R4LLY

iTrader: (1)

what would be the right suspension for this as this as everyone knows is a bit tail happy round bends and espically in the wet! i have a budget of about 1000-1500 i am planning to get a pair of 17's as well so hopefully this will help! if anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated! cheers!

911

IMHO:
Depends on what you need from the car (I have an Sti V3)

For a stable safe chassis on the road:

Whiteline anti roll bars and rear solid drop-links.
Nortech front top mounts
Rear camber bolts
Eibach 20mm lowering springs (no more)
Powerstation alignment by Andy or Curtis with bump steer mod

Light 17'' wheels and some nice tyres, Toyo or Goodyear
Set of 'better' pads in the brakes

I think that has spent your budget, but you may be able to go much further if you buy some of the parts 2nd hand (but not the tyres or brake pads!)

I am sure some others will advise slightly differently, but for a good chat and advice call Powerstation and chat to the above guys or Rich.

My car is tunedby them, so personal experience voiced.

Graham.

R4LLY

iTrader: (1)

thanks for that i just planned for a more stable and safe chasis on the road! i also plan to get the black diamond disks with the ebc green pads for my brakes! i have also seen suspension kits e.g. BILSTEIN PSS9 SUSPENSION KIT. i am a bit confused with this ! if i do buy this will i need to buy anymore suspension mods??

Mo

If as you say it's a little tail happy I'd be looking at the tyres to start with, are they a good tyre as Graham mentioned above and what condition are they in? Tyres are the single most important part of your chassis and it seems as late that as the price of Imprezas comes down so does the quality of parts fitted to them.

The next place to look is at your alignment, with standard components a good place to start is with maximum (equal left and right) negative camber on the front and again maximum equal negative camber on the rear with a little toe in all round.

Once these two points are addressed you should then decide what it is about the cars handling characteristics you are not satisfied with and address this issue rather than simply fitting an expensive coil over kit because every one else does. See if you can get rides in other Imprezas with varying set-ups so you can get a feel for how they all differ, you may well find that you are more than happy without the coilovers.

Use the search facility and familiarise yourself with the different components and the options available which should then leave you in a better position to decide on a way forward.

Mo

Oh and one other thing, forget the EBC greens, you really want to be running reds on a road going Impreza.

911

Mo, interesting point about the Reds. I have now worn my Greens out, and i have to say they were no better than the stock pads in my opinion!

How are they on cold braking?

Graham.

Mo

Graham, very good in day to day road use although I haven't used them in anger as you would from cold when competing, do you use the brakes then I've always managed to get a little heat into them by the time I'm on an open road and really need them.

I now run with Yellows on a new age which although still give adequate bite from cold for road use I wouldn't recommend them for your usage.

911

Thanks for the info.
In a 50 second hillclimb there is no time to get pads etc warm.
You might use brakes hard about 4 maybe 5 times in that time (plus a few 'comfort' taps!)
AS Performance helping me out at the moment on this topic
Graham.