Just goes to show you how subjective geo settings can be. Great info on this thread.

I like lots of caster on my setups, it makes you less dependent on static neg camber settings to maintain grip in corners. I believe 2015 STi is running over 6.5 deg of caster stock!

 

As you've always said Arnie, more than one way to skin a cat, or rather fine tune Subaru set-ups

Let's hope much of that slightly light weight straight ahead steering feel has been reduced with the increased castor

 

I was speaking to Simon at chevron the other day.

He reckons there is still a big improvement to be made by replacing the rb springs.
He can get a set made up by eibach for only £230.
Not sure on the rates but he assures me there far better.

He mentions there's a few rb320 out there running them, but I can't find any threads on them or anywhere that sells them other than chevron, that's including eibach.

So what do you all think? Do I take a chance and try the springs??

 

I thought you were very happy with the way your car is handling?

Simon's quite the salesman, bear that in mind

 

I am very happy, But I'm certainly open to more improvement.
To be honest I am reluctant to change anything to do with the springs or dampers. Just wondering what you all think.

 

I think whatever you now do, the changes will get more subtle than huge

 

I'd want answers to the following:

What's their spring rate, in their operational range, compared to rb320 springs? - the Bilstein dampers were designed to match the rb320 springs rates.

What is the change to ride height and positive rake?

Are they linear or progressive in their operational range? How does that differ, or not, from the rb320 springs?

 

I've emailed him, so hopefully i will get some answers.

 

On that note I have an 02 bugeye it's a gx does anyone know if the wrx rear springs from an 03 blobeye will fit my car. I figured as it was an early blobeye they might fit? Help please.. Thanks

 

One thing I don’t see being addressed is besides tuning for handling characteristics, are there any benefits to having larger anti-sway bars for a road car? What benefits can be had front and back (i.e.- if you were only to have a larger front bar and weren’t concerned with handling per se, what is the benefit?).


I understand the argument for increased grip, but I also ran across this:




While it is generalized and not specific to Imprezas (and mostly above my head), one of the interesting points he makes is there is such a thing as too much grip if the rest of the geometry isn’t supporting. He uses the example of putting less sticky tires on a car as it compliments inherent flaws in the geometry, and acts as a curb so you never reach those limitations.


While conventional wisdom is to have the smallest bars that have the handling characteristics you want, it would be interesting to consider the inherent limitations of Imprezas first, and do more tuning with tire pressure as suggested by 2pot.

 

Still waiting for a reply, also emailed Eibach.

 

So I've been playing with the rear toe,
Basically just keep it toed in!

After playing with a few settings it's easy to see the rear toe setting's have a greater effect to the stability and overall confidence you have in the car over the front settings.

The setting I tried were,

0.00
0.05 total 0.10
0.15 total 0.30
-0.10 total -0.20

I only had the option of doing multiples of 5 as the alignment kit is kinda basic.


First setting I used was 0.15 toe in,
This made the car feel rock solid and stable in a straight line at speed, Also felt really good in higher speed sweeping bends giving you confidence that the rear was planted.
Only problem was in hard slower tight bends it felt like the rear wheel was tucking under the car and that the rear suspension was softer.
Also the tyre wear could be a problem with this amount of toe.

Secondly I went completely the other way, For a good comparison I put it to -0.10 toe out.

Instantly you could tell the difference even at slow speeds coming of the industrial estate,
The car felt like had a shorter wheel base and much more agile,

Going round a few roundabouts the the car turned faster and felt agile.

But that's where the fun stopped, after getting up to higher speeds it was very apparent that this is dangerous, Any steering input felt like the car wanted to rotated on me so I stopped my test there.

After getting it back in the workshop I toed it in to 0.00.
After the toe out situation this felt ok,
Slower hard cornering felt good, But it doesn't give you that stable feeling at speed in a straight line or on long sweeping bends that the toe in gives you.

Finally it I put it to 0.05 toe in.
This felt just like the car previously was, Stable at speed in a straight line and through high speed corners.
Also felt great at lower speed hard cornering.

So after the best part of a day mucking around I've come to a conclusion that I kind of already knew.

For me at least I love the feeling of a bit of rear toe in, It makes the car feel stable and gives a lot of confidence to use all the power available, The bad points would be a slight loss of agility and potential increase in tyre wear.

As long as your rear setting are toed in between 0.03 and 0.10 I guess you can't go far wrong for a road car.

 

Very interesting write up mate
Here's my current settings I just asked for a fast road and this is what I got


But after reading this thread I'll know exactly what to ask for and not just take what I get

 

That's pretty much oem setting apart from half a degree of extra front camber.

 

Good (and fun) work InTurbo

Remember synergy though, and adjusting somewhere (in your case rear only) usually requires a balance somewhere else

 

Is it supposed to be a stock spring set at Eibach? Any designation/part number?

Do Chevron know, that the RB320 has different rear, base, spring diameter?

 

Had a reply from Chevron and Eibach.

Eibach said, (Unfortunately we do not give out our springs rates or related information, however I can tell you that the rear spring of our Pro-Kit is a progressive rate spring and the front is linear. This is taken from our spring kit number E10-77-002-06-22 however this kit will not work with your OE Bilstein dampers and you would have to look at changing those if you wished to fit our Pro-Kit springs)

Chevron said ( I have the springs custom made to fit the Bilsteins.
Had a RB in today and the ride height is around 357 at the front and 345 in the rear. Been on a year now and drives nice.)

 

I've spec'd an '03-'07 STI Eibach-made prototype spring set - 41N/mm front 39N/mm rear, linear in their operational range, 347mm front, 352mm rear. Ride height tolerance is +/- 3mm. Rear ride height is also fuel dependent.
I've also altered the spring free lengths - so they will accommodate inverted and non-inverted kyb struts and Koni inserts (no dislodging at full droop).

Updated bump stops/dust boots for the non-inverted struts.
Updated bump stops for the inverted struts.

 

How have you gone about getting a custom Spring set made up?

 

Eibach have manufactured 80 springs sets for me, inc prototypes.

Prototypes are £1K a set - normally take 3 months, but more like 4/5 months at the moment (I ordered the prototype, '03-'07, sti springs on 17th March).

There are other, cheaper (£320 a set) prototype manufactures. But, they're not that accurate for rate, free length, coil diameters or ride height, when measured. Not surprising really, as they're hand-wound, as opposed to cold formed, on multi-million pound machines, in Germany.

 

could someone recommend me the best suspension set up(coils or shocks and springs) for a widetrack for fast road use.... even arbs if better than standard please! need to upgrade due to knocking but don't want to go down the road of buying everything and it's not needed

 

anyone please?

 

There's tons in the search, or start another thread mate, rather than going OT here

 

I'm fully aware how to search and start my own thread pal. but i was asking as the thread is also about roll bars and wanted to see if anyone had found something suitable as to what i was looking for and after some advice. if you haven't got anything suitable to say as to what i asked then don't come out with typical search comment please as I'm fully aware on how this site works.

 

last few pages on here are, mainly inturbo's posts are widetrack setup


water horse, horse water

 

ok cool

 

Just thought I'd bump this thread up as it took me ages to find it last night... as it's full of good info.

Maybe make it a sticky.