After owning my forester now for a little over 2 years now, I finally had the funds and time to drop the kid hauler. I'm just waiting for spring to get here to put the winter set up away and get the summers out... Before I was just running stock XT suspension Now I'm sitting on 06 WRX takeoffs with 3/8" saggy butt spacers anyways on to the photos. before after before after before after
I would highly recommended it just for the fact that the ride is way better. I had read that there was questionable choice on valving/spring rate combo on the stock forester suspension like the sti has, running wrx takeoffs makes me a believer. Plus it looks that much better without all that fender gap!
Yes, i am selling them but as of right now they are spoken for as a close friend has a need for them... I'll let you know if it falls through.
+2?? Yes, the body roll is substanially less, especially paired with the sti sway bar I put in last year. As far as a setup to increase the drivability and still maintain a comfortable ride on our beloved MN roads... I have absolutely NO complaints. Its perfect for spirited daily driving and hauling the family around on the weekend!
Been there, done that, do not want. Don't mistake improved cornering with simply a lack of travel. Just because the outside struts bottom out and prevent some roll doesn't mean the car corners well. There are ways to make a car handle amazingly well.
I appreciate your opinion on handling characteristics and whatnot, but if i would have wanted a car to handle exceptionally well I would have kept my rs. For this vehicle I was loking for something that handles better then stock and still allows for comfort and ride quality as I have a wife, 2 1/2 year old and another on the way. Last thing I want is to daily drive a car with coilovers or obnoxious spring rates, let alone subject my family to that in a 4 hour car ride to visit family...
Oh I didn't mean coilovers by any means. Heck I've been racing my Forester in auto-x and rally-x for 5 years now, and I am VERY hard pressed to even look at a coilover option out there. The big problem with low is the lack of bump travel. You talk about ride comfort, but throwing way bump travel specifically throws away a lot of ride comfort. Impact harshness is one of the stronger forces generated upon the car, more so than stiff springs or damper rates. If I were to pick one thing overall to use for compliance, it would be ride height, over spring, over damper, over bushings, over sidewall thickness. This isn't to say that tall and stiff is comfy, but the strongest jolts no longer exist. Best daily driver friendly package I've used: Swift FXT springs (puts the static ride height pretty much dead center in the strut's range of travel, very important), oem front sway, purchased oem 20mm rear sway (20-22mm range is most suitable for handling balance), 16" wheels with your favorite tires at the stock 26" diameter, and upgraded bushings (steering rack, ALK, lateral links, trailing arms, and toss in subframe locking bolts to boot). The ride is actually better than stock as in similarly soft but better behaved. The handling is more neutral with the rear sway setup. The bushings gain precision and feeling for a more engaging and tactile drive(fine detail comes through), fun for you, actually not all that intrusive on passengers. The soft suspension and tall sidewall tires still give you a lot of cush in the right areas. The whole bushing thing is optional, but it makes for a lot more fun to drive car. This is nothing personal against you or your decisions. I just have acquired a particular dislike towards a lack of bump travel after seeing the other side. It's something that I would now avoid at all costs if possible.
I completely understand your points as they are completely valid. I did consider the swifts as I've read and heard nothing but GREAT things. The reason I went the takeoff route is its all new/used components and it is a bit lower then the swift drop. Yes looks to matter a little for me but again I didn't want the obnoxious ride as coilovers or sti take offs would have given. The lack of travel will not be as much as a factor in my set up as I have no desire to auto x or anything to that extent with this vehicle. I appreciate your knowledge and insite as I have followed quite a few of your posts on here and subaruforester.org as you run a similar vehicle and are in the same area geographically, but as you stated our likes are different.
Ride comfort.. Guess you have sensitive cheeks... I ran WRX suspension on my 04 for the whole time I had it and I ran 19s with I think it was 35 profile (maybe 45) tires... Everyday I drove at least 5 miles of gravel road at 65+mph and never felt the suspension was too rough.. And I'm an old fart... Oh and also jealous as I do miss my Forester as much as I Love my LANDCRUISER.
