BC Racing coilovers Review

[Joshm88]

Here is a brief review I did for these coilovers over on mcr-vtec

Bor-Chuann Racing coilovers

website: Taiwan Bor-Chuann= BC-racing =

Some 'Taiwanese Domestic Market' yo company info:

We invested all of our energy in product
research, even co-operated with professional race car manufacturer in Japan. Our hi performance shock absorber(with hi low kits), can adjust the damping force, that is very comfortable for you to ride on every situation,
like city ride or cross country or G.T. /
aggressive driving, even on the racetrack.

BC-racing's goal is design and manufacture
best quality performance auto parts and reasonable prices for the whole world.
Everyone can enjoy the Hi technology from
Taiwan Bor-Chuann .

We are ready for having partner with whole
world and have technology to satisfy everyone

Every single BC Racing coilover is dyno tested, each coilover has a metallic sticker tag with individual shock reference and approval to confirm this

A simple diagram of the BR coilover highlighting the enlarged size cylinder diameter so accomodate more oil, helping to reduce temperature increase

Like most high end market coilover offerings, the BC Racing coilovers all adopt a monotube design. Twin-tube designs have low pressure gas to try and keep the oil from foaming as the damper moves. The Monotube damper design uses much higher gas pressure to better stabilise the oil, even under extreme and prolonged use. Because of the larger capacity damper (approx 30% increase over stock) heat dissipation is also greatly improved.

The BR series coilovers (which I have) use a large 44mm diameter piston in a 53mm diameter damper body to maximise oil capacity. As the damper unit operates the oil contained within heats up. The viscosity of oil changes as its temperature varies which can lead to changes in the damping characteristics of the unit.

REVIEW

I recently had these installed on my EJ8 civic coupe at Unit 8. I had been running Tein Basic coilovers before the swap, and have had plenty of experience with other middle of the range coilover options such as Tein Super Street, Buddy Club N+ and even HKS Hipermax which my friends have installed on their various cars.

I had done a fair bit of reading up on these coilovers before I decided to opt for them. Various people on ek9.org had recently had them installed and were giving rave reviews. It turned out that these coilovers are actually manufactured by the same people who used to manufacture Apexi coilovers, in particular the Apexi WS dampers. They are also the same people who manufacture a lot of the Megan Racing products.

Anyways here's some pics of what they looked like out of the box

The coilovers were purchased from and fitted by Unit 8 who did nothing less than an expert job! I was really impressed with Mark who seemed to have both these and the camber kits on in no time! 8)

Here's a few pics of them installed...

As you can see, they are fully threaded, and can go pretty damn low for those who like it scraping :wink: The white tag on the back in the last photo is the approved sticker following the dyno test.

As you would expect, fitment was perfect and had absolutely no trouble setting them up!

I was really impressed by the quality of these, having seen the welds on my Tein basics, these actually appeared better quality :shock:

This is how the car stands at the moment with the BC Racing coilovers and camber kit. Mark didn't want to slam the car too much as it sat quite low already, and any lower my exhaust would probably get ripped off by the slightest bump (because my exhaust was hanging waaaaaaay low at the time!)

I also wanted to let the coilovers settle a bit first before playing around with them!

First Impressions

Genuinely really impressed with these! With the combination of the geo set up and my tyres, the car feels like it is on rails! I almost feel like I could throw it around any corner at speed and not have to worry, where as before I would be far more cautious with the Teins!

Initially I was shocked, since the quality of ride, and the feel I got from the car was more than I was expecting from what is essentially a 'budget' coilover kit, at £579. This was emphasised more so by the fact that my Tein Basic's didn't even compare.....and they are around the same price!!!

I had the damping settings at around mid way, didn't want to set them too hard as I wanted to experience how well they perform without dealing with potential rebound issues!

Impressions after a couple of weeks

Having been using my car as a daily driver for the past couple of weeks, I have been able to experience these coilovers in relation to performance and everyday comfort.

I also had them installed on the recent MCR-VTEC meet, where I got the first chance to give them a good test and push them to the limits. I must say from a handling point of view I was really impressed! Considering the car is only running a D16Y8 at the moment with K&N filter....I was suprised to find that the silver EG in front that I had been following (with the black bonnet) had a B16 in it :shock: Sure, on the straights he pulled away a bit, but in the corners I was right on his tail. When we pulled over with the various Accord Type R's who were deciding to go home, he assumed I had a B16 in there with some pretty expensive suspension upgrades since all he could see in his rear view mirror was my black coupe

I have also had a chance to mess around with the damping settings, and on full hard......lets just say they are back breaking (I'm not allowed them on too hard at the moment otherwise the missus complains )

On full soft they are about as soft as my Tein Basic, possibly slightly softer! Still not as comfy as oem, but I'd rather be able to have notion of feeling from the road than be comfy lol.

