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There are some factors that are being missed when parts are sold here .
Public liability and insurance - As an importer for a part you are deemed the manufacturer of the product and take all responsibility of that given product . This type of insurance costs a fortune and sometimes hits double figures even for a small operation ! If a coilover/shock/spring was to fail causing damage and it was traced down to the suspension then your car insurance would be chasing the company that imports these products , if the company that imports these products doesnt have any insurance or you yourself imported the parts then its your liability thats at stake . Would hate to be in this position if you hit a Ferrari or drove through a shop front !
Manufacturing costs - A vast majority of the cheaper coilover kits are now coming from China / India . Some of the quality is well below par and there are a few kits that wouldnt even met TUV approval . Before you buy Id be making sure it has TUV approval if its a cheaper kit , all the more expensive kits usually pass with flying colours .
Shopfront and support - Anyone who imports coilovers should have a shopfront and somewhere where they can rebuild coilovers and test shocks . Would you really deal with someone who just makes a quick buck selling parts on the side without any backing if anything was to go wrong ? Just recently an importer for bodykits / exhausts disappeared after taking multiple orders and now cant be found .
The suspension parts itself - The biggest test for any suspension part is motorsport itself . I dont know anyone on this forum that has race level experience to test coilovers to the limit (I could be wrong) , but there are plenty of weekend warriors so we have plenty of people willing to give it a go . On a European car level there is very few actually grass roots racing on the lower end models cars . So , who is gonna hire a track so we can do some real "comparisons" <rubs hands>
Public liability and insurance - As an importer for a part you are deemed the manufacturer of the product and take all responsibility of that given product . This type of insurance costs a fortune and sometimes hits double figures even for a small operation ! If a coilover/shock/spring was to fail causing damage and it was traced down to the suspension then your car insurance would be chasing the company that imports these products , if the company that imports these products doesnt have any insurance or you yourself imported the parts then its your liability thats at stake . Would hate to be in this position if you hit a Ferrari or drove through a shop front !
Manufacturing costs - A vast majority of the cheaper coilover kits are now coming from China / India . Some of the quality is well below par and there are a few kits that wouldnt even met TUV approval . Before you buy Id be making sure it has TUV approval if its a cheaper kit , all the more expensive kits usually pass with flying colours .
Shopfront and support - Anyone who imports coilovers should have a shopfront and somewhere where they can rebuild coilovers and test shocks . Would you really deal with someone who just makes a quick buck selling parts on the side without any backing if anything was to go wrong ? Just recently an importer for bodykits / exhausts disappeared after taking multiple orders and now cant be found .
The suspension parts itself - The biggest test for any suspension part is motorsport itself . I dont know anyone on this forum that has race level experience to test coilovers to the limit (I could be wrong) , but there are plenty of weekend warriors so we have plenty of people willing to give it a go . On a European car level there is very few actually grass roots racing on the lower end models cars . So , who is gonna hire a track so we can do some real "comparisons" <rubs hands>
But at that point you should be asking yourself if the "cheaper" option is actually worth it.
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