Disagree. There are SOOOOO many different types of coilovers- you can't lump them into one simple generalization.
Properly matched shocks/springs will ride just as good as stock. So far I have 25k miles (installed 66k, now 91k) on my BC coilovers, and they ride extremely well. Out of the box the damping rates are a little stiff, but they feel good and aren't harsh. Both my wife and I like the go-kart feel, but the grandparents said the kids' heads were shaking too much. Dialed down in softness (I'm at 14/32 front, 12/32 rear, 1 being stiffest) a little, the car actually rides smoother and more controlled than stock. The shocks are able to control the stiffer rates of the springs and even out the harshness that would normally come with springs that hard.
I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass and say that the BCs are super duper awesome and that everyone should get them- to be honest, they're on the extreme low end on the coilover market- but they are a pretty damn good deal for what you get. For the price I paid (well under $1k), I got completely new mounting hardware, new springs, shocks, camber adjusters for the front, and of course adjustable height- all for cheaper than a set of H&R springs and Koni Yellows. Right now I'm set at pretty much the exact same ride height as the H&R Sports, but at a much stiffer spring rate. Without looking them up and based off memory, I think I'm right about 2.5x stiffer in front and about 3x stiffer in the rear compared to stock for the 2009 model year.
So to answer your 1-4 in short without pointing you to my install thread:
1. BC Racing BR Type Coilovers, 25k and going strong
2. Rates = 8kg/mm front (448lb/in), 7kg/mm rear (392lb/in)
3. Yup, cut 'em.
4. Love them, daily appropriate, race capable if you consider the limitations, would do it again for sure given the same budget.
And now more information, and you can call me (I think you have my number in a PM) if you want WAY more information than I'm willing to type out here. I love suspension- got aftermarket suspension on
everything.
Just about every single coilover system that you see marketed in the $1k price point is based on a universal damper cartridge. BC, Megan, Yellowspeed- pretty much all of these companies just build brackets around the exact damn same shock cartridge. That's why there are 32 levels of adjustment- the shock has to be able to cope with a WIDE range of applications. You might have maybe 10 useful "clicks" on the adjuster that are good for your car. The rest are there so the shock can adjust to every other car on the market that they can make cheap stamped or cast aluminum brackets for. Don't believe me? Look at the spring rates across the board for a "line" of these coilovers- most will have spring rates that are very similar for the same shock cartridge- makes things easier to match up within the shock's range, or at least that's my guess. Real coilovers that are meant for track duty are completely custom- custom lengths, custom diameters, custom valving etc. If you look at the shocks on my S2000, they're spec'd from the very beginning to work on that car. The length is chosen so that the usable suspension travel is maxed out- you don't lose tons of droop travel like I did with my BCs on the 5. On the street you may not care, but on the track- if you lift a tire, that means you have no grip. My S2k's ASTs won't do that, but the 5 will. It's happened less than a handful of times on the street, but it CAN happen, and if you've just overcooked a corner, lifting a tire is NOT something you want to happen. Why does the droop suffer? That universal cartridge has to be pretty short to fit into all those brackets that adapt it to all those different cars- so the maximum extended length of the shock is pretty short. You have a much shorter cartridge giving you shorter stroke within the space of your stock shock, so your range of motion is reduced. To maintain anything near a stock ride height, you have to give up something- the wheel can't drop when it needs to. If you go super low like a lot of people do with the cheaper coilovers (stance y0, screw performance!), then you regain some of the droop since you're riding around compressed, but you lose on the compression end. Just one of the many disadvantages to think about.
That shorter shock cartridge also means less fluid to do the work of converting motion to heat, which means that it can overheat faster. Again, not a problem for most on the street, but take it to the track and beat on it for a long time, and you could cook the fluid. Overheat = loss of viscosity or loss of uniformity = no control. Quality coilovers have larger bodies to allow more fluid, monotube to allow more fluid and bigger pistons, and external reservoirs to hold more fluid... see a trend here? The stock rear shocks in my S2k have external reservoirs. Huge off-road suspension setups? External reservoirs too. That should tell you something. Does the 5 need anything like that? Nah, but again, something like the BCs typically has LESS fluid than stock. They make it work pretty well, but again- another typical drawback on the cheaper universal coilovers.
Ride quality- a lot of people adjust their universal coilovers incorrectly and end up topping out or bottoming out the shock cartridge during the stroke- that's why the companies tell you not to play with the spring pre-load, and to only adjust the physical length of the outer threaded section of the coilover body. That keeps the operating range of the coilover in its sweet spot. If you change the pre-load on the spring, you're changing the stroke range position on the shock- and you can run into the physical limitations of the shock itself, which already has a shorter stroke to begin with. The manufacturers counter some of this problem with the higher spring rates- more rate = more reduction in travel = less chance of hitting the hard stops at the end of the shock. Stiffer springs do not always mean better handling on a car, but most of the aftermarket community doesn't understand that.
There's a LOT more I could type, but I think you get the idea... some of the "universal" coilovers work pretty well if you understand their limitations. I love mine, but I wouldn't run them on my S2000. It's on coilovers too, but at a completely different level. My 5's ride is still very nice, and can be dialed in super tight if I want it to be- and given the limitations listed above, I can still drive the hell out of it and not worry one bit. It's not going to spend (much) time on a road course, and never competitively. Well, maybe never. The stiffer rear rates have been kinder on the rear tires since there's less toe change under load, and the rear doesn't squat anywhere near as much with the car fully loaded, including the roof box. I lose maybe half my sidewall, and I have barely an even gap all the way around the tire with the car unloaded. I still have room to raise the car, probably up to stock height if I wanted to- but I won't. The camber plate hole isn't necessary, but you're not going to get the settings right by guessing, and you'll kick yourself later for not cutting it out. It's not THAT hard. You could get camber bolts for the strut upright too, but won't be able to adjust as much.
Hope that helps- need more, call me.
