[Tiss'er]

Originally Posted by track.n.trail

I'm running TCKR SA front and DA rear. Daily driving is much improved - the car is no longer bouncy and uncomfortable over rough pavement. My next track day is on Jan 15th but I expect it to be much improved with the dampers set properly and my more aggressive track alignment (-2.75 camber front, -2 rear)

Keep me posted, interested to hear your thoughts.

[JordanB]

Does anyone have experience running MCS 1-ways year round for both street and track? If so, would appreciate if could share your experience re maintenance requirements?

I have heard anecdotes that MCS requires more regular maintenance vs TCK, but wondering if anyone has direct experience. Know that MCS lists 20-25k suggested rebuild timeline, but wondering what others have experienced.

Am doing ~10k street miles (year round in the northeast, including on some crap roads) + ~5 HPDEs + ~15 autoxs per year.

[M2OG]

As someone who owns an MCS setup. I say F that company. Your money is better spent with TC or any other vendor. Don't get me wrong, the product is phenomenal but I just went through months and months of wasted time in an effort to resolve an issue which ultimately ended in MCS refusing to help me in the manner they initially offered. So as such I am taking their parts off my car and switching to TC. If anyone is in the market for a 1way setup that rides like a dream with 8500 street driven miles on them get at me.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by JordanB

Does anyone have experience running MCS 1-ways year round for both street and track? If so, would appreciate if could share your experience re maintenance requirements?

I have heard anecdotes that MCS requires more regular maintenance vs TCK, but wondering if anyone has direct experience. Know that MCS lists 20-25k suggested rebuild timeline, but wondering what others have experienced.

Am doing ~10k street miles (year round in the northeast, including on some crap roads) + ~5 HPDEs + ~15 autoxs per year.

You will get years of service out of the MCS 1WNR. The service is just a recommendation. All dampers will eventually wear(fluid and soft parts mostly) and require a rebuild.

Let us know if we can set you up with MCS 1WNR or TCKR SA/DA. If you have any specific questions regarding either setup, feel free to PM, email or call with any questions.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by M2OG

As someone who owns an MCS setup. I say F that company. Your money is better spent with TC or any other vendor. Don't get me wrong, the product is phenomenal but I just went through months and months of wasted time in an effort to resolve an issue which ultimately ended in MCS refusing to help me in the manner they initially offered. So as such I am taking their parts off my car and switching to TC. If anyone is in the market for a 1way setup that rides like a dream with 8500 street driven miles on them get at me.

What issue did you have?

[JordanB]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

You will get years of service out of the MCS 1WNR. The service is just a recommendation. All dampers will eventually wear(fluid and soft parts mostly) and require a rebuild.

Let us know if we can set you up with MCS 1WNR or TCKR SA/DA. If you have any specific questions regarding either setup, feel free to PM, email or call with any questions.

Thanks for the reply. For how I am using the car, which set up would you recommend? (Definitely not trying to find the last few tenths, but would like to move to a more sophisticated damper and an adjustable set up.)

[M2OG]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

What issue did you have?

I'll try to keep this brief... I was waiting for months to speak with the rep about having some custom work get done to fix noise issues(full disclosure, using their system with a hybrid-air lift system purchased together as a package). When the time came for our appointment he couldn't be reached. I expressed my frustration at them for making me wait 4 months for a phone call only to get blown off with no explanation. They then reneged on their offer to help find a solution and acted like they where doing me a favor. I never asked for a favor and was more than happy to pay for the modifications but their attitude has left a bad taste in my mouth. Add that they had the balls to tell me that with the parts I have, I shouldn't expect trouble free performance... the same parts they spec'd and happily sold me. The vibe went from "this shouldn't be like this" to "this is normal because you bought the wrong stuff". I came to them for a suspension solution and spelled out my wants/needs straight out of the gate but what I got was half baked.

I understand aftermarket mods are never perfect. But to be treated like I'm the asshole when I was waiting patiently for over half a year just to have a 10 minute phone call is inexcusable. By the end we had completed a full circle of email nonsense with them asking questions I addressed many times over.

On the other hand, I reached out to TC and the man himself called me back and chatted about what I want to accomplish. Within 5 minutes he was able to offer a practical solution to one of the issues and that level of competency scored big points in my book.

So now I'm going to strip the car of the MSC components, send the air-lifters to TC and have them build me a setup based on what I originally wanted and paid a premium for with MCS.

