So the car is at 86k miles and while I have it on the lift Friday, I'm gonna take a look at the struts. I know I'm at about the failure point for factory struts, so in preparing for the worst, I'm looking for advise on replacements. I have been out of the suspension tuning game for a few years. I have had STI springs on the car for 70k miles or so.
My Needs:
My car is a DD with 0 track use. It has 22mm adjustable sway bars front and rear. It has group n mounts for the engine, tranny and pitch stop. I'm happy with the ride quality and height it is at now. I have had rear diff bushings to put in for a few years now so I may end up doing those too on Friday. Not interested at the moment in changing springs.
I know I'll probably need new top hats too when I do replace the struts.
I have owned 3+ sets of coilovers on various cars over the years, and am not interested going that route on my WRX.
Whats a good strut to use with the STI springs on a DD?
On other makes/models I have used in the past (but not on a WRX):
GR2s are a good OE replacement strut, with a little better dampening and slightly better tolerance for aftermarket springs. STI takeoff springs would work decently with them. AGXs or Yellows would be better, but for the money, I'd say just go the GR2 route.
When you get your alignment done, pick up a set of camber bolts to adjust the rear. Max out the front camber (-1.25+° wouldn't be unheard of), and dial the rear back a little bit (-1.0° range). This will help with removing some factory understeer from the car.
I've been researching the Coilover thing to high hell lately as I'm probably going to go that route myself. But for any kind of coilover that you would want, you're still going to be spending near $1200-$1300 for something like the Eibach Pro-street coils, the H&R Performance Street coils.
Cheapest I would look into would be ST Coilovers. Kronos has them for $950 shipped right now...and they are made by KW who is VERY reputable. They are supposed to be near quality with the valving and dampening as the KW V1s ($1500-$1700 depending on where you get them), which I had read are about as good as you can get for streetable coilover performance (similar dampening to stock STIs from what I've read).
You will still need top-hats though as these are made to work with the "stock" tophats and don't come with any (same goes for the Eibachs mentioned, and KW V1s).
I was thinking of just going the BC coilover route like everyone seems to love to do (I have a couple buddies with them and they are pretty good)...but I've found better out there for only a little more money.
I have koni yellows and STi struts installed. I love this setup. It is not harsh and the combo works well together. As long as the top hats look good skip changing them out.
Hummm when this day comes, it will be a harder decision than I thought. I loved my koni Yellows on my old car, didn't mind the GR2's, wasn't in love with the Tockico HP's, and thought the KYB AGX were overpriced and harder to adjust than the koni yellows.
We'll have to see what the stock ones look like on Friday.
Konis are good sauce. They would also put you in a position to run RCE black springs. Just watch out when assessing their drop specs as they are vs. an STi which is already lower. I knew that going in but mine dropped a smidgen more than I would prefer still.
I pulled this from another forum, I hope it is useful to anyone here as a quick reference guide. I am not taking credit for this, it was posted by kingsalami in www.wrxforums.com
I'm reposting just incase the link ever dies, or if someone is not registered and cannot view a photo if I were to screenshot it and upload.
Fronts are on top, Rears are on bottom.
Stock WRX (’09+)
217 - Front Spring rate
194 - Rear Spring rate
Stock WRX ('08)
151
136
Stock STI ('08-'10)
217
194
Stock STI ('11+)
250
297
STI Pinks
280
224
RCE Black (STI)
.2" - Front drop rate
.2" - Rear drop rate
Koni Red's were pretty much what the name implies, a red shock made by Koni. The difference between the reds and yellows being that the yellows were more expensive and offered more adjustability, and external adjustability. The Koni red's had 5 pre determined postions and required strut removal to adjust. They were slightly more expensive than a KYB GR2, but their adjustability allowed you some tuning leeway to play around with spring rates. A KYB GR2 has fixed rebound/damping set at around 30% stiffer than stock, which is great for use with stock springs, but you can quickly over power them with some stiff spring rate choices. The reds were cool because they were comparably priced to the gr2's, were a good street strut, and worked for most peoples needs. You'd save $200 a set minimum over the yellows.
Well checked the struts when I replaced the clutch. There are no visible signs of leakage anywhere, so perhaps they are getting weak, but they aren't blown out yet.
Ok the suspension is really bumpy now, the struts are definitely weaker. We aren't at the perpetual motion machine yet, but we are definitely unsettled.
Are there any good affordable springs that drop the car about .5" lower than the STI take offs I have on here now?
Just a slight interjection here since I will eventually want to upgrade my springs/struts from the stock ones that I currently have. You have been running the STI takeoff springs for quite a while but want to change them... are they not stiff or low enough for you? I'm interested in why you want to change because it may affect my future interest in the STI takeoff springs.
Just a slight interjection here since I will eventually want to upgrade my springs/struts from the stock ones that I currently have. You have been running the STI takeoff springs for quite a while but want to change them... are they not stiff or low enough for you? I'm interested in why you want to change because it may affect my future interest in the STI takeoff springs.
I was just interested in changing them because they have about 100k miles on them now. Springs don't last forever, they have a definitive life cycle. The height difference from stock on the STi take offs for my 2006 was about .5". I don't want too low, been there done that. I'm looking for about 1" lower than stock and slightly stiffer than the STI springs. The STi springs are nice but there is still a little more roll than I like.
