what makes the best coil overs? if you say a certain brand is better then justyfy why.

cheers

 

Not many takers hear !!!


Anyway hope the KW`s come out best as having them fitted soon.

 

Any news on the KW`s yet?? i,m thinking of some myself....

 

For me:

The AST's.
Why?

Good quality
Wide range of spring rates
Expert service from Power Station
Fitting and alignment by pros @ Power Station too.

Service parts available for the future.

Had 2 sets of AST's now for my road/racer.

Hope that helps.
Graham

 

Graham, could you pm what kind of price you paid please??

I was also speaking to David yeaterday API, He says they use Eibach which have always been good.




.........Pete..............

 

I was at API yesterday and we chatted a bit about the Subaru world and your car too!
For a road car I think keeping it simple is key. A good P1 system transplanted would be a good car with the usual whiteline parts added plus the all important alignment job.
Eibach are a fine company and the right price; AST's will cost 2 x the Eibachs, but are a full coil-over system and very effective.

You do need to decide what you want from the car first and formost.
For me it was fast on a hillclimb track, road manners were not so important to me.

AST's gave me both.

I went to 3 way race AST's after, andthey are a different level all together, but cost a cool £2000+.

The AST's are a sexy bit of kit, and David at API will fit what you want, but it all quickly escallates in $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !

Personally, I would fit One way AST's, the right Whiteline parts, and a demon alignment. Cost? about £1500. Simply based on personal experience.

Graham

 

Choosing the correct suspension setup, greatly depends on what you use the car for...

Coilovers on a road car are a bit of an overkill. You're probably better of with a set of normal shocks/springs.(P1/STi setup). If track work/hillclimbs are the target that's were coilovers come to their own.
Eibachs are supposed to be very good as a half way house.

I've personally got AST's (sportline 1's) with 60/50 springs which are v.good on track and fine on the road when they work as they should.
Unfortunately I have suffered 2 rear shock failures due to in the time that I've had them (less than 2500miles), and although powerstation has been good dealing with the problem/sorting under warranty, that experience has somewhat stained my faith on AST.
Having driven a car (GC8) with KW's I would be very tempted next time around to go for them instead. Can't give an opinion on Bilsteins since I've not had any experience with them.

 

KW - TUV complient.

So you can be pretty sure that not only will they work well, they'll not rattle and you'll not have fitment problems

 

Graham, i hope it was only good talk about my car.... can,t wait to get it back, all mapped, brakes, sorted gearbox and diff, hopefully will feel fantastic compared to the car i dropped off.

I think i,ll go for the Eibachs cus i,m not really going to do hillclimbs etc, just basically a road car.....



........Pete.

 

As far as suspension goes, once you're spending a three or four figure sum, I'd buy German so you get TuV compliance and the bottom line is the stuff FITS and it WORKS. That's a lesson learnt over a number of cars. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I'd only buy a name I know - e.g. Bilstein. The others are newcomers who IMHO aren't exactly proven. I know lots of people say ASTs are great, but then so they should be for the money, and there are also a lot of people who say they've had problems with them. I've got Eibach springs on mine, which are brilliant for what they cost. I've had coilovers on cars before and gone back to a good damper and spring setup to regain cross-country speed. I've spent a lot of time setting them up so that on a circuit they blow you away, or on a dragstrip you've got incredible 'launch capability' but take the setup out on the road and the first time you hit the anchors the front end's skipping, or it wallows just when you're not expecting it to. Everything in suspension is a compromise, you need to decide where you want it to work best, how much you want to pay, and go from there.

 

No news yet mate still waiting for them to come in as there seems to be some problem getting them for the 06 shape, but are expected sooooooon
I hope.


Will post when they are fitted and good luck with the Eibachs if you go for them.
Kw`s are German as well as Bilsteins so will be of good quality, the AST`s have had a few mixed posts over the last year or two if you do some searching on SN.

Regards Darren

 

I've had a set of KW's 3 way adjustable on my MY92 Legacy for about 2 years now.......

I can't really give a comparison as I've not had any others, other than standard........

The reason I went for them was as a result of AST's not being avaliable, and with VERY little out there for the Legacy.......

I have to say.... they make the car into a bone shaker !!

But It feels and drives GREAT

I'm glad i kept the original 'arm chair' seats to lesser the 'bone shaking'....

