Help me build a budget suspension!

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by sisforsurfing

DaveSTI, quite a post. I'm impressed.

Are you not gung ho about Koni's because you don't think the work involved is worth it compared to other available solutions, that there are better options for the STi, or otherwise?

Thanks man, took awhile to write that out, haha.

If Koni put in the time to make a fixed perch option for the STi, I'd recommend it. Since they won't put in the time, why should I? It's a bunch of hacking, measuring, and test fitting. I wouldn't really push someone in that direction unless they felt comfortable with the work involved. Koni makes a great damper compared to the stock struts, KYB, and Tokico...its just work. The other option is to buy the GC housings and put the Konis in there...that's the route I'd go if I was focused on running Konis on my car.

My perspective with fixed perch options is that you pay a lot for a little. The little being bump travel. The strut location on the Impreza doesn't have a lot of room for conventional struts to have enough bump travel for the majority of roads around here. The stock STi suspension rides on the bumpstops with stock springs!

Ohlins FPS have yet to be torn into to find out what kind of travel they have or the bump stop they use, but the physical dimensions that a strut is able to provide on this car inherently limit the amount of bump travel possible. Prodrive's RB320 kit moved the spring seat location to try to coax more bump travel out of it, but even there we're not talking inches. It's kind of sad, really, but the only real way to maximize bump travel on the Impreza is to go with coilovers set at a decent ride height.

For a street car, travel is king. That's why I tend to push people to coilovers on this car. Like I said before, the stock suspension is already riding on the factory bumpstops. A lowering spring does nothing to help this. With that said, the fixed perch definitely have their place in the market. The Ohlins do a great job with what they can work with, never need to be rebuilt, are dead silent, and have enough adjustment range to handle any lowering spring out there. Simplicity is key with that setup, you can set it and forget it, which is definitely perfect for some people. Plus, they're pretty comfortable (most definitely have a softer progressive bumpstop than the stock struts).