Yup - blacks should be right in that range. I don't know about Swifts personally as far as height, but that also sounds like a good option if you don't want the stiffness of the blacks.
RCE lists their drop for those relative to the STi
- 15 mm front
- 10 mm rear
If you want to see how an '03 wagon sits on them I have a pic of mine.
I can buy a set of GR2 struts to replace my blown stock ones for $316 shipped.
RCE blacks are $336 shipped.
I called RCE and the guy on the other end of the line said that the RCE blacks will work with the GR2's.
Which would be sweet to replace the whole setup for $650. +$ for any worn bushings or top hats I haven't already replaced.
I called KYB and spoke to tech support. The guy on the other end of the line said not to go more than 15% over stock spring rates.
But we know the WRX stuts are not well matched to the stock springs, if anything they are a little stiff.
But for fun, I have the USDM Sti springs on my car whose rates are 224/195. The RCE's are 285/269.
Assuming my USDM STi's are appropriately matched, this would be the max value the GR2's could hang with.
1.15*224=257.6 1.15*195=224.25
Meaning I could be potentially 10% under valved with the GR2's.
I'd love to step up to the Turnin Concepts Tokico Dspec package, but $12XX for the complete package with top hats and spacers is a little rich for me right now (I haven't done my taxes and I am scared).
I don't like the Koni yellow inserts. Seems lazy to me they never made a direct replacement. Don't get me wrong Koni yellows are a great strut, but I'd rather not cut my OE ones in case I go back to stock to sell. I know Bigsky worked with koni to try and get them to make a drop in unit, but they never did.
I tried to get KYB to give me technical data on strut force so I could do some more in depth than back of the envelope arithmetic, but the guy in the tech dept didn't have any.
There are reviews saying the GR2-RCE black setup rides great, and threads where people say they won't be matched right.
Meh. Anyone have this setup? You guys running Koni's where in the adjustment range are your knoi's set?
Maybe I'll call RCE back later and talk to them again.
I don't like the Koni yellow inserts. Seems lazy to me they never made a direct replacement. Don't get me wrong Koni yellows are a great strut, but I'd rather not cut my OE ones in case I go back to stock to sell.
True. But the best Price I have seen on Koni's is $775 shipped for 4. The Tokico D-spec which everyone seems to rave about, are available with remote adjusters, and are a direct replacement, for $850. If I go the adjustable route I think I'll go that way.
For sake of discussion, does anyone have input/experience on the Megan Racing Coilovers? They seem to get good reviews and are within the price range. The "Street" versions have much stiffer spring rates than the RCE's, but the Coilovers are Linear rate where the RCE's are progressive, IIRC so I'm not sure if the rates directly compare.
I agree for $75 extra I'd get the non-inserts. I'd get the Konis though if they are a bit less. You probably aren't going to want to sell the car with the blown stock ones back on it, and many people will appreciate if not pay extra for good suspension mods. The install will be cake (for you) and the only thing that can really go wrong is to lose the bolt that holds them down (won't happen if you use a little tread locker) and that can only cause a little noise until you sort it out.
You can do better on the Koni $.
Here is <$700 "shipped" if you use the coupon code at the top of the page:
For sake of discussion, does anyone have input/experience on the Megan Racing Coilovers? They seem to get good reviews and are within the price range. The "Street" versions have much stiffer spring rates than the RCE's, but the Coilovers are Linear rate where the RCE's are progressive, IIRC so I'm not sure if the rates directly compare.
I still think you're better off with a strut/spring combo, but if you want to toy with the idea of coilovers, the only inexpensive ones I'd recommend are the Suspension Techniques: Suspension Techniques - Turn in Concepts
They may be willing to give you a discount if you wanted to opt for the Whiteline Com-C mounts instead of the MSI plates; the Com-C mounts will be a bit nicer ride, but my plates aren't obnoxious (I have the GTWorx ones, as does Sasquatch).
Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. I won't be buying a setup until march or April after taxes get sorted out, and may end up with an ALK and some other bushings depending on how they look.
I only brought up the Megan's because I can get a smokin deal on them. Like 30% off the going price.
Yeah Megans are garbage (still hate saying that cause my GF's name is Megan. I hate associating her with crappy parts).
I do agree with Matty though. Spring/strut solution is probably best for overall ride with handling improvement.
ST coils are a good budget offering if you did want to go that route, considering they are made by KW. I would also push Feal 441 coilovers, even though Zax and others don't agree. I love mine on my STI.
That will be a sweet setup. I have basically the same stuff except with Konis and no spacers. In addition to the geometry changes the ALK puts a nice stout bushing in there that really helps IMO to tighten up the steering response, control, and tracking.
I've been thinking I'll do one of the Whiteline Roll Center Adjustment Kits eventually just to replace the ball joints and tie rod ends as I get closer to the >100K mileage range. It certainly isn't necessary at the Black spring height but I wouldn't be surprised if a subtle improvement is noticed by the geometry even at that level.
My struts showed up, question: is it common for the struts to have a little oil around the bottom of the shaft when new? I can tell they are new never been installed, but I was just curious because all 4 have this film.
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