[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Unfortunately the ones that "aren't priced too bad" are prone to failure. They are typically constructed from an off the shelf large body shock with a threaded sleeve pressed on with a perch. In real world driving situations that sleeve has a tendency to fail and drop off the shock body. I know people personally that it occurred to with the QA1 stuff.

Coil-overs aren't designed for ride height adjustment. The shock is designed to be at a certain ride height to function properly. The adjustment you do have around that ride height is for corner weighting.

Beyond that, the design of the hybrid coil-over side loads the shock, creating yet another potential failure point.

If you go to an auto-x with a CAM-T class, you won't find those hybrid deals being run by anybody that is a frequent driver. People run stuff that can handle the repeated abuse. Mostly standard coil and leaf springs or the real high dollar stuff associated with aftermarket frames.

For a weekend car that gets driven to and from a car show, yeah they work. It sounds like Chiphead is building something that's going to get pushed pretty hard though.

I wouldnt argue at all that you may want something different for racing applications, I may have missed where that was part of this equation.

I get that a shock is meant to operate in a certain area, but that area is usually a range. I feel like I would argue a little against something like a QA1 coilover setup being prone to failure. Just because the hot rod world is a small one, so things like cams going flat, or those glass fuel filters starting fires tends to make the rounds, and I just havent heard of QA1 or Viking Coilovers constantly failing. Maybe thats me trusting the butt dyno, but I just feel like I would have gotten wind of that.

Im not saying that every system doesnt have its flaws, and Im sure retrofit coilovers do have some drawbacks. But man they have been installed on a lot of projects at this point AND have been used within a small range to set ride height. I feel like it cant be that bad.