Edit: The underlying issue is that MCS dampers offer nothing inside the damper body to limit droop travel. As such when I would air up to clear obstacles my car would sound like its clapped out(it got so bad that I would not drive the car for weeks at a time). Other vendors(TC, KW, Etc) utilize springs at the top of their strut travel and by nature of that fact, the issue I'm experiencing should be significantly mitigated(which also explains why air lift users utilizing other brands of dampers dont have this issue). My issue is strictly limited to the fact that I'm using an air-lift system and while it shouldn't reflect on MCS, I came to them with this idea and they already had a relationship with Hybrid-Air, claiming to have outfitted many cars with this exact system. So to tell me that I bought the wrong stuff after dealing with this for over 2 years is a bit rich.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by JordanB

Thanks for the reply. For how I am using the car, which set up would you recommend? (Definitely not trying to find the last few tenths, but would like to move to a more sophisticated damper and an adjustable set up.)

1WNR is all you really need for a vast improvement over stock. Unless you can really take the compression adjustment to your advantage. PM us with any questions or a quote.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by M2OG

I'll try to keep this brief... I was waiting for months to speak with the rep about having some custom work get done to fix noise issues(full disclosure, using their system with a hybrid-air lift system purchased together as a package). When the time came for our appointment he couldn't be reached. I expressed my frustration at them for making me wait 4 months for a phone call only to get blown off with no explanation. They then reneged on their offer to help find a solution and acted like they where doing me a favor. I never asked for a favor and was more than happy to pay for the modifications but their attitude has left a bad taste in my mouth. Add that they had the balls to tell me that with the parts I have, I shouldn't expect trouble free performance... the same parts they spec'd and happily sold me. The vibe went from "this shouldn't be like this" to "this is normal because you bought the wrong stuff". I came to them for a suspension solution and spelled out my wants/needs straight out of the gate but what I got was half baked.

I understand aftermarket mods are never perfect. But to be treated like I'm the asshole when I was waiting patiently for over half a year just to have a 10 minute phone call is inexcusable. By the end we had completed a full circle of email nonsense with them asking questions I addressed many times over.

On the other hand, I reached out to TC and the man himself called me back and chatted about what I want to accomplish. Within 5 minutes he was able to offer a practical solution to one of the issues and that level of competency scored big points in my book.

So now I'm going to strip the car of the MSC components, send the air-lifters to TC and have them build me a setup based on what I originally wanted and paid a premium for with MCS.

Edit: The underlying issue is that MCS dampers offer nothing inside the damper body to limit droop travel. As such when I would air up to clear obstacles my car would sound like its clapped out(it got so bad that I would not drive the car for weeks at a time). Other vendors(TC, KW, Etc) utilize springs at the top of their strut travel and by nature of that fact, the issue I'm experiencing should be significantly mitigated(which also explains why air lift users utilizing other brands of dampers dont have this issue). My issue is strictly limited to the fact that I'm using an air-lift system and while it shouldn't reflect on MCS, I came to them with this idea and they already had a relationship with Hybrid-Air, claiming to have outfitted many cars with this exact system. So to tell me that I bought the wrong stuff after dealing with this for over 2 years is a bit rich.

I don't know how the retail side of the customer service is, but on the wholesale side it is top notch. As a dealer I am also aware that MCS is a damper company and the dealers are typically the ones gathering the necessary hardware to complete the package(springs, height adjusters, camber plates and etc.).

[M2OG]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

I don't know how the retail side of the customer service is, but on the wholesale side it is top notch. As a dealer I am also aware that MCS is a damper company and the dealers are typically the ones gathering the necessary hardware to complete the package(springs, height adjusters, camber plates and etc.).

yes, that's totally true. I was trying to keep the story short and not derail the thread. Ultimately I reached out to MCS for help, they said they would be happy to, then wasted a lot of my time.

Now, back on topic. I'm swapping the current setup to TCK next week and will report back. I'm cautiously optimistic that it will feel exactly the same.

[M2OG]

Just received the TCK kit and want to give my first impressions having just unboxed them.

Overall the quality seems like great value for the price point. That said, without evaluating ride quality yet and looking at the dampers themselves, some things where the MCS is different/better... Very distinct clicks between damper settings via an easy to reach knob both front and rear. TCK's damper is adjusted via a knob "tool" that doesn't stay on the damper and there are no clicks between settings. The rears are adjusted with a screw driver towards the bottom of the assembly and a small allen key inserted into another adjustment mechanism at the top of the shock body. Another difference is with the spring perches themselves. MCS has thicker locking collars but they're very easy to adjust with their pin tool. Basically a small pin with a handle, the collars have receiver holes. VERY easy and no risk of slipping and wrecking your hands. TCK utilizes the classic spanner wrench style and looking at it makes me hate to be my alignment guy. Lastly looking at them side by side, the MCS damper is somewhat modular in its construction which I believe is why it's upgradable vs TCKs sealed damper body.

