I have an 05 RS, suspension upgrades so far have been Sti struts with SPT blue performance springs, below is how it sits now, i am satisfied with the level of the back, but i am looking for a way to drop down the front another 1/2" to an 1." Any ways to do this without replacing the entire suspension, or coing to coilovers?
well i have heard you can cut them, but i have never done that on something of value, we did it on a 95 escort wagon for ****s and giggles and rode like crap but was fun none the less. and how long has it been on? cuz it could "settle" a little.
the suspension has been on since may. And i am not going to cut the springs, i dont want it to handle like crap, still handle well, just be lower
does it actually sit uneven or is it just the garage sloping? sounds like a dumb question, but i have been staring at the gaps on the wheels, and either its my eyes or something is playing tricks on me.
you might benefit from "saggy butt spacers" the reason why your rear looks so low is because youre probably lacking them. they will even your car out. if you wanted to go lower i honestly suggest (although you didnt want to do it) going with different springs because i remember reading that spt springs dont provide much of a drop, however i could have misread.
I ran into the same thing when it came time to lower my car. Springs didn't get me were I wanted to be. So I sold the set up I had and went with coils. Yes there alot more then springs $ wish but in the long run they are well worth the money you spend on them. Plus you can go as low as you want, witch in my case is about an inch from the down pipe to the ground and tucking 17x9
I agree with this. Adding a lip to the front bumper makes a diffference too, I just took mine off for winter and my lowered car looks like a truck to me.
Pick up a set of prodrive or epic engineering springs and sell the SPT springs. Won't be slammed and will retain ride quality.
"Saggy butt" is caused by putting sedan springs on a wagon, which isn't the problem here. OP, check out a set of the STI pink springs, those will probably get you a bit lower and they'll stiffen up the rates over the SPT blues. Also take a look at a set of Ground Controls and some Tokico D-Specs. Those will give you plenty of adjustability for ride height and stiffness and you can pick your spring rates and lengths. If you're looking to stick with springs only you could also check out RaceComp Engineering, they also makes some good lowering springs with better spring rates than stock. You can't lower these cars too far before you start running into suspension geometry issues.
To me it does look like the car is sitting lower in the back than in the front, seeing as how the springs were brand new when i put them in, could that have caused the problem? and would just changing the springs bring the car to a more level stance, or keep the same level and just make the entire car lower? that is my biggest concern is making the car look more even.
You sure it isn't the difference in wheel arch design between front and rear fender Have you taken any measurements?
it definitely could be that issue, but i have been looking at '05's and i really havent seen it be bad like it is in my case. just by looking at the car i can tell that the arches are different shapes/sizes. I just haven't thought of that as the cause, i can take measurements sometime tomorrow. I have heard of some cars running spacers to raise the rear, how common is this?
Exactly what I was going to say. If you are trying to make the wheel gap the same front and rear, you will upset the balance of the car. The front wheel are is larger because the front wheels turn. The hole needs to be larger to make sure that the tire does not contact the fender at any time and at it clears at every steering angle. Russ
I am quite pleased with my EPIC Engineering spring set up. I don't know if they make them for your year/model though. It's about a 1" drop with a slightly higher rear to keep that aggressive look. They ride a bit firmer (just a titch), which is what I was looking for, and the pitching that comes along with heavy braking/acceleration is almost gone now. It's funny, but it feels like the car is slower now when I jam on the gas since it's not dipping and pushing me back into the seat. A very odd experience.
Any chance you have profile shots of before/after with the epis? From what i've read the Epic springs fit '04-'07
I did measure the openings, front is considerably larger, go figure, i have some stuff in my trunk, pair of 12's in a box, but its maybe like 20-25 lbs, so its not too bad, nothing that should make a big difference. Samoya, that would be awesome if you could post some pictures, i do like the stiffer ride that the spt blues give. Any idea how the epics are compared to those?
What openings? fender gap? The whole point is not to look at the fender gap disparity front to rear. The front will always be larger than the rear unless you drop the front nearly 2" lower than the rear. At which point the rake will look (and ride) like ass.
I'm confused by this. So you're saying it should be wider in the front? I don't know if I've ever seen a car I liked that looked like it was taller up front than in back. I don't think shooting for an even drop is all that unreasonable, so long as the drop is a reasonable distance. In Minnesota, I wouldn't go much lower than an inch unless you like being the only Subaru owner that can't get out of a ditch during a snow storm.
I'm saying look at the wheel arch design. The front wheel gap is always going to look larger than the rear. To get an even fender gap front and back, you need to drop the front considerably more than the rear. At this point, the car is raked forward a good amount. A better measurement would be hub center to fender.
Point noted, yes. You know, I never looked at the RS that closely. I guess you're right. It's an unfortunate design.
But very needed if you plan on doing any turning. The larger front arch is for tire clearance when you turn the wheels. Russ
