Hey folks, it's been awhile. I haven't posted up in a long time. But, you're still my go-to for relevant info. I'm researching coil-overs for next years season of auto-xing. I can't find any good, current, set-up info for a 2005 WRX. I'm looking for suggestions on what brands to start researching for a new set-up. I'm not sure what direction I need to be looking. I'm also not the most savy mechanic out there. So some of these discusion I'm reading are kind of over my head. I like to drive the car, not read up on it on the interwebs all day. So, I look to you guys that do get into understanding about all the available options out there. What brand or two are top on your lists? Mind you, I'm getting beat mainly by 2 cars. Both have Motons or similar set-ups. I don't think I can swing that kind of cash. What are the options maybe a step below that? What other add-ons do I need to look at? I'm running Whiteline front and rear SB with end-links. the rear have the heavy duty mounts. I've replace the steering bushings. The final step is, stepping into some excellent "race" coil-overs. I daily drive the car, but I'd rather beat the 328i I lose to every year then worry about ride comfort. :| I'm on his heels, I've lost to them by less then 5 points each year. Thanks for your advise Folks!
Contact AST, RCE, and/or TIC(turn in concepts). They will provide professional setup advice, and offer some of the most competitive and addordable coilovers on the market(I believe TIC and I know RCE are resprung and revalved kw's which what's really matter). A huge part of your suspension performance is going to be your alignment, and the maintenance of those alignment specs through the cars suspension travel. Things like roll center are also often overlooked and and are hugely vaulable areas of interest. Call all 3 companies above and win.
I've gotten a TON faster maxing out the camber on the stock parts. Quantum Mechanics (Decatur shop) added camber bolts and did the alignment. We added a little toe out in the front and a bit of negative toe in the rear and it really helped the car turn-in and balance-out in the mid-turn. My body roll is what's really killing me now. I can't wait to see the addorable coil-overs out there. The one's I see are pretty motley
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.4; en-us; ThunderBolt Build/IML74K) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30) I don't know if you are in a class that bans it or whatnot but a white line anti lift kit and the roll center kit does wonders on our cars.
With what you already know, AST would be my choice. 5300 or 5200 series. You can, also, ask Geoff at Cygnus Performance, he's pretty acknowledgeable and has good pricing.
yeah i only mention that, because for the first 12k miles on the RCE Tarmac 2's I have I didn't have those two things, and yeah the car handled great IMO, but now that I had them put on, it's really taken the car to another level to me. The feedback in the wheel is a lot better and the car definitely has a better turn-in feel to me.
I just checked out the price of the AST 5300, and they're pretty up there. Maybe a dealer has a better price then the standard retail price I saw. I've been reading up on BC Racing ER Series. Besides a limited travel, they seems to be a good option. And they're more affordable. I'm not solely making a final decision on price, I know you have to pay to play so to speak. I get that
IIRC an anti lift kit (anything that changes suspension mounting points) puts you into F Prepared. Not a class you would want to move into I would bet
Thanks for the heads-up. I was just reading up on the anti-lift kits and didn't think about that changing the mounting points.
Do you have camber/castor plates yet? I have the ones I used to use for AutoX, they are a great improvement. I know I had good luck adding grip with the added negative camber and castor. They are PDE brand (now defunct) but the design is still made by someone out there. Also, I used (and still have on the car) the Koni struts. These can be used with the stock style springs OR you can get the coilover kit and use coilover springs.
Thanks for the offer. I think whatever set-up I decide to go with, will come with it's own camber plates. I need to step it up, second and third every year is killing me
The Anti Lift kit is going to put you into that F prepared class that you dont want to be in unless you plan on modding the shit out of your car. But you can get one of the things that the ALK does out of another product. Caster bushings for the rear part of the front lower control arm. http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_detail4.php?part_number=KCA375 fits almost everything and wont change mounting points of the control arm on the vehicle. Supposed to improve turn in/out ability of the car. One of my first planned mods.
I don't mean to thread jack, but I figure since we are talking about AutoX suspension and handling mods I'd ask this question: Does anyone know about the cusco H-Brace and how it effects class designations in AutoX? I cant seem to get a good idea about where it mounts and how it fits into the 2013 SCCA solo rules. Rules link: http://www.scca.com/solo/content.cfm?cid=44517
It has been awhile since I have looked at the AutoX rules...but if you are looking at coilovers, I would completely skip the ST's and BC's and save for the Tarmac 2's (revalved KWv3) or the KW Variant 3's. BC's are really just made to slam the car and the ST's valving sucks. I have heard good things about the Fortune Auto's with upgraded Swift Springs but I haven't driven on them enough to really make a suggestion either way on those. The biggest changes to my car on the handling end was the a proper alignment, RCE sways, Tarmac 2's, ALK, rear Whiteline bushings on everything (including subframe). Again...I would have to read over the rules to see what is legal for that class or not. I haven't really worried about it too much because if I decide to get out there my car won't qualify for anything close to stock. So that means...I am going to get my ass handed to me by Miata's on slicks...but it would still be fun at least. Edited to Add: The Koni's mentioned above are also a good option and would be better than ST's or BC's if you are trying to stay on a budget.
Adding any kind of brace to the frame bumps you into a Modified Class. Not sure which one with out reading all the rules. You can add it, but then you have to run with the big dogs out there.
Yeah, after reading and talking to everyone I could, T2s are the way to go. I'm sold on those. The car is in at AllPro right now. It needed some love first. I'll be getting the T2's in February. I'll let everyone know how what I think. As for setting up the car before coil-overs. I too think the best change you can make is an agressive alignment. It helps the car's over-all willingness to actually turn mid-corner. Also, this goes against 99% of the folks out there setting up WRXs, but I go went with the heaviest sways you could on both the front and back. I have a 25mm up front with endlinks and a 25-27mm set to 27mm with the Whiteline HD mounts in the rear. I love the way the back comes around with a flick in corners. If i'm too hot going in, I can get the car to scrub speed by over-steer and hitting the brakes mid-turn. And last, the Whiteline Steering Rack bushing get that mush out of the wheel. http://tinyurl.com/bbempcc