I'm building a budget race car and I wanted to know if coilovers are worth the money will they take the beating that they are going to get? Or should I just get struts and springs?

 

That statement right there tells me you need coilovers. The suspension of a race car is just as important as any other component. You are able to corner weight the car, change spring rates for different tracks, etc. Depending on what type of racing and the classes/rules, you may be limited to specific suspension parts/components. Just my $.02.

If you are building a drag car, the statements above don't really apply.

 

What are you doing with the car? You say race car, but what does that mean as it can mean lots of differnt things to differnt people.

 

my thoughts exactly.

 

Depends on how much of a budget you're talking about. You can get shortened springs and good shocks for less than an adjustable coilover. Most decent, fully adjustable coilover systems (shock, spring and perch) will start you off at a grand.
You can go el cheapo and get away with something like a Ground Control setup and buy your own shocks and do alright though. If you're just starting off in something like autox or drag racing, that'd be your best bet. It gives you enough adjustment to set your corner weights. If you're trying to build a "budget race car" to be competitive in the SCCA, I'd highly recommend investing in a good coilover setup, such as those by Tein, JUN, Toda, Tanabe, etc. They give you adjustment for spring rate, ride height and shock dampening. All three are seperately important.
Another system worth a nod is the Tokico. They've got a shock/spring combo they sell for less than a grand, although I think that only the shock itself is adjustable.

 

Well I saw some on ebay I forgot the brand but they were cheap. Do you think that those would be good for a beginner race car? I'm trying to keep things cheap because race cars crash and I don't have enough money for new sets of tein coilovers.

 

Rooster - do you mean shock damping, spring perch, and lower mount adjustments?

 

Tein systems are nice, but for the DC2 with the standard LCAs, the spring rates simply suck. If you want best performance for your budget, look at the Neuspeed/Koni SP3s and some ground control springs, and get spring rates that will match your speed requirements (Is this gonna be a higher speed track or a lower speed auto-X course?). Another option would be to pick up Asashi's used Zeal Function B6 coilover setup and ITR LCAs in the Classified forum... that would be a top notch solution that would run about $1400-1500 shipped, and the Zeal B6 are, as I understand, super nice coilovers (That's what I plan to buy eventually).

Spend money where you need it. Suspension isn't something I'd skip out on, even if there was potential to damage them.

 

Si, senor.

 

I'm a bit confused as to what exactly is meant here by "race car."

Do you have any wheel-to-wheel racing experience? A competition license?