ANNOUNCEMENT: YCW Suspension
 

Exciting!
How do these compare to Xida and Raceland?
And do you have a race record to speak for itself?

Do these self-clearance from the FUCA?

Xida - The current standard for the Miata in the US. Good coilovers
Meister/Raceland - Don't want to comment on these, as that will open up a can of worms. Instead, please view more info on our product/technology/theories on these three links: About YCW, Technology, Dyno Tuning

Race Record - Other vehicles, yes. For the MX-5, these are currently under development, and should be out on the track later next month

From preliminary test fitment on the demo car we have, they clear the upper arms, yes. But we'll know more during testing next month on the track

The website seems a bit broken for me....everything loads huge.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6757080970.png

That's how the homepage looks. It scales to your browser window size. Try widening your browser window

Looks great on mobile....not so much on the computer.

Either use higher resolution photos, or don't let them scale bigger than they should. It looks broken when you try and use it.

Yeah, I need to get the IT guy to increase the resolution of the background images, especially the lowering springs

>race-winning

Please list the races won.

Most of the racing done in the US is on regular Time Attack/Track Day cars. These customers are achieving new PB's

With regards to race-winning, unless you live in Hong Kong/Macau/China, you won't know/heard of the races won if I told you ;)

It looks like more dual perch crap, one shock body for like ten makes of car. I don't care if it won the borchuan invitational cup.

Looks like they are pre-clearanced to me:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d2e14faa74.jpg

--Ian

First, I am a paying vendor and this is a vendor post, so technically I should report you and have your posts deleted from my sales thread, but I won't do that. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even though you are wrong. There is only 1 reason to use a fixed length damper, and it's not because of "better" fit/functionality. Please refrain from trolling our sales thread

Secondly, we are not BC Racing, we do not race in Taiwan and our coilovers are not made in Taiwan neither, so your sarcastic remark there is not appreciated. If you were to actually read the information presented to you, you would realise that almost 90% of the components of our coilovers are made in USA/Europe, and custom-assembled at 3 different locations worldwide, depending on the customer. If however, you are actually referring to how racing in the Asian continent is somehow "inferior" to the North American continent, you are mistaken

Please like/follow our Official Facebook page to stay up-to-date on new products, special offers and project cars: www.facebook.com/ycwsuspension/

ANNOUNCEMENT: Buckeye Honda Racing joins the team!

http://www.ycwsuspension.com/images/fc1.jpg
http://www.ycwsuspension.com/images/fc1a.jpg

Continuing our tradition of supporting OEM Motorsport Teams with our products, (Honda of America, Honda R&D, Toyota Motorsports Europe to name a few), YCW Suspension are proud to announce the addition of a new OEM team member; Buckeye Honda Racing of Ohio

Successfully racing their new Honda Civic Si FC1 1.5T, we will be supporting their endeavours with our new custom-tailored Aurum Series 3-way Adjustable Coilovers with Swift Springs. These should offer a noticeable improvement over their current 2-way Bilstein/Eibach setup.

Our sister company, MFactory Competition Products, will be spicing up the baby Honda's transmission with their new L15B 1.0/1.5way Metal Plate LSD and Forged Gears

Make sure to stay tuned (please like/follow our Facebook page if you haven't already done so!) for updates: http://www.facebook.com/ycwsuspension/

ANNOUNCEMENT: miataturbo.net's own shiuend joins the team!

After deliberation, we are proud to announce that Lars will be joining the YCW Suspension team to help us with testing & development specifically for the Miata/MX-5. Well known throughout the Miata community for his budget turbo builds and DIY approach, we were approached by Lars and offered advice on how to differentiate our brand from the rest.

We take all feedback (whether negative or positive) seriously and feel that partnering with Lars is the correct move forward and will help us become more established in this niche community. One of the comments brought up by Lars was that we needed to explain to the community who we are, what we do and why we are different, rather than just a short announcement about our new website, hoping everyone will visit it and read the information. This will be quite a long read, so be prepared:

Who are YCW Suspension?
In order to answer this question, first let me tell you a little about our history. Most people in the community know of us as MFactory, the world’s largest manufacturer of forged Honda drivetrain components (LSD's, Final Drives, Close Ratio Gears), suppliers to various oem Honda motorsports teams around the globe. Back in 2010-2011, during casual conversation with the team managers, they all seemed to share the same frustrations with their suspension setups; having to use off-the-shelf coilovers. Whilst they were allowed to use a more customised setup without breaking their sponsorship agreements (they only had to promote what they were using, but not actually use it. This happens a lot in the motorsport industry), budget constraints meant that this was implausible.

