azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

hi, what are your thoughts on this £1705 blistein handling pack from lichfield for my hawkeye sti
http://www.litchfieldimports.co.uk/s...7_handling.asp

is it close to the rb320 set up?

are they likely to fail/knock like the standard suspension?

or would i be better with the cheaper bc's/ kw etc and banking the rest of the money

thanks

Arnie_1

what kind of car do you have?

azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

uk hawkeye sti

Arnie_1

Cool, just wanted to make sure as this setup seems to be billed for the STi. Unfortunately, no personal experience with this setup but, on the whole, the Billies will hold up better than the OEM inverted struts and they are rebuildable/revalvable in the future. Whether they are worth the price of entry is up to you and your pocket book. You might want to drop Litcho and line and see what they say about this setup compared to the RB320.

bonesetter

iTrader: (9)

~£1700 looks OK to me...

When you think the cheapest arbs (WL) are £140ea, ALK (again WL) £140, labour to fit all those you must be looking £2 - 300, and an alignment ~£100, which leaves the dampers and springs coming in at under 1K...

That package would get the car well set up

azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

ok sound, thought id see if any one on here had this kit. will bell lichfield when i can to ask some questions.

thanks

Arnie_1

post up what they have to say. am curious.

azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

will do mate

L.J.F

iTrader: (31)

I have driven my friends Jdm hawk sti with the type 20 kit fitted on numerous occasions and think it transforms the car completely! The AST coilovers are much better than the BC tat and will give you a much better handling car than the RB320

azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

yeah was looking in to the ast coilovers myself but i keep hearing about people having them rebulit, and if iam spending £2300 for the kit i dont want to be paying out for rebuilds etc couple of years down the line.

exe tc were top of my list but i believe they dont make them anymore?

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

BCs on mine. They are the best coilovers I've experienced so far.

Never tried the ASTs but as some general advice: Good choices with coilovers start with getting the spring rate choice right: people have this idea that harder is better and that'll they'll just be able to knock the dampers back and it'll be fine. It won't - it'll just make the car a bouncy mess untill you crank the dampers back up to a point where they can control the beefy springs.

If the car is predominantly a road car, get soft springs: no need to go more than 5/4 KG/mm in my opinion. It'll be plenty stiff enough for road use, but you'll be able to achieve an acceptable ride. The BCs seem well tuned for UK roads.

EXE-TC don't make the road kits anymore; IIRC they had problems with dampers leaking.

If you can afford them, Ohlins R&T range are probably the way to go.

Try and get a ride in a car equipped with the suspension you're interested in over the kind of roads you'll use BEFORE you comit. Poor choice in suspension ruins your enjoyment of a car!

Ns04

matt-c

iTrader: (5)

BC's better than the Teins then NS04?

bonesetter

iTrader: (9)

My vote would be KW V1 for road use. Similar money to BC's, but you get a far better quality product than BC, and Teins for that matter

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Definitely in terms of getting an acceptable ride quality for crappy UK roads, yes. The Teins were only really settled at higher damping settings which combined with the solid top mounts all around lead to a very crashy ride and lots of NVH on anything other than smooth roads.

They were excellent on the smoother stuff and the build quality was (visually to a layman) beyond reproach. The edfc was also genius!!

The guy I sold them too, a swiss gent, was chuffed to bits with them!!

Horses for courses! That's why it's so important to try before you buy to check on the suitability of the set up for the conditions the car is exposed to mmost frequently.

Quality seems like something of an subjective issue, I know of one VERY respected tuner who won't touch KW stuf, calling them "poor quality/cheap"

RCM stock BC and they're not known for supplying rubbish!

Ns04

rickya

iTrader: (18)

The Litchfield handling pack cant really be compared to Coilovers such as BC's etc . The whole point of this handling pack is you get much improved handling in terms of grip & sharpness to the steering without the discomfort & day to day driving issues you can get with coilovers. Its horses for courses as they say!

Iv had std sti spec c suspension,
std suspension with Eibach springs,
BC BR coilovers,
std sti suspension with alk, arbs, camber bolts

Each had their advantages & disadvantages. I quite like my current (last one down) setup as I have the comfort & flexibility driving it everywhere with no knocks, bangs crashing, avoiding potholes etc that you get with coilovers.

Soon the car will not be used as often & will hopefully see more trackdays. If this is the case then I might fit my Tein Monoflex Coilovers I bought a few months ago!!

azzaharvey

iTrader: (10)

ive rang lichfield today they were very helpful, they said the blistein dampers on this handling pack are very close if not the same as subaru sti/prodrive fitted to the rb320 just different part numbers which is to be expected.

they come with a 2 year garentee.

they will lower the hawkeye sti by around 20-30mm.

no rebuilds due to if a damper fails they sell them Individually which is a bonus.

happy days looks like ill be investing shortly.