The chart below is our initial attempt for ranking manufacturers and tier levels here is decided on estimated performance, race team usage, prestige and company’s race history (past and present). Price is not factored into this ranking chart. We simply do not have the resources to test out performance of all the suspension companies ourselves, so we base off race results in professional racing or HPDE lap times. We have searched across the internet for a ranking guide for suspensions and we could not find anything. This guide is meant to be used as advice when selecting your next track suspension supplier and is not car model specific.
We categorized suspension manufacturers into 4 tiers below ranked based solely off their top of the line professional race level suspension offerings and the results they achieved with it. Tier 1 companies produces some of the highest race grade quality suspension kits for their customers with no expenses spared. The level of performance required from their clientele is crucial. The race success of these tier 1 offerings is ultimately decided through their support and configuration teams as they all produce quality racing suspensions.
As a reminder, driver mod is crucial to stretching full performance potentials out of these suspensions. It is possible for a better driver with tier 4 suspension to out lap a novice driver with tier 1 suspension. It is also possible for a lower tier suspension with better setup to perform better than an incorrectly setup high tier suspension – but we’re not comparing products in this ranking. The differences between ranks are relatively small within the same tier.
This will be an ongoing project and updated ranking will soon be crowd-source updated to reflect real life results from the motor sport community. There is no way everyone will agree with a set ranking of brands. This is our best attempt to objectively rank in numerical order considering the brands prestige, actual race results and history – not necessarily by the specific products they make. Once we have our database ready, the rankings will be changed overtime with new lap time additions.
What do you think? Drop us a comment below on your thoughts if you agree or if you think a ranking incorrect please show us examples why it should be changed.
Suspension Manufacturer Rankings as of 4/19/2018
Estimated Rank | Tier | Company | Headquarters | Application |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Multimatic | Canada | F1, Cart, Champ Car, F2000, DTM, Indy Lights, GT500, MX-5 Cup, 24 Lemans, OEM Suspension Supplier |
2 | 1 | Öhlins | Sweden | F1, F3, MotoGP, World Endurance,WRC, Cart, Lemans, WTCC, VLN, Spa 24H, OEM Suspension on Supplier |
3 | 1 | Penske | USA | Indy Car, F1, F3 NASCAR, Sportscar Series, OEM Suspension Supplier |
4 | 1 | ZF Sachs | Germany | WRC, WTC, DTM, Le Mans, F1, F3, OEM Suspension Supplier |
5 | 1 | JRZ | Netherlands | F3, FIA GT, DTM, GTS3, NASA, SCCA |
6 | 1 | MOTON | Netherlands | DTM, World GT, Trans-AM, ALMS, GTS3, NASA, SCCA |
7 | 1 | MCS | USA | World GT, WTC, World Sportscar, FIA Touring, GTS3, NASA, SCCA |
8 | 1 | AST | Netherlands | Grand-AM Challenge, GTS3, NASA, SCCA, ETCC, WTCC, 24H Dubai, BritCar, LeMan, VLN |
9 | 1 | Koni | Netherlands | F1, GTS3, NASA, SCCA, WRC, Indy Car, GT, Champ Car, IRL, Touring, Drag, NASCAR |
10 | 1 | Nitron | UK | MotoGP, Dakar Rally, Formula Drift, New Zealand Superbike Championship, Sports Cars, GT Racing, WTCC |
11 | 1 | KW Suspensions | Germany | ADAC GT Masters, FIA GT1, GT Open, WTCC, Global Time Attack, Touring Car, KW berg Cup (Hill Club) Group H, King of Europe Drift, VLN, ADAC ProCar, 24H Nurburgring, GT Asia GTS3, NASA, SCCA, ADAC Chevrolet Cup, Audi DTCC, V8 SuperTourer, Cold Cup, Superstar Italy, European Truck Racing, Deutche Rally Meisterschaft, Mini Challenge, Popular with HPDE |
12 | 2 | Bilstein | Germany | Monte Carlo Rally, 24H, F1, OEM Suspension Supplier, GTS3, NASA, SCCA, Endurance Racing, Popular with HPDE |
13 | 2 | Eibach | USA | Lemans, NASCAR, WRC, CART, Indycar, Global Time Attack, Popular with HPDE |
14 | 2 | HKS | Japan | SuperGT, Global Time Attack, Popular with HPDE, F3, Drag Racing, GTCC, D1 GP, SuperBikes |
15 | 2 | TEIN | Japan | Global Time Attack, SuperGT, Popular with HPDE |
16 | 2 | TC Kline | USA | GTS3, NASA, SCCA, Popular with HPDE |
17 | 2 | H&R | Germany | NASA, SCCA, Popular with HPDE, OEM Supplier |
18 | 2 | Feal Suspension | USA | Global Time Attack, Formula Drift, Popular with HPDE |
19 | 2 | Fortune Auto | USA | Global Time Attack, Formula Drift, Popular with HPDE |
20 | 2 | BC Racing | USA | Global Time Attack, Formula Drift, Popular with HPDE |
21 | 2 | Ground Control | USA | Global Time Attack, Spec E30, Formula Drift, Popular with HPDE |
22 | 2 | Cusco | Japan | Global Time Attack, Formula Drift, Popular with HPDE |
23 | 2 | ST Suspension | Germany | Subsidiary of KW, Popular with HPDE |
24 | 3 | Skunk2 | USA | World Challenge, NHRA Finals, NOPI, Battle of Imports, Grand-Am Sports SCC ST, Popular with HPDE |
25 | 3 | K-Sport | Taiwan | Honda Challenge, NASA, Popular with HPDE |
26 | 3 | Status Gruppe | USA | Popular with BMW HPDE |
27 | 3 | ISC | Australia | Popular with HPDE |
28 | 3 | D2 | USA | Popular with HPDE |
29 | 3 | HSD | USA | Popular with HPDE |
30 | 3 | Vogtland | Germany | OEM Spring Supplier |
31 | 3 | YellowSpeed Racing | Taiwan | Popular with HPDE |
32 | 3 | XYZ | Taiwan | Popular with HPDE |
33 | 3 | Tanabe | USA | Popular with HPDE |
34 | 3 | FK | Germany | Popular with Stance |
35 | 3 | GodSpeed | USA | Popular with HPDE |
36 | 3 | Megan Racing | Taiwan | Popular with Stance |
37 | 4 | Street Edge | USA | Popular with Stance |
38 | 4 | JOMS | Germany | Popular with Stance |
39 | 4 | Racelands | USA | Popular with Stance |
40 | 4 | Rokkor | USA | Popular with Stance |
4 Comments
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This really is wrong? Jom should be 40th. Vogtland are ST / KW. They use ST KW shocks and Vogtland make KW ST springs. Vogtland make springs for Indy car & NASCAR. They even produce valve springs. Under rated as a brand.
Raceland are better than FK and FK are way better than JOM. I’m in Europe and work in the industry. Rokkor i think are dead. But their stuff was better than JOM.
What about spax? they invented on car adjustable shocks and have been going for over 60 years
props to putting together this guide and great website with useful info! how would you rank tractive suspension? they are new to car suspension but seem to be making good impressions among the enthusiast communities.
btw, bc racing is actually taiwanese company.
BC Racing is made in Taiwan but the HQ design team is located in Southern California.
More or less, every coilover manufacture gets portion if not all parts from China or Taiwan. Contrary to popular belief, the factories in China/Taiwan are much more advanced because of massive investments from oversea companies. Other country factories simply do not have the factory or economy of scale to create parts with consistency or tight tolerances at the prices.