Although MFactory was a drivetrain company, we did have in our employment several engineers with extensive chassis development experience, ranging from WRC to WTCC. It was because of this, we offered a solution to their problems; our engineers would help them fine-tune and customise their existing setups, from damper valving to choice of springs. All of this was done without the help nor financial assistance from their suspension sponsors. To this day, we are still assisting our oem motorsports clients with their suspension setups, without any input from Bilstein/Eibach/Ohlins/KW/Moton. I guess once you get big, unless there is big money involved, the little grassroots guys don't mean anything anymore (and these are oem motorsports teams, not your everyday track day enthusiast)

Fast forward to 2016, our general manager decided to take some of this knowledge and try our hand at the retail market, and henceforth, YCW Suspension was born. From this, our inaugural product were our Reference Series Coilovers, from which all other coilovers would be compared. As most of our customers can attest to, MFactory are big proponents of "Made in Taiwan" and are proud to be Taiwanese. This patriotism was carried over to YCW Suspension, to our later dismay. Although we had a sound product, proven to be as-good as anything else in the price range, unfortunately, the stigma of the "Taiwanese Coilover" could not be shaken. No matter how hard we tried to differentiate, the stigma remained (and still remains. Not pointing fingers at anyone in particular *cough cough*).

Still with us? Good… it means you’re still interested in our story. Thank you in advance for your support :)

So, after a hiatus of around 10 months or so, during which time we established important relationships with several US and European manufacturers, we decided to re-launch YCW Suspension, but this time, taking a difference approach.

In partnership with our UK facility, we decided to re-launch as a completely separate entity from MFactory; a clean slate so-to-speak. YCW Suspension would now be a UK company, run solely by British engineers, and managed by our UK Head of Operations, Stephen Brindle. With years of chassis development experience gained whilst working with M-Sport (the current WRC Rally Champions) and various other European WRC Rally Teams, we felt there was no better man for the job.

Taking our existing chassis development experience, combining this with our ongoing oem developments, and then integrating all of this together with our UK engineering base, we re-focused our priorities from manufacturing-based to service-based. Unlike before, where the majority of components bar the Oil and Springs were manufactured in-house in Taiwan, now only a couple of components are (our Piston Rods and Damper Housings, for reasons I’m not able to disclose). The remaining components are outsourced to several US and European companies that specialise in that particular type of component, allowing us to focus our business strategy on what actually makes or breaks a coilover kit and the #1 most important aspect; the internal valving

What do we do?
In order to answer this question, I’ll explain what we do, and then what we don’t do.

What we do: We are a UK-headquartered suspension company, specialising in bespoke chassis development. Our UK facility is very well-known throughout the UK and Europe for our fast-road alignments, circuit and rally setups, headed by our professional WRC technician, Stephen Brindle. It is only fitting that we expand into bespoke coilover systems, utilising only the highest quality US & European components, and customised 100% to the customers’ requirements.

What we don’t do: We are not a “trading company”; a company that simply outsources the entire manufacturing process to a select few factories in Taiwan or South Korea then claim that the product is our own. We do not state our products are “Engineered in the UK and USA” yet have “chinglish” grammar on all of our marketing materials or social/online media. We also do not need to rely on other companies to valve our dampers nor tell us how a damper should be valved.

How are we different?
In order to answer this question, I’ll explain what is the same, and then what is different.

What is the same: The only things that are the same simply comes down to aesthetics. At the end of the day, we sell coilovers. There are only so many ways to change the aesthetics of a coilover before it won’t fit the vehicle.

- Know-it-all’s will see a spherical top mount and say “just the same Taiwanese crap”, yet they are ignorant to the fact that there are a multitude of bearing manufacturers around the globe; some crap, some extraordinarily precise.

