Mitchell3's take on BC Coilovers
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.
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Originally Posted by Mr Wilson
