Thoughts on BC Racing coilovers?

[AlexD]

I searched and found one pretty old post that was a review of them, but not too many impressions. A shop I'm planning on taking my car to is pushing them pretty hard, but I wanted to check with the braintrust here to see if there was something else that was dramatically better that I should consider.

 

Thanks.

[seanrose]

a buddy of mine was running megans on his 02 wrx wagon for a while but didnt liek them and switched to the bc. no problems and he has about 20k miles on them

[finalburden]

Pretty hard to beat considering the price. You can get rear camber plates pre-installed also, I believe.

[captainhook]

I actually started a thread concerning these a couple months ago: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106231

 

I had a date scheduled to have them installed a month ago, but after reading a fabulous review by someone I know and trust very much I decided to wait and continue investigating other options. Below is the review I speak of. It was done by a certifiable suspension nut with an 05 STi that is tracked regularly as well as street driven:

"Final Impression of the BC Racing BR Series Coilovers:

 

I feel that these are a great budget coilover. Yup, I used the words great with budget together in one sentence. Over the past year, I've taken the heat for standing up for these things and quite frankly, I'd do it all over again. They perform well. They improve the ride quality. For $1000, what else do you want?

 

Clicks make a difference in ride quality and performance. It's apparent that this isn't a subjective feeling of improvement either. Countless people who use this coilover system happen to find similar settings on theirs for comfort and performance. Too many for it to be subjective. I've done back to back damper adjustment tests with unknowing passengers and asked them if they noticed changes. As little as two clicks and the responses have been affirmative.

 

I have not experienced any problems with them that could not be fixed by checking the spring preload, or lubing. I have had a great time on the backroads around here and had fun wringing out every last ounce of damper oil in them at the Tail of the Dragon with back to back to back to back runs through.

 

My advice with these is to know what you're getting into and know what your plans are with the car. For a budget autocross setup, these are the ticket. You will compete. These have gone to Nationals and with an amazing driver, have done very, very well. Countless autocrosses have been won or placed with these. They are not a mythical setup put together by a 3 fingered blind 10yr old in a far east basement.

 

Now, with that all said...there are downsides as one would expect in this price range. For me, it was namely two issues that I felt could be improved. The first one was strut travel. 122mm. Even the Bilstein PSS9 comes with 134mm and the AST/KW setup are over 160mm up front and 190mm plus out back. that's substantial for a street car. The second issue was the valving. It was apparent that over crazily repeating bumps that would make PennDOT blush, the valving couldn't keep up with the extreme movements of the suspension. Over the worst bumps and potholes, you'd get the rebound-induced bounce that would shoot you up in the stock seat like a trampoline at times. Chalk it up to running on basic Tokico-level shocks.

 

Lastly, I'd like to add something that I've come to realize after more years in this aftermarket game than I should have...namely, it's not really about the product itself all the time. Sometimes, its really more about the level of support and knowledge thats out there for the part. Josh at Import Image has done a fantastic job with keeping customers happy and if anyone is stuck on which budget setup to buy, that kind of service will make the decision for you that much easier.

 

So my final review on these coilovers considering price and level of ride quality and performance is a very solid 3.5 stars out of 5. That's compared to all the suspensions I've riden on from Stutgart to Tokyo to Detroit. Not a bad compromise."

[darkside]

Hey I got the BC coilovers on my legacy gt.. Initial impressions are compared to stock floaty suspension, Floatyness of the car is gone..Thank God, I was going to trade car in until I got these.. I hated the factory suspension. These coilovers have made the car more acceptable in daily driving.. One of the main thing I like is the rear end doesnt squat anymore, like with factory suspension.. As far as a racing coilovers goes.. these are good but there are better options out there like KWs or Cusco but almost twice the price..If your using the car as a daily driver, and some track, then these are your best bet for the money. I have mine set very stiff at 20 clicks on front and 15 in the back. I like front stiff and rear to slide a little for drifting. As far as handling body roll is non existent and can increase in handling is about 25 percent. Example freeway ramp, use to take at about 70mph and now 90 to 100mph.. Car feels more stable and planted, also because added AVO 20mm rear sway bar and reinforment brackets.. So far i have had these about 4 months and no problems.. They were extremely easy to install.. Took me about 1 hr with air tools and i have never installed coilovers before.. Local shop wanted to charge me $900.00 to install.. Its only 5 bolts for the fronts and 3 bolts in rear.. Nothing major to install.. After install took car to firestone and got lifetime alignment for 100.00 and so far no uneven tire wear.. They also did a ride height adjustment for 40.00.. The rears are a little to low from the factory and need a tad bit of raising , about a 1 inch.. as far as front goes, once settled its perfect with stock 17 inch rims and no rubing while driving or turning..My scoring on these are.