- Know-it-all’s will see an adjustable lower mount and say “just the same generic damper used on every vehicle”, yet they are ignorant to the fact that a longer damper body threaded into a lower mount allows for increased oil capacity and stroke without affecting overall length, yet also allows for increased height adjustability. They are ignorant to the fact that damper bodies can be machined to any length, and don’t realise that a fixed damper body is a European safety regulation; not because it “fits better”.

- Know-it-all’s will look at the springs used and say that it’s either cheap Taiwan crap (there is 1 spring manufacturer in Taiwan that supplies the entire coilover market, and they cost $5 per spring), or they will see that we use Swift Springs and say that we’re “just copying what everyone else is doing”, completely ignorant to the fact that we are the exclusive Swift Springs distributor outside of the US and Japan (We are Swift Springs Europe and Swift Springs Asia). We use Swift Springs exclusively because we believe in our product, and hold 6 figures of inventory.

What is different: Simply put, only 10% of what is different can be seen. The other 90% cannot be seen and it is because of this, unfortunately, ignorance is fuelled.

- We develop our parts with oem motorsport teams such as Honda and Toyota. These are, for the most part, classified, due to sponsorship agreements etc.

- We allow you to choose from an absurdly large range of spring rates and lengths. How can we do this? Because:

1) we have every spring rate and length in stock (i.e we are Swift Springs), and
2) we don’t need to rely on other companies to valve our dampers; our dampers are not off-the-shelf. We custom-valve each and every damper to the customers requirements in-house on our state-of-the-art MTS Roehrig 2VS and 3VS Shock Dynos.

How many mid-range companies offer this? Maybe only Feal’s and Fortune Auto

- We allow you to choose your damper length and stroke, regardless whether you order the Aeris, Reference, Argentum or Aurum Series Coilovers. How can we do this? Because:

1) we have most damper and rod lengths in stock and
2) we don’t need to rely on other companies to manufacture our damper bodies nor piston rods.

How many mid-range companies offer this? Again, maybe only Feal’s and Fortune Auto

- We custom-valve the damper to your exact requirements and can continually offer to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible. How can we do this? Because:

1) we have our own state-of-the-art MTS Roehrig 2VS and 3VS Shock Dynos and
2) we have 3 dedicated service facilities around the world; UK for Europe, USA for the Americas, and HK for Asia-Pacific.

How many mid-range companies offer this? None. Most high-end companies don’t even offer this level of service

- We offer the tools & software for our customers to determine their own spring rate and valving requirements, and are there to guide them, should it be required, through every step of the process. How many companies offer this? Infact, most companies would scream bloody murder for disclosing these “industry secrets” (and that’s if they even knew how to valve a damper in the first place)

- We valve and assemble your coilovers in-house at one of our 3 dedicated service facilities, depending on your location and parts availability. Likewise, servicing and after-sales support is truly international; you are free to pick and choose whichever service facility you wish to deal with

- We use the highest quality internal valving components in existence:

1) Our Pistons, Bleed Needles and Jet Valves are sourced from our partners in the USA
2) Our valving shims are 20c carbon steel sourced from Sandvik in Sweden, and are the most consistent valving shims available, designed and developed specifically for shock absorber valving
3) Our damper fluid is 100% British Silkolene RSF, which has the highest Viscosity Index of any known damper fluid and used exclusively by both Penske and Ohlins (rebranded under their own name).

How many mid-range companies offer this quality of internal valving? None. The cost of these components alone cost more than what these “trading companies” pay for an entire set of coilovers.

- Our upper spring perch has a sealed, oem-style thrust bearing that rotates on the same axis as the upper mount, allowing the upper mount and spring perch to rotate freely from each other (this is actually an oem feature, and is now utilised by most high-end European companies). This is not a cheap radial bearing that most coilovers on the market now seem to use because it’s the “in thing”. How to tell if a coilover is made in Taiwan? There you go ;)

Radial bearings are on the wrong axis, and when a ball bearing fails (not if. A bearing is a wear part and will eventually fail), it can cause catastrophic suspension failure (and death). If our thrust bearing fails, all that will happen is, well, nothing really; just means the upper spring perch can't rotate as easily. Whichever company started the “radial bearing” trend should be locked up and shot for Gross-Negligence!

