Renowned JDM tuning house, HKS, has just launched versions of its Hipermax R coilovers for the Nissan Z and Honda Civic Type R FL5.
Spoon, Tomei, RE-Amemiya, Mugen, TOM’s… HKS. The list goes on. These are the names of the Japanese tuning companies that put their domestic scene on the worldwide map. With iconic demo cars and some of the best aftermarket performance parts around, these brands are now forever intertwined with tuning culture. And happily, they’re all still around today…
That brings me onto the subject of this article – news emerging from the Shizuoka prefecture reveals that HKS has released some fresh parts for two of the newest Japanese performance cars to hit dealerships: the Nissan Z, and the Honda Civic Type R FL5.
Let’s take a closer look.
Photography: HKS Japan
HKS Hipermax R Coilovers
If you’re looking to upgrade the suspension on your new sports car, the HKS Hipermax R coilover package is a great route to take. Designed to blend poise and balance with comfort, HKS describes these coilovers as “The Ultimate All-Rounder”. If you’re familiar with the HKS range, these Rs are essentially the next evolution of the old MAX IV SP coilovers. So, if your car doubles up as both a daily driver and a weekend trackday weapon, a set of Hipermax Rs should keep it on form whatever the occasion.
HKS Hipermax R coilovers feature a monotube design with 30-way adjustable damping built-in. They make use of pillowball upper mounts and contain a whole host of Hipermax-specific technology; stuff like high-grade SRF fluid, HKS’ patented low-vibration springs, and accompanying retainers to keep those springs performing stably.
Plus, as each Hipermax R package is tailored to a specific car, the new variants are tuned individually to get the best out of the Nissan Z and FL5 Civic respectively – it’s not a simple copy and paste job between the two models.
If you’re interested in sourcing some of this new gear for your own Z or Civic, feel free to get in touch with HKS directly to make an enquiry. As far as pricing goes, we haven’t got official word yet, but based upon the other Hipermax R kits currently available, you should expect to pay between $2500-$3300.
Photography: HKS Japan
Dual Muffler Catback for Nissan Z
While you’re here, we also wanted to highlight this – the HKS catback exhaust system for the current-gen Nissan Z. Priced at $3400, these pipes have a 15mm wider diameter than standard, while their straighter design reduces back pressure by around 40%.
Of course, as well as being set-up to handle more power better, this exhaust system is also about accentuating the noise that comes out the back of the car. However, as is increasingly popular these days, HKS has included two settings which you can choose from depending on your mood; gentle, or aggressive. In gentle mode, the system only raises the car’s noise levels by 7 decibels (87dB), whereas aggressive mode pumps it up to 90dB. Aggressive mode also gives the Z a much gruffer idle too: 71dB compared to 63dB in gentle mode. Ultimately though, this system gives you the option to choose, whatever your tastes may be on any given day.
