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Thread: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Not a lot of info out there for our cars, so I thought i'd start a thread on my install and experience with the coils on my genwon speed. I'll post up a few pics tonight and write a more expanded review up later on... Watch this space!
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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review






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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review


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    Moderator loki's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    how much were they if you don't mind me asking. You can PM me if you don't feel like posting the $$$

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    I paid $1050 shipped from edge. Not including duties. I gotta say im impressed with them thus far. Ive got ksports on my ms2 and these are sefinitely a step up in build and ride quality. And for nearly the same price. Also ISC north america's phone support is very good.

    No regrets here.

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    So initial unboxing impressions. These are well built, look great, feel solid and expensive. They came packed very well, which each component (including the rear shock lower mounts) separated and individually wrapped.

    ISC says they build only their own products in house. No rebranding or generic made in <insert asian country here>. They also claim to have shock dyno tested each spring rate and valving combo to be application specific. I have found no reason yet to believe this is a lie, so I'm going with it. They are, i believe, made somewhere in asia, but designed in Australia.

    Compared to the K-Sports I have on my ms2, the fit and finish of the N1's are way superior. The rubber parts are substantial and _rubber_ not hard, cheap feeling poly (boots, spring perch seats) or hard foam (bump stops). The locking collars are well finished with no sharp edges and the wrenches supplied lock into them very well.

    The adjusters are an interesting arrangement. The adjuster 'key' has an aluminium top with a long 3mm hex shaft, but there is a separate 'head' that threads onto the piston shaft that the adjuster drops inside.. this additional unit provides the 'detents' for adjustment. These parts are very nice looking and all metal. The detents have a solid very positive 'click' feel to them and the adjusters lock in nicely when you drop them down. Optionally for the rears there is an adjustment extender to make damping adjustments from the cabin. I've ordered these because I discovered what a pain in the ass it is to access the rear strut tops through the interior trim. Not because i intend on adjusting frequently.. well maybe i do because i love to tweak crap, but also because rice.

    The camber plates are BEEFY, solidly 1/2" thick billet aluminium, with standard style adjustments and gradations. I haven't been aligned yet so no experience there. Springs are simple black powder coated, with a simple 'model' number printed on them that tells you the un-loaded spring length followed by the spring rate.

    Rear spring perches are solidly made, with Grade 8 bolts to hold the perch to the oem bucket. The collars on the perches have a 5mm hex head lock screw rather than a second collar to lock the perch at it's set height.

    Both front and rear spring collars have a thick rubber seat that isolates the spring from the collar/perch.

    The endlinks they ship with are pretty standard, but feel beefier and better built than OEM. They also have nylock nuts so less chance of loosening after install.

    ISC offers 3 choices for spring rate. Street Comfort, Street Sport and Track. Street sport is what i was recommended for a DD with some light track or lapping day duty.



    Install experience to follow....
    Last edited by DLYDRVN; 09-07-2014 at 12:19 AM.

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    Sr Member Flagrum_3's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    That's a good price! They look pretty decent quality too, first glance anyways.

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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Quote Originally Posted by DLYDRVN View Post

    The camber plates are BEEFY, solidly 1/2" thick billet aluminium, with standard style adjustments and gradations. I haven't been aligned yet so no experience there. Springs are simple black powder coated, with a simple 'model' number printed on them that tells you the un-loaded spring length followed by the spring rate.


    ISC offers 3 choices for spring rate. Street Comfort, Street Sport and Track. Street sport is what i was recommended for a DD with some light track or lapping day duty.



    Install experience to follow....

    what were the spring rates and length for the springs (front and rear)?

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    You know i forgot to look because i was rushed to install >_<. The rears are 230mm i know, ill check the rates this weekend.

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    Moderator loki's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Price is good but are these just another BC coilover at the end of the day is the real question

    Decent quality at that price point would be nice to have as an option

  12. #11
    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    This far it certainly looks like they are a significant step above the usual bc/megan/ksport. They certainly ride a lot better than the ksports ive got and the build is better and nicer looking than the bc or ksports.

    The customer support is great too. I called ISC N.A. and i got... A real person. No phone tree or hold music. That person was in the US and the first person i talked to had the tech support answers i needed. He was friendly and helpful and welcomed me to call back if i had any other questions during the install. So there's that. Its a small thing i suppose when weighed against product quality, but its definitely important to me when deciding what to buy.

    I am sure that these aren't in KW v1, STD or H&R territory, but they certainly seem to fit right in that range @loki thats better than the generic cheap coil market, but affordable and comfortable enough for a DD.


    More to come when im not on my phone

  13. #12
    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Install:

    About as easy as any suspension swap I've done. Height adjustments are as basic as any other coil over set. I had a few questions about setting ride height and preload in the rear, so i called ISC directly and as I've said above I got a real person immediately and he got me taken care of quickly.

