Subaru Impreza WRX STI JDM bogeye suspension

[S555DFH]

Hi All,

After 20 years away I am now back in a Subaru WRX.

I ve bought a 2004 Subaru WRX STI JDM.

I want to tune the car to be set up for B roads with a complaint rather than stiff and bone shaking suspension. I don t have any desire to track the car.

My car has standard JDM shocks (which I suspect have seen their best) with recent Tein lowering springs.

I have been researching new suspension but I have not found a solution. Many suppliers talk about fast road use but then people say they are too stiff for UK roads.

What is the recommended solution for a fast b road car?

I was looking at Öhlins but I understand these are discontinued.

Any advice / recommendations welcome.

Cheers

Dominic

Oops. Meant to type Blobeye😂

[Caddyshack]

It’s a big problem, so many aftermarket setups have a stiffer and lower setup across most cars.

The likes of exectc and dark art can make bespoke stuff but you still wonder how without testing etc.

[DCerebrate]

Have you looked at Bilstein B14? Non adjustable but Bilstein tend to do their research well and I was very impressed with the set-up for B roads with a TVR Cerb. Planning to fit these to my Sub soon as it the current coilovers ?Tein are so firm that it’s being literally thrown in the air round here! Springs are too firm so can’t do much short of changing coilovers.

[sam.rog]

The best setup was the one fitted to the rb320 impreza. Unfortunately parts are NLA.

Get yourself onto type-ra.com and ask for advice there. A lot of very knowledgeable people there who can guide you.

[DCerebrate]

Have you looked at Bilstein B14? Non adjustable but Bilstein tend to do their research well and I was very impressed with the set-up for B roads with a TVR Cerb. Planning to fit these to my Sub soon as it the current coilovers ?Tein are so firm that it’s being literally thrown in the air round here! Springs are too firm so can’t do much short of changing coilovers.

[S555DFH]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies.

I have reviewed the comments on the rca website but there is no definitive answer!

I want the car set up for b road use. For this to be complaint and not to be too firm.

I have nitrons on my Caterham which are much superior than the standard bilsteins.

Despite extensive research I am surprised that there isn’t a go to solution.

Asking everyone what do you recommend that is still available.

Failing this i will go with the Nitrown R1’s from Roger Clark Motorsport.

[Nozzasti]

I've got a Blobeye Sti Widetrack model, I struggled with trying to obtain standard suspension, so have ended up with Meister R coilovers, in all fairness I don't use the car much but can safefully say the ride handling is perfect for me, I've adjusted the damper settings to what the garage recommended me to do and find its fine for what I use the car for. I understand you don't really want coilovers but just wanted to give my opinion just in case.

[vxr2010]

The Mrs has BC coilovers on her forester sti , set to a soft setting , so around three clicks up from the softest , the soft setting is less firm than the standard oe sti jdm hatchback suspension , both handle very well , the hatchback standard sti suspension is fairly firm but I would not say overly harsh , suspension lots of compromises depending on what you want , and what maybe good for one then not for another

[TEKNOPUG]

Every aftermarket spring will lower the car 20-35mm. This will automatically increase the spring rate. No one makes a spring standard height but uprated by say, 10%. Everything is geared to fast road/track or being lowered for aesthetics. No one caters for performance improvements but maintaining comfort. Sure you can get coilovers with 20 ranges of damper stiffness but the spring rates will only work properly with a small range of damper settings. Setting the dampers to soft (comfort) will just lead to the springs being under-damped, effecting performance and ride.

Short of getting a company to make you custom spring rate and damper coilovers (and what would those spring rates be?), your best bet would be to refresh with stock components. That's the best level of comfort you are going to get. You can still improve performance via offset top mounts and alignment settings etc. Or play about with bigger bars front and rear. Increasing the ARB diameter by 1mm typically increases spring rate (stiffness) by ~20%.

I'm in a similar predicament with my WRX. Over the last 10 years I've tried: Prodrive Blue springs with KYB shocks, Meister R coilovers, Prodrive Blues with adjustable Koni inserts and just recently Whiteline springs with KYB shocks. The best were Prodrive Blue springs with KYB shocks, although the shocks are working outside their designed range, so only last a couple of years. They're all too stiff for daily driving on anything less than perfect roads TBH. I'm going to refit the Prodrives with KYBs and if I'm still not happy, then back to stock springs.

