Dr. Zevil Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 I would be interested in a bit more "sport" to my suspension. I want to know how viable this option is and it's long term live-ability as well. Dish the goods nicd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanoswrx Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 If its anything like the Spec C suspension on the WRX I could easily see this being fine for daily driving. When I had my spec c suspension in my wrx my family barely noticed the stiffer suspension, and were comfortable in it and liked the ride. But once I added STI lowering springs, bumping up the spring rates a good 25% they didn't like that, but it handled real nice and looked really good since it was about 1 inch lower all around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicd Posted September 1, 2004 Author Share Posted September 1, 2004 Well it ain't comming off my car I do have to get a new set of dentures thou:D (that was a joke for gtguy and Paul) They are stayingon except for the winter as often here what happens is that the oil in the shocks tend to get very very thick in -degree temps and then the car is rock hard a behaviour I never noticed on stock shocks-mind you I have not had stock shocks on a car in a while. Ride wise very very similar to the set-up of the latest WRX STI spec C dampers and sti wagon coils on the WRX if that can help. At speed the suspension works extremly well with the holes and bumps car does not bounce and dip, I did notice a little bounce at very low speeds and bumps(very slight). Does the car handle better hell yeah, can I explain it to you? difficult as I have certain referance points that you guys do not know about. One of these is a very large 90 degree turn, well before I could take it at about 85 kmh and the car would scrub the fronts now at 100 kmh the car just turns and does not plough from the front. (This supposes that I setup my corner properly) To date on the street I have been unable or willing to go to the edge of the Azenis/bilstein setup. Still have not been able to do a comparasion with another GT but I doubt that they would beable to trace the same lines as with the spec B set-up. The slightly lowered stance gives it a little meaner look but the sight of the yellow shocks throu the wheels is what really speaks (great bling factor for those in the know). Is it really necessary for evryday driving hell no, is it fun to know you can really drive the car hard when you want and it will follow your wish? yes sir! Is it the first mode I would reccomend? no way(tires) Is the present set-up far from the Bilstein? Yes at the edge No when driving normally. Does the car still float?? No sir the car stays horizontal in all the geometric planes. Having said that the car was pretty well behaved to start off with. If you are happy with the ride comfort with the stock set-up leave it alone, if you want to auto-x, canyon ride track etc on an occasional basis make the change you will be grining ear to ear. My advice: wait till a real pro compares all the set-ups and especially concerning the coils. The bit you want here are the shocks and top hats. Well I think that is about all the objective reporting I can do. Oh ofcourse only get these if you get a good deal on them :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUBE555 Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Alright now nicd, be quiet, you're making me salivate! :P I'm thinking I'm going to be needing a set next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerdave Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 You da man, Nic. I still think the hot setup for me personally would be the JDM GT spring/strut/bar combo. From what I've heard, this sounds like it's in-between the Spec B and the USDM GT. I hope some of the tuning companies in Japan (know of any, Paul Hansen?) can compare/contrast the setups of the JDM GT and USDM GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTCanada Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Sounds like the Spec B might be too hardcore for me. Especially since I won't be swapping suspensions in summer and winter. The Japan-spec GT is likely a fine compromise. Also, as mentioned by apexjapan2, a matched set of front and rear sway bars might be an option. My biggest issue is the tendency of the suspension to load up the outside front tire under hard cornering. If sway bars can reign in that tendency then I might be OK with the stock set up. But, I will likely look at STi or other springs set up for the USDM wagon. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanoswrx Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 This sounds more and more like what I want on my car. I really liked the ride quality of my Spec C suspension, and since I lived in Virginia (even though we get our fair share of snow) I had no problems with the liquids in the the struts. Also has anyone else noticed that only our fronts are filled with gas, the rears don't make any noise when going over speed bumps. Anyways thanks again for the reviews and posting pics. I look forward to getting this setup in the spring time, hopefully by then they will be more readily available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerdave Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Yeah, ARB's could be the trick too. They'd take a little "motion out of the ocean" in transitional moves with only a slight degradation of ride quality. They should be able to provide a little more balanced cornering as well. It'll be interesting to see what becomes available for this car in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkingofimports.com Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 Found this on the spec b: The Legacy Spec B features front and rear Bilstein suspension with rally car-like inverted struts for tauter high-speed control. This is a Bilstein sport suspension that is stiffer for tighter cornering. Subie.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 These look like just what the doctor ordered for me...8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkingofimports.com Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 We can supply the Spec B suspension new from Subaru of Japan. Subie.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 [quote name='kevin@kingofimports.com']We can supply the Spec B suspension new from Subaru of Japan.[/quote] Pricing? :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkingofimports.com Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 I am waiting for pricing on the strut top hats, but here are a few different options and cash pricing: New (not used) Bilstein Spec B suspension: $2500 shipped to your door (not including strut top hats for which I am awaiting pricing) New Zeal V6 coilovers by Endless: $2500 shipped to your door. If we did a group buy with at least 5 people, I believe we could save some money by having them shipped to one location and then having each set shipped to individual customers. Shipping one set to a customer direct from Japan is a fortune. Subie.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerdave Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 Kevin... what about JDM GT struts/springs/hats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mines Posted September 4, 2004 Share Posted September 4, 2004 wat about used?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 [quote name='Mines']wat about used??[/quote] Kev doesn't deal with used stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacyb-spec Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Little info on those sti spring set. The dampening on the shocks on the spec-B is stronger than the coils. That's why the ride feels a little harsh. You need the right springs w/the right shocks to make a smooth ride. STI spent countless hours on R&D to develop a spring that won't change the concept of the Legacy: a sport sedan/wagon. The outcome was a spring set that is a little stiffer than stock (F:39N/mm, R:59N/mm is this correct?) w/a drop of about 15mm. STI claims that the Legacy's suspension is well designed, and it was hard to come w/the correct balance. They succeeded, and is now one of their hottest selling product for the Legacy. They also have the rear suspension link set that uses pillowball mounts which reduces response delays and the cool front under spoiler:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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