babber

Last weekend I fitted my AVO coilovers, powerflex droplinks (rear) and E tech rear strut brace. As my car is bumper and grill less, I didn't really get an opportunity to try it out. First impressions were WOW!!! Car stayed in the garage since the small drive home

Bumper and grill took longer than expected and I had to go to powerstation yesterday for the bump steer and four wheel alignment. So off I went, taking it nice and easy to avoid any stones going through my radiator.

I got there and they set the alignment equipment up, and me being a noisy bugger watched there every move. The cambers and toe ins were all to ****, so they started to adjust them. Unfortunately there wasn't any adjustment on the rear, so I agreed to have some camber bolts fitted. One of the front wheels was hassle, so a camber bolt was used there too.

During the work to adjust the alignment, Nick noticed that one of my rear droplinks (the powerflex ones) was knocking against the rear axle (or whatever it was) He called Rich and within a few minutes, they'd noticed that one of the rear anti roll bars mounts was bend. They said that maybe this was due to an accident, but my car hasn't had any accidents. Anyway, in the end they thought that it must have been hit on the bracket at some point, and I needed a new bracket mount. I agreed to have some up rated mounts and new whiteline adjustable anti roll bar

This was fitted along with the front droplinks and the bumpsteer plus the alignment. I can't get over how attention to detail was paid to my car, and how accurate all the setting were when it was finished.

Anyway, it cost me a little more than I expected but the drive home (along the A46) was an absolute pleasure. As I said above, I can't really drive about playing at the moment, due to the lack of front end which is being fitted in a few hours.

First impressions though are the car goes over the bumps now in a straight line, and most importantly brakes in a straight line now. Thought this was down to my tyres. Overall ride quality is very very nice (AVOs dampers set to 3/4) with about 1 1/2 gap between the wheels and the wheel arch. Nick said that's about as low as you can go really One major thing I did notice was the cars overall feel. It seems planted to the road, almost like I can feel there is more rubber contacting the road.

I will be out playing tonight and tomorrow, so will give you all an update.

Big thanks to Paul at TSL, who supplied the AVO coilovers, rear droplinks and rear anti roll bar. He tried to talk me out of buying coilovers and just having uprated springs....Lol, I wasn't having none of it. It's nice for a supplier to be totally honest and up front with you

And a big thanks to Nick at Powerstation (who's birthday was yesterday) who worked through his dinner to sort my car out. He explained everything throughout the adjustement and fitting process. Also a big thanks to Rich for obviously knowing the underneath of an Impreza like the back of his hands Once again well impressive.

Phill

PS Sorry about the bloke that owns the TVR that was on the rollers. They reckon the compression was chuffed up. It smoked like a good un on the rollers

ozzy

Can I be cheeky and ask how much the coilovers were? I've noticed a clunking on my RB5 and think maybe the dampers may need replaced.

Question is whether to replace with the same OEM dampers (I've Eibach springs) or go all out on a set of coilovers.

Just what are the main benefits of the AVO's? uprated dampening & rebound rates? less body roll? lower than Eibachs?

Glad you're pleased with the results.

Stefan

mutant_matt

Phil,

Serves you right for not going for the uprated mounts in the first place - shame on you

Glad you're pleased

Matt

Trouser @TSL

No worries mate... Enjoy yourself!!

babber

Had standard OEM struts before and did like the way they felt. Paul suggested that it would be cheap to go for new springs, as he said at 40 k my springs would be tired, but shockers would be ok.

A mate of mine has AVO coilovers on his RB5, so decided the coilovers would be better, as I wanted to play with damping rates and lower the car a little. I still haven't had much time to play, but the difference is totally un-believable once the geometry was done and I had chance to drive it. I paid £ 660.25 plus vat for the coilovers and another £ 52.25 plus vat for the coilover helper spring. This from I can gather, stops the spring from jumping out the seat and trashing the thread on the coilover. Also keeps the tension in the spring.

This was a scoobynet plus price. Normal is £ 695 for springs and £ 55 for helper springs.

I love the feel of the new setup and would strongly encourage you trying the same. Ok, a few have said they aren't the best coilovers available, but better than what I had. Oh and make sure you get some camber bolts, for the setup

Speak to Paul @ TSL, he's a top bloke, apart from his 22b looking pants

Hope this helps, Phill

babber

Took the car along a very fast very bumpy road last night, and could really really notice the difference on this road. Before when driving down the road with speed the car had a tendancy to wander and drift all over the road. I guess this was due to front springs compressing and making the toe in change, so much ?

I was going a hell of a lot quicker last night, as the car just flew over the bumps. In all fairness this has made me decide that the bump steer mod, is well worth the money and would strongly recommend it to everyone. Car seems more planted and goes where you point it now

Phill

IWatkins

Phill,

Sounds like you have found the real strength of the bump steer mod. I.e. you are not hanging on and making course corrections all the time on bumpy surfaces. The car should of course have come out of the factory like that.

Cheers

Ian

Creepy

Babber, what about VAT ? Then the price is more than 695 I presume...(on the TSL site it's 695 excl Vat for the coilovers)

Creepy

babber

Yes it was £660 plus VAT, as I said above!!

Now I've been driving the car for a few days, I can say that it handles like a dream. Hardly any understeer now on roundabouts, and nice and easy to get a four wheel power slide On a bumpy road the car goes across the bumps in a straight line without having to correct the steering all the time. Braking is also now in a nice straight line. All in all I very very pleased

Mouse (a good mate of mine) has an RB5 with the same coilovers as mine and has had them for months now, he was so impressed after driving mine, was straight on the phone to powerstation for the bumpsteer mod and will be having his done on Tuesday

If anyone is considering having this mod done, then do yourself a favour and get it done NOW!!

Phill