There are 30 damping settings, which is a little overkill in my opinion, probably only needs about 10! You can notice a difference with a change of 2 turns, but it remains quite subtle. I imagine the only time this would come in useful would be for fine tuning at the track, which I am yet to explore!

I currently have them set at about 20/30 turns towards Hard, so pretty hard, but not too hard that I'm suffering major rebound issues on shitty roads! I had them set to this on the MCR-VTEC meet and didn't have any problems, except maybe in the gravel car park......that was damn bumpy!


Overall

I am loving these at the moment. Obviously I can only compare them to what other products I have experienced, but I am seriously impressed, the value for money I'd be tempted to say was one of the best out there at this level!

I'd be happy to let anyone on here who is interested experience these, as I am opting as a guinea pig for the Unit 8 boys

But, if the reviews on the various Mazda and Lancer forums is anything to go by, there is yet to be anything bad said about these! I admit I haven't had them for long, but so far so good, and I will keep you all posted!


Plus they come with a cool catalogue with a photo of their HUGE offices in Taiwan, plus full warranty (so if anything goes wrong I can just take them back to Unit 8 ), and like I mentioned they are all individually tested for confident product quality.

Any questions feel free to post up!

 

[ek9cub]

Had these fitted for about 2 months now there spot on, really good handling and easy adjustment.

 

[saxophonias]

Very nice! A couple o friends are interested in these and they are about to purchase them. What spring rates are you running?
Do you experience any bouncy movements especially in the rear?

 

[Joshm88]

Had these fitted for about 2 months now there spot on, really good handling and easy adjustment.

Yeh I'm really enjoying them so far!

Very nice! A couple o friends are interested in these and they are about to purchase them. What spring rates are you running?
Do you experience any bouncy movements especially in the rear?

I'm running 12kg/mm up front, and 6kg/mm in the rear. Feel's good to me, could easily go softer if you want a less harsh ride. With the damping set quite hard and my spring rates, it feels like a go kart

When you say bouncy movements, what do you mean? I wouldn't say it's bouncy, just a firm ride!

 

[saxophonias]

i mean hard and quick rebound. Why so much difference between front and rear? I saw that there is V1 design available for EK/Eg. What is the difference?

 

[Joshm88]

i mean hard and quick rebound. Why so much difference between front and rear? I saw that there is V1 design available for EK/Eg. What is the difference?

I have only experienced rebound issues, with the wheel being pushed down to ground too quickly over uneven road when they are set around 25 turns or more towards hard. You only want to have them set this hard for something like a really smooth track, otherwise you run the risk of loosing traction, which is not good, especially under braking!

I'm not exactly sure why there is such a difference in spring rates front and rear, these are the factory spring rates, but you can specify custom springs rates when ordering

Here is a photo of the V1 design:

I'm not exactly sure what the differences, from what I have been reading, the V1 was the original design, but they have since been revised and the BR is the new design and apparently more advanced? In many of their applications, the V1 is no longer available.

I found this:

New BC Racing BR model test review! - SRT Forums - SRT4, SRT6, SRT8, SRT10 & Dodge Forum

The finish on them looks amazing, packaging was much better then the V1's. The box has an outer shell along with more packing peanuts to protect the coilovers. The suporting welds for the brackets look even stronger then the last design not that anyone had problems with the V1's. The pillow mounts look beefier than the last version and of course they have the larger pistons inside and the boot design looks better as well.

 

[saxophonias]

thanks. Still the BR and V1 design have the same spring rates and they are both available. So what is the reason of having them both out there. In the V1 design i see that there is no protective boot in the interior of the shock which is really bad for the reliability of the shock.

 

[kaks_EK9Rx]

Awesome review JOSH

Where would you advise me to get them from? what model of BC coilovers do you think i should go for my EK9 and what spring rate? ideally would want it to out handle stock EK9suspension, also want the go kart handling type , will be driving on bumpy and country roads so take that into consideration?

