What Are Coilovers and Who Buys Them

This article was written by Coilovers.com Owner and Principal, Lou Tortola.

For those who do not know me, I am Lou Tortola, owner of Coilovers.com. We have shipped well over 20,000 coilover kits to drivers looking for the right fit for their car. Along the way I have learned something important. The person buying a coilover kit is rarely who most outsiders assume.

This is my honest take on what coilovers are, who buys coilovers, and why that matters for your own car. Straight from the owner. No sales script.

How I First Learned What a Coilover Kit Actually Was

My interest in coilovers did not start as a business decision. It started in a suburban driveway.

About twenty years ago, my next-door neighbor was a 17-year-old kid with a Subaru WRX. The car lived under a constant rotation of modifications.

One afternoon I came home to find his car on blocks with every wheel removed. He and a friend were taking apart the factory suspension at each corner. Shocks, springs, upper mounts and bushings came off until OEM parts were scattered across the driveway. I thought the car would never go back together as a street-legal driver.

Then a large box arrived. Inside were four fully assembled suspension units, clean and purpose-built, made to bolt on as complete corners. It was the first time I had seen a coilover kit in person.

The contrast stopped me. On one side of the driveway sat a chaotic pile of worn factory parts. On the other sat a precisely engineered system built to replace all of it in one installation. That was the moment I understood that suspension is an engineered system, not a shopping list of separate parts.

So What Is a Coilover Kit, Then?

A coilover kit is a performance suspension assembly that replaces your factory shock and spring at each corner of the car. The name comes from the design itself: a coil spring mounted over a damper. Both ride on a threaded shock body that lets you set ride height. On most kits, you can adjust damping as well.

The real advantage is control. Factory suspension is a broad compromise for an average driver on average roads. That compromise shows up the moment you ask the car to do more than commute. A coilover kit lets you move past it. You set the ride height to your target and tune the damping to your roads. On most kits you can swap spring rates later as your needs change.

The Core Pieces of a Coilover

Watching Dave Finish the Install

Back to that driveway. I was certain the two of them would never get that WRX back together. I was wrong.

A few days later, the car rolled past sitting lower than stock, with far less fender gap. I watched Dave pull out of his driveway and take the curve at our street corner. I could see the expression on his face. He had taken on a serious project at four corners, and he knew the car had never felt this good.

Years later, when the chance came to enter this business, my thinking went straight back to that driveway. Back to Dave. Back to the commitment a real coilover customer brings to a car.

So Who Buys Coilovers?

Here is a reality of this industry that surprises people. When you sell someone a coilover kit, in many cases you never see that customer again. For a lot of buyers, a coilover kit is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase during one specific build. They install it, enjoy it for a few years, and move on to other priorities.

Dave himself moved out of town, got married, and is almost certainly not buying another coilover kit anytime soon. That is a perfectly normal arc. Who buys coilovers again and again is the more interesting question. That core customer base breaks down into four groups.

The Lifelong Enthusiast

This customer modifies every car they own. Suspension is either the first upgrade on the list or one of the most important in the build. A new car arrives every few years, and a new coilover kit arrives with it. They understand that a properly specified performance suspension finishes the car, rather than just lowering it.

The Amateur and Semi-Pro Racer

These buyers have put serious money into their race car once you count motor, cage, safety gear, wheels and tires. They run track days, autocross, time attack and grassroots wheel-to-wheel. A track-grade coilover kit is not a debate for them. They need consistent performance and reliability every weekend.

The Drift Community

Anyone who has been to a drift event knows exactly what I mean. These cars do extraordinary things, with suspension geometry dialed in for the discipline. Coilovers come up within the first ten minutes, and plenty of those spectators end up calling us. Our guide to drift coilovers shows why.

The Seasoned Platform Enthusiast

Corvette owners. Audi coilover conversion builders. BMW owners. Mustang owners. Muscle car builders pulling together something unique. These customers have spent years refining a car, and at some point the factory suspension becomes the limit. Sometimes coilovers are the first major upgrade. Sometimes they are the last piece that brings the package together.

Does Everyone Need a Coilover Kit?

Absolutely not. Most drivers commuting and running errands will never know what a coilover kit is, and they do not need one.

But maybe you care how your car handles, how it sits and how it feels through a fast corner. Then a correctly specified coilover kit changes the car. Not in a subtle way. You feel it every time you drive.

What to Look for When You Are Ready

If you are seriously in the market, here is what I tell customers to think about first.

Your Actual Use Case

A daily-driven street car that sees the odd canyon run is a different project from a dedicated track build. Damping, spring rates and ride height goals all change with how the car will be used. If a seller is not asking how you drive your car, they are not thinking hard enough about what you need.

Platform Fit

Every car has its own suspension geometry and mounting points. BC Racing, KW, Fortune Auto, Öhlins, Feal and TEIN all build car-specific kits for that reason. A setup engineered for a BMW E46 will not work on an S550 Mustang. Fit is the first conversation we have with any buyer.

Adjustability You Will Actually Use

A wide click range is useful on a dedicated track kit, where lap-to-lap tuning matters. On a daily driver, much of that range may never get used. The right kit matches how you actually use the car, not the one with the most impressive spec sheet.

BC Racing's BR Series is a good example of usable adjustment, with 30-click simultaneous compression and rebound on a single knob. Swift Springs SPEC-R springs are an upgrade option on most BC Racing fitments. KW V3 adjusts rebound and compression independently, for drivers who want to tune each one.

The Moment It All Comes Full Circle

I will be driving near my home or somewhere else in North America. Another car will pull up beside me at a light. A WRX sitting exactly right on its stance. You can read it in the ride height and hear it in the suspension.

This might sound corny, but I will often look over and smile. If they smile back, I motion for them to roll down the window. One question.

"What coilovers are on your car?"

The reaction is almost always the same. Surprise, then a broad grin. Someone finally noticed the research and hours they put into the build. Almost every time, they name a brand we carry. Right before the light turns green, I add, "I own Coilovers.com."

And in that moment, it all comes back to Dave's driveway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keep reading: Our guides to reading a fitment listing, comfort and stance and Element, TSX and Accord coilovers.