Best suspension for fast road
 

I have a hawkeye wrx sti. The suspension is a bit harsh. It currently has kW club sport Coilovers at the moment not overly impressed with handlin. Iam currently waiting on kW getting back in touch recommending what springs I should have for fast road. I have had the wheels off and tried looking for numbers to find out what is on the car but I couldn't see any numbers. Does any one have recommendations. I'm thinking of possibly going back to standard suspension and normal ride height. Just want the car to handle the best it can on the road.

I went from coilovers to pedders shocks and springs and the difference is night and day there a good balance between handling and comfort

What's wrong with the current handling - turn in, mid corner, exit, ride comfort, flat riding, uneven surfaces, tramlining etc?

What settings are the dampers? What is the wheel alignment? What tyres? Any other none stock parts? Any parts worn?

Clubsports not good enough? They are 1 of the best on the market.
You sure you have clubsports and as above something's not quite right, settings, springs, tyres etc

Speak to Simon at Chevronmotorsport Stafford he's the handling guru.

Have a read of this thread, read it all because there is some very good information, it's not just about roll bars...




https://www.scoobynet.com/suspension...-uk-roads.html

It's not just about bolting XYZ on

My set up is....

MY04 wrx sti blobeye
225/40/18 bridgestone Potenza RE050A
Whiteline bump steer kit
Whiteline anti lift kit
Whiteline front 22mm sway bar
Whiteline rear 22mm sway bar
Whiteline front and rear drop links
Whiteline front lower control arm
Whiteline rear lower control arm
Whiteline camber bolts
Whiteline rear diff bushing
Whiteline tie bar to front hub
Whiteline rear diff locking bolt
Whiteline Front upper strut brace
Whiteline rear strut brace
Group n engine mounts
Group n pitch stop mount

Cusco zero sport coilovers

Full geometry set up... Will try and get a copy of numbers

I'd consider speaking to a proper motorsport or fast road tuning company with experience in setting spring rates. While I'm no fan of coilovers on road cars the Clubsports do seem to have a good reputation. Changing the spring rates and getting the car set properly with damping may well be a worthwhile investment for minimal additional outlay vs changing setup entirely. The problem I've found is that most coilovers are mismatched totally between rate, damping and travel. This leaves a crashy ride that hits the stops too easily whilst also being harsh at low speeds. A damper with proper control means that some careful spring rate choice can be made to work well, even with less than ideal wheel travel.

As a contrast, I've found stock '03 WRX springs matched with Koni inserts on WRX strut bodies is simply outstanding. The ability for the wheels to follow the road surface is sensational, especially given they have 8" of total travel vs the 4" on my previous BC coilovers. You don't feel the wheels skipping, or tugging to the same degree. Nor do you feel them running out of travel in compression (I've bent several front mounting plates on the BC's from bottom out). The enjoyment from driving the car now is night and day, and I really regret the four years I persevered with the BC's for. This isn't on smooth A roads but instead rough and lumpy B and C roads where speeds are still high.

Agreed. Some aftermarket offerings seem to have things the wrong way round. They have a damper, and then try and match a spring to it. For road use, there is an optimum spring rate, and ratio of this front to back. Also optimum suspension travel. That should be the starting point. The best B road handling car I have ever had was my GF8 with the optional inverted Prodrive Bilsteins (with standard arbs). Spring rates (Blues) not a lot harder than standard. Only other addition was a Whiteline ALK.

I can't figure out why BC send their coilovers out standard so short. It's impossible to lift them to O.E. ride height which is a bit daft. I have run 2 sets of BC coilovers. The first set were ordered as +60mm in length. The current ones +40mm which was my mistake. Should have been +60mm too. The real problem after that is their springs. They supply longer shocks with flat wound helper springs, which just use your extra length up in sag! I've got a set of 260mm springs on order for my fronts and will get some for the rears once I've confirmed they work.

Once you go for longer travel, and get the dampers valved correctly, (divergent one the first set and fully adjustable on my current ones), the standard length springs will bottom out before the shock gets to the bump stop. That's not good at all.


To really give you something to think about. I run 8kg/6kg springs now, and they "feel" smoother and softer than my previous set of 5kg/4kg sprung shocks. Damping is key. Springs give you a ride height and a frequency of bounce. Faster bounce gives more damping force as damping is SPEED sensitive the speed being vertical movement of the shock/wheel and tyre.

really nice to see suspension FINALLY getting some serious consideration from some more enlightened posters to the roads that we actually drive on-coilies only seem to be tuned for smooth fast a road stuff imo with ****e damping and spring ratios