We also have Teflon thrust sheets available that create a lubrication effect between the perch and spring (similar idea to a Torrington bearing, but without the maintenance)

Who is our target market?
At the end of the day, it does not matter whether you are a grassroots enthusiast or an oem motorsports team; it all comes down to one thing, and that is price.

Our pricing is based on the level of customisation and after-sales support that we offer. With YCW Suspension, you do not just buy a set of coilovers and call it a day. We are available 24/7, in 3 locations worldwide to help you service, rebuild and re-valve your coilovers should it be required, with a lifetime warranty on hard parts (non-wear parts). No other company offers that.

The problem with the internet is that 90% of people are stubborn (only believe what they want to believe) and can't be bothered to read. They want everything handed to them on a platter. The reason for such a long post? This is to weed out the genuine customer from the know-it-all millennial.

A genuine customer will take the time to research (i.e go to our website and read). We couldn't care less about bargain-hunters, as they are not our target market. We would rather have 1 genuine long-term customer contact us and make a purchase, than having 100 bargain-hunters contact us only to tell us that our products are too expensive for them and that we should sell it to them at 80% discount, all because they don't understand what the word "Bespoke" means.

We will not compromise our professionalism and service to cater to bargain-hunters. Most people don't seem to realise just how much investment is required to run 3 dedicated facilities worldwide along with supporting oem's (we don't sell them our products).

And that, guys, is the Who, What and Why of YCW Suspension.

Please feel free to ask any questions :)

That was a long post indeed, thanks for taking the time to explain. However, certain arguments do not make sense, and you know it. I am referring to the "adjustable lower mount" that "a longer damper body threaded into a lower mount allows for increased oil capacity and stroke without affecting overall length, yet also allows for increased height adjustability". It is quite apparent that in order to have adjustability, you design your shock length (plus the separate lower mount) to be as short as dictated by the lowest ride height, and then use the lower mount to add height as required by un-threading it. That's okay to offer some versatility, but it's not optimal, as I am sure you would agree. Ideally, one would want to have the body as long as possible, to accommodate enough bump/droop travel, without limiting it in the sake of "separate height adjustability". So, please give us some numbers about the available bump/droop and overall stroke, and how this is not limited by shock body length.

P.S. This is not intended as teasing you; it is genuine curiosity and I am only posting it due to your willingness to explain and defend your design to a great detail.

You do have a valid point, and, depending on the application, you are correct; the damper body and lower mount must be designed to the correct/optimal length. This is why the customer can choose their own damper length and rod stroke depending on their requirements. Our products are not fixed-in-stone, hence why we call them "Bespoke". They are not off-the-shelf products. If a customer does not require to change the overall length of their damper, that is fine and we can accommodate that. From past experience though, the majority of customers prefer being able to adjust the lower mount to increase/decrease damper length. Whether this applies or not to the MX-5 community, we shall see once we start our testing.

Regarding my statement about the adjustable lower mount, this post is actually a general post covering all of our media promotions (with little bits edited, such as Lars joining the team. That obviously doesn't apply on a Honda forum). On a lot of suspension designs (in particular, MacPherson, which covers the majority of our market), the damper actually goes through the lower mount and through the hub/knuckle; it does not stop at the lower mount. This allows us to use a longer damper body, thus increasing oil capacity and available stroke. I understand where the misconception may have arisen (the MX-5 being double wishbone), and I apologise for that.

That makes sense in McPherson applications, as long as you do not have a halfshaft passing right below it. I agree with you on "the majority of customers prefer being able to adjust the lower mount"; cheap crappy coilovers do that as well and can give you mad lowz, but I am sure you are better than that. The potential for bespoke setups is really appealing though. Let's wait and see what your conclusions on the MX5 platform will be.

It all comes down to testing, and understanding the market.

If a dedicated race car owner requires their overall damper length to be fixed and does not require the lower mount to be "adjustable", then that is fine; we can supply a lower mount with exactly the 25mm minimum thread required for safety reasons, no more, no less. Aside from the fact that the lower mount is screwed on to the bottom (albeit non-adjustable), there is no difference between this and a 1pc fixed length damper. 25mm of lightweight aluminium at the very bottom of the damper (where the gas is) is not going to significantly decrease heat dissipation, as most of the heat transfer is in the oil. If, however, the lower mount was a lot longer (i.e as in an adjustable lower mount), then technically yes, it can affect heat dissipation.

