ANNOUNCEMENT: YCW Suspension

[MFactory]

New YCW Suspension Website

After a short hiatus due to internal restructuring of management, partnerships with new overseas suppliers, as well as construction of a new purpose-built R&D/Manufacturing facility, we are now proud to announce the launch of the new YCW Suspension website!

What's New?
Along with our new partnerships comes a completely revamped line of Suspension Products:

Aeris Series Coilovers - Our new entry-level coilovers, developed primarily for the everyday street car. These are essentially our race-winning 1st generation Reference Series coilovers stripped of some non-essentials, making them more budget-friendly to the consumer

Reference Series Coilovers - Now in their 2nd generation, these have been significantly upgraded, with higher quality structural components as well as entirely revamped internal valving. Our proprietary valving components are imported from the USA, UK and Sweden, and allow us to offer a 100% Custom-Valved Coilover solution to our customers. From sprung corner weights to swaybar sizes, all the technical details matter and is what differentiates our mid-range product from the competition

Service Parts - From Camber/Caster Plates to Shim Stacks, we now have the entire range of individual components that make up our coilovers available, in stock and ready to ship. Infact, it's so complete (and constantly being added to), you can build your own unique set of coilovers from this one section of our website alone!


Everyone likes online Calculators!
Following the huge success of our MFactory Gear Calculator, our IT whizzkids have been busy creating two new toys for you to spend your free time with:

Damping Calculator - What used to be closely guarded as an industry-secret is now 100% free and as accurate as you want it to be (Maths don't lie); our Damping Calculator lets you create your own custom damping curve (Shock Dyno Graph) and explains in layman's terms how to read it. If you have a dyno graph from a competitors coilover kit, this tool will show you whether it's the dogs B's, or if it should be relegated to the scrap heap! P.S Of the thousands of dyno graphs you can find on Google, you will now know the reason why our competitors don't publish their Spring Rates along with their graphs

Spring Rate Calculator - When most customers choose their spring rates (if they even get a choice that is. With most European brands, you don't!), they base it purely on how "Hard" or "Soft" they think a certain spring rate (in Kg or Lbs) will be. Unfortunately, a 10K spring rate on a Honda Civic feels entirely different than a 10K spring rate on a BMW E92. The only way to accurately determine what a certain spring rate will feel (and perform) like on your particular vehicle is by using the same formulas and equipment that the OEM's, Chassis Engineers and Professional Race Teams use. Unfortunately, the majority of that information is over and above the everyday car enthusiast. So what we've done is given you the next best thing: Frequency Tuning


End of Summer Sale!
From now until the start of Autumn (Fall), we will have the following promotions running on our website:

Coilover Limited Stock:
Honda Civic FB Aeris Series Coilovers - US$1099.98 + Shipping. 1 Set Left
Honda Civic FD2 Aeris Series Coilovers - US$1149.98 + Shipping. 1 Set Left
Honda FIT GE8 Aeris Series Coilovers - US$1099.98 + Shipping. 1 Set Left
Honda FIT GK5 Aeris Series Coilovers - US$1099.98 + Shipping. 1 Set Left
Mazda BG Aeris Series Coilovers - US$1149.98 + Shipping. 2 Sets Left

Swift Lowering Springs Limited Stock:
BMW F82 M4 - US$275 + shipping. 1 Set Left
Lamborghini Gallardo LP550/560/570 - US$450.00 + shipping. 1 Set Left
Nissan GTR 09-10 - US$370 + shipping. 1 Set Left
Nissan GTR 11-14 - US$400 + shipping. 1 Set Left
Nissan GTR 2015+ - US$370 + shipping. 1 Set Left
Porsche 991 (Non-Turbo) - US$370 + shipping. 1 Set Left

While Stocks Last:
Reference Series Coilovers - From US$1539.97 (30% Off MSRP!)
Swift Metric Coilover Springs - $70 per Spring (30% Off US MSRP!)

Looking for something else? Our stock changes daily. Please PM and we'll see what we can do to help!

For further information, please feel free to visit the official YCW Suspension website: http://www.ycwsuspension.com

 

[MFactory]

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

 

[MFactory]

ANNOUNCEMENT: Buckeye Honda Racing joins the team!

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/

 

[MFactory]

Here at YCW Suspension, we take all feedback (whether negative or positive) seriously. One of the comments brought up by a customer 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. Our Pistons, Bleed Needles and Jet Valves are sourced from our partners in the USA. 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. 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