[Evil.soup]

sorry for the thread revival, but I have been looking at solutions to this myself. I have a 2006 WRX and I have owned it from new, I have tried BC coilovers, took them off after 6 months as they were only any good on the smoothest of roads, they were fantastic on the right road in fact. On normal daily driving though, it was like getting kicked in the kidneys daily, even the yellow line on an approach to a round about became a hateful experience. On uneven roads it was just dangerous, they can't deal with the road surface changes quick enough and starts skipping.

Anyway, I put the Eibach springs back on with the original KYB shocks. I have replacedthe rears but the front are still original and I am looking for some middle ground the same as you.

There may well be a solution after all, Pedders EziFit full suspension set up, as linked below:

https://scoobyworld.co.uk/p-803035?gad_source=1&am...

I am currently trying to find someone that has these on their Newage, this guy has a set on his Forester and he swears by them for daily fast road driving, does anyone know of this guy? He has a few you tube videos about this and other Subaru items and seems very experienced in the world of Subarus, but I can't say I have heard of him?

https://racedynamix.co.uk/remap/

[sam.rog]

I’m in the middle of replacing coilovers on my classic impreza.
Ive decided on

Kyb agx dampers
Eibach springs WA/A2+A4 and bump stops
Sti top mounts front and rear.
All new hardware and rubbers.

All in its going to cost about the same as a semi decent coilover solution but should be so much better on the road.
FYI. Im taking Ohlins coilovers with swift springs off for the above setup.

[Evil.soup]

sam.rog said:

I’m in the middle of replacing coilovers on my classic impreza.
Ive decided on

Kyb agx dampers
Eibach springs WA/A2+A4 and bump stops
Sti top mounts front and rear.
All new hardware and rubbers.

All in its going to cost about the same as a semi decent coilover solution but should be so much better on the road.
FYI. Im taking Ohlins coilovers with swift springs off for the above setup.

I am finding that the KYB struts are quite expensive, am I right in thinking the AGX are an uprated strut over the OEM KYB strut?

[TEKNOPUG]

KYB OEM
KYB Excel-G
KYB AGX

The Excel-G are fixed damping and stiffer than OEM
The AGX are adjustable damping but I'm not sure of the range eg: is the softest setting equal to OEM (or softer or stiffer).

I had Excel-G on PCA Blues (Prodrive Hawkleye) springs and the shocks are under-damped. Although ride and performance on the road was good, the stiffer springs would overwork the shocks and reduce their life to <30k.

I currently have Excel-Gs paired with Whiteline springs (softer than the PCAs) and the ride is over-damped. Shocks feel too stiff and the springs are engaging too late. So you get lots of jolts on broken surfaces, rather than the shocks working in unison with the springs.

I'm going to go back to the PCA/Excel-G combo. Then re-evaluate in a couple of years.

I've heard good things about the Tein Flex Z coilovers with their EDFC (automatic electronic damper control) - basically set the damping to everyday comfort and then adjust them to sport/track setting from a controller in the car (like modern adaptive damping) but you can also set it to automatic and it uses G-sensors, speed sensors etc to automatic adjust the damping whilst you're driving.

It's about £1500 all in (you can buy just the coilovers separately).

[sam.rog]

Evil.soup said:

I am finding that the KYB struts are quite expensive, am I right in thinking the AGX are an uprated strut over the OEM KYB strut?

Rockauto in the states are the cheapest, even when shipping and import fees are added. £566 all in.

[sam.rog]

TEKNOPUG said:

KYB OEM
KYB Excel-G
KYB AGX

The Excel-G are fixed damping and stiffer than OEM
The AGX are adjustable damping but I'm not sure of the range eg: is the softest setting equal to OEM (or softer or stiffer).

I had Excel-G on PCA Blues (Prodrive Hawkleye) springs and the shocks are under-damped. Although ride and performance on the road was good, the stiffer springs would overwork the shocks and reduce their life to <30k.

