Car: MY03 WRX wagon, PPP, Prodrive springs.

Had the prodrive spring kit fitted by a dealer about 2K miles ago. On coming out of the garage there was definitey a woo-hoo factor at work - steering was more responsive, cornering was tighter and the whole car felt as if it was sitting on the road more firmly than before. Bang for buck it was a real winner. The only downer was that the alignment had left the wheel slightly off centre - not pulling, just not centred, but I hadn't really expected top results from a "bog-standard" alignment.

However.....

2K miles later and the whole thing's gone down hill. Obviously, the woo-hoo dissipates as you get used to the new setup, but the steering genuinely does seem less informative than before. OK, so the tracking was probably not quite right from day 1, and since I knew I was going to need new tyres about now, I thought I'd run the whole thing in a bit and have it done properly (going to Powerstation on Fri).

Steering aside, the car seems to "wallow" when going over undulating surfaces - bumps are usually OK, it's just that when the road is gently going up and down, the car seems to be a bit "floaty". Reading various Scoobynet posts means I'm now getting rear ARBs and drop-links fitted as well as the anti-lift kit when I get the alignment done, so hopefully this will help.

Final problem is that the front springs seem to "bottom out" when going over those small-but-vicious speed bumps (rather than the wider tarmac variants). I only go over at about 3-5 mph and the up part is nice and gentle, but when coming down the other side, I can feel the front start to dip on the springs and then the movement suddenly stops, giving the impression that the spring has run out of travel. I've checked the shocks as best I can (it's pretty hard to bounce test it with the prodrive springs - they hardly move when you sit on the wing) and Powerstation are going to have a good look on Friday.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has had similar experiences with the Prodrive (or Eibach - they seem to be the same kit) springs, and I'll post back with a post-Powerstation report if anyone's interested.

 

If Money is no object you could junk your present set up and get them to fit a set of AST springs and dampers that they fit to the type 25 for about £900 fitted. This would give you back the wow factor and then some!!

John

 

Yes please as i'm just thinking about getting them fitted to MY04 wagon.

 

first time I read a negative review of the prodrive springs. I have them on order for my 03 WRX as I want to cure the soft and floaty feeling of the car. Makes me wonder now...

 

ill bet your car has settled and your steering geometry has changed quite a bit over the 2k mileage

 

Powerstation are excellent and will be able to tell you if there is a prob. I got as big a wohoo after getting them to geommetry as I did when I got the springs fitted.

Much less understeer and altogether tighter

 

I would seriously recommend getting a fast road geometry setup done. This should take care of any non-linear issues. Apart from the knocking problem, I have done 3k on mine with ABP fast road geometry setup and would never return to standard springs. I do agree that going over those speed walls is a bit more of a chore, but they can be avoided and the 99.9% of flat (ish) road makes up for it.

Neil

 

I've commented on them a few times. It depends on what you mean by 'negative'. The Prodrive springs do improve things over the standard car and are worth fitting but the handling is still way off what it should be for this level of performance IMHO.

 

I've got a bugeye with Prodrive springs - the ride is fine once you get used to it

I also wanted to get rid of some of the floaty feeling when I had them fitted (at Powerstation with their geometry settings) and things did improve but still felt that they could be better - it's that first few percent of a roll that seem unnerving at certain speeds until they start to load up and take control of the situation. This doesn't have to be at silly speeds either (honest, officer )

I guess it's a damping issue as the dampers are still standard and they are set up for Joe Public comfort levels (performance vs comfort compromise).

I've just had a rear adjustable Whiteline ARB fitted a few days ago (I already had the rear Powerflex droplinks) and this seems to have firmed things up nicely to get rid of the floaty feeling I'm still getting used to things obviously but it seems a fair bit more "focussed" now Corners can be taken a reasonable amount faster but the downside is less compliance if you start to overcook things...

Andy

 

OK - had the job done and tried it out a bit now.

The overall impression is that it has improved the drivability, certainly over the original standard spec, and probably over the initial improvement when I had the prodrive springs put on. Since I had 4 things done at once (tyres, alignment, ARB and ALK) it's not easy to seperate the effects out, but I'll give my thoughts anyway.

First, Powerstation themselves definitely get a thumbs up - they seem to know what they're on about, and they have a definite "get it right" attitude. The only down side is that they're not as quick as they estimate, so if, like me, you've got to travel to get there, don't bank on coming back too soon. However, the time isn't wasted (at least, not whilst I was there) but seems to be spent in attention to detail. A good sign is that they got the wheel balancing and alignment right first time which never seems to happen in the KwikFit variety of workshop.