 

 

Handling 8 out of 10 Handling increased about 25 percent

Drivability 8 out of 10. A little bouncy on some roads, depending on settings, but livable

Dampening 8 out of 10 Could be a tinsy bit better but for 900.00 bucks, but who cares for the money

Harshness 9 out of 10 About 10 percent more than stock

Value 10 out of 10 Cant beat the price, got them from import image..

Adjustments 10 out of 10 very easy to adjust, turn knobs, 30 way adjustable

Noises 10 out of 10 No Noises or creeks

Instructions 5 out of 10 Not very clear but kinda easy to figure out install.

Bling factor Priceless , Lowers car making look more aggresive.

 

Hope my review helps.. If your going all out full racing then , get KW or Cusco, If just daily driven, some track or show car, then BC best bang for buck.

[captainhook]

Local shop wanted to charge me $900.00 to install..

 

That is absolutely nuts! My local subaru go-fast shop wants $1200 installed. (parts + labor) lol

[Mindspin311]

Captain, who did that review?

[Mindspin311]

Install can be done in a day barring there's no trouble from the lower bolts on the rear suspension.

[LRegvall]

I bought these recently from Josh at Import Image for less than $1,000 including extenders. HB Speed in Huntington Beach installed them for $270. My other install quotes ranged from $400 to $850. They have tightened up handling dramatically. The squat and dive and roll are virtually gone (in combination with the AVO 20mm RSB). I can now go through the canyons and on ramps fast enough to scare myself.

 

One reason I bought these (in addition to costing only a little more than a good set of shocks and springs) was that they were supposed to be adjustable to stock ride height (mostly in case I want to increase the rolling diameter of my wheels). My installer didn't think this was the case though and he was afraid to raise them above a certain point before he felt they were over extended. The wheel center to fender lip measure is around 14" which represents about a 1" drop as the maximum ride height. Right now, I like the look of this ride height but still need to figure out why BC Racing thinks they can be raised higher and HB Speed doesn't think so.

 

I'm still playing with the settings. The extenders in the rear make this really easy. I can pull over on a test drive and adjust fronts and rears in 30 seconds and be back on the road. And as someone already said, the adjustment clicks are actually noticeable.

 

I am trying to balance the handling improvement with the fact that 75% of my driving is over roads that are in pretty bad shape (from rain and neglect) or have speed bumps or drainage swales. This requires compliance. The springs feel a little stiff, even at the 5/7 rates that I got from Josh (another good feature of getting the BC Racing coilovers is that they will give you the springs rates you want without any extra charge). It may be that HB Speed increased the pre load when they installed them which would make them feel a little stiff.

 

So I have a little more research to do on them with respect to settings, ride height, preload, etc. but they are noise free (except for the occasional thwack from the front end pillowballs if I hit a speed bump or big pothole too fast). They are worth the handling improvement for sure. Josh at Import Image was very helpful and responsive, although I haven't been able to get any more feedback from Josh or BC Racing on the ride height issue. HB Speed was really good, spent a lot of time with the car, had a tidy shop, was very reasonable cost wise, etc. I would definitley go back for any other installs I do.

[jamal]

Hello, it's your hbspeed installer here.

 

Firstly I'm glad you are happy with the suspension so far. I tend to be very critical of suspension parts, especially the budget coilovers.

 

As for the ride height, I recall having cranked the strut bodies up pretty high in the lower mounts. It should be okay to go up farther than where it is right now, but on the other hand, the higher up they go, the less strength there is in the lower clevis connection. Similar coilovers have broken at this point on numerous occasions.

 

The preload in the springs should not affect the ride quality. As I recall there is not much there, and preload has a much greater effect on travel than it does ride quality. The reason I was so concerned about adding pre-load is because it reduces the droop travel, of which these coilovers have very little. Since the car compresses the springs well past the point of pre-load, it pretty much has nothing to do with ride quality until there is a very large amount dialed in.

