brianjurmain Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 So i have all the kinks done with my legacy and now i am really loving her. just wondering what i can do to make it better over bumps and stuff etc . planning on adding sway bars soon, but im less about speed and more about comfort . i want to be able to ride over a little pothole and not feel it as much . thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 You didn't say how many miles you have on the car now. If you want a comfortable, but sportier daily driver ride you can pair up the stock LGT springs with the Koni Yellows (Sports). Konis + stock LGT springs, combined with stiffer anti-sway bars and endlinks, a few bushings here and there, makes for a nice daily driver. Konis are adjustable, so you can get a good match. Somewhere between 1/2 to 1 full turn from the softest setting is fairly comfy. If you want to lower the car using lowering springs, don't lower very much, maybe 0.5 to 0.75 inch. As you make the car lower, you give up shock travel and need stiffer springs to compensate. You'd generally lose some comfort. Upgrade the rear stock swaybar to at least 20mm thickness. Get some reinforcement brackets for the rear swaybar mounts. That area is pretty weak. AVO makes some reinforcement brackets. Kind of expensive, but they do work well. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...et-142767.html Moog endlinks for front and rear swaybars are reasonable cost and stronger than the stock ones. Stock front lower control arm main bushings are prone to failure. Upgrade them with a firmer set. You won't hurt the comfort much, at all, and your steering will improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Lower the air pressure in your tires. I have my Koni's set close to firm, with the 45 series tires its a little harsh on the back roads, the highway is fine. I have a set of 50 series Nokian WR G3's for winter that give a better ride, more side wall. BTW, I hate the WR G3's but that's different thread. (horrible performance tire) 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianjurmain Posted October 21, 2017 Author Share Posted October 21, 2017 You didn't say how many miles you have on the car now. If you want a comfortable, but sportier daily driver ride you can pair up the stock LGT springs with the Koni Yellows (Sports). Konis + stock LGT springs, combined with stiffer anti-sway bars and endlinks, a few bushings here and there, makes for a nice daily driver. Konis are adjustable, so you can get a good match. Somewhere between 1/2 to 1 full turn from the softest setting is fairly comfy. If you want to lower the car using lowering springs, don't lower very much, maybe 0.5 to 0.75 inch. As you make the car lower, you give up shock travel and need stiffer springs to compensate. You'd generally lose some comfort. Upgrade the rear stock swaybar to at least 20mm thickness. Get some reinforcement brackets for the rear swaybar mounts. That area is pretty weak. AVO makes some reinforcement brackets. Kind of expensive, but they do work well. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...et-142767.html Moog endlinks for front and rear swaybars are reasonable cost and stronger than the stock ones. Stock front lower control arm main bushings are prone to failure. Upgrade them with a firmer set. You won't hurt the comfort much, at all, and your steering will improve. sorry about that, the body has 207,xxx miles on it and the engine was rebult 35k miles ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianjurmain Posted October 21, 2017 Author Share Posted October 21, 2017 i also am new with the whole car scene in general, this was my first car. i dont actually know what springs are in it now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Ok, is this a Legacy GT or Legacy 2.5i? How do you feel about the way it rides currently? Are the springs painted glossy black? Is your car at stock height or lowered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Still around, OP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevets27 Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Well I didn't/don't want to hijack the OP's thread but I think I have a similar goal. MilesA's response sounds perfect. And very likely what I'm going to do. Got the moog endlinks. Replacing front control arm bushings. Going new OEM in the front, front and whiteline poly in the front rear. A larger rear swaybar sounds like a good idea. Now the only part I'm not sure of is springs. In my case, 09 3.0R, I don't have the bilstien suspension. I don't want the car to be lowered at all as I want to maintain good ground clearance. What springs should I be looking to get? I've seen many bilstiens paired with black springs, including on a spec.b. I've done a cross reference of all the spring part numbers and there's a quite a few over the various models and trims. I'll post it later. So the major question, what springs to pair with the koni's to maintain stock ride height and maintain comfort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dishwasher Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Well I didn't/don't want to hijack the OP's thread but I think I have a similar goal. MilesA's response sounds perfect. And very likely what I'm going to do. Got the moog endlinks. Replacing front control arm bushings. Going new OEM in the front, front and whiteline poly in the front rear. A larger rear swaybar sounds like a good idea. Now the only part I'm not sure of is springs. In my case, 09 3.0R, I don't have the bilstien suspension. I don't want the car to be lowered at all as I want to maintain good ground clearance. What springs should I be looking to get? I've seen many bilstiens paired with black springs, including on a spec.b. I've done a cross reference of all the spring part numbers and there's a quite a few over the various models and trims. I'll post it later. So the major question, what springs to pair with the koni's to maintain stock ride height and maintain comfort? Stock springs? Unless they are damaged, just reuse them and you should be good to go. Plus