I got my whole setup finally installed yesterday. Whiteline 22mm front swaybar + Whiteline heavy duty endlinks Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear swaybar Whiteline heavy duty endlinks Whiteline detachable rear strut tower brace KYB AGX GC front struts and GD sedan rear struts STi Group N front and rear top hats Prodrive springs
~$1600. everything took about 5 total hours to install (2 hours one day for the brace and the rear swaybar) and 3 hours another day for the front swaybar, struts and springs and tops.
whiteline makes one of the few wagon specific front swaybars, their stuff is usually excellent, I've used it before and it has always been good. They also make the only wagon specific detachable rear strut brace as well. They're a company that thinks with the smaller volume parts in mind and I like that.
KYB AGX GC front struts and GD sedan rear struts STi Group N front and rear top hats Prodrive springs I am glad you like it! Mine is the same setup for sedan and just waiting for the struts to come in on friday! Ive got my springs at work and tried using the rear springs for my seat for fun... lowering springs sit a bit low to reach the keyboard well though! Congrats and very nice!
...just wait, Zak! I will have my pictures up tomorrow night... :naughty: You played your cards too early. hehehe
well, I figured since I wasn't feeling like going all put in this car I wanted to have a really good street suspension, which this is. I'm going to autocross in a weird class anyways so I wanted to get the best compromise between street ride, lowering height, autocrossability, cost and durability.
any camber issues with the kyb agx sedan struts?? I've got prdrive springs on the way, too! What did the group n top mounts do for performance? I've got a lot of questions since I've got a wrx wagon, too.
WOW...Man I always love wat u do to ur car...it's always professional...and u always do it all at once that's how I like to get things done...Let me know if I could get a ride with u, I would like to know how all that feels.... Moh
Nope, I used GC fronts which have the same track width as the wagon. The only issue here is the brake clips are different on teh GC's so you have to zip tie the brake line when you're done, which is no big deal. Should have the same camber adjustability as stock The group N top mounts are solid and do not deflect under load like the stock ones do. I find this to be one of the more annoying handling characteristics of the car so I added them to eliminate it. They also look like they're built to withstand a nuclear apocalypse.
I think you talked me into going your route over the koni install (no hassle). I'm still unsure of which springs I want though. I'm still leaning towards crucial since I remember reading something about them being some of the stiffer/stiffest out there. I like the idea of the ground controls and corner weighing the car, but I don't realistically see myself going through the trouble. You'll have to take me for a ride soon.
The track width is the same, but it's been proven that you lose the full range of adjustability camberwise unless you go to camber plates or bolts. From what I've read, you'll be able to get -.8 to -1* neg camber, which is well within stock specs but short of a more perfomance oriented alignment. My own bias with the AGX is that it adjusts both compression and rebound together and you're limited by the number of adjustments. I'll be going with a Koni setup for a few reasons. They're more adjustable, even though it's rebound only. You can have them custom valved and they'll handle a higher rate spring. They're also a little bit better with lowering springs than the AGX from what I've been able to read, although something like Prodrives or SPTs won't drop the car enough to shorten the life of either strut signifigantly. Tein S-Techs on the other hand.... Don't get me wrong, the AGX is a decent strut. I just don't like the fact that there is a loss of camber when using it with a wagon. Also, because they're an 02-03 specific strut, you have to use a spacer on the rear strut threads to use an 04+ top OR use 02-03 specific tops, which limits you as to which springs you can run, especially on a wagon. I don't really view having to cut up the stock strut as a hassle, I'll take the extra work for a better strut...and really, since when is getting to cut stuff up a hassle?
wow, much better stance than I expected. Tires mounted for the weekend yet? Jeff corner balanced my car in 30 min (15 of which was setting it up), really not a huge hassle. btw, the tr ended up weighing 3027 lbs with empty trunk and ~10 gal gas :eek3:
Nice. So...did you have to remove the subframe to mount the FSB? If not, how'd ya' manage it? If so...wanna help me install mine?