[rubberman]

Jamal is right about watching how extended the coilovers are. Here's the info from the BC Racing website showing you the limits:

 

http://www.bcec.com.tw/function/height-adj.html

 

I can't achieve stock ride height with these coilovers using the ride adj limits, a slight amount of lowering is required.

[LEGGTLTD]

I've had mine for 2 years. You can't beat em for the price.

I just had 1 of them seize up and had it replaced weekend.

I am very happy with them. I really like the adjustability of them, my .02

[yamie700]

I also have a set of BC-BRs for my wagon, got them from Ravspec last year for a nice price.

It is correct they can not be run at stock ride height, actually the fronts maybe could, but the rears you will wind up with about a minimum of 3/4 inch drop.

I use them for daily driving and some autox, and I like them a lot. Squat and dive are gone. I just have the coilovers and front and rear perrin sways and I feel the suspension is great.

 

I did install my stock struts/shocks for winter, but that is mostly because we get nasty potholes during our MN winters, and I didn't want to subject the BC-BRs to all the salt we have on our roads. I will re-install my coilovers pretty soon here.

[LRegvall]

Hello, it's your hbspeed installer here.

 

Firstly I'm glad you are happy with the suspension so far. I tend to be very critical of suspension parts, especially the budget coilovers.

 

As for the ride height, I recall having cranked the strut bodies up pretty high in the lower mounts. It should be okay to go up farther than where it is right now, but on the other hand, the higher up they go, the less strength there is in the lower clevis connection. Similar coilovers have broken at this point on numerous occasions.

 

The preload in the springs should not affect the ride quality. As I recall there is not much there, and preload has a much greater effect on travel than it does ride quality. The reason I was so concerned about adding pre-load is because it reduces the droop travel, of which these coilovers have very little. Since the car compresses the springs well past the point of pre-load, it pretty much has nothing to do with ride quality until there is a very large amount dialed in.

 

Thanks for the feedback. You described the ride height and coilover extension issue better than I could. When I went under to look at the coilover after installation, I couldn't figure out how they could be extended much further, especially in the rear. But BC and Import Image have stuck by their story. Good clarification on the preload issue as well.

[LRegvall]

Jamal is right about watching how extended the coilovers are. Here's the info from the BR Racing website showing you the limits:

 

http://www.bcec.com.tw/function/height-adj.html

 

I can't achieve stock ride height with these coilovers using the ride adj limits, a slight amount of lowering is required.

 

Thanks. Good find. This is exactly what I had been asking BC for. I had done some crude drawings but this is pretty exact.

[LRegvall]

Just took my car with the BC BRs on a long drive mixed between freeway, local streets and mountain roads. I'm still trying to get the right dampening balance on the car. I eventually ended up with 20 from full soft in front and 15 rear. Felt great on the mountain twisties. Stayed flat and stayed glued. On the freeway ride back I had a couple of "moments." One was on the 99 freeway between Fresno and Bakersfield (an older freeway with many repairs that I've driven uneventfully for years). Cruising along peacably at around 80, I hit a paving transition between concrete and asphalt. It didn't look like a major change. But when I hit it, the car jolted (I think I may have fused a vertabrae) and made a loud crack. Quite a new experience for me. When I got back into LA, I made the sweeping transition from the I405 south to the I10 east (I can usually do this at around 75 without much drama). I hit a small dip in mid turn doing around 60mph. The car launched. To the dampers credit, they settled quickly and firmly. I'm not sure these two "moments" added to my driving experience. One has to stay pretty alert when driving these on the freeway at this firm a setting. I don't know if this would improve with softer or firmer springs (I have 5/7s). I've since softened the damper settings. I think I'm at 17/11 now and will see if these lower the level of drama without getting too jiggly.

[ih8vtec13]

I had Megan Racing and they are made by BC. Long story short, after a coilover explodes from a small pothole on the highway you tend not to trust a product from them. I have Stance now and i am very happy with them.

[LRegvall]

I had Megan Racing and they are made by BC. Long story short, after a coilover explodes from a small pothole on the highway you tend not to trust a product from them. I have Stance now and i am very happy with them.

