for awhile and other than blowing up one of the strut mounts on a really bad pothole I never had any crazy noises.

Mine were realllly early build ones though. I wonder if the quality has decreased since then?

The Wolf
11-30-2013, 05:58 PM
Could the way they were setup have contributed to the issues at all?

07carbon3
11-30-2013, 07:18 PM
is it just the BR types that are bad? what about the step up to RAM type/ER type or is the whole company just bad?

r4mi5awi
11-30-2013, 08:04 PM
It's best to leave BC alone. For roughly the same price one can get ST coilovers. Much superior product. "But what about adjustability?" Boohoo speed racer.

Mitchell3
12-01-2013, 04:21 PM
Could the way they were setup have contributed to the issues at all?

I suppose being as low as possible with max stiffness could be hard on them. Its still a poor product if thats the reason. You shouldn't be able to break them within the adjustments they make possible. If you were to start modifying them to get more low then yeah I'd get that.

CH0SiiN1
12-02-2013, 09:56 AM
I suppose being as low as possible with max stiffness could be hard on them. Its still a poor product if thats the reason. You shouldn't be able to break them within the adjustments they make possible. If you were to start modifying them to get more low then yeah I'd get that.

Who's to say that's not the case.. its possibe the person who had the coils before the person you bought them from could have ran a custom set up. Sorry to hear about your horrible experience with your coils, static cars have more road noise then the norm.

Tozer
12-02-2013, 10:45 AM
Who's to say that's not the case.. its possibe the person who had the coils before the person you bought them from could have ran a custom set up. Sorry to hear about your horrible experience with your coils, static cars have more road noise then the norm.

Person before me never used them and I put 2000km max on them

Mitchell3
12-02-2013, 04:09 PM
Sorry to hear about your horrible experience with your coils, static cars have more road noise then the norm.

Me and you have got some shit luck lol. Yeah more noise is understandable. But sometimes I could close my eyes and think I'm driving a grocery cart.

SomeGuy
12-02-2013, 04:29 PM
Poor Mitchell...next time get Bubba, Reddie or myself to do the swaps for you.

BTW - whatever cheap coils standsideways has go ridiculously low, I thought they were racelands but could have been something else?

Hyperion
12-02-2013, 05:53 PM
Poor Mitchell...next time get Bubba, Reddie or myself to do the swaps for you.

BTW - whatever cheap coils standsideways has go ridiculously low, I thought they were racelands but could have been something else?

I did the first swap, and I stand behind my work in this one.

Kiyomi
12-02-2013, 06:10 PM
have had bc coils for two years, all year round. i beat the crap out of them. set at a moderate height, maybe only 1 1/2 inch drop. no problems yet.

sry for the bad luck Mitchell.

The Wolf
12-02-2013, 09:10 PM
Poor Mitchell...next time get Bubba, Reddie or myself to do the swaps for you.

BTW - whatever cheap coils standsideways has go ridiculously low, I thought they were racelands but could have been something else?

They are K Sport

SomeGuy
12-02-2013, 09:26 PM
I did the first swap, and I stand behind my work in this one.

I meant instead of the shop here in kw for the replacement coils, he probably wouldn't have had a messed axle to deal with that way. I thought Mitchell mentioned to me that you did the first swap and I know you know what you're doing.

Hyperion
12-02-2013, 09:34 PM
Yea... That axle thing is pretty dam stupid

CH0SiiN1
12-03-2013, 12:03 AM
Me and you have got some shit luck lol. Yeah more noise is understandable. But sometimes I could close my eyes and think I'm driving a grocery cart.

That's rough.. Literally ;)
Luckily my set up is still holding up strong, I personally have no issues with BC's.. Its my damn motors that piss me off lol. Hopefully you get this sorted with low costs and wish you all the best!!
Josh I think you did a great job too!! :D

r4mi5awi
12-12-2013, 11:25 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gARmn8dDiI8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Mitchell3
12-12-2013, 11:30 AM
Is BC considered low end? I figured low end being like <$700

Thought they were "supposed" to be fairly good. (obviously they aren't)


I'll watch that when I get home.

Dave_The_BMXER
12-12-2013, 12:07 PM
I don't think that's where her popping was coming from at all. That sounded like coil bind.

I wouldn't put BC at low-end either. I'd put raceland and coil over sleeves down there. *shrug*

Olestra
12-12-2013, 12:14 PM
Been running BC coilovers for 25k kms and about 15 months now.
The ride is a bit bumpy but no major issues yet. The only issues I have are:
- On the front coils, the top nut under the adjusting knobs came loose. I could turn them by hand. A quick tightening with a wrench fixed that.
- Sometimes the front springs bind especially when cold. You can hear the spring "pop" when turning at low speed. This is a common issue and common even for OEM suspensions.
- Can't adjust the stiffness on my rear shocks - I couldn't fit the adjusting knobs onto the rear adjusters (they didn't come with adjusting knobs already and I took the fronts and tried them on the backs). It could be I'm a noob and don't know how.

My settings are :
- Front: ~10 clicks from soft up front. Lowered only 1" or so.
- Back: Unknown stiffness. Height is at the top.

Even with this crooked/raked setup, the coilovers are working great *knock on wood*. I need to get my rear shocks adjusted properly and I'll be happy.

CH0SiiN1
12-13-2013, 10:18 PM
Lets face the facts, nothing in this day and age is built to last.. Especially when it comes to the automotive world.
I feel you pain when it comes to car/parts issues but to say that a brand is crap when buying used isn't totally fair considering you can't possibly know what previous owners put the product through. I get that people have had issues with this set up but if you look at the ratio of people who own them, the majority of people are happy and would buy again (well at least I would as mine have been solid). I definitely don't think BC's are the best out there, I would however consider them one of the best in their price range and agree with Dave by not classing them as a low end set up.
I don't mean to sound harsh or against you but you had a issue and you brought it to someone (a mechanic) that should of been able to pin point and fix your problem the first time around. It sounds like he/she didn't know exactly what was wrong and sent you on a wild goose chase, which happens all to often :( , buying parts that don't need replacing. So you can't blame BC for that.. It would really blow if there was nothing wrong with your coils and you had an issue with a oem part in your suspension, it really sucks that you did everything you should have by bringing it to the attention of a certified technician who IMO was to proud to simply tell you he/she doesn't know exactly what is wrong.
I'm not 100% certain this is what happened, its just what I gathered from your write up. I'm also not saying that there is nothing wrong with your coils, its just possible that something else could have been missed or that a certain tech might have tried to get multiple jobs out of one.. I don't mean to stereotype but a lot of mechanics try this a lot.. at least with my experiences with them.
Again, I hope you can get this resolved at a low cost and move on to happier days with your 3 (she's a beauty) and I wish you all the best!!