I was aware of the camber loss from using a GD strut, however I used GC struts, which match the track witdth, but the clevis holes are still ever so slightly different. however I'm shooting for about -1.5, which i can probably get from adding another set of camber bolts in the bottom. I'm just looking and trying to figure out what will actually fit there. I dont consider the kyb agx to be adjustable in the same sense as the single adjustable konis are. Konis you can play with at the track to get the optimal dampening, I consider the kyb agx to only be good at one or maybe 2 different settings, so not a whole lot of adjustability. But that wasn't what i was after so much as something that performed well at my spring rates, and these do pretty much the same as the konis for what i use them for. I wont need insane negative camber it with the group n tops and the front swaybar as those are devices to specifically counter camber loss while turning. I can get the alignment specs I want out of the setup I have now so I decided to go with it. Major negative about the konis to me was that many people who have that setup end up disassembling and rebuilding them every year or two because they clunk and rattle and work their way around. The strut bodies fill with foul water and it corrodes the bodies too. I have talked to people who constantly have problems with the noises they make. Most of the problems can be fixed by filling the tube with sealant, but then good luck ever getting the insert back out again. if you look at the shock dyno data, it pretty much proves that at medium rate spring tension the kybs have very similar dampening profiles to the one koni uses. IMO konis are more suitable to the 300+lbs spring cars. Removed the front subframe. If you have a lift and a nice compressor and a good impact wrench it takes about 20 minutes to remove. Make sure you organize your bolts though, the subframe bolts are different length but look similar
Nice. I've always been a fan of the Whiteline stuff. They're also the only ones that make a rear bar for my car.
Apparently, the 14mm ones intended for changing the rear camber will fit the bottom holes up front. It's the top that's a different size. I have a set at home you can borrow to test, if you like. We just took them out of the top holes up front to put the proper 17mm ones back in. Stupid previous owner. I think H&R Springs has a run down of applications on their website, I just can't seem to bring it up right now. It's on the Tripple C page. Stuart.
I'd like a ride in your automobile sometime, Zak. If things ever pick up for me, I'd like to get some decent dampers this summer.
Anyone have any recommendations on coilovers for wagons?? I'm trying to keep my options open. At one point I was dead set on konis & gcs, got to talking to zak and was interested in his setup with maybe stiffer springs, but am wondering if anyone knows of any good results using either wagon specific coilovers or using sedan coilovers (with camber plates). Time to read up bit. I'm gonna check out bigskywrx over at clubwrx, I remember him being a bit of a guinea when it comes to wagon suspension setups.
I jsut talked to bigsky and he confirmed the 14mm camber bolts will work, but he doenst trust the torque specifications for racing use. well I'm about to put that to the test this weekend =] There are guys from nasioc who run them with no slippage whatsoever so I'm going to see what happens. In the off season i'm going drill out the holes and the steering knuckle so i can run full size oem camber bolts down there.
BIGSKYWRX is the guy to go to with wagon suspension setups. He's helped me out with a couple of questions I've had.
Steve garnjobst had good luck running JIC FLT-A2s (like mine) on his wagon with cusco camber plates in the rear. Although now the chosen setup would be to opt for Whiteline adjustable lateral links (they make a set just for wagons) and just use the pillowball top mounts that come with them. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to answer any questions about his old setup if you asked him. he's MNBiker on the MNAutox boards
just got 4 newish re070s put on and grabbed the camber bolts from stoooo (thanks for the chalk sign btw) and am set for an alignment tomorrow morning. I am pumped for this weekend, this things handling is already about 400 times better than stock, i am still furiously relearning how to turn it fast, and trying to pick up the adhesion limits on the re070s. I think these would make great track or high speed tires, very even feedback, nice sidewall and lots of grip. not the magnet on road azenis grip feeling, but more progressive breakaway at higher speeds makes them feel more confident. I find that azenis' lose all their grip at once, which is scarier the faster your going, and not confidence inspiring on a long steady state turn on a roundabout when its tightening up and there are concrete walls on either side. The re070s break away and howl, but its easy to control and very smooth. as for coilovers on a wagon, any GD chassis coilover will fit, you will lose camber due to the strut design but since most coilovers have camber plates built in you can still get most of them up to -2 degrees anyways. tein makes wagon coilovers but then again its tein, so no worth buying in some people's opinion. my favorite quote about tein coilovers after seeing their shock dyno results: "if these were given to me free, i'd use them as a prop for my workbench and pay good money for someone else's product"
I thought that quote was someone talking about DMS coilovers? I'm pretty sure that was KC on Nasioc...
