Also be aware that the rears have a slotted bolt hole at the hub, you can get -3 degrees neg camber at the rears by pushing the hub when tightening. If you let the hub drop down on the slot you will get std -1.5degrees approx at the rear.
That may explain your excessive rear negative camber, also a camber bolt on the slotted rear strut hole would not work giving the alignment guy a headache.

dipster

 

Well, I fitted the rears today with no great problem. Went for a 5 mile drive to settle them in then checked the ride heights. Fronts was sitting 15mm lower than with the Prodrive springs and the rears 10mm. This afternoon I decided to re-set one side, so off came the wheels and turned the front strut to give 10mm increase (5 turns) No prob. came to do the rear and that was a pain! I could hardly turn it. I decided it could be the fact that the spring was turning with the strut and because its OEM type top seat doesn't turn (unlike the front spring) the pre-loaded spring was causing a lot of resistance. I slackened off the spring but it only made a small difference! I think I managed about 2 turns (4mm) and left it at that.
Has anyone else found a problem when adjusting the rear ride height?

JohnD

 

You should be able to turn the body by hand, there is a bearing at the top. You do need to jack up the back from the rear diff. If you jack up one corner at a time the ARB will compress the jacked up corner making adjustment a harder.

dipster

 

That's a good point, I'll get the trolley jack under there tomorrow!

JohnD

 

sorry guys been away on hols for a while
if camber bolts dont do anything on the rear why did apex supply them to me or have i missed something?

 

Had the alignment set with nominal target of 1.5 deg. negative camber front and rear. The final figures were - left front 1deg 24 min. (why couldn't he have achieved the final 6 min?) Right front 1deg. 30 min. Left rear 51 min. Right rear 1 deg. 29 min. When I queried the left rear he said it was "maxed out" at 51 min. If that's the case, it must be the strut as with the original strut it was set at 1 deg. 9 min.
For a road car on typical British roads, the differences are miniscule (eg that 6 min. at the top of the strut would be something like 0.75mm!
I bet if I took the car to be checked at another alignment centre, they would see different figures to those I've just quoted?
Oh to find a garage I could trust!!

JohnD

 

Finally started to fit mine today and did the fronts this afternoon.
The front on mine is now also sat around 10mm lower than the Prodrive springs, and I adjusted the hardness to most soft, then dialled in 10.

I have to admit that in comparison to the WRX shocks and Prodrive lowering springs they've replaced, the ride at this setting is far better; bumps are absorbed rather than letting you feel it like my old setup did (although this may be the result of the old shocks having done around 80,000 miles!).
Cornering is better, although still not as flat as I'd like.
I will play with the harder settings a little once I've fitted the rears tomorrow and had an alignment done.

The only thing I have noticed other than this is I seem to have a slight rubbing noise coming from what sounds like the front driver's side, but I can't work out what it is (it's definitely not a bearing noise as I've had both front bearings replaced in the 6 years I've owned the car).
The disc guard doesn't seem to be fouling on anything, and the tyres don't appear to be rubbing - anyone else had a similar issue?

 

No unusual noises from mine but remember in noise terms, the front does not now benefit from the rubber top mount so road noise may well be increased under certain circumstances. Have you had the alignments done yet? Toe should be ok but camber could be anywhere!

JohnD

 

Thanks mate - no point in alignment yet - going to tackle the rears tomorrow morning, then I'll see about getting an alignment. GRD / Subaru may be able to help me out in terms of what the noise is - I can always raise it another 10mm and see if it makes a difference.
Re road noise - I don't think this is the lack of the rubber mount - I think it's something making contact - maybe I've just bent the brake dust / disc guard but it looked to have plenty of clearance so gawd knows! If I find out what it is I'll post an answer on this thread

BTW what are you guys running in terms of hard / soft setup.

 

Re-rubbing noise You haven't got mudflaps on the front, have you?
Set my damping to 10 front 8 rear (clicks from max soft)

JohnD

 

Sadly nothing so simple mate; hopefully it'll be something equally easy to fix though!

 

Just to follow up - finished the rear today.
Was still making that noise so removed the front driver's side wheel to have a look - brake dust shield was just slightly further in towards the disc in comparison to the passenger side, so levered it ever so slightly out again, wheel back on and test drive - problem solved

Now the only thing I need to do tomorrow is decide on ride height, it's currently a bit too low - 20mm less than Prodrive lowering springs, and I can't get a trolley jack underneath her, so probably going to raise her back up another 10mm.
Getting my front ARB and anti lift kit fitted tomorrow by GRD, followed by an alignment. Should set it all up very nice

Tried running around on a setting of 10 (i.e. 20 away from soft) today, but way too hard for the state of the roads around here, I reckon I'd lose fillings! Having then tried 15, I've left it on 18 all round - we'll see how it goes.

 

had a similar problem with my wrx years ago, thought the bearing had gone so had car uplifted. Felt so foolish when I was told its only the sh*t gaurd around the disc.

 

Turned out to be a loose track rod end that the tracking guy didnt tighten up

 

Bloody hell - that's not exactly a great advertisement for them is it!

 

needless to say i wasnt impressed and wont be using them again.

 

Just an update, went for an alignment today at GRD, and at the same time got James to fit a 22mm front anti roll bar, and a whiteline anti lift kit.
On the drive home, the car felt brilliant - I'm still running my winter wheels - budget winter tyres on a cheap set of WRX alloys - but the car handled like it was on far more expensive rubber.

I've gone for a setting of 20 (where 0 is hardest, 30 softest) on the rear, and 16 on the front and looking forward to getting the 18's and the vreddies back on the car.
Ground clearance is now 13cm, just low enough to get a trolley jack underneath either side. The ride's hard, but not noticeably worse than the previous WRX shocks and Prodrive springs the coilovers replaced.
The difference is how much more planted the car is - it doesn't crash or bounce over potholes or dents in the road - loads better.