Hi Chaps,

Just done my first commute on the new BC coilovers from the group buy run by Bren at Apex.

I went for the weekend warrior/track spring rate of 6/5, they are fully adjustable in both ride height, damping, and spring preload.

Putting them on the car was dead easy, getting them setup a little more difficult.

I will set them up properly on the weekend, however currently running around 30mm drop all round with 1 deg neg camber on the rear and 2.75 neg camber on the front. (this will be changed on the weekend to -1.7 ish allround).

Clearly as they are not setup im not gonna comment on grip, but more the ride and car movement.

First trip was on 3 on the damping, this produced very comfy suspension but yet has reduced roll and pitch enormously! very impressed.

The next trip was on setting 27. This was very stiff. To stiff for my roads, but will be perfect for my next track trip. You could literally feel every bump. Which is what is needed for the track.

Interestingly you can also feel a big difference in the braking. Clearly less weight gets shifted to the front so you have to be more progressive in the braking rather than just jamming them on. perhaps more brake bias to the rear is required with this much stiffer set up. but i dont think that will be the case, just better braking required.

There is also a BIG difference in the exit of a corner, on accelleration my nose used to lift, inducting a wandering front, now the nose stays down and it reacts more like a car, steering is much more direct, responsive and not wallowy.

Today on the commute i used setting 20. Almost perfect for my drive to work. Only 2 or 3 rough places where its a bit of a pain, but that can be lived with. Might try 15/10 tomorrow see what happens.


I liked the STI suspension, but this BC is on another league. So far very impressed, and a great purchase! I was worried i would ruin the car with the increase spring rate.




Quick installation tip.
This is a few bits i did, either people can copy, confirm i did it right or tell me ive dont it wrong.

Spring Preload. To do this i loosened the ring until it was no longer in contact with the spring. I then did the ring up as tight as i reasonable could with my hand, then did 2.5 turns with the C spanner which should be 5mm.

I set one side up for ride height, then copied across to the other. However after measuring it isnt perfect.

I have not tightened the nut which is on the top of the shock to the topmount, i presume that is already torqued correctly.

The arb on the rear left made it hard to get the shock on, Breaker bar on arb eventually worked.

Dont drop a spring compressor on your shin from 3 feet up. It hurts.

Had to rebleed brakes as i had to take my pipes off to get them off the old suspension. So more RBF600 and it needed doing anyway. Brakes improved.

WD40 the ABS sensor bolt. One of mine has bent the bracket before coming undone.

When undoing the brake bleeding screw, they tend to give way quickly, you may smash your hand full pelt into something metal....

Cutting the extendor is easy. If it doesnt go back in remove one strand of wire. Dont throw it at a wall in frustration, as you may loose the screw. Which iirc is a M4 grub screw, available at drew ironmongers for 7p.

Also i didnt bothher cutting my parcel shelf, it wedges quite easily between the seat and the shelf, and is still fully functional. Ended up chopiing about 3" off the extenders. Quite a lot.

Best to remove the seat belt to get proper access to the 3 nuts on the rear struts.

Access to the rear struts is by removing the rear seat, NOT by removing everything from the boot as read somewhere..

When putting the coilovers on, remember to remove the 3 new nuts on the coilover first, or you going to be taking it off again to remove them.

Also reposition the camber retaining nuts so they dont hit the metal. This changes with what camber you are running, and can be done afterwards, just dont torqe the 3 nuts down and its doable.



Im sure someone will write a proper review/install guide. but here were my pitfalls & observations.

Also i advise buying a massive jack, makes doing the rear so much easier lifting the whole rear in 3 pumps.

 

Nice write up mate And can only echo the above comments, very impressed!


The only difference i done was to remove front struts together and the rears together, So that there is less pressure on the ARB, I worked on both sides at the same time so that one side wouldnt hold the other up.

I found by dropping both sides at the same time the rear struts could be removed easily, it may be easier with standard ARB's

 

Nice write up, had mine fitted recently, I went for the 5/4 spring rate so I'm looking forward to the comparison between the standard UK shocks and these.

 

Yes i would agree. It was only after i got the strut on i decided to use my landy jack to lift the whole rear up. Only got room to work on one side at once even then its tight!

 

Mine's going in Thursday for fitting, but I can't DRIVE it for another 7 days, so getting it set up will have to wait, as will "playing"

 

yeah i figure the springs need time to sellt or something. Ill do the final setup on weekend then go testing. thourough thourough testing

 

Nice write up. I installed my rears without preloading them and now they are very crashy over bumps on the softest setting so will need to reset them with the preload.

 

I also have my damping set the sound all round.

I think i might set the rear to slightly softer than the front as they seem to take the bumps a big harsher on the rear. Like the lack of weight over the rear means they are too stiff if equally set.

 

Coilovers are on!! first impressions, i need a sports bra, LMFAO...
Each corner has been set to soft so this might explain things but yet to fiddle with it.
I really do hope it gets better the more you harden front and rear..
Next, on the ramps having the geometry done, found that we could only adjust the drivers side front camber to -1.3 as there was no adjustment left, any ideas?? BUT had loads more adjustment on the passengers side.

 

How have you set the camber bolts on the strut leg?

 

No wasn't aware there was camber bolts on the front strut legs, i was thinking, camber adjustment was made by the top mounts.

 

That would be why,

The top bolt that holds the strut to the knuckle is the camber adjustment bolt, As you turn the bolt it give you more negative camber, both sides should be set first before adjusting the top mount,

1.3 negative camber should be enough for anyone unless you live on a track or like exessive tyre wear, 1 degree negative should be enough for the road, if not too much.

Hope that helps

 

if u have the top mounts at 0 and the camber bolt on its max neg you should get around the -1.3 to -1.5, any more can be added for track days using the top mounts ive found.

 

Is anyone running more camber on the front than the rear?

i find my car is still a tad understeery/the back too planted, Thinking -2 on the front and 1.6/1.6 on the rear might shift this balance?

 

Also you may have to adjust the 4 hex bolts in the top mounts to fit them into the hole properly for whatever camber you are running..