    Everything fit perfectly first time, no alignment issues, no weirdness with bolt sizes or anything. You DO have to cut the strut tower centres out if you intend to have the camber plates accessible when they're mounted on the car (recommended). They are a bitch to get cut. The hole saw kept binding on the strut braces. I didn't get a super clean hole right away. Used a die grinder with a straight file. Still not super clean. I will have to go back in and clean it up at a later date as I was way too impatient. The adjustment range is accessible though so that's what matters

    Other than my own issues, fitment was perfect. In fact the bottom mounts on the front struts are slightly undersized so they just slid right into the knuckle without ANY force. Easiest part of the install. The brake line bracket and the end link mount were perfectly aligned and fit. Endlinks were just the right length for the ride height I'm at so my damn sway bar has stopped clunking now.

    The only cons really are that the nuts that hold the front struts on the towers don't have a super wide flange on them, and they are just ever so slightly larger than the holes. They bolted down flat and torqued up properly, but I don't feel _super_ confident about them. I might put a thin washer underneath just to make me feel better about it.

    I torqued everything to factory specs. ISC doesn't list torque specs. And I also hit everything up with a liberal amount of copper anti-seize. Locking collars, shock bodies and spring perches all got a goodly amount. I might look at shock socks for the winter, but ISC actually lists a salt mist/fog test in the literature for the coils, so I'm sure they'll hold up.

    Next up: performance review

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    Jr Member Dubwize's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    When the front strut slid right into the knuckle with little to no effort I had to take a second look. Thought something was wrong. In fact it was just awesome.
    |2012 Mazda 3 GS-Sky [38R]|
    |IKON 18" x 8 w/ Nexxen, BC Racing BR Coils, 6k LED Highs & Lows / LED Fogs, CS SRI, CS Interior LED's, RMM, JBR FSB/RSB, CPE plate relocate, Heavily modified I.C.E.|

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    I did EXACTLY the same thing.. My first thought was "Oh shit... is this the wrong part?" but when it torqued up and clamped perfectly i was like "Oh HELL yea!" No more air hammer to get these things off.

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    Jr Member Dubwize's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    After pounding the old one out, I wasn't looking forward to the process of getting the new coil seated right. Was so pleasantly surprised. I may inbox you for some of that info you got for the rear setup though.

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    For sure. I'm still tryign to get my head around how you do it, but its actually conceptually the same as the fronts, just doing it with two separate pieces

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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Me too. Still trying to dial mine in, or figure out if something is wrong. It seems to bouncy on the highway ATM.

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Agreed... I'm a bit bouncy in the city... but i think it's my rear preload. The basic gist is that you set the ride height rough with the spring perch, then jack the control arm up to preload the spring so it just squeezes it. Then thread the shock body down until the lower bushing is about 8-12mm above the control arm bolt, then jack it up and bolt it in and lock the collar. That sets the preload on the rear spring properly.

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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    One I get some time I'm going to pull the rears and do then again. On another note do you have any creaking noises coming from the fronts?

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    No creaking noises from the coils. By 4point chassis brace is creaking like a MOFO though... I might actually pull it. Also my drivers side CV joints are going so that'll be making some noises too... but actually when I put the coils in i had noises that went away so I'm totally ok with that!

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    Jr Member DLYDRVN's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    Performance-wise so far:

    Ride needs to get dialled in a bit, but MAN my car hasn't felt this smooth over bumps in a long time. Ride is nice and even. Firm and seems to connect with the road well. There are zero noises coming from the coils, and in fact some noises i had had on my other two setups have now gone away.

    There seems to be a bit of bump steer that i wasn't noticing before. Unsure where that's coming from. Have not done an alignment yet.

    Handling has increased noticeably. Turn in response is crisper and more accurate. Fast lane changes are definitely more precise. Less body roll and definitely a more solid connected with the road feel. Grip is also pretty serious too. A few quick yellow-light left turns have been really tight feeling. No tire noise at all. Car just sort of goes where you point, and doesn't complain when you get on the throttle exiting.

    More comfortable car at this stage, handling noticeably better. The ride is much improves driving around downtown T-dot, but in the city i haven't had a chance to hammer on it much. I'll be able to do a bit more this weekend when i get out of the city.

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    Sr Member jay93's Avatar
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    Default Re: ISC N1 Coilovers for 3/Speed3 Install and review

    @DLYDRVN how are the coils today? I'm in the market for something new, as my yonakas blew. (The one year guarantee is over) just wondering if you feel the same about them today as you did when you wrote your review.

    DISCLAIMER:. If anyone is looking for coilovers on a budget DO NOT look at yonakas coilovers. Ive had them on for just over a year with maybe 20.000 to 25.000 and the rear passenger side is done. Please spend a bit more money and buy something of better quality
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