Hi, a mate of mine is thinking of putting 30mm lowering springs on his 02 wrx bug just for looks!!!!!!
What do you guys think and what springs should he go for if any. ??
Thanks in advance.

 

Coilovers, the oe shockers are crud enough without putting more stress on them. If the funds are tight though, don't go beyond 30mm imo

 

What?

Cheap coil overs are worse than springs and struts..... You're not gonna get anything decent for sus 500 quid

 

I'd have to disagree there, i've had 1 set of cheap suspension kit, only fault i found was they rusted up fast, I know loads of people who have used lowering springs and all have had problems. Bought an old Escort that had lowering springs wore tyres on the inside, mate had same problem on his car, etc I tell anyone who goes to buy lowing springs not to bother, i don't know one person thats had them and been happy.

Had a set of Jamex suspension struts i think, years ago they were really good.

 

Just remember that there's lowering springs and then theres lowering springs. If you buy some 100 quid jobs off ebay and fit them to your old shocks then yes, it'll be dog ****. But buy some quality springs and fit them along with some new KYB shockers and it'll be fantastic.
And don't forget the most important thing that most don't bother with, the car needs a geo setup afterwards.
Forget coilovers, they just don't work on road cars.

 

A PROPER geo set up, not one from Back-Street Joe, or KwikFit.

 

Springs don't wear the tyres out, Incorrect geometry settings do!

There's a lot of poorly made spring set ups out there, The problem is most people want the slammed look, and the manufactures are happy to supply them. ££££

There are spring packages available for people who rather peformance over looks.

Yes they don't have the sporty looks of the others but what they do have is adequate bump travel and the correct bump stops supplied with them, Some even come with revised geometry settings.

And the fact your friend had the insides of the tyres wear out just goes to show that the car was not set up correctly.

 

I'm a noob and no expert, but I did a fair amount of research before replaced the suspension on my Wagon and found this:

1. Consensus seems to say that any drop greater than 25-30mm can adversely affect handling. Even at 30mm you may need roll center correction kits adding.

2. Proper Geo set up by a knowledgeable garage (ie not kwik fit) is vital to the extent that there is no point at all doing this unless you're going to set it up properly afterwards.

3. Universally the best reviews I have read for a daily driver WRX for UK roads is PCA dynamics springs and KYB shocks. Eibach also get better than average reviews (again with KYB shocks). These don't give a huge drop in ride height, and come with revised Geo settings. However, they are not cheap.

4. The springs and shocks are part of a system, so the output of this will also depend on the other components, including (but not limited to): drop links, ARBs, bushes, tires and wheels (NB wheels size does make a lot of difference), and any braces fitted.

Personally, on my daily drive/family transport WRX wagon I've gone for Meister R coilovers, set close to their minimum drop height (approx 25mm lower than standard) on 17" wheels. Perhaps if I could have waited I'd have gone for the PCA Dynamics (my suspension was knackered to the point of danger by the time I replaced it). To be honest I am extremely happy with these coil overs, but I did spend the time and money getting them set up by professionals.

Here are couple of useful threads:

https://www.scoobynet.com/suspension...-geometry.html

https://www.scoobynet.com/suspension...arch-gaps.html

 

That's not strictly true is it, I have a set of exe-tc fast road coilovers fitted to my bugeye, just the basic fixed damping ones using std sti top mounts & the ride & handling is superb, just a little firmer than the std sti suspension it replaced but the damping is far better & much more controlled over bumpy surfaces at high speed & they are not crashy or bumpy at slower speeds.

Granted they are not budget coilovers but they do work very well on the road

 

+1

Driven lots of different cars on exe-tc, Nitron's and KW. All of them far superior to any factory set up even on a road car and I don't mean the gain in mechanical grip I mean there ability to soak up the road and ride very smoothly. As already said above good Geo is essential.

 

Yes i know its the camber/ geometry and that are effecting the tyres, but this happens on most cars, my friends current car has a negative camber due to fitting lowering srpings, he got his done professionally and can't remember the make but there pricey.

I had an old ford that had been lowered on springs, seemed to be 30mm-40mm lowered. They wore the inside of the tyres, on the other side i've had cheap coilovers on a VW and worked well. Only problem was service rust. Although i wouldn't recommend coilovers stick to normal lowering suspension kit.

 

I got some used BC coilovers for £400 and they are 400 times better than the oe set up which never worked for more than a week. It was costing me a small fortune in shockers before BC saved the day.

I've also adjusted the ride height twice, (once after the installation of seriously high speed bumps on our street) which wouldn't have been cheap with changing the springs again and again.

 

BC are utter crap, The topmount bearings are not sealed, they rust like crazy l, powder coat flakes off the springs, locking collars round off. Then there's the damping thats hopeless on all but super smooth surfaces no matter what settings there on.

I've moved to a Bilstein and eibach set up on my hawk and they work on all surfaces have way better levels of body control and don't transmit harsh road imperfection into the car.

The oem kyb inverted dampers are excellent for road use if a companied with a good Spring and bumpstop package. There only downfall is the rear knock problem, but that is easy to sorted out with a quick clean out and re grease, hardly any extra effort if fitting springs at the same time.

My old blob Sti suffered from rear knock at around 45k I cleaned them and re greased them and they were still perfect up till when I sold it at 59k

 

A basic classic Impreza had a 370mm front and 360mm rear ride height.
The wrx and sti had lower, stiffer, springs.
Prodrive P1/Prodrive wr99 option (341mm front) and Prodrive wr97/98 option (335mm front) had even lower springs.

 

mine is going in for KYB gas Adjustable shocks and tein s tech springs with geo set up next week

 

Sub-optimal handling, to get a particular look

 

never had any issues with them on my bugeye, much better than the standard units

 

Kyb agx is a fine damper.

 

Nobody has mentioned pedders? Def worth a shout in my opinion