So im trying to decide on which springs to go with on my 04STi. Dont nescessarily wanna go with coilovers, but im looking to go as agressive as possible. Ive owned 2 sets of eibachs and h&r's too. Cant seem to get much of a drop from eibachs though and I wanna find something lower. I've heard good things about s-lines and prodrive. Yes, I do know how to search but I was hoping for some feedback and suggestions from ppl with particular setups. Appreciate any info u have Thnx
Race Comp Engineering http://racecompengineering.com/osc/index.php?cPath=21_27_33_60 THESE http://racecompengineering.com/osc/product_info.php?cPath=21_27_33_60&products_id=33 Good quality. I've installed a few sets for people on here and I haven't heard any complaints.
Then an 1-1.5in or so is as low as you'll want to get. The suspension on these cars will only allow for about that much. Any lower than that and your angles are thrown out of whack. This is a good place to start: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171928 If you meant S-Techs instead of S lines they're a downgrade, not an upgrade.
I have tanabe df210 they are pretty stiff but i really like the drop. correct me if im wrong but i believe that the drop is 1.5 in front and 1in in the rear. Solomon
The Prodrives probably won't get you the drop you're looking for, but they're a top notch spring. Check out RaceComp Engineering, they make a great set of springs for our cars and they've got a few different stiffness levels as well. Are you going to be upgrading your struts as well or just doing springs at this point? What are your plans for the car? Daily driver? Autox/Rallyx/Track days, etc? Those can all play a part in this too. Stay away from S-Techs. You'd be better off cutting your springs than using those piles of garbage. They'll kill your struts quick, degrade your handling and if given half the chance they'd probably molest a member of your family.
I'm currently running Tein H-techs. Ride is a touch stiffer than stock but not by much and drop is around 1.25"-1.5". Fairly happy with them although once the shocks die i'll probably go for something a bit higher sprung. Tein H-techs are pretty much eibach pros, on paper anyway. The Teins definitely have more of a drop than my blue prodrives did on my '02 wrx but the handling was a little sharper with the prodrives.
Racecomp and prodrives have about the same drop (not quite as much as im looking for) but they both seem like the highest quality and best handling... This is mainly my dd, but i want a great handling, great looking dd! no one out there with Perrin or Cobb???
if you're just doing springs you can either have it slammed or you can have it handle/ride well. pick whichever one is more important to you, you can't really have both with just a spring.
^^sure u can, ive owned 5 cars that have looked great and handled awesome with just springs (not to mention installing MANY setups on my customers cars)... and yes i do know what its like to track a car with a really good, properly setup and cornerweighted coilover suspension(owned that too)... just havent had a subaru yet, and i rarely do anything other than eibachs and h&r's... just looking for feedback from owners with spacfic springs and theyre experience
the amount of drop you are looking for is not conducive to proper handling on stock subaru struts. I would go with the RCE's on a stock strut.
yeah, im finding that... i think im leaning toward h&r's (mainly cus im a dealer) and im going to install f and r accentric cam bolts and rear strut mounts... (just really dont want to go to coilovers...yet) anyone running h&r's, any pics???
i have HR springs on my 98'leg gt, they are a bit too low for the stock struts but getting kyb's so i hope it will feel good.
what are the spring rates of the H&R springs? And I'm assuming you're looking at their Sport Spring? I've also installed a few sets of these, but on WRX's, not STI's. They are a good set-up, but I don't know how well they'd match up with the dampening of the STi struts....
Like Carl said. On your car, no you can't. After a certain point, your lcas are inverted. "slamming your car with springs" will just **** up your suspension geometry. Why do you need a second set of front eccentric bolts? If you want more front camber, I'd suggest RCE (or similar) plates installed at an angle for caster gain. I'd also suggest rear lateral links instead of camber bolts. I've installed 2 sets of h&r springs. The aggressive ones (over 1" drop rear and over 1.25" drop front). One on a wrx and one on an sti. Looked and rode like ass in both... too low (saggy butt, uneven rake for the sake of evening out the fender gap fron to back, rode on the stock bump stops). I'm assuming they make a more mild drop as well. I can't speak to those.
Yeah, lowering = handling fail. I mean it will work...sort of, but the instant you hit any bumps or uneven road, the car will get upset, and a car with more compliance will handle better then you. I started out with a stock Forester. I upgraded the suspension 4 times: Swift Sport FXT springs, AGX + Prodrive STI, D-Spec + RCE Wagon/Prodrive STI, and now D-Spec + GC coilover kit (350/250 lb/in). I went down to around 13.5" and am now back up around 16". Low works fine as long as the surface is glass smooth. In reality our cars do actually use up a good bit of suspension travel, even when running a relatively stiff setup. For example, I went up 2" and went 25% stiffer and my ride quality improved. There was less harshness over bumps, and the car doesn't get upset by little things. I know you want the looks. A coilover is really the only way to lower the chassis and still allow good suspension travel in both directions. It is pricey though. I'll also note that even if you do go low and retain suspension travel, you are still bound by the car's chassis. It won't be that far off the ground, and you will eventually run into the issue of possibly hitting the chassis (or lowest part under the car) into the ground over bumps. It really depends on how low you go. You also live in MN, so you might debate how much clearance you should keep just get still keep the car driveable.
^LOL, thanks, supurb exlplanation!^ yeah, i realize this, at this point im looking into coilovers, for what i want its pretty much the only way to go. My decision is basically determined my my budget. Realy just interested in info or pics of peeps running spring setups, for if i have to compromise and go with springs. Coilovers are also sounding great cus im obviously not impressed with my rear struts!