I've managed 1 track session and BOY did they give me confidence....... not so much that I was silly and spun

I can't see you being dissapointed

It was the colour that 'swayed me' lol

Phil

 

another option maybe ,would be eibachs pro street s coilover kit,stainless steel bodies made by kw with eibach springs . i have had these fitted on a 98 terzo for nearly 6 months over the winter and they still look as good as new. really good damping , they are fixed rate with ride height adjustment

there is loads of differant set ups with coilovers ie ast, bilstein, kw but how many of us know how to adjust them properly . seems more for bragging rights than owt else

just my opinion neither right nor wrong

 

Re my 'Bone Shaker comment'

I think I had the TOO low.......

I've now raised them slightly and can feel the dampers working


Phil
(less boneshaking)

 

Just put some Kw 3s on a 93WRX, they went on fine and seem to work well out of the box, but I am trying to get the alignment sorted ASAP as they give you a wide range of Camber on the rear.

Sprinting it on Sunday so will feedback then (had STi5 stuff on before, great on the road, a bit frisky on track).

 

Tried the KWs at North Weald on the 93WRX this weekend and am impressed. I had the car setup at Mocom after 2 of the 4 runs and the difference was very noticeable (front toe was well out).

I ran the car on standard rollbars (I had enough lift off oversteer in the wet earlier this year to convince me going thicker would be a bad idea), Goodyear F1s at 32psi all round and on the initial damper settings recommended by KW. Ride height was set to match a P1 I had sitting around for want of a better reference. In the region of 2 deg neg camber rear and about half that at the front (the car is still a daily driver).

I only had 2 passes on the final setup and felt I could have gone quicker with a few more runs. Got within half a second of a very trick 996 GT3 on a 52 sec lap and beat 2 of 3 slick tyred Imprezas in the class above me.

The car is now quite neutral, turn in is crisp and in the higher speed turns the car will develop a small degree of oversteer on turn in before settling into an easily controlled drift. (Beforehand it would tend to snap from understeer to oversteer, take alot of sorting out and not inspire much confidence). In the lower speed turns turn in was still sharp but the back of the car didnt attempt to overtake the front as before.

It doesnt seem to come with much of a trade off vs ride comfort either, in fact it seems more composed in high freq bump and a bit beefier in low freq bump.

Havent tried ASTs or bilsteins I'm afraid so cant offer a direct comparison to them, but markedly better IMHO than STi5 stuff.

Cheers
Andy

PS Spring Rates as they came out of the box 60F/40R

 

Having the geometry adjusted between paractice and race is impressive!
Any details on the slick shod Impreza's at all?
Graham

 

Zak is on the airfield and kindly agreed to fit me in at lunchtime on Sunday.

No info on the Imprezas except they were in MSA class D8.

Results here http://www.clubracer.co.uk/RESULTS.pdf

 

Whatever happened to the suspension that ScoobySport were supposed to be bringing out?

 

Hi Andy

were the KW's the standard variant 3 or the new Clubsport range?

 

Standard Variant 3, didnt know they did a CS range.

 

I have these fitted to mine by Zak @ Mocomracing.com.

Am very happy with them. Lovely build quality, very adjustable from nice and comfy to rock solid.

Top service from the boys at Mocom too.

Recommended

 

Car on the ramps:





Old coilovers:



New shiny ones :






Fantastic kit!

 

They keep getting better! Just beat 2x 996 GT3s, Evo 6 and Evo 9 at Bentwaters this weekend with my 93WRX (440s, autobahn FMIC, Walboro, remap, KW3s + 4WA, godspeeds (now wobbly)).

Now I've got a bit more time on them they are very predictable and adjustable at the limit of adhesion. Car handling like a dream.

 

Variant 3`s finally fitted by Zak at Mocom car sits very low and initially feel very planted and turn in is sharp and now has slight overstear, very useful, but haven't had time to make a final judgment yet but will post soon after some mile on them.




BeeSTi

 

Excellent drive home from Morcom Racing yesterday on the Variant3`s
all the back roads what a great bit of kit, absolutely planted and not one moment of hesitation even on some bumpy roads, I have never felt safer in a car on our roads


And what a great job Zak and Luke have done fitting and setting the car up
Thanks Guys


Track next.

 

What about EXE TC?

 

Exe TCs look very nice, if you've seen Pauls racecar go you will see how well they work. Does anyone on here run them?

 

Rob Harriman (see Projects thread on '2007 hillclimb season') and Martin 'Wadsey'; see same thread.

Rob is very happy with his.

 

MADDOG runs them Andy, and he absolutely loves them