I currently have Excel-Gs paired with Whiteline springs (softer than the PCAs) and the ride is over-damped. Shocks feel too stiff and the springs are engaging too late. So you get lots of jolts on broken surfaces, rather than the shocks working in unison with the springs.

I'm going to go back to the PCA/Excel-G combo. Then re-evaluate in a couple of years.

I've heard good things about the Tein Flex Z coilovers with their EDFC (automatic electronic damper control) - basically set the damping to everyday comfort and then adjust them to sport/track setting from a controller in the car (like modern adaptive damping) but you can also set it to automatic and it uses G-sensors, speed sensors etc to automatic adjust the damping whilst you're driving.

It's about £1500 all in (you can buy just the coilovers separately).

The teins are ok. They just don't hold up to winter use in the uk very well.
You might be able to protect them with bilt hamber uc and then a coilover sock to keep out the salt ect.

[Evil.soup]

I have been burnt by coilovers, so will never go back to those I don't think, unless I end up testing a car with the Tein set up for example, I have heard they are good but still harsh or UK crap roads?

The pedders are a full refresh, shocks and springs correctly set up to work with each other, rather than trying to get the right combo of spring rate and damping using a mix and match set up.

I have Eibach progressive springs on the OE KYB shocks and I find they don't always feel as planted as I would like, its almost as if the shocks are struggling with the difference in travel, which they probably are, as they are not designed for lower progressive springs. It drives well and handles sharper than stock springs, but it doesn't feel in total control when at 60%. When really pushing, as expected, the springs really start to stiffen up and you get good corner feel, but I don't really drive that hard any more, I must be getting old lol!

That's why the Pedders came to mind really, full refresh and correctly set up to complement each other, but not going down that road until I can find someone who actually has them to talk to....

[TEKNOPUG]

sam.rog said:

The teins are ok. They just don't hold up to winter use in the uk very well.
You might be able to protect them with bilt hamber uc and then a coilover sock to keep out the salt ect.

Spray them with ACF-50.

[sam.rog]

Evil.soup said:

I have been burnt by coilovers, so will never go back to those I don't think, unless I end up testing a car with the Tein set up for example, I have heard they are good but still harsh or UK crap roads?

The pedders are a full refresh, shocks and springs correctly set up to work with each other, rather than trying to get the right combo of spring rate and damping using a mix and match set up.

I have Eibach progressive springs on the OE KYB shocks and I find they don't always feel as planted as I would like, its almost as if the shocks are struggling with the difference in travel, which they probably are, as they are not designed for lower progressive springs. It drives well and handles sharper than stock springs, but it doesn't feel in total control when at 60%. When really pushing, as expected, the springs really start to stiffen up and you get good corner feel, but I don't really drive that hard any more, I must be getting old lol!

That's why the Pedders came to mind really, full refresh and correctly set up to complement each other, but not going down that road until I can find someone who actually has them to talk to....

The reason it stiffens up when leaning on the damper is the fact you are probably in the bump stops. The bumpstops are too big from factory.
Made even worse by the fact you run lowering springs.

[Konan]

sam.rog said:

The reason it stiffens up when leaning on the damper is the fact you are probably in the bump stops. The bumpstops are too big from factory.

IIRC, the instructions for the Prodive blue springs for fitting to OE WRX shocks was to cut the bump stop down. Not so sure for the STi or later WRX as they switched to inverted shocks on the rear with the bump stop hidden inside the case.

I'm thinking of giving Tein Endurpro a whirl on a 2015 car as they've got a hydraulic bump stop.

Evil.soup said:

I have been burnt by coilovers, so will never go back to those I don't think, unless I end up testing a car with the Tein set up for example, I have heard they are good but still harsh or UK crap roads?

It's not a proper comparison, as they're on a totally different cars, but my Tein coilovers on a Toyota JZX110 (same as an IS200/300 setup) have a much plusher ride than my Legacy BP5 on Bilstein B6 and stock springs.

Edited by Konan on Sunday 17th August 07:41

[Evil.soup]

Yeah it vould well be a better set up than the BCs, I just can't lunch big money again on a hope and a prayer, I need to test my next big spend before I blow cash on it.

Interesting to hear you have had good experiences on the Teins though.