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there you have it im looking around for coil overs and there seems to be so little for the 90--93 legacy wagons

so what i want to know is how do coil overs fit into the strut assembley of a legacy and could i use say a set designed for a 02 wrx or impreza in my car ???

You can use any coilovers that have a sleeve big enough to fit over the strut body... I used impreza ones and it took some massaging to make them fit. Of course the ride quality is completely ruined, but if you don't care, coilover sleeves are the way to go.

Imprezas are the same brand, the same make, you're just jumping models...

Subarus are all very similar underneath, so an 93-05 WRX suspension will physically fit on your car. The same goes for any Legacy model up to 99. 00+ has a different rear suspension setup.

91White-T wrote:You can use any coilovers that have a sleeve big enough to fit over the strut body... I used impreza ones and it took some massaging to make them fit. Of course the ride quality is completely ruined, but if you don't care, coilover sleeves are the way to go.

Coilover sleeves are pieces of shit. Granted, I appreciate them from the aspect that it gets people into the coilover mentality - when those people finally realize that they can have better ride with higher performance, they will upgrade to a true coilover suspension setup. but otherwise, garbage.

Full coilovers built for an impreza will work if you make sure you have correct tophats. My coilovers are built for a GC chassis impreza.

how are all coilover sleeves pieces of shit? that is a blanket statement If I ever heard one. care to elaborate on exactly why they are garbage? I have heard good things about some of them.
most impreza coilovers come with more front biased springs, so out of the box they wont work as well for a legacy. thats not to say that you cant easily(and relatively cheaply) change that, which is the best part about coilovers IMO.
does anyone know which lower spring seat type is the best? jam nut vs. set screw vs. pinch bolt style?? a lot of the expensive "real" coilovers use the jam nut, Ground Control(one of the more respected coilover sleeve makers) uses set screws, and the ebay cheapies seem to use pinch style. I dont see a problem with the pinch style, but they are so cheap that you have to wonder about the quality.
as far as coilovers for a legacy wagon, I'd get some with pretty even weights, maybe something like 250lb-in front and rear for a daily driven car.
WRX coilovers with pillowball rear top mounts wont work for the BC legacy because the bolt pattern is different.

206er wrote:how are all coilover sleeves pieces of shit? that is a blanket statement If I ever heard one. care to elaborate on exactly why they are garbage?

Ditto.


Im runnin 500# and 450# liniar springs on Ground Controls.
Perfect for rallycross with fresh WRX dampeners.

So sleaves may clunk around a bit, but Ive never heard a set of any coilovers NOT clunk. Ive owned a set of H&R coilovers, and the second they went on dirt, had to be rebuilt. Not worth the 1400 IMO. I'll just keep swappin out WRX struts cause I get em free, and they take a good beatin.

so you run 500 and 450 #'s on WRX struts eh...
is that enough spring to where damping doesnt matter or are they pretty bouncy? I can imagine that those kind of rates kill struts pretty fast.

I have cheap ass ebay ones, never clunked once.

dumbskate wrote:there you have it im looking around for coil overs and there seems to be so little for the 90--93 legacy wagons

so what i want to know is how do coil overs fit into the strut assembley of a legacy and could i use say a set designed for a 02 wrx or impreza in my car ???

I'm not sure about getting them on your stock struts, but you should replace the struts anyways. I'd get sleeve coilovers/struts for an RS or full coilovers for an RS. Ground Control/Koni or KW Coilovers (variant 3) are good choices street/autocross/light track.

-Mike

206er wrote:so you run 500 and 450 #'s on WRX struts eh...
is that enough spring to where damping doesnt matter or are they pretty bouncy? I can imagine that those kind of rates kill struts pretty fast.

Im not sure of the brand of springs they are. Theyre not the ones that came with the CGs, but they do say the lbs on them. Its actually a very smooth ride, so much so, that Im gonna put in some stiffer ones when I lower the car back down.

The springs were for a new honda accord. HTH

the second they went on dirt, had to be rebuilt.

They aren't built to take offroad - a purpose built rally suspension requires very proper upkeep. When people are competitive and by competitive i mean REALLY competitive - not just pooping through the woods, with their cars - even with DMS - they require teardown and rebuilds quite often.

You have a special situation where you receive dampers for free, thats nice for you, but what about people who don't? That's going to get awefully pricey replacing with WRX struts all the time. Doesn't seem to be very cost effective to me for anyone without your hookup, not to mention the additional time it takes.

If you want to look at rallying, sure, those GCs will work for now for you, for Travis. HOWEVER, once someone starts to really pick up the pace and be competitive within class, they will soon understand why the GC setup is inferior. Don't believe me? Talk to any one of the front running g2 guys. They'll tell ya too.

But, as you say, you get stuff for free. Some of us dont, so we can't be bothered to be replacing dampers all the time.

Coilover sleeves work. They are NOTHING compared to a proper fixed spring, or a true coilover damper, but they do work.

They allow you to lower the car, and provide an illusion of higher performance with a lower ride height (not the proper way to lower ride height, nor is it always a performance advantage to lower the ride height), and stiff spring rates.

But hey, if you really think they are increasing performance, then go for it.

BAC5.2 wrote:go for it.

exactly.

BAC5.2 wrote:Coilover sleeves work. They are NOTHING compared to a proper fixed spring, or a true coilover damper, but they do work.

Well yeah, theres a little difference between 50 and 1000+$

They also allow you to corner weight your car.

They also allow you to corner weight your car.

unfortunately, not perfectly. The springs most often used in these sleeve kits aren't built to high standards, thus their inexpensive price. With a low-quality spring, the ride will be inconsistent and the springs will sag.

91White-T wrote:

BAC5.2 wrote:Coilover sleeves work. They are NOTHING compared to a proper fixed spring, or a true coilover damper, but they do work.

Well yeah, theres a little difference between 50 and 1000+$

True. I'd still rather spend $250 bucks for a set of H&R's or Whiteline springs.

There is also a little performance difference between 50 and 1000+$. Not just a little, but about $950 worth.

"Coilover" sleeves provide very little performance advantage, other than, as I said, an illusion of higher performance.

All I'm trying to say, is that most people can't justify spending 1000$ on something that they most likely will never use to its full potential. I would certainly hope that theres a huge difference in the performance gap between the two, after all you get what you pay for, right?

It just comes to personal preference. Quality vs Price.

Well see how my setup works on March 20th.

Maybe we ought to sticky a spring rate, and setup thread in here of all our different setups.

You do get what you pay for. There is a vast difference between sleeves, and the real deal (as is expected).

I'd rather spend $250 on H&R or Whiteline spring though.

I guess if you just want the car lower, it's a good option. Otherwise, I'd save and invest in some real springs.

No, I don't believe a sticky is in order. Spring rates thru ID springs (such as H&R ID, Eibach ID, or Hypercoil) are very static, easy, and are tested in the same way and provide the same answers. Springs wound specific per vehicle are would differently per manufacturer and each group tends to test differently. Some measure from freelength, some measure loaded height, some measure between 30% and 70% of the free length. What this does is give us inaccurate figures across the board between what one manufacturer may say against another - not apples to apples.

rallitektech wrote: Maybe we ought to sticky a spring rate, and setup thread in here of all our different setups.

Suspension information compendium

You wouldnt want to ask something that was already in a sticky, would you? No! all the kids would laugh at you!



...of course, that doesnt go into the detail you folk are getting into, but it's about as good as one could hope, due to differences in testing and stuff, imho.

whoop, jason beat me to that.