Am I risking my safety with inexpensive coilovers?
 

I got a pair of matrix coilovers on ebay for $100. I am not very experienced in modifying my car and did not think twice about ordering them since I thought that is what they go for. Now I came to find out that coilovers can go for as high as $1000 plus! I basically want them for the look. I don't go over 80 miles per hour on any given day so I'm not looking for extreme performance or anything. However, is there a safety concern with the cheaper coilovers? anyone ever have a bad experience with cheap coilovers?

100 is way too cheap for a quality product, either that or someone screwed up. Usually even just a decent set of springs can be 200. Dont worry too much about 1000 dollar coilovers. Those are full coilovers where the spring and shock come as one unit. The coilovers you bought are likely the condom variety with a set of sleeves, springs, and stops. You can likely mate them to any set of shocks you would like. I wouldnt recommend using your stock shocks to do it depending on the drop height. Really, you are probably better off selling them and getting a decent set of eibachs or H&R springs.

you will need shocks cause your stock struts will blow....

I wouldn't say ur risking ur safety, but ur comfort is definitely gonna be affected. I had some Matrix coilovers on my EF sedan w/Tokico blues and that shit was bouncy as hell man, I had to take them on in a weeks time, I couldn't deal with it. I ended up just getting some H&R Race coils w/my blues and it was cool while it lasted, it got stolen and stripped 4 months later:(

You'll only be risking your safety if you don't install it correctly.

i had a set of weapon r coilovers. i went over a speedbump a little quickly (~8-10mph) and one of them stripped copletely down to the bottom. i replaced them with gc's

any time you mess with the way your tyres contact the road you're risking safety due to possible decreased handling and and stopping effectiveness.

sorry to hear that! people have no respect for other's property.

I bought a set of Skunkworks a while back when they were new and I was thrilled to have them, but was kinda weary about installing them because of the fact that the spring perch was made out of plastic (or something of that nature, I knew that it wasn't steel or aluminum)! I've had them on my car (along with Tokico Blues) for over 3 years w/ no problems but I'm still concerned that they'll give out sometime. I'm planning on getting a set of Tein's SS soon just to give me peace of mind...