Hello, Im a browser of the site and brand new member here. Also i dont have my z yet but will in the next month or so. I have been searching for some coilovers to order "as i have a bad habbit of getting things before i have the car". I have a question on which would be better tanabe or buddyclub products. I am familiar with buddyclub from tunning my SI and love their products but from reading some post about suspension i see a lot of members mention tanabe. I like the price of tanabe better but i know of buddyclubs quality personally. Are they equal or is the $600 more worth for the buddyclub coilovers? also does anyone happen to know the spring rates of buddyclub coilovers and the Tanabe SUSTEC Pro S-OC "not the type 2"? Some info and personal experience with either will be appreciated thank you.

 

I had buddy club coilovers and loved them. They are really comfortable and can handle the corners real well. I can't remember the spring rates off the top of my head, but it was something like 8k front and 9k rear. I think I made a review on it here.

However, I have no experience with tanabe suspension so I can't really compare. Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the input any is appreciated. I had the Buddy Club N+ on my SI and i was happy with them but i am still curious about the spring rates so if anyone has them and some more info feel free to chime in.

 

try searching buddly clubs under the suspension forum here
I'm pretty sure I wrote about the spring rates in a review i made about them

 

We sell both and hands down we like the Buddy Club's better. I rocked the BC's on my car till i had to get way serious with suspension mods for the track that i went another route.

For basic and semi constant track use and all around street use the Buddy Clubs are the best bang for your buck IMO.

 

why are you limiting yourself to those 2 exclusively?

 

I would also look at cusco zero 2 coilovers. I was also pondering about that one and cusco is very known for their suspension.

You should also know that buddy clubs are true coilover rear suspension. Sometimes I would hear sound light tapping noises coming from them in the rear. However, I heard this is normal and everything was fine.

So for street, these are really nice coilovers because they are so comfortable while also providing very good handling. Although I've never tracked them, I feel that they might have been a little too soft for the track. Maybe that's just an illusion because they are so comfortable.

 

Thanks that really sound exactly what im looking for, as i will be driving around the city more than i would be on the track. A suspension that is great for the road but good to hit the track a couple times a year sounds perfect for my taste and thats just how my old buddy clubs were.

Im not necessarily limiting myslef to these two, im huge buddy club fan and would never have to second guess myself to buy any of their products. But i was going through some threads on here and saw people mention tanabe coilovers and tanabe springs but know nothing about them so i wanted to get some input on them. I was also look at ksport but saw a lot of bad reviews on here so i knocked them off my list. Im also been searching on the pioneer d3 as i want to upgrade to stereo and put in aother screen in the cubby but i have found a plethora of threads with the d3 and the mod i want to do. So that antoher topic for another time

when you say true coilovers do you mean the the spring and strut are one part unlike the regular suspension where they are seperate?

 

yes true coilover means shock and spring are together unlike the oem rear suspension.

 

I recommend the Tanabe, good quality, value and performance. Buddy club are more well known to Honda crowd then the Nissan's. I have no real experience with the Buddy clubs though.

 

I'm biased towards buddy club cuz I run em, so buddyclub spec II ftw!

 

Thats where im use to all my buddyclub products is from my honda. Have you ever ridden in a car with the buddy club suspension. If so what was the difference?

 

Agreed and I'll point out that both choices are not in the same vain when it comes to valving and spring rates. Especially since the Buddy club setup is a true coilover setup and will leverage all of it's rear spring power to the rear wheel.

Buddy Club Racing spec coilovers (rear springs on dampners ONLY)
(Monotube construction adjustable dampners, full length height adjustment separate from preload, adjustable dampners)
Spring rates in LBS Front 560 Rear 448

Tanabe Sustec Pro S-OC Type II
Twin tube non adjustable dampning
Spring rates 560/448

Sustec Pro S-OC
Same product as above with the addition of helper springs
“Helper springs assist with rebound stability, ride comfort and keep the main coil spring seated. Preload of the main spring can also be set to zero, for maximum comfort and suspension travel.” Helper springs, generally add in a progressive nature to the spring they are helping.


On paper, both setup's have the same spring rates front to rear. Let's look at how much spring makes it to the wheels for each system.

Buddy Club
285/448

Tanabe
285/161

Pretty big differance.

 

Can someone please kindly explain what these differences mean?

 

Means that the two products will drive very differently when you push the car. The Tanabe setup, unless it's plagued with horrible valving will allow you to be able to get on the throttle earlier comming out of the hole and will be less sensitive to throttle imputs overall. Overall however, the two products aren't really in the same vain, since I don't think it's unfair to say that the buddy club setup is tuned and valved more aggressively then the Tanabe setup. The Buddy clubs rear spring rate bias goes against the results of my own rate testing and agaist the Unitech race team that did the R&D for the Truechoice coilover's, not to mention a few other brands like Zeal and Ohlins. Though in the end, it's up the end user to really determine what rate setup works best since your supposed to test to be sure.