RaymondH

I fitted a set of Eibachs to my MY98 3 weeks ago and, while I am pleased with the improvement to the handling, I am a bit disappointed with the ride height which is only 5mm lower at the front and exactly the same as standard at the rear. I know that some people say that the springs settle with time but Eibach's own web site specifically says that they are designed not to do that. I am in the middle of a discussion with Eibach about this at the moment but I would be interested to know if anybody has measured their car before and after fitting these springs. What I would like to know is the distance from the centre of the wheel to the wheel arch lip front and rear for both standard UK98 cars and those fitted with Eibachs. That way I will be better placed to assess my own case because Eibach's test vehicle started off with significantly higher ride heights than mine which has only done 13k miles so I would not have thought that it has settled. Thanks for any replies.

Raymond.

[This message has been edited by RaymondH (edited 18 September 2000).]

Stef

I'll measure mine tomorrow for you Ray.
I didn't do a before and after, but the car definitely looks a lot lower than it was.

Stef.

Stef

Right.
Front 350mm.
Rear 340mm (boot full of stuff!).
What are yours?

Stef.

Erik

Hi Raymond

can you give me part no.? I`am looking for other springs but don`t wanna lower car /poor roads/. Do you have standard shocks?

RaymondH

Thanks, Stef. Mine are 360 front and 345 rear (empty boot but full tank ) but what's buggin' me is that the front has only come down 5mm and the rear is exactly where it was when I expected more from springs which are advertised as lowering between 25mm and 30mm. If my car had done a lot of miles I would put it down to the standard springs getting tired but it has only done 13k. I was actually hoping for something more like Etheridge-Bird's car which looks the business but I don't know what springs he has. Also, Eibach told me that I had fitted the rear springs upside down because the close coils should be at the top the same as the standard car - the opposite of the advice that you gave somewhere else. I was a bit sceptical about that because the springs are different diameters at each end but, anyway, I took them off again only to find that they were fitted correctly because they will not fit t'other way round Now I am out of pocket because I had to ask the guy who fitted them for me to come back . I am still waiting for Eibach to come back to me after telling them all this but they now seem to have gone very quiet. I mean, if they don't know how to fit their own products how the hell are the rest of us supposed to manage!

Anybody else got any measurements?

Erik - I believe that Eibach only make one set but you could check with them at

SecretAgentMan

What abt Tein springs then? I've got 'em...looks like this:



They're progressive, going from a tad stiffer than stock to very stiff. item no. GGS022 from GGR. I'm changing them for a full LedaB kit now though.



/Jerry - Sweden

RaymondH

Jerry,

Nice. That's exactly what I want my car to sit like

SecretAgentMan

They work nicely with my MY00 dampers...but since they're progressive the car get's nervous when pushing it r e a l l y hard....some nice dampers would solve that problem.

Stef

If you want to seriously lower your car then Eibachs probably aren't for you.
I wanted to maintain all-round drivabilty, which is surely hampered on all but tracks with very low springs?
I will be considering a full set of adjustables next year though, if only to enable me to run a lower and stiffer set-up on track. My current shocks will probably be on their way out then anyway, considering they've done over 60k miles.

Stef.

Neil F

I went from very low, very stiff springs to Eibachs to get some fluidity back into car. I am more than happy with the result.
With the "original" springs I found the car would "fly off of" bumps and over dips, obviously causing a lack of steering for that duration. Rough country roads could become a bit skittish, jarring and eventually tiring as well.
The Eibachs soak up these conditions fine. I also found that wet weather understeer improved enormously as well as almost zero now in the dry.
I think lowering the car will improve looks and on track performance but you will have to compromise real world handling.
My ST14 does sit lower than a standard UK car but higher than previously, and that suits me just fine.

Neil.

ric

Hello everybody!

Just checked my ride height, my car is a completely standard MY98:

FRONT 360mm
REAR 345mm

...until now I thought, that the Eibachs will give about 20-30mm lower ride height.
But it seems that theyre close to the standard ones.......but where comes this
improved behavior and steering from???

greetings
ric

Stef:
Do you think my car will be OK with Apex springs (-35mm) and the yellow Koni
Sport dampers??? (fast road use!)

scoobymike, Richard and Steve:
Please measure your car.

scoobymike

Hi Ric

check your mail.

I've driven the apex supension from your mate so believe me it's not a match for the Eibachs. But that's my personal preference.

Mike

RaymondH

As ever, it's a compromise. However, Eibach's own web site claims that their springs lower the car by 30mm which, to me, is just not true and ric's post confirms it. (I thought that there were rules about things like that....) Either that or there is something with the springs which I would have thought unlikely.

ric

Maybe there is a difference between MY98 and MY99/00???
I have two mates that confirmed me that their car is about 20mm lower with the Eibachs fitted, but they both own a MY99!
Anybody who has mesured the standard MY99?
Scoobymike, please check the measure of your car. (MY99)

nickwrx

I change my springs for the eibach about 2 weeks ago, at the back of the car the height stayed the same but the front has dropped by about 8mm , so it's looks like eibach have been fibbing.
by the way my car is a 95 wrx,and the handling is excellent now .
nick.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

One of the reason's I went Eibach is that I thought GMAY's car looked gooood MY99 DBM with gold wheels (5dr too ) It was obvious that it at least looked special & at the worst "different" to standard.

I "did" PTMW! & although I can, sometimes, notice the difference in ride height, I still think Grahame's looked mean

We both went to

dowser

Don't really understand the ride-height issue - who cares how low it is...as long as the handling is improved....and it is, big-time!

By reducing ride hieght, you obviously reduce spring travel - regardless of the spring characteristics this will always be a compromise between smooth (track) and normal road performance...or you'll just run out of spring travel - ouch Guess it's down to what you're looking for.