they're $free99. Brought to you by Pfizer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 So the major question, what springs to pair with the koni's to maintain stock ride height and maintain comfort? If your shocks are great, you don't necessary need very stiff springs. Stock springs are fine. This is the touring car suspension approach -- lots of compliance and wheel travel to absorb the bumps comfortably, stiffer anti-sway bars to get rid of excessive body roll, let the shocks control the body motions. It would be different if you were running a race course or autocross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevets27 Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 "Stock springs" is where I get a little confused. Which is why I looked up all the different models/trim on opposedforces and compared all the part numbers. Attached is a excel sheet converted to pdf and a pic, because it doesn't look possible to attach an excel file. It didn't come out great, but the info is there. There was a lot of alternate part numbers and weird year ranges so I just put all the part numbers in for completeness. As you can see from the chart. It looks like all models with the KYB shocks share the same rear springs, except for the wagon, not surprisingly. Front springs aren't as similar though. 2.5i auto and manual in both sedan and wagon share the same springs. GT manual looks to have a spring only on that trim. GT auto, 3.0R (auto, only option) and wagon GT auto all look to have the same front springs. Of course then there are the springs paired with the bilsteins. Which are also "stock". One oddity I noticed is that the 3.0R Limited and the spec.b have different part numbers for the rear shocks. Otherwise the rest of the suspension share all the same part numbers. I'm not trying to overly complicate it but there are 4 different stock front springs and 2 different (3 including the wagon) rear springs. I guess what I'm really getting at, Are koni's better paired with the springs the come stock on the bilstein shocks (3.0R Limited and spec.b)? Or is it more of an option? Pair koni with bilstein springs and get a firmer but sportier ride. Pair koni with which ever springs came stock on your trim/model and have a less sporty and more comfortable drive. To reiterate what I'm looking to accomplish, I have a 3.0R. I unfortunately don't have 3.0R Limited. The limited came with the bilstein suspension. When I overhaul my suspension I'm trying to have a suspension that's at least as good as the bilstein but would much prefer to make it even better, without the expense of a comfortable ride.Subaru Legacy Part number cross reference.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 "Stock springs" is where I get a little confused. Which is why I looked up all the different models/trim on opposedforces and compared all the part numbers. Attached is a excel sheet converted to pdf and a pic, because it doesn't look possible to attach an excel file. It didn't come out great, but the info is there. There was a lot of alternate part numbers and weird year ranges so I just put all the part numbers in for completeness. As you can see from the chart. It looks like all models with the KYB shocks share the same rear springs, except for the wagon, not surprisingly. Front springs aren't as similar though. 2.5i auto and manual in both sedan and wagon share the same springs. GT manual looks to have a spring only on that trim. GT auto, 3.0R (auto, only option) and wagon GT auto all look to have the same front springs. Of course then there are the springs paired with the bilsteins. Which are also "stock". One oddity I noticed is that the 3.0R Limited and the spec.b have different part numbers for the rear shocks. Otherwise the rest of the suspension share all the same part numbers. I'm not trying to overly complicate it but there are 4 different stock front springs and 2 different (3 including the wagon) rear springs. "Stock" in this context meaning the springs currently installed on your car. If you want to keep the ride height you currently have, this would be the easiest and least expensive way. I think it's fair to say the shocks are the weakest point in your current suspension. Remember, the Konis are adjustable, meaning they can more easily be matched to a wider range of springs. The Bilsteins are usually matched with firmer springs than used with the KYBs. The Konis use your current strut mounts ("top hats"). 4th gen Legacies that use the Bilstein shocks use different strut mounts, similar to the Spec B's. To summarize, you could just get a set of Konis and install them in place of your current shocks. Or, if you switched to Bilsteins, you would want to change your springs and your top hats to match them. You would have a firmer, slightly lower ride at considerably higher expense. I guess the OP vanished mysteriously? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevets27 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 I think I over complicated my previous post. I'll simplify and then explain. First, what I'm starting with. An 09 3.0R, which means it came with KYB's, same setup as the GT's. 3 Options: 1) Get bilstein shocks and springs that come with them and get the spec.b/3.0R Limited strut mounts/top hats 2)Cut up KYB's and install koni with the springs that came stock with my 3.0R from factory, same as the GT. 3)Cut up KYB's and install koni with the springs that came stock on bilstein shocks from the spec.b/3.0R limited I'm not interest in option 1 as I think its known that the koni are better. Correct me if I'm wrong. Since the 3.0R Limited came with bilstein I would like to match or better that setup. I assume koni with stock 3.0R/GT springs would be less sporty than the following: koni with spec.b/3.0R Limited springs would be more sporty and as good as a spec.b/3.0R Limited or better in both firm and comfortable ride. I don't think I've come across anyone that's done that. I would intend to preserve stock ride height also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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