The ease of adjustability is clearly is a huge concern if you're the type thats going to tweak their setup constantly. I'm a set it and forget it kinda guy so my plan is to progressively go from softest to stiff enough and then back off and call it done. TCK is more cumbersome but I only plan on dealing with it once. Disclaimer I don't track my car and if I did, I would do it with the street/canyon settings.

I think the above noted things are a big reason for the price disparity, as we know the MCS dampers alone cost practically as much as the entire TCK kit. With MCS you're also purchasing camber plates, springs, rear height adjusters, clevis mounts(TCK reuses the stock part, MSC upgrades the entire mount and also requires an additional hardware kit).

You also need new front end links with MCS, apparently I am able to reuse the stock end links but the jury is out on that until I see it with my own eyes.

So that said, while there are differences in the overall impressions of the components and some of the functionality IMO it's ultimately superficial. I have no reason to think they won't perform as expected and am looking forward to following up once I have things installed.

[///393]

TCK adjustability is quite easy despite your initial impression. The real differences on these two are what you can’t see. The inside bits where all the magic suspension unicorns live.

That said, I drove around a guy on MCS 2-way recently so maybe just get TCK and invest the rest in seat time

[M2OG]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

TCK adjustability is quite easy despite your initial impression. The real differences on these two are what you can’t see. The inside bits where all the magic suspension unicorns live.

That said, I drove around a guy on MCS 2-way recently so maybe just get TCK and invest the rest in seat time

I agree, having just installed everything making adjustments IS easy but its worth noting I need to jack up the rear to access one of the adjustments. Small potatoes.

I would agree if we're comparing to the MCS 2-way+ because of their utilization of blow off valves. From a tech standpoint the two systems dampers are very similar as its my understanding the 1way uses conventional orifice style valving. I do agree with spending money on seat time. Can't go wrong there.

Just took the first drive back from the shop and am very pleased with the ride quality. With the damper settings set a tiny bit stiffer than recommended I can confidently claim I'm getting 90-95% of what MCS gave me and I expect this to improve by raising the car(its too low for my taste rn) and by going to TCK's recommended damper settings. I would even argue that the TCK setup makes the car feel a little lighter but that could be in my mind.

It's interesting to note the spring rates are VERY different between the setups TCK's 300/600 vs MCS's(swift springs) 504/728 and I was running the MCS front's at full soft witht the rears set to 9 out of 18 clicks. I do think there is a little more body roll w TCK which makes sense because it's much softer. But so far, at highway speeds and around town hitting bumps and potholes I would be hard pressed to tell one from the other in a blind test.

There is some nuance between the systems and a true apples to apples back to back comparison would surely reveal more. But for my purposes I'm pleased as punch, so far not a single episode of spring bind and I can comfortably use the air lifters without any clanging or crazy sounds that are embarrassing and make people think my car is broken.

[///393]

Sounds like the MCS rates are closer to the TCK track spring option. Interesting that you didn’t find the higher rates to be more uncomfortable on the street.

I always feel like I could use the higher rates on track but the car spends most days on the street so I accepted the compromise but now you’ve got me wondering.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

Sounds like the MCS rates are closer to the TCK track spring option. Interesting that you didn’t find the higher rates to be more uncomfortable on the street.

I always feel like I could use the higher rates on track but the car spends most days on the street so I accepted the compromise but now you’ve got me wondering.

We spec 700F/800R on our Nitron kits and they are far from uncomfortable on the street - definitely can be done with the proper dampening. The goal was to eliminate as much of that compromise between performance and comfort as possible. I'm not familiar with TCKs stuff besides having ridden in an M2 with it - if you do decide to try stiffer springs might ask if the dampers would need to be revalved. If we were to drop a couple hundred pounds on ours I would want to adjust the valving - might be the case with them too in order to get the desired effect. Just a thought.

[M2OG]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

Sounds like the MCS rates are closer to the TCK track spring option. Interesting that you didn’t find the higher rates to be more uncomfortable on the street.

I always feel like I could use the higher rates on track but the car spends most days on the street so I accepted the compromise but now you’ve got me wondering.

Yeah dampening is the key here. TC says his recommended track settings for the dampers should keep things flat and planted at high speeds and so far the dude hasn't let me down. The counter point to that is that the MCS setup was soft and stayed flat without needing to adjust anything.

I should note... MCS is all bespoke. So your vendor specs spring rates based on your desires and then the dampers get built and valved for the given springs. So when referring to MCS know that everyones setup can be different. When specing my kit I asked for the softest springs possible and the rates I mention are what Swift was comfortable selling me.