Thanks,
Waqas

 

[Joshm88]

thanks. Still the BR and V1 design have the same spring rates and they are both available. So what is the reason of having them both out there. In the V1 design i see that there is no protective boot in the interior of the shock which is really bad for the reliability of the shock.

Yeh that's what confused me a tad too. Simply on the principle that UK dealers are only offering the newer BR series, I'd personally go for them! Perhaps the only reason they are still listed on the BC Racing site is because they are still available while they are phasing them out?

On the BC site is states they do VA, VH and VS versions of the V1 coilover for civic/integra. The VH series is specifically for track use, and comes standard with pillowball top mount. The VA states that is uses a monotube design (same as the BR series), where as the VS does not.

The BR series has an enlarged cylinder and newly designed piston over the V1 designs.

So if you were interested in these, I'd definitely go for the BR series. On one of the Mazda forums in the US, a dealer was offering all customers with original V1 coilovers a discounted upgrade to the new BR series.

Awesome review JOSH

Where would you advise me to get them from? what model of BC coilovers do you think i should go for my EK9 and what spring rate? ideally would want it to out handle stock EK9suspension, also want the go kart handling type , will be driving on bumpy and country roads so take that into consideration?

Thanks,
Waqas

Thanks Waqas! It depends where you are located really? If you have the chance to get to Unit 8 in Lancashire I would definitely recommend them, they will probably give you a good deal on fitting and a geo set up Plus even though the coilovers won't be in stock, mine only took about a week to arrive!

If you plan on fitting them yourself, or are further away! You have the option of ordering from Unit 8 still, or Apex Performance through the BC UK website.

To make the most of them I'd definitely recommend a full geometry set up front and rear, do you have camber adjusters?

EK9 spring rates are 4.3 kg/mm front and rear.

Depending on how bad your roads are, you might want to go with something like 6kg/mm front 4kg/mm rear (I know one other ek9 owner on here is using this set up with BC Racing coilovers and loves thems!). However, saying that, my spring rates are 12kg/mm front 6kg/mm rear, and I live in Manchester city centre where the roads are pretty awful! On bad roads it does feel like I might shake the car to pieces, especially when the damping is set quite hard, but I try to avoid potholes

Maybe if you want some kind of a compromise in order for the go-kart feel, go for something in the middle like 10kg/mm up front and 6/4 kg/mm rear?

 

[saxophonias]

could you comment on the spring rates offered for ep3? The original ones are 8KF and 10K rear. I have the option of selecting 5K front and 8K rear. Would this be too softy?

 

[chet baker]

nice write up , are you thinking about droping it down a bit? if so let us know how you like .

 

[kaks_EK9Rx]

Yeh that's what confused me a tad too. Simply on the principle that UK dealers are only offering the newer BR series, I'd personally go for them! Perhaps the only reason they are still listed on the BC Racing site is because they are still available while they are phasing them out?

On the BC site is states they do VA, VH and VS versions of the V1 coilover for civic/integra. The VH series is specifically for track use, and comes standard with pillowball top mount. The VA states that is uses a monotube design (same as the BR series), where as the VS does not.

The BR series has an enlarged cylinder and newly designed piston over the V1 designs.

So if you were interested in these, I'd definitely go for the BR series. On one of the Mazda forums in the US, a dealer was offering all customers with original V1 coilovers a discounted upgrade to the new BR series.



Thanks Waqas! It depends where you are located really? If you have the chance to get to Unit 8 in Lancashire I would definitely recommend them, they will probably give you a good deal on fitting and a geo set up Plus even though the coilovers won't be in stock, mine only took about a week to arrive!

If you plan on fitting them yourself, or are further away! You have the option of ordering from Unit 8 still, or Apex Performance through the BC UK website.

To make the most of them I'd definitely recommend a full geometry set up front and rear, do you have camber adjusters?

EK9 spring rates are 4.3 kg/mm front and rear.

Depending on how bad your roads are, you might want to go with something like 6kg/mm front 4kg/mm rear (I know one other ek9 owner on here is using this set up with BC Racing coilovers and loves thems!). However, saying that, my spring rates are 12kg/mm front 6kg/mm rear, and I live in Manchester city centre where the roads are pretty awful! On bad roads it does feel like I might shake the car to pieces, especially when the damping is set quite hard, but I try to avoid potholes

Maybe if you want some kind of a compromise in order for the go-kart feel, go for something in the middle like 10kg/mm up front and 6/4 kg/mm rear?

