Help with Coilovers

[THERB3]

Hi guys,

I didn't want to start a new thread on suspension and about coilovers. I did a search and this is were I am at right now.
I am in the market to upgrade, can anyone tell me what coilovers I should be getting for MY05 wagon 3.0RB ?
A name of a few brands and model numbers will be a great help and people with coilovers at the moment can you tell me your experience with them aswell.
I know there has been alot of talk on coilovers and I hope I havn't brought something back from the dead.

Thx.

[Q]

Hi guys,

I didn't want to start a new thread on suspension and about coilovers. I did a search and this is were I am at right now.
I am in the market to upgrade, can anyone tell me what coilovers I should be getting for MY05 wagon 3.0RB ?
A name of a few brands and model numbers will be a great help and people with coilovers at the moment can you tell me your experience with them aswell.
I know there has been alot of talk on coilovers and I hope I havn't brought something back from the dead.

Thx.

How much money do you want to spend?? Why coilovers as opposed to springs and struts? Are you tracking the car? Need more information

[THERB3]

Just general driving no track days. With money wise I am not fuss but lets keep it in propective.

I just thought it will be better all way round to get coilovers than to have the bilsteins. I am new to the suspension side of things. What I want is to drop her down a little and to get some sway bars to handle better around corners.

What I have notice aswell when I was changing the rear tyres I notice that the previous owner had kbachs springs in the rear....... Is that a good thing or a bad ?

Cheers.

[teK--]

Never heard of Kbachs. Did you mean to type Eibach or Kmac perhaps??? Eibach springs are good but Kmac are not.

Also re coilovers don't get them just for the sake of having coilovers; you'll find that the stock Bilsteins do great even if you lower them a little ~25mm by using Eibach or H&R springs. The most noticeable improvement will be from fitting an uprated rear swaybar and also an anti-lift kit. After that if you still want to improve what you have you would start installing bracing.

Installing coilovers introduces a whole new world of complications

[THERB3]

I will have a look tomorrow again and will confirm the name of the rear springs I might have got it wrong.

What I am looking at spending for springs and all the other goodies ? And how much is coilovers aswell ?

[teK--]

Eibach Pro or H&R Springs - $500-$600.00 for the set.
Whiteline rear swaybar 20mm/21mm adjustable- $250
AVO heavy duty rear swaybar brackets - $150
Whiteline antilift kit - $180
By this stage your handling will be substantially improved. If you want to go further you'd work on strut tower and subframe bracing which make a difference when on the track or otherwise pushing really hard (for everyday driving you won't notice the difference except the added harshness).

FYI I have fitted the bottom 3 items in that list and handling now is 7 out of 10 (stock was 5 out of 10). Once I get the Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers I expect it to go up to 8.5 to 9.0 out of 10.

Pedders coilovers around $1500.00 starting
TEIN Coilovers $2000.00 starting
Bilstein Coilovers $3,000.00 starting

How deep is your wallet?

[THERB3]

Thanks Jim for the information I am even more confused now.lol

I just thought that the coilovers was the best thing to get for your suspension instead of all the other stuff....

[Adrian2627]

The main advantage of coilovers is adjustability; both height and compression and rebound damping. This will allow you to adjust the cars handling depending on the where and how you will be driving. The main benifit on the road is that you can corner balance the car ie adjusting each corner so the weight is evenly distributed over all for tyres. This along with camber/caster adjustments can really benifit tyre wear and general handling. Compression and rebound damping for the road is one hell of a kettle of fish and a click or two the wrong way can make the car a pig on the road, this is the main reason most standard suspension isn't adjustable. I think you'll find that some GenIV B-Spec wagons actually have height adjustable rear shocks very much like a coilover but without the comp/rebound adjust and front struts have rebound adjustment but it's set pretty well from the factory.

So to echo what Tek has said I'd stick with the stock struts and invest in good springs and nolethane bushes to start with. I'm not sure if you can fit an Impreza style ALK to a GenIV as going on our Outback (GIV) and my Lib (GIII) the rear mount for the lower control arm is a totally different set-up. I'm still out on the sway bar issue as removing the rear bar from the STI rally car I work on improves turn-in which surprised me. Fitting a bigger bar tended to puch the car and cause understeer but we are talking rally cars not road cars and people seem to have had great success with bigger bars here.

[CJ1177]

I got Tein Flex coil overs, for quite a few reasons even tho one of them I'll rarely do is putting it on a track, one of the big things I have found over the years of modifying cars & lowering them is springs have a tendency to SAG after a while & look silly or even waiting a few weeks or months after they were installed there still not quite sitting at the height you wanted, & annoys the crap out of you. I deally set up the front sill should sit 5mm lower than the rear sill, cant do get that with normal springs.
Plus the other benefits like independent height, spring pre load & shock stiffens adjustments. YES granted once its set I rarely if ever play with the settings but its great to be able to set them up exactly as you want them.
My car sits quite low & for when I go on holidays I lift the rear of the car up to compensate the weight of the luggage & or the trailer, To do this is very easy.
Additionally I have had mine installed for approx 2 years with no problems & they are very quite with no rattle like some other cheap brands do, there a little on the firm side but thats only because there 8kg/mm springs & not the softer option of 6kg/mm

hope this helps

Chris



P.S. contact Phat if you want the Tein coilovers, Fulcrum suspension cant get the Flex for the wagon but Phat can plus he is many $$$ cheaper when I got mine. All brand new & legit

[smythie]

Bilstein Coilovers $3,000.00 starting

Talking with Bilstein in Sydney a few months ago and we can't get coil overs for the Liberty. Yes for Impreza, No for Liberty.

[THERB3]

Chris what did they set you back ?