Guys please help me out.

Due to the common annoying clonking sound from MY04 STI shocks/springs whatever it is, I'm seriously considering upgrading the suspension.

The question is, which one to go for?

Anyone with experience please shed more light on the difference between the two.
I know there are a lot of thumps up for PS ASTs, but i'm not a track driver, as yet, maybe one day when i've grown an extra ball I'll give it a try.
I just need something that holds well on the road, fast cornering with reduced body roll.
Preferably, something i won't have to manually adjust.

Graham 911: I have read your interesting write up, thanks for sharing. I believe you have the stage 4 set up on your car, I'm i correct?

Many thanx.

AST: 3-way.

The AST's can be set-up to work comfortably on the road very simply, BUT:
If your car is a road car then go for the simple single adjuster system and 40/30 on a classic road car, or 50/40 for the bug-eye onwards.

The 50/40 springs on the Classic are hard, but not rough.
The 60/50 springs on a classic are race but easy on the road.

You should add the roll bars and ALK when fitted, and above all a set-up from Curtis or Andy at Powerstation.

Graham

Thanx Graham, I believe the single adjuster is the stage 3 upgrade offered by PS, right, hence not adjustable?

No...
The AST's I refer to have single adjustment for the damping rate as well as the ride height adjustment.

Cost is about £800 + fitting etc.

Graham

There are basically two types of AST for the Impreza.
Forget "stages" when talking about just the struts.
Stages are just package deals Powerstation have put together, things that work well and complement each other.
You don't "have" to have a set package, you can mix and match to your liking.

Anyway, back to the struts...
two types
12 click SINGLE adjustable.
these you can set ride height with an adjustable collar and Bump/rebound using a SINGLE adjuster that has 12 positions. These are Biased towards the road but can work just as well for trackday cars with spring change and or/ re shim of the valve pack (all to however you like it)

Then there are the 14/12 click, 3 way adjustable ones.
These are also height adjustable with the collar as above but now you have remote fluid reservoirs and 3 different things to adjust. :D 14 clicks of high speed bump, 12 clicks of low speed bump and 12 clicks of rebound all separately..
These are biased toward track use but can work just as well on the road with the right spring rates, HOWEVER these type of struts will require are more "periodic maintenance" routine.

Hope that clears it up a bit.

Andy

GB for the AST stage 3 just started if your interested

Thanx for the replies.

Big decision time, me thinks.

EASY

AST, as they work, they are easy to get, to service, and come from a reputable company.

Graham

AST's!!

This is clearly a no brainer, i think the Tein stuff is really overrated, not liked any of their suspension kits.

AST is propper suspension mate.

Before anyone says i must run AST's.. i dont.

I run all Whiteline and Noltec kit :D