stiscooby

I have a 04 STI which have Tein Super Street suspension fitted (inc top mounts) but starting to find it a little hard for my taste (set on softest setting), I must be getting old .

Done a motorway trip on the weekend and sometimes when hitting a bump or "whoop" in the road I get "jarred" in my seat, I did think to myself I wouldn't mind a nice comfy BMW right now Even managed to make the CD skip a few times when driving over cats eye's!!

Anyway..... what other suspension could I consider, something that is softer. I use the car daily, the roads around here are not too bad but again a bit rough on the bumpy roads.

Car also has whiteline front/rear ARB's, drop links and Anti Lift kit, although I don't think these would make the car a harder ride.

Any recommendations appreciated (especially if you HAD Tein's and gone to something else).

Thanks

dunx

iTrader: (3)

I've just fitted the same, and had std STI set-up, for everyday use it's hard to beat. imho

You may be able to do a swap/deal with someone going to a more "track" orientated set-up.

dunx

bly

iTrader: (1)

i have two impreza's one with Tein Super Street suspension fitted
and one with KW coilovers and both with simlar set up to you and the the Tein Super Street suspension does tend to kick you in the **** over big bumps but the KW coilovers dont, both cars handle much the same aswell ,
think all jap suspension is to hard for england's ruff old roads

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

What settings are you running front and rear mate? You might find this hard to believe, but I found that running significantly stiffer damping rates at the front improved the ride.

SS are about the softest spring rate you can get for coilovers, if you can't get on with em, then it's back to struts and springs for you.

stiscooby

They are on the softest settings, 16 clicks out all round. Are there different springs that can be fitted to these? should the previous owner fitted something stiffer?

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Try 10 front 16 rear and see what you think. The classic Impreza really needs the front to be stiffer than the rear. That's my comfort setting

Ns04

matt-c

iTrader: (5)

You could go back to standard anti roll bars, the whiteline bits do seem to make a difference

stiscooby

Thanks, mines a new age but I shall adjust the fronts and see what happens.

stiscooby

I do have the standard ARB's as these were passed on when I got the car. These would probably just affect body role though???

Mine just seems to have no rebound/bounce to it.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Ah, you have a new age. You'll be on 5/4 spring rates then. You could try 4/3 (this is what classics have). Have a fiddle with the damping rates and see what happens first though!

I currently use

f10 r16 comfort
f8 r14 comfort/focused driving
f6 r12 focused driving.

I find running the fronts at half the damping rates of the rears works well. Running the fronts at soft rates makes the car feel under-damped.

davedipster

I have BC's on the same springs 5/4's and the ride is better than std sti on low dampening settings. Maybe the Teins have very harsh valving, so changing springs would not help much.

dipster

matt-c

iTrader: (5)

I think it's all subjectve really, I have tein SS and the whiteline bars on a newage 05. Today i have it on 14 front and rear, 90% of the time I'm really happy with the improvement over standard, it's only on constantly rough surfaces (like the occassional badly surfaced B road) or when hitting a pot hole at speed that i see a comromise - passengers may not agree though!

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Yep- suspension is a very subjective thing!

My SS set up is as good, if not marginally better than the std set up in terms of ride comfort on all but badly pot holed surfaces. Rough roads WILL highlight stiffer suspension set ups; it's a compromise between comfort and control.

This is why I keep banging on about not going too stiff. Stiff is great for the track and smooth roads, but how much of the UK road network is comprised of such tarmac? What you want is something that will let you maintain the speed when the surface is less than marble smooth, or you'll effectively be making the car slower from point to point. 4/3kgf/mm is more than adequate on a classic, 5/4 is suggested for New ages, but as we've seen, that can be too much for some.

Ns04

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Given the extra weight of the New-Age cars the spring rates seem about right.... but I just hope mine "run-in" a bit.

dunx

stiscooby

Are the springs colour coded or marked in any way so I could check to make sure its got the right springs on?

typeRv4

In my experience stiffer arbs also lead to a harder ride. So you might try the whiteline arbs on their softer setting or go back to std.

I run SS on a classic R. And have found as i added arbs, alk etc that i have had to set the teins softer and softer.

All these things that add to handling tend to reduce the complience of the suspension.