AST coilovers - novice guide please
 

Hi

Bought a MY95 RA with these fitted, apparently track springs.

I have no instructions on how to adjust them at all.

Firstly it is fecking hard for the road, also the car sits low, I'd say 40mm lowered.

A few questions.

Does anyone have any intructions available? Perhaps scan them in and mail me etc.

And a quick guide.

Is the ride hieght adjustable?

Dampers - how do you adjust them? I can see they are top adjustable, but how many settings, is it clockwise to increase damper rate etc?

How the hell do I get access to the rear damper settings? I assume rear seats out - how do I do that?

Any help welcome, especially preferred / recommended damper settings (3 clicks front, 2 rear or whatever) :)

Jay,

If there are the same ones that Powerstation sell then they should have gold coloured adjusters on the top of each strut (the rears may come out of the parcel shelf behind the seats). I think its clockwise to go harder, but mine have 'H' and 'S' stamped in them.

If they have a screw thread on the body of the damper then they are height adjustable, there is an allen screw you need to undo in the bottom spring plate to allow you to then screw the plate up and down the damper body. Take care that the dampers are really clean before you do this or it may cause damage to the alloy plate with dirt getting in.

I run mine at 6 front and 4 rear, but I'm still playing with them.

You could also try calling Powerstation as they will have the full details on them.

Dave.

Thanks

TBH although I intend to do trackdays this year, I also run it everyday and I think I'll see if I can have the road springs retrofitted.

Not sure if the dampers are the same for both road and track kits?

Dave, how do you adjust your rears - remove parcel shelf? or have you stripped your interior?

Jay,

When I bought the kit from PS the rears came with extender rods for the adjusters. When fitting them I drilled a small hole in the parcel shelf and slid the rod through the hole, so I can adjust them from within the car without taking the seats out.

The road springs should be OK for the occasional trackday. I would have thought the dampers would be the same as its cheaper to just put harder springs in than develop two different sets.

Dave.

Boing.

Had my MY02 fitted with the AST's from Powerstation a few weeks ago.

Fronts are set at 4 and the rears are set at 2. This was the settings Powerstation suggested.

Haven't touched the settings, but are there any suggestions for what else they could be set to, or is it just a case of playing.

The AST's are fab by the way, a real transformation from the standard STI setup.

Funny you should " Boing" this post Mark, Justin was in Friday to have the road springs put on.
I think I remeber setting the fronts to 5 and rears to 4 (from soft)

How are they now Jay m A ???


Andy

Just about to find out...

Since Friday the water temp sensor has been playing up, making the car go into cold start, hence running like a dog when engine is warm. Swapped the sensor over last night, seems to have worked.

Anyway, intial impressions from a slow cruise down the M4 is that the road springs obviously give a much better ride than the track, and the 4 setting is a tad underdamped for the 24mm ARB on max stiffness setting.

The car is transformed though, mainly due to correct geometry (many thanks Andy for your efforts :)) but a bit too oversteery on the limit (its a good drift setting :D) with the ARB as it is. Going to try min stiffness on the ARB to get a bit of neutrality.

This is on a <1200kg classic RA BTW