how do they feel. can you order any spring rate you want.

When I was looking into my suspension I spoke to some people who said the ride on the DMS 50 was not all together great for street. I never actually rode on them, so its all heresay, but I do alot of business based on what other people think, so I did not buy them.

Pete

Yea, I heard that they'll be a pretty harsh ride for the street.

Originally posted by Lobster Man
Yea, I heard that they'll be a pretty harsh ride for the street.

Have you really, P.W.?

Originally posted by IMPREZIV
Have you really, P.W.?

If I knew what P.W. meant I would reply to your inept comment.:)

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=274472&highlight=dms

I have them, they are great! you can bomb down the roughest or most technical road with maximum confidence

Originally posted by stealth-wrx
how do they feel. can you order any spring rate you want.

The DMS 50's are a full on competition coilover (50mm piston/inverted design,double adjustable), made in several configurations. Springs rates vary from 180 to 500 lbs. Strut length varies depending on configuration as does valving. With right combination of springs/strut length/valving you can pretty much cover any application.

The only setup I rode in was a track setup w/ 350ish springs, for what it was designed for it was excellent, for a daily driver it left some room for improvement. I think the rally length struts w/ lower spring rates 180/225 and the appropriate valving would make the best "street" setup. That may be what ChrisW is running if I remember correctly.

dms 50 tarmac w/ MG 500# in front, and MG 450# in rear.

ride is "harsh" over bumps, but i'm also running more aggressive settings.

cool. now i just need to save up for them. $2500 is alot of money for coilovers.

Originally posted by stealth-wrx
cool. now i just need to save up for them. $2500 is alot of money for coilovers.

oh and if you're looking for a good street setup and still want to keep stock height, go with rally length street valved dms 50s (make sure you specify that if you order them). with 220/180 springs, you should be able to get a better ride than the stock setup and still have good handling. just be careful on what size rims/tires you're going to run and dont forget to get an alignment done after you install them.

I had the Rally length street valved DMS 50's on my car. Handling was excellent, but it let you know immediately when you found an imperfection in the road. Not a kidney buster by any stretch of the imagination.

I replaced them with JIC FLT-A2's, which I feel is a solid improvement. The ride and handling are equal/similar to the 50's, but there are some design issues with the DMS that I couldn't live with. The adjusters are very vulnerable to damage and sticking, and break off easily, and the external mounting for ancillary lines is, shall we say, ghetto? The JIC's have a solid bracket welded in place, the DMS have a square nut tack welded to the body of the strut. I broke one of those off trying to tighten down a brake line bracket. I ended up having to zip tie the brake line to the strut body to keep it out of harm's way.

Plus, the JIC's have a dual adjustment for ride height and spring preload. There is one set of perches to move the spring up and down, and the bottom collar where the spindle bolts onto the strut is also threaded w/locking collar to adjust ride height without changing spring preload.

For a dedicated rally/track car, I could have lived with the issues that I had with the DMS. For a street car, and one that will be a rolling advertisement for my shop, I felt the DMS needed to go.

i want the rally ones for my car, how are they on the street.

The DMS 50s are an exceptional setup for a street car, even if a bit of overkill, IMHO. You can make the car do anything that you want, handling-wise. The set I flogged had 180/180 springs, and the ride control was unreal. Ride control, of course, means killer handling.

They were rally length, street valved, by the way. Many people like the JICs. Many people, like DMS folks, were having major bounciness problems with the JICs. I know that when I drove the DMS, there wasn't a hint of bounciness. Impressive stuff, that.

Hey Digital Boy, how much pressure were you using to tighten the bracket man! Dang! Broke it off...

Kevin

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Knows what he's talking about. Trust me.

Not that the rest don't.

Originally posted by gtguy
The DMS 50s are an exceptional setup for a street car, even if a bit of overkill, IMHO. You can make the car do anything that you want, handling-wise. The set I flogged had 180/180 springs, and the ride control was unreal. Ride control, of course, means killer handling.

They were rally length, street valved, by the way. Many people like the JICs. Many people, like DMS folks, were having major bounciness problems with the JICs. I know that when I drove the DMS, there wasn't a hint of bounciness. Impressive stuff, that.

Hey Digital Boy, how much pressure were you using to tighten the bracket man! Dang! Broke it off...

Kevin

i dunno, my dms' have a lot of bounciness. but i have yet to fiddle with the settings that much to eliminate it. i set it to handle the way i wanted then left it at that.

I have the street valved-rally length 50's as well. I do not feel that there is much bounciness nor build quality problems that you guys speak of.

Handling wise, they are awsome. Just today I went into downtown Seattle into the industrial district, where the roads were... shall we say...not the best. The 50's were rallying through it like butter on toast.. Totally responsive to the terrain, all the while feeling comfortable and in control the whole time. Build quality wise, I would not have any complaints. They have held up for thousands of miles and have not shown any signs of fatigue, installation was a breeze with the help of another set of hands.

I would not recommend these things to people that drive mostly freeway miles, with no spirited driving. They are harsher on the road, and you do feel more of the road imperfections (ruts, bumps). But, when you travel at a higher speeds (75-90mph), the shocks make you feel in such control that you feel like your doing 25. At lower speeds the coilovers do wonderful, and are very quiet. The overall NVH is not extremely in difference to the stock setup, but is noticable... Especially when I run 18's in the summer time (stockies on now). The setup is not for the person who doesnt like to feel more connected to the road, by sacrificing ride quality in noise, bumpy responsiveness, etc... They are a big time step up from stock, and I have yet to appreciate all that they can offer due to my limited knowledge of stuff like this.

The reason I bought these was because I wanted the adjustability of going up and down in ride height, with fine tuning the dampness. The STi (non adjustable) cost less than the 50's, but I had a hard time reasoning with myself in paying over $1600 for something that had no adjustability and ride height control...when all I had to do was save up a few more bucks and get the whole kitten k'boodle.

The most amazing thing about these coilovers is the added control it provides the car in braking maneuvers, shifting, and hard acceleration. My car does not move at all during shifts, unlike in stock form where you can physically see the hood go up and down from weight transfer. Braking it has provided a much more minimal hood dive under hard breaking. Instead, it feels more vaccum like to the road, where all four corners are biting the pavement hard. Allright, enough babbling. I'm done. Correct if I'm wrong on anything.

The one problem that people have with believing other peoples experiences is that we wonder if they (the author) is just trying to make himself believe that he made the best purchase (cognitive dissonance) by talking up his product beyond belief. Is everyone's opinion on the board a true and objective fact? I dont think so, but I am just trying to relay my experiences with you guys.

D.P.