Hey dude,

Will probably give BC UK a ring on Monday at work see what they say and where it would be easier to order the parts.....

potholes are a pissssh take in the UK

to top it up Im gonna purchase BUDDYCLUB camber front and rear

you also have pm

 

[Joshm88]

could you comment on the spring rates offered for ep3? The original ones are 8KF and 10K rear. I have the option of selecting 5K front and 8K rear. Would this be too softy?

Hi mate,

Sorry I wouldn't want to comment since I've never owned an EP3, only ever been in my buddies a few times and haven't experienced him pushing it to the limit. The ride felt ok though, it's not exactly soft to start with! I'm sure BC UK will be able to help you more with this! My advice would be if you like the stock stiffness then stay with something like 8F 10R, (remember that it's going to feel different anyway with new dampers), however if you are looking for something stiffer then perhaps go for even harder spring rates. All it really means is that an 8Kg Front spring is going to require 8kg of load to depress it 1mm, where as a 5Kg spring will only require 5kg load.

But I'd speak to either BC UK, or Stevie at Unit 8 on 01254 702888 (Stevie I know from personal experience is very helpful, and deals with a lot of EP3's, so might be worth just ringing him and asking him )

nice write up , are you thinking about droping it down a bit? if so let us know how you like .

Thanks pal, yeh I'm going to drop it in the next couple of days, the coilovers have settled now and my exhaust is not hanging low anymore so going to slam it I love your cars stance btw!

Hey dude,

Will probably give BC UK a ring on Monday at work see what they say and where it would be easier to order the parts.....

potholes are a pissssh take in the UK

to top it up Im gonna purchase BUDDYCLUB camber front and rear

you also have pm

Agreed, potholes take the biscuit here in the UK! I swear UK roads will be the death of my car lol.

Buddyclub camber kits are really good quality mate! I've got the front ones myself they are reinforced in places that most other market ones aren't! Didn't go for the rears though, simply due to cost, I got the D2 rear ones, which aren't really fantastic, but I don't see much a design difference from the Feel's ones that are £200+ to cheap ebay ones to be honest lol.

pm'd!

 

[saxophonias]

thanks again. They have suggested 5K front and 8K rear. However i am afraid that this will be very softy. Anyway, i think i''ll stick to the suggested standard spring rates. Does anyone know the stock ep3's spring rates?

 

[Joshm88]

thanks again. They have suggested 5K front and 8K rear. However i am afraid that this will be very softy. Anyway, i think i''ll stick to the suggested standard spring rates. Does anyone know the stock ep3's spring rates?

Happy to help dude. I don't think that 5K front and 8K rear will be that soft, standard ek9 suspension is 4.3kg front and rear, and that's not too soft....but it's up to you I'd go with the factory suggested 10kg front 8kg rear!

Not sure on the stock spring rates, can't seem to find them!

 

[Daniel_Ek9]

I am really thinking of getting these soon as my oem suspension is getting worn out..One of the back ones are squeaking.Dont want them to be to hard so was thinking maybe around 10kg front and 5kg rear.Anyone else running something along those figures..Also I am from Ireland so was woundering is there a dealer in Ireland or will I have to get them in from the UK???

 

[Joshm88]

I am really thinking of getting these soon as my oem suspension is getting worn out..One of the back ones are squeaking.Dont want them to be to hard so was thinking maybe around 10kg front and 5kg rear.Anyone else running something along those figures..Also I am from Ireland so was woundering is there a dealer in Ireland or will I have to get them in from the UK???

This guy is running 6kg front 4kg rear:

http://www.ek9.org/forum/photos-videos/9780-ek9-bc-racing-coilovers.html

I'm not sure about Irish dealers, none that I know of, but I'd give Unit-8 a ring, I know they ship to all over Europe (btw they aren't listed on their website since they haven't updated it, but they are an official dealer, where I got mine from ) They are pretty competitively priced too!

 

[Daniel_Ek9]

Yea I think I may get them brought over from the uk..I e mailed apex and the mailed back very quickly..These seem a good coilover but I have been thinking 6kg on front and 4 at the rear wont be to soft??Like I will be lowering it a good bit and dont want to be bouncing off the ground..

 

[Joshm88]

Depends on how low you want to go mate! Email Apex and see what they reccomend

 

[Daniel_Ek9]

Yea I might e amail them tomorrow..Thanks for your help Joshm88...All good reports about them so hopefully I will have some with in the next few weeks