Alex
02-02-2006, 11:49 AM
Alright, so the JICs are finally in, and my how they are amazing Before I continue, my previous suspension setup served me well in every situation I threw at it. My STi is my daily, and I live in downtown Atlanta. I can tell you a thing or two about potholes, lol.
Previously on the car I’ve had…
Whiteline Flatouts (TopSpeed)
Two sets of Grp-N top hats (had a slight problem tearing the fronts )
Whiteline 27-29MM FSB
Whiteline 22-24-26mm RSB
Whiteline SRB
And a few destroyed endlinks.
This setup was, hands down, the best I have driven, rode, etc when it comes to STi’s on springs. The Flatouts gave the car one hell of a drop as well.
However, I wanted more. With my recent introduction into Road Courses, I wanted to expand the possibilities, as well as the limits, of the car to accommodate a few new future hobbies. The next logical step I felt was to move to coilovers. I knew what I wanted, waited for a good price and finally picked up a set of JICs FLT-A2's about 8 months ago. My schedule was slammed, I had zero time to install these and set it all up. We (WRXatlanta) had an install day recently which allowed me the opportunity to put these on the car. I had a buddy set them up (I'm knew to the coilover world) and we were amazed when we had the car on the rack to be corner-balanced...only 1 lb
While in the air, we found a few things. For instance, I had destroyed the front left endlink (SoG was out of stock of course) the previous weekend. Our goal was to get -1.4° in the rear with minimal toe (0.02°). With the stock bolts in the back, we saw nothing over -.5° no matter how we tried to push it out. We turned to some Intrax bolts to see if they could help solve the problem. Bam, next thing we know, we’re looking at well over -2.1° in the rear. We were able to get the camber in the rear we wanted and moved to the front. We wanted somewhere around -1.8° to -1.9° front with the coilovers set in a street position. Obviously, auto-x, track, etc, full tilt will be around -3°+ or so We were able to get -1.8° with ease in the front.
WOW. The first test ride was incredible. My tires are nearly dead (A+ for dry traction ), and they thoroughly enjoyed the thrashing we threw at them. We were taking Scott's signature round-a-bout and were consistently running out of road to push the car. The grip is phenomenal! I highly recommend this setup to anyone who is interested in pursuing auto-x and or weekend track events but still uses their car as their daily. I'll see if I can snag some pictures soon. We dropped the car so that the laterals were the appropriate degree. We were looking for a car to compare it with, and the car sits just a smidge lower than the height as if it were on prodrive’s springs.
Big thanks to Scott for all his help and Alex for hanging out all day.
Cheers,
Previously on the car I’ve had…
Whiteline Flatouts (TopSpeed)
Two sets of Grp-N top hats (had a slight problem tearing the fronts )
Whiteline 27-29MM FSB
Whiteline 22-24-26mm RSB
Whiteline SRB
And a few destroyed endlinks.
This setup was, hands down, the best I have driven, rode, etc when it comes to STi’s on springs. The Flatouts gave the car one hell of a drop as well.
However, I wanted more. With my recent introduction into Road Courses, I wanted to expand the possibilities, as well as the limits, of the car to accommodate a few new future hobbies. The next logical step I felt was to move to coilovers. I knew what I wanted, waited for a good price and finally picked up a set of JICs FLT-A2's about 8 months ago. My schedule was slammed, I had zero time to install these and set it all up. We (WRXatlanta) had an install day recently which allowed me the opportunity to put these on the car. I had a buddy set them up (I'm knew to the coilover world) and we were amazed when we had the car on the rack to be corner-balanced...only 1 lb
While in the air, we found a few things. For instance, I had destroyed the front left endlink (SoG was out of stock of course) the previous weekend. Our goal was to get -1.4° in the rear with minimal toe (0.02°). With the stock bolts in the back, we saw nothing over -.5° no matter how we tried to push it out. We turned to some Intrax bolts to see if they could help solve the problem. Bam, next thing we know, we’re looking at well over -2.1° in the rear. We were able to get the camber in the rear we wanted and moved to the front. We wanted somewhere around -1.8° to -1.9° front with the coilovers set in a street position. Obviously, auto-x, track, etc, full tilt will be around -3°+ or so We were able to get -1.8° with ease in the front.
WOW. The first test ride was incredible. My tires are nearly dead (A+ for dry traction ), and they thoroughly enjoyed the thrashing we threw at them. We were taking Scott's signature round-a-bout and were consistently running out of road to push the car. The grip is phenomenal! I highly recommend this setup to anyone who is interested in pursuing auto-x and or weekend track events but still uses their car as their daily. I'll see if I can snag some pictures soon. We dropped the car so that the laterals were the appropriate degree. We were looking for a car to compare it with, and the car sits just a smidge lower than the height as if it were on prodrive’s springs.
Big thanks to Scott for all his help and Alex for hanging out all day.
Cheers,