The ARB seems to have been a good choic since roll is definitely reduced on corners. Since nothing else would have affected this, I'm pretty sure it's all down to the ARB and would therefore reccomend it.

ALK and alignment are trickier to seperate, and I might have been better off doing alignment first and living with it for a bit, but I didn't want to go all that way more than necessary. However, since the major effect of the ALK is to give a greater castor angle which, if I recall my physics, means that the steering becomes more responsive but a little more "unstable", I'm pretty sure it's made a difference. The response to turning into bends is definitely better, and, negatively, the thing is harder to keep in a straight line (not to the point of wandering all over the road, you just can't be as lax as I had got used to being). At high speed there is no negative effect (again, I seem to recall that higher speeds reduce the effect of increased castor angle), but it does require a little more work/attention around town. Overall, I thinnk the ALK was worth it, but then I paid for it so I guess I'm biased - those on a budget should probably try just alignment first.

As far as alignment goes - well the steering wheel is now straight for straight-on, and the overall controllability is much better (although tyres, ARB and ALK may be contributing to this also). In particular, fast roundabouts can now be balanced between 4-wheel drift and slight oversteer very easily (using throttle and/or steering), and there is no sudden snap between either mode.

The tyres I had put on were Toyos, and it's completely impossible to say what their individual effect is, but certainly the full combo is pretty good. Not had a chance to try the wet yet (still getting more confidence in the dry), but I guess this might give a better idea of what the rubber is up to.

To sum up:

Tyres - get 'em if you need 'em, can't really comment on what's best, but the Toyos seem pretty good.

ARB - get it.

Alignment - yup (have to do it if you have ALK anyway).

ALK - Not sure, would probably try just alignment first. Also, the ALK "kit" is basically a load of shims that seperate a big plate holding all the suspension bits away from the "chassis" of the car and I'm still not sure how solid this is (I'm sure it is, it just looks a bit odd) or what comments this is likely to get me next time I go for a service (let alone what it'll do for the warranty).

Well, that's my 2p worth, and, since it's now raining, I might go and see how it copes with the wet!

 

Had the same mods as you done to WRX03 PPP saloon back in December last year at Powerstation. Sheepslayer do you also have the PFF7 wheels and tyre combo ie 18's with 225/40 Pireli nero's on. This will also make a big difference over standard 17's with the above package.Having had the above set up for seven months and 9k the car handles very well with the turn in super sharp and with real steering feel at last. The only down side running 18's is that you feel every nuget and *** paper through the steering as there is no give in the side wall of th tyre but as you say you pays your money and makes your choice. Still as the miles pile on you will love it, compared to the standard cars wallowing and floating about on the standard Pogo Stick suspension enjoy !!

Regards

John

 

I agree with most of that.

I find the Prodrive springs are pretty hard on the road - a bit like your wheels being out of balance. I hope to get used to it eventually.

Handling is better and makes the car more focused - I have more confidence in it now.

Worth getting - don't want to make it any harder on the road though. Solid rear drop links next I reckon.

Brian.

 

I am also getting the prodrive springs and plan to do the geometry settings that come with them. My questions is can any garage with decent equipment do a good job with the alignment since there are no scooby specialists where I live?

 

Only got the standard 17" wheels. I've had /40 tyres before (celica) and bent the wheels on every pot-hole that I couldn't avoid. Given the cost of the wheels and the associated minuses (more bangs, worse tram-lining) and the fact that the current set up seems pretty good, I probably won't bother, but it's good to get an opposite opinion for when I get bored and decide it would be worth the effort.

 

Should've said - I had the drop links done at the same time as ARB - they're pretty cheap and it made sense to do it at the same time. If anyone's like me before I asked, the drop-links are the bits that attach the ARB to the suspension, and the rear ones on a MY03+ scooby are rubber/plastic and therefore reduce stiffness of the ARB. I went for steel ones, which Powerstation said were good enough for road use, although aluminium ones are available (cost more). Don't know exactly what effect they had, but it seemed daft having a stiff ARB and a stretchy drop-link.

 

Agree with what you say about wheels, but one thing I don't get with the wheel and tyre combo is tramlining. Always makes me laugh when people post on the wheel and tyre forum about running 19's, do they know what they are letting themselves in for ?

John

 

do i do the geometry straight after fitting the springs or shall i wait a couple of days for the springs to "bed in"?

 

Wait few km/days...
JIM

 

Thanx Jim, finally received the springs today. will post once I fit them


btw nice of you to win the euro

 

That's a dream that comes true mate...