coilovers brand question

[mangry]

Anyone have experience or knowledge regarding BC Racing coilovers and the second gen Gt wagon ride quality?

[Coldsho]

While not the exact answer i have bcs on my 05 sti and 06 spec b and theyre both pretty rough and crashy on anything other than perfect roads. Ive tried a bunch if setups on my 96 legacy wagon including tein coils and a bunch of oem usdm springs and struts, mostly wrx parts. Ended up with v7 jdm sti struts and springs and love em, swapped the front springs to wrx h&rs to bring the height down a tad, my car is a 2.2 5spd l and thus pretty light. Of all my cars its now the most balanced in ride and handling. Big whiteline gc rear sway and an outback front sway helped a ton too tho. If i wanted looks and pure handling the bcs are just fine but to have comfort and handling they just werent it.

[boxkita]

i put 30k miles on my bc c/o. getting them setup correctly by a pro suspension shop was worth every dollar.

 

every story that ends with c/o have a sucky ride usually starts with "i took out of the box, put on, and drove it". Coilovers are an actual race suspension solution. Which means tuning them for your expected usage. The oem suspension is a compromise allowing for multiple surfaces. Coilovers tend to work better when optimized for a surface.

 

If you have bumpy roads, you'll be frustrated with off the shelf solutions.

 

BC can make a solution that works for you. You'll need to contact them. They can help with spring rate and valving. Byt you'll still need to tune them for your car.

 

A fat rear swaybar isn't really needed if suspension tuned correctly. Unless you are cranking 1g on a regular basis.

[doublechaz]

You mean some people don't drive max G all the time? I guess that's why people don't ride with me.

[Coldsho]

Good point. It usually takes me a good month or so to tune a stock set of coilovers until im happy with them and its always a give and take. Imo even some basic coilovers will handle well at the expense of ride quality. Im ran d2s many moons ago and they felt very much like my $$$ jics but the actual ride quality couldnt have been more different. As ive gotten older and more physically broken ive been searching for a more balanced/sedate solution.

 

Since we all have different tastes on even the same thing maybe its best to enjoy some time riding in others cars and getting a feel for them. I know if someone asks id gladly take someone for a ride, maybe thats just my style tho.

 

Bcs seem to be a decent balance of ride and handling, enough so that i have two cars on them right now and just purchased a third set for my newest project car. That and them being at an acceptable pricepoint helps too. Im looking to do the swift spring upgrade when my sets are due for rebuilds, from what ive read, that really helps smooth out the ride

 

Totally agree with the swaybar assessment, my 96 legacy is a handmedown car and as myself or friends upgrade our other cars we just toss parts on the 96 and just see what happens, its a nice chance of pace from the more serious builds and weve learned a lot about our own tastes that wouldn't have otherwise.

[mangry]

House sold I rented for 22 years and now i live in an apartment, without place to work on vehicles.

 

For now i have to abandon coilovers, since I cant find a shop near that will touch my wagon because its too: old, only shop parts, no after market parts, my lack of confidence or trust etc .........

 

Thanks