legacycentral bbs

i just bought some tanabe gf210 springs, meant for an 04 WRX. they are going to go on my 1990 Legacy L AWD. they are the tapered springs, so i believe the fitment will be fine. the springs are supposed to do a 1.2"/1.0" drop F/R on a WRX. i believe it should be about the same for the legacy. these springs are the performance springs from tanabe.

my question is, what is a good combination to go with these springs? the guy i bought them from says he had them on his stock struts, and the ride seemed good, but a little on the firm side. would it be best, if i just picked up some stock wrx/sti take-offs?

i was also thinking of going the kyb gr-2's but i heard these with lowering springs, make the car real harsh. agx's would be nice, but a little spendy, and heard they dont last long.

anyone have any opinions, or suggestions? maybe from their personal experience? i want a nice handling ride, for mainly city driving (with some pretty crappy roads), as the car is my daily driver right now. thanks in advance!

Don

gr-2 = agx on setting 2 = oem+15%

having relatively less damper than spring will be nice at low speed and less stable as speed increases. There's a lot more to it than that though.

I'm not sure why gr-2's would make it 'real harsh,' even if compared to oem dampers. Sometimes more strut makes the ride smoother with real stiff springs.

I don't know how stuff those springs are, it would be good to know.

oem wrx stuff tends to be softer in the rear than legacy stuff, which could affect how the car handles and how much the rear is dropped with a full tank of gas and whatnot, even if it doesnt change the ride heights.

Mostly second hand stuff.

ahh ok. i found a website that says these springs should be 20-30% (not specific to WRX) stiffer than stock. that site also says this:

Spring Rate: Front (4.3kg/mm), Rear (4.0kg/mm)
Avg. Lower: Front (1.3), Rear (1.0)

thats specific for the WRX.

also, that website said:

The GF210 is well mated with a performance shock upgrade to extract the full potential of the coil spring, but will also work with factory equipment. Each coil spring application is tested for fitment and optimal weight distribution for sportier handling.

so.... does that mean i should find struts that are in the range of 20-30% stiffer??

AGX's ought to be fine

If I did my math right, those rates convert to 240lb/in in the front and about 215lb/in in the rear. I bet you could get away with GR-2's for a wrx, but your ride quality would be slightly under dampened and bouncy. AGX's would be be optimal, those rates are right in the middle of the AGX's range of dampening.

240/215 sounds right for those springs, those springs are about 80%Front / 60%Rear stiffer than the stock Legacy 132F / 132R, I think you find they are pretty stiff and will require quite a bit more dampening. A GR-2 for the WRX (not the Legacy) will probably be OK around town but will be underdampened at freeway speed. I would say the AGX's set about 50% would be good start point.

I'm running Eibach Pro Kits with 190F / 160R rates and Legacy AGX's set at 2 of 4 front and 4 of 8 rear. I purposely kept the rates under 200 for a daily driver. The ride is not overly harsh but noticeable stiffer than stock, I would use the word firm to describe it and potholes don’t go by unnoticed. With AGX’s set where they are the dampening is well matched but are slightly under damped at speeds above about 85mph, for track or auto-cross I would turn them up a bit.

Gary

ahh ok. so i guess some agx's will be next on the list. thanks for all your help everyone!