 

Given the jolt from the paving transition, I'm impressed that neither the coilover nor the car broke (or for that matter, me). These BCs do seem like durable bits. I'm just struggling withe right dampening balance. Maybe I just need softer springs

[ih8vtec13]

The BC series coilover is said to be better built then Megan Racing ones. They were noisy and really could jolt violently and clunk over imperfections in the road. In a stock car these would barley be noticeable, and on my Stance setup they are still mild.

 

Also JIC coilovers are made by BC as well and they have had similar explosion issuses to mine with my Megans.

[Goyim]

i have the inverted BCs and love them. but every piece of the stock suspension is gone LOL. the best upgrade were the jdm control arms and roll-center kit

[LRegvall]

I actually started a thread concerning these a couple months ago: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106231

 

 

Now, with that all said...there are downsides as one would expect in this price range. For me, it was namely two issues that I felt could be improved. The first one was strut travel. 122mm. Even the Bilstein PSS9 comes with 134mm and the AST/KW setup are over 160mm up front and 190mm plus out back. that's substantial for a street car. The second issue was the valving. It was apparent that over crazily repeating bumps that would make PennDOT blush, the valving couldn't keep up with the extreme movements of the suspension. Over the worst bumps and potholes, you'd get the rebound-induced bounce that would shoot you up in the stock seat like a trampoline at times. Chalk it up to running on basic Tokico-level shocks.

 

 

Does anyone know what the stock strut travel is on the LGT?

[rubberman]

I actually started a thread concerning these a couple months ago: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106231

 

 

Now, with that all said...there are downsides as one would expect in this price range. For me, it was namely two issues that I felt could be improved. The first one was strut travel. 122mm. Even the Bilstein PSS9 comes with 134mm and the AST/KW setup are over 160mm up front and 190mm plus out back. that's substantial for a street car. The second issue was the valving. It was apparent that over crazily repeating bumps that would make PennDOT blush, the valving couldn't keep up with the extreme movements of the suspension. Over the worst bumps and potholes, you'd get the rebound-induced bounce that would shoot you up in the stock seat like a trampoline at times. Chalk it up to running on basic Tokico-level shocks.

 

 

 

+1 on your rear ride height adjustment auggestion. I feel like I could use at least another 25mm of ride height and things would be perfect. This would help greatly with staying off the bump stops and allowing more travel in the rear over bumps.

I've steadily adjusted the valving settings over local roads to find a good compromise of ride vs stiffness. I have found that for speeds on the interstate vs local roads I need to add 1-2 harder clicks on the front and rear and the car rides well without bouncing going over raised bridge transitions. Once I am back home and off the interstate, I drop the valving settings back to normal for back and forth driving to work, etc.

[LRegvall]

I took my car for the same ride I took a few weeks ago. I dropped the front/rear settings from 20/15 to 17/11. For the most part, it felt like a pretty good sweet spot. The freeway ride north went pretty well without drama. The ride south hit a few harsh hits on roadway paving transitions and some launches when there was an abrupt 4 to 8 foot long dip (3" - 6" deep) found on road/bridge transitions. They weren't as bad as when set on 20/15. The other parts of the drive were pretty great though. It felt really good on the mountain twisties (although I do need to enhance the rotation of the rear end, probably by tightening up the RSB). The harshness felt like it mostly came out of the front end. The lack of suspension travel may be the culprit. Another 1.5" would give more room to catch and absorb these bumps. I also have the camber plates mounted as caster plates. I don't know if tipping the struts back adds to harshness. But it sounds like a common experience to get this harshness on high speed bumps at high speeds with road "irregularities." Has anyone thought of creating a mounting plate to allow mounting the struts above the current mounting point to allow longer travel?

[subaruski]

hm I'm debating these Vs. Konis and Rallispec springs. I really cant decide there are benefits of both. I just don't know if i want the jarring ride of the coilovers...

[Saul_Good]

hm I'm debating these Vs. Konis and Rallispec springs. I really cant decide there are benefits of both. I just don't know if i want the jarring ride of the coilovers...

 

Here's my take....

 

If you want a slight improvement for spirited driving but want to keep as close to stock ride quality get the strut/spring combo. If you want to do autox and trackdays (more than 2x a year) then get the coilovers for the stiffer springrates and overall adjustability.