I have a widetrack blob, had the clunking rear struts, so decided to do some handling mods.

I have fitted coilovers, rear 24mm arb on the middle setting (with the stout mounts), standard front arb, adjusable drop links all round, super pro roll centre kit, car is also lowered.

I have not had the geometry done yet, but couldnt wait to go for a spin and feel the changes. I am vey dissappointed as my car is ruined

I have the coilvers on 12 clicks from soft all round, with 5mm of pre load all round, the car is not taking bumps at all. It actually feels like the car is hitting bumps then slipping or jumping sideways, lots of squirming around.

The car is absolutley rock solid, there doesnt seem to be any compliance what so ever. It feels dangerous.

Will the geometry sort this out once its done or am I stuck with the worst handling car I have ever driven?

Have I put too much pre load on the coilovers?

Can anybody advise as to what I may have done wrong? My car is ruined

 

where in glasgow are you,

Have a shot of mine with the BC's i have to compare,

I agree zero compliance but i've never driven a stock car to compare ???

 

I'm near Silverburn shopping centre, it's BC's that I've installed, my car was completley stock when I bought it, the strange thing is I had a bug with similar mods and that was great.

 

Im Knightswood not far from City Centre,

Be happy to come see how yours is and what its like compared to my own ?

Could be you have knocked your tracking way out, but that shouldnt affect stiffness.

 

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated, have sent you a pm

 

I wonder is the ARB is too thick. It's essentially joining the suspension up and forcing jolts / shocks through both rear dampers, rather than keeping their independence.

With roll centre kits, coil overs, lowered, ARB and drop links all round you have taken a lot of give from the vehicle - perhaps too much.

What size tyres you running?

 

Have a shot of mine with similar setup to compare,

I would say mine is very harsh too

 

Have you tried the shocks all the way on soft?

 

Hi mate, the arb is a 24mm on the middle setting, exactly the same as I had on my previous bug, I loved the way that turned in, and assumed the blob would feel the same.

Had BC's on the bug too, only difference this time is on the bug I had ALK installed, which I wasnt too enamoured with, this time I decided to go for a roll centre kit instead as on the bug it rolled a bit too much on roundabouts, tyres are 235/40/18 on pff7's.

This afternoon though, I took the preload off the front coilovers, the spring can spin by hand but not move up and down, this has made quite a big difference, still harsh but not as bad, the steering feels a bit disconnected, but I'm hoping this is a geometry issue.

On the rear the bloody locking collars have siezed

I've tried penetrating fluid, but the teeth on the collars are now chipping away, dont want to try heat in case the oil in the shock leaks, I'm at a loss now as to how to loosen them.

 

Thanks mate, I will be in touch soon

 

I havent yet, but I will tommorrow and report back, I had read somewhere that BC's shouldnt be used on full soft as the damping and springs are not matched, I have no idea if this is true or not though.

 

What spring rates

 

Exactly, there are different spring rate options.

 

Also standard front ARB and 24mm rear ARB is massively mismatched. What adjustable drop links are they and on what basis have you adjusted them ? OEM Drop links are best on MY05 STi's.

 

Mate

Go and speak to these guys. Quite simply the best in the business and only 10 minutes from you.

http://www.kbmengineering.co.uk/

Not expensive either (and know their way around imprezas)

 

Sorry I should have mentioned, they are 6kg front and 5kg rear.

 

That's not hard at all for the blob chassis!

 

I had the same diameter arb on my previous bug, with standard front and I loved the way car turned, I was hoping for a similar effect on the blob. The drop links are Whiteline KLC139, I fitted them by adjusting one to the exact same length as a standard one, fitting it then adjusting the other to fit the arb hole while making sure the fitting point on the arb is horizontal.

 

Thats what I thought as well, the front definitely seems better since removing the 5mm pre load, the rear locking collars a siezed on so I cant adjust those.

 

Hopefully they can help

 

you need a good set of stilsons, the spanners that come with the coilovers are useless when it comes to seized collars
Trev

 

If your ride height has changed from fitting the coilovers then your geo will be completely screwed up. Hence the darting all over the road.

 

I changed a front damper on the FSTi last week and a trip to the geo shop was the first thing I did

 

That's a lot of rear ARB for a widetrack.

 

It's all messy with BC's

 

If you have not had the geometry set up after fitting all that then you cannot make any judgements on how it handles it will be pointing all over the place.
I would suggest a trip to Kenny Brown in Hillington or Duncan at Hypertec in Bonneybridge and get the car set up and I bet it is night and day.
The bits you have fitted are not the issue.

 

No its not

 

Disagreeing with 53's opinion is a one way road to palookaville

 

Tough in this instance he is wrong

 

24mm on the rear and standard ARB on the front with DCCD is twitchy all day long. Not a relaxing drive at all lol.

Don't get me wrong I run a 24/22 on my classics but on my Widetrack it was massively rear end happy without a decent front bar.