If it turns out that the majority of customers require the adjustability, then we can offer that too. As I said, nothing is set-in-stone. The customer can choose whatever length/setup they require :)

Thanks Mike for letting me join on and give a hand with R&D and testing of the new YCW Suspensions.

I want to be clear and up front with everyone. I have zero financial stake in YCW Suspensions. I won't be selling them, I don't get kickbacks for pushing people to them. I have openly been firmly in the Xida camp for the past several years. As far as I have seen or driven there are no other suspensions that are on the same level as Xida's at the price point that they hit. Saying that I am completely open to trying out other suspensions and enjoy messing around with other options. It was a big reason why I picked up a set of Feal-442 from ThePass last fall to run in time attacks. Experiencing other higher end suspension is fun, and I like being able to compare them.

I reached out to Mike to ask aout the suspension thinking they were the same generic Taiwan/Korean budget coilover that dozens of others resale. In my mind he was just the another Jerrick@MiesterR. I had been planning on reaching out to MeisterR about a coilover setup sometime this fall. Mostly because I wanted to try them out and compare them to my Tokico Illuminas/FM Spring, Feal-442, Xida ACE's. I don't have high hopes for the MeisterR, as I have owned and driven a good number of other budget Taiwan coilovers, but was willing to try. Mike quickly got back to me with a ton more info on how they were not just another generic suspension company. It was more information then I honestly expected or could easily digest. It impressed me and I wanted to possibly get a coilover setup sometime in the future to try out and compare to what else is out there. Things went from there and now I will be helping to do whatever testing I can to get something else out there on the market.

For testing I will primarily be using 2 cars for driving. The first is a 93LE with 200k miles on it. It bone stock other then the coilovers. It has had Tokico Illuminas/FM Spring, but currently is riding around on my Xida ACE's. It is a typical DD beater miata, which lends itself well to being a car to only test one sort of change, IE the coilovers. The second car is my 94 track miata. The TLDR:94 chasis, MS3X, NB front subframe, VVT motor, Feal-442, 6 speed, 3.63 lsd, 15x9 6UL, TSE 11.75" BBK and just about everything else people normally do for their track miata''s. The 2 cars are just about polar opposites for what they were built for and how they ride around. The 94 has been driven with the following suspensions over the last dozen years: stock NA, stock NB, koni/GC(complete shit), 2008-2010 $1500 Tein Monoflex, various budget Taiwan coilovers, Xida Race 700/400, Xida ACE, and now Feal-442. Overall I have a good idea on how both cars feel and handle on the street, at autox, and on the track.

I also have several NB1's and NB2's that I will be doing test fitting and measurements on. I will be checking closely for FUCA clearance on all years. As this is something that is a "newer" known issue that I will be looking out for. Several other local people have also been reached out to do doing some back to back testing between their current setups and what YCW comes up with. Some local TT cars may also try them out to see how they do at VIR/CMP/RA/AMP compared to what they normally run.

Ultimately I want to test the new YCW setups on as many different miata's as I can to get the best feedback possible from as many people as I can. This way the consumer can have as much information as possible to make a choice in what suspension setup to purchase.

First picture of a test set. This set is to primarily test fitment on the various NA/NB's. Checking for FUCA clearance is on the list. I will also be checking for pinch weld ride height ranges. Springs are 14k and 9k to start.

Attachment 228573

I might have missed it in the thread here, sorry if I did. What's the spring length, mainly on the rear?

Undecided at this time. Not sure what length I am being sent until they get here.

Spring lengths on the test set are 152mm

With the production sets, the customer can choose their own damper length and spring length/rate, or if they choose the default lengths, it will be whatever we determine after testing is done

I got a box in the mail today. Unfortunately I am heading out of town so I won't be touching what is inside until next week.
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SEMA 2018

http://www.ycwsuspension.com/images/sema2018.jpg

It's that time of the year again, with back-to-back trade shows over the coming months!

The first show we'll be exhibiting at is SEMA 2018 in Las Vegas. If you'll be attending the show, make sure to stop by for a chat. Booth #24133 (Next to GM/Chevrolet and Wiseco Pistons)

We have new items from both YCW Suspension and Swift Springs on display, as well as our usual special show discounts!

See you in Las Vegas!