On a budget, D-spec + GC coilover kit will get you most of what you need at half the price tag. The only thing a good coilover will give you is the addition of ride height adjustment and depending on the coilover, separate compression and rebound adjustments. The downside is that any good, worthwhile coilover setup will run you around $2500. The roughly $1000 D-Spec + GC kit option starts to look very, very attractive. The downside is that you don't have right height adjustment, and you're stuck with fender gap if you want to retain a reasonable amount of bump travel. The strut is of fixed dimensions, and you're kind of stuck with it. You either work with it or suffer the consequences. The question starts to become a matter of if the extra $1500 is worth it? If you're absolutely serious about performance driving, i.e. competing in races, then it surely is. If you're the average Joe driver simply looking for a lowering option, it probably isn't. In fact, if lowering is the only major requirement as in you don't actually care a whole lot about how it handles, you may even consider a cheap coilover option. It'll get you low and the ride can be decent enough, but it's not as good as a quality unit, and life expectancy is a good bit shorter. You could look at Megan, Stance, or a host of other options out there, and they will all work kind of good. You're still spending about $1500 for one of these options though, maybe $1000 on the very, very cheap. The nice thing about the D-Spec is that you can beat the tar out of it, and it won't care. You don't exactly get that luxury with a cheap coilover set.
More info on D-spec+GC coilover kit please!!! (vendors, how does it work, examples...) I have been researching coiliver setups and have found exactly what you are saying (infact i have found the one thing that my past euro vehicles had going for them was that they were easier and less expensive to pimp out the suspension!) I'm obviously very concerned with looks, but performance is very imprortant as well! Mainly DD, with occasional track day (dctc, bir, ect.) I'm not looking to make this into a racecar but I am looking for an improvement from stock. I have found that i can get into megans for a little over 1200, but would like to spend my money as wisely as possible! I appreciate all the help!
Ground Control sells a coilover kit. You buy 4 springs and 4 three inch long threaded collars. These replace your standard springs. The springs are made by Eibach and come in a wide array of rates and lengths. There are also helper springs available to let you stay low when using a stiff spring. The collar allows you to adjust preload and subsequently ride height. Spring rate will also adjust ride height. If you go very stiff, the springs will not compress far from full extension, and your STI will look a lot more like an Outback. You use helper springs to let you run a short spring and drop the car without the spring coming loose at extension. D-Spec struts offer a wide adjustment range. The range consists from a little under a stock base Impreza to around 30% stiffer then a stock STI. The max spring rate you want to use will be 350 lb/in. After that, given the weight of our cars, the damper will stop providing adequate damping control for the car, and the ride will get bouncy. Stock STI is in the neighborhood of 250 lb/in front and 200 lb/in rear. On the D-Spec strut, a 10" long spring will be at zero preload near the bottom of the threaded section. A 7" spring will be right at the top of the threaded section with zero preload. I believe a helper spring and supporting collar is 0.75" compressed. It will let you run the spring loose without it falling off or out of place. Ride height will depend upon the compression of the springs. A 250 lb/in spring will compress around 3.8" on the front end. The front of a STI weighs around 950 lbs. on each corner (3300 lb car, 58/42 weight balance). I can only go buy my Forester's wheel wells, but the D-Spec on the front at full extension is 18 3/8" I drop 3.8" and I'd be down to 14.6" This is probably pretty similar to what the stock STI sits at already. At zero preload, it won't sit lower. For comparision a 350 lb/in spring would have the car sit at 15.7". This is exactly where my Forester sits. To get low, you use the helper spring. You lose the 10" spring and step to an 8" spring. You gain the ability to drop 2". You add the 0.75" helper and end up with a drop capability of 1.25". When you adjust the collar on the threaded section from the middle to the bottom, the main spring will be unloaded, and you will start to unload the helper spring. If you add 1" of lowering, the help is extended 1" from full compression. The helper spring gives you the gap to drop the car more. If you run a 7" spring, with the helper, you have the ability to drop 2.25". The collar on the threaded section will be near the top, and you will be able to screw it down towards the bottom to gain drop. You could effectively run a 350 lb/in. spring and sit down at 13.5", 2.25" lower then where I sit with my Forester with no helper and the 10" spring. I gear my car for auto-x + rally-x though, so I need the bump travel to support off-road use. Pure on-road, you can get away with less bump travel. Still, you don't want to go too low, and you'll have to make a judgement call on that. I will make a note that a shorter spring does not allow for as much compression range. A 7" spring may only allow around 5" of compression before binding. A 10" is more like 7" of range. Low wind race springs will be the better option to alieviate this problem, but I'm not sure where to get some. Swift has options (made by Eibach), but it's not sold through Ground Control. The amount of compression range will depend upon the number of coils and the thickness of the coils. Fewer winds and thinner coils means more travel range. It is something you need to concern yourself with to some extent.
^wow, thanks, thats super helpful!^ definetly sounds like the way to go, guess i have some research to do, and have some decisions to make. Do you have any suggestions on vendors for both coils and the struts??? Also any sources you'd recomend that would help me make a decision on what coils i would want?
I am currently running this setup (GC/D-Specs) on my wagon, if you'd like to get together one of these days to check it out you're more than welcome to.
Long story on that one, I'll try to condense it. I was looking at this combo about a year and a half ago, but I sold the car to another member on the board. I bought it back from him earlier this summer and he'd installed them. The springs came off of Mark Utechts ice race car.
I'd sure like to take a look sometime... But that still doesnt help me get my hands on the setup for my car... Anyone else have any input? Greatly appreciated!
