Just installed my STi coilovers

[B 4 You]

Well, as some of you may know I ordered the Ceika coilovers. All was going well, but there were some delays due to the people that made the top mounts and it was taking longer than expected. I'm moving in a month so waiting wasn't an option. I went and bought a set of 05-07 STi coilovers from Raceland. Go ahead and judge me. Install took me about 10 hours. The hardest part was getting the strut knuckle bolts off. I had to use a 4 foot breaker bar several times. Anyway, I'm pretty much a beginner at all of this stuff, and if I could do it, surely you can. The fronts were not bad to get on, just time consuming.









Do you guys like my redneck garage?



Take your STi top plates, and measure where you need to drill. The holes were pretty tiny, and it didn't seem to mess with the structural integrity at all. After all, all the force goes against the top plate, not those little bolts. The bottom knuckles were the exact same width, but the holes were spaced out a little farther. I extended the bottom holes up about a quarter of an inch, and it all slipped on after that. I still haven't connected my sway bar up front, but I plan on doing that this week. It still drives great, though.

The rears didn't take as long but were tedious, and might stray some people away. The knuckles are too skinny, and they must either be bent out or shaved, or shave your SVX (which I won't do). I couldn't find a torch so I just put the damn thing in the flame of the stove until it got pretty hot. I have this old tire changing machine with a leverage bar, and I used that to bent them out to the perfect amount. It took quite a bit of bending/testing/bending, but it worked. I had to wiggle and hammer them on, but they're on and they can come off easily with a hammer. The holes were in the exact same spot, so that made things nice. For the top plates, I had fixed ones, but you'd probably need to drill 3 new holes if you want your camber plates to go straight out, because it sits at a slight angle. For fixed plates, you just need to drill one hole. I was off a little bit so I had to make the other holes slightly bigger, but it worked.

That's LITERALLY it. Even the brackets on the front ones are good to use for the brake/abs lines. It takes a bit of redneck engineering and some elbow grease, but it works. If I can do this, you definitely can. Considering there are 2 companies we know of that make an SVX suspension and probably dozens that make STi ones (and will continue to), I think this may become our best option. The coilovers I bought came with 8k/5k (450 ft-lb/281ft-lb) which made me nervous at first because I HATE bouncy rides, but it's smooth as can be. No body roll too, even without the sway bar up front. I'm completely satisfied. Oh, did I mention it's low?







^ I literally couldn't even pull out of my stupid driveway at this height. When I finally did, it rubbed the crap out of my fenders whenever I turned, so I raised it up a bit.



^ This is the ride height that is perfect. No rubbing at all, even when going fast on bumpy back roads. I would like to have it a little lower, and if I roll my fenders I could go much lower. it still had plenty of clearance on the inside, just not the edge. I may try it with some camber as well. I still have almost 3 inches left to go on the coilovers, and that doesn't include taking the locking nuts off.

I must say I'm pretty impressed with myself, considering 2 days ago I looked up "how to adjust coilovers" on youtube.

Seriously guys, just do it. It's such a good option.

[Nemesis Destiny]

Nice work! The car looks great, and it doesn't sound like too bad of a job.

...And every time I see a set of those STi wheels, I want a set (in silver) more and more.

[huck369]

Good job, but them not having the sway bar attachment point is the biggest reason people haven't been doing this, so I'm interested in what you end up doing to hook up the sway bar....

[Alex-svx]

Grate work and the car looks grate too.

[B 4 You]

Huck, I honestly wouldn't have even known if someone had done this for me and handed the car to me. The front suspension is tight enough to make it not 100% necessary. I feel like I can feel the absence of it, but that might just be me being paranoid. I think I'm going to weld a small bracket onto the control arm and do it that way. I could weld it to the strut, but it would have to be lower and it will be dangerously close to the brake lines. They have adjustable endlinks for civics and such that would fit and I plan on getting those this week

[michael]

Could you find something like this?

[B 4 You]

Yes, but you would have to buy shorter endlinks in order to do so. That would work just fine, though.

[92 SVX]

Looks great, and congrats, one other option for you could have been getting the top plate made at a machine shop.

Cost was about $150 for the both of them at a shop in PA I think, I dont recall what the cost was for mine also for the sway bar mount this is what came with my set.

[dannmarr]

What is the Warranty on these?
(to asnwer my own question: 2 year warranty)

[dannmarr]

Has anyone else use these coilovers?

[svxcess]

Originally Posted by dannmarr

Has anyone else use these coilovers?

I think Green1995SVX has installed his on the pearlie. He was in on the original order and had his machine shop make the required modifications.

But he hasn't posted anything for over 2 1/2 months. Maybe Nate knows something.


.

[Subachouli]

Originally Posted by dannmarr

Has anyone else use these coilovers?

I know a lot of people are using them on the Impreza forums, but this is the first I've seen on an SVX.

Reviews are pretty straightforward. Cheap coilovers are cheap. No surprise there. However, for cars that see limited mileage (not daily drivers), I think they would do just fine. Rates seem about right. I'd like to see a fix for mounting the front sway bar.

For what it's worth, since I drive my SVX about 1000 miles a year, I'd consider picking up a set of these cheap coilovers and trying them out. Couldn't hurt.

[B 4 You]

Cheap coils are cheap coils and that's all there is to it. The ride wold be significantly better, quieter, and more durable on a more expensive set of coils. Money is tight, and the old suspension was broken, so this is perfect. If I get 3 or 4 years out of them, I'll be ecstatic. I've yet to hear any stories about catastrophic failure with these, and 99% of the bad reviews came from people who have never owned a set... almost everyone just said for the money, they're great.

Edit: plus I would much rather start drilling and bending a set of $400 coils vs a set of $1500 coils any day.

[Chuckls]

Originally Posted by B 4 You

Edit: plus I would much rather start drilling and bending a set of $400 coils vs a set of $1500 coils any day.

I RESENT THIS.

But fuhreel...quality coilovers ride SOOOOOOOOOOOO nice

[Tireiron]

So I'm running fortune 500 05-07 STi coilovers with swift 9K front 7K rear coils. I just got the fronts in and wanted to let you see how i setup the front swaybar mounts. I am using whiteline front endlinks for the GD sedan chassis and I welded a tab that I made onto the control arm to mount them to.

This is the right side, 1/4 inch steel plate. Clears all parts and keeps the swaybar at the same height.


I havn't put the rears in yet, planning to do that in a week or two. For those I am swapping out the rear knuckles for the 05-07 rear knuckles to A) go with the brembo rear brakes to match the front 6 piston brembos and B) make mounting the rear coilovers a direct fit to the knuckles without having to enlarge anything on the coilovers.

I'm running stock height with mine though, the SVX is low enough as it is and the roads around me are awful. I had to max out the height adjustment on the front coilovers just to get it to almost stock height without messing with the coil preload adjustment to get more height. This will also help me clear the 265/35/18s I have to run on it.