Richi - as mentioned in my email, mines lower but I wouldn't say by more than 20mm. But I'm very, very happy - better ride quality than standard and much better handling (unbelievable control when loaded). So much so that on my new car I may well do the same again, rather than changing the dampers too.....got to test Mike & Steve's cars again methinks!

Richard
MY99 - Eibachs/standard dampers

Stuart Knight

iTrader: (2)

I'm running Cusco ride height adjustable suspension with HKS springs on my MY94 WRX and the ride height as measured above is 310mm front and 320mm rear. This is as low as it will go without fitting shorter springs. As the suspension movement is only about 5-10m rear and less at the front this wouldn't be a major problem! Oh and it handles like a go cart.

Hoppy

My MY00 car has the ProDrive Bilstein/Eibach suspension kit. It's good, too. Much better, taughter handling and ride comfort as good as standard. (Actually, I'd say it was a tad smoother!)

Ride height: front 340mm, rear 320mm. This is from wheel centre to under-side of the plastic wheel arch trim, which is about 5mm lower than the metal itself.

No comparitive measurements for the standard set-up, I'm afraid.

Hoppy

scoobymike

Mine is 340mm front and rear, with 3/4 fuel in it, nothing else in the car. Mine is considerably lower than it was before. Also compared to a standard one it is obviously lower.
But I haven't bought the springs for lowering but improving the car's handling. That's what it did so I'm happy. Remember Ric I had the car lowered more than 40mm and it spoilt the car (not enough wheel travel anymore). As someone stated above with the Eibachs the fluidity and composure of the car improved very much.
At least it's a rally car and not a touring car.

Mike

PS: It's on Konis, so maybe ride height a bit different from standard, can't comment on that

Sam Elassar

now thats funny
my car have got different hieght per cornor ?!!!. MY99 with Eibach springs but measurments from the centre of the wheel to the black plastic wheel arch lip varies by 10mm at the front and the same at the back ?
fr L 365MM, FR R 375MM, REAR L 345MM, REAR R 355 MM measured with 1/4 tank

Now is that normal ? will that hinder the performance?

sam

RaymondH

Sam - I think that the differences are fairly normal. Eibach apparently had the same thing on their test car. Looks like you didn't get a 30mm drop either!!

[This message has been edited by RaymondH (edited 23 September 2000).]

Simon Lines

Morning Guys

I’m going to word this very carefully because I do not want it to seem that I am “taking a swing” at Eibach.

In one of my previous lives I was the tech sales rep for SPAX, as such I guess I know a bit about springs, dampers and suspension dynamics.

I’m not going to get into the “Eibach’s on standard springs” issue again, but I feel the need to comment on the car that has 4 different levels (each corner different) It sounds like there is something wrong, please have you car’s suspension checked sooner rather than later.

Cheers for now

Simon

(Export Account Manager – Prodrive)

StanS

iTrader: (3)

MY98 5 door, quarter full petrol, nothing in boot, Eibachs (fitted July) and std shocks: Fr 350mm, Rr 345mm. They looked lower after a settling period (Aug), or was that just mind tricks. Now with 17" rims the gap between tyre and body seems too big again.
Springs seem flatter in corners and not too much difference in firmness from std. 17" also no noticeable difference in firmness/ back jarring ! Would like to see rims nearer to bodywork at the top of wheels provided no risk of tyres fouling arches etc.
Stan.

CharlesW

MY 96 WRX Eibach springs/Bilstein shocks. Front 330mm. Back 320mm.

Neil F

Simon.

You can't know that much; Eibachs are springs not dampers and as such you'd have a bit of trouble fitting "Eibachs on standard springs"!
Seriously though (and hair splitting aside!) Simon's right, Sam should get his car looked at, and maybe check with the previous owner to see how many times it rolled before it was repaired............

Sam Elassar

very funny Neil
thank you guys for your concern. the car is fine. height is perfect when i remeasured it on a flat surface. oops my mistake after all.

simon
OK lets get down to business. what is the best suspension you would recommend in your opinion ? bearing in mind that it has to be adjustable.
so far:
1- leda is noisy/ rattely and very difficult to set up ( so i have been told )
2- AVO very hard even on their soft settings
3- Eibach springs and blesteins ? koni ?

is thier such a thing as a perfect set up. i would get the prodrive one if it catered for my needs

sam

Neil F

Incidentally, I finally got around to checking my ride height this morning and it is 335mm front nd 340mm rear with about 1/4 tank and an empty boot.

Neil.

PS. Pleased to hear all's OK Sam.

SecretAgentMan

I've only had the LedaB on for a short period of time, but I'm very satisfied with the result.
Much better feel than with the Tein S-tech springs, the car is much more stable and linear in the behaviour.



/Jerry - Sweden

[This message has been edited by SecretAgentMan (edited 29 September 2000).]

steve McCulloch

Looking at some of these posts the rears are lower than the fronts - this is something that I want to avoid - I have one big gripe about the Subaru - from a side on view the rear looks so much lower than the front when the car is travelling - and when floored looks ridiculous - I want the springs to sort this out - i.e lower the front more than the rear!

I would have considered Leda but from all the posts I've read over the last 1.5 yrs I dont think I'll bother - dont fancy several trips to the factory to sort it out, as seems to be the case for a lot of people - of they cant get it right first time - they should not be in business!

Whats a devent price to pay for full Eichbach spring change? (including the springs) - I've seen a quote from Tyres Northampton £200 - includes VAT? and fitted?- is it necessary to have a full geometry reset for best results? - or can I get away without this?

I had a SPAX kit on an RS Turbo - awful - like a Kangaroo everywhere and on its softest setting - 25mm springs that dropped
the car 50mm!
Had to junk it for original set up - much better - but a lot higher!