legacycentral bbs

This is my first post. I've spent hours and hours here researching the perfect upgrades for me and my subie, and have founds tons and tons of great stuff.

I just finished replacing the stock suspension with KYB GR2 struts and Ground Control Coilovers. The spring rate is 315 front/ 280 rear. I thought this would be too harsh, but I was surprised at how comfortable it was. Definitely stiffer than stock, but I also had 180,000 miles in the original springs and struts.

It was a very easy install save for one major flaw in the driections from Ground Control. The say to knock off the gold retainer flange before you install the coilover sleeves, then put it back on. On stock struts this is fine, but if you knock the retaining flange off the GR2 you will break the seal to the strut piston, create a big mess, and end up buying a new strut.

The proper way is to use a bench grinder on the flange and reduce the diamater just enough to slip the sleeve into place at the base of the stock spring perch. Then throw on the spring, new top perch, new flat washer, stock tapered washer, and finally the top hat. Then slam it in the car.

I highley recomend removing the brake lines from the caliper to feed them into the strut mount. I had to bleed my brakes but it only took 10 minutes, and wow, what a difference some new fluid will make. I used some Super Blue I had sitting around. The pedal feel is WAY better.

Thanks for all the great info guys.

i wish someone would take pics of the whole thing, from begining to end...

i think i saw somewhere that someone did on an impreza wagon i think but im not sure.

thats for teh heads up on the install tho

you want a write up with pics and such? i could throw one together if people want.

I've been in a GC/AGX setup on a 5MT TW and liked it quite a bit. I think it's probably the best compromise between the comfort of a stock setup and the adjustability of a coilover.

I have some pics of the process. I'll try and get them up soon as I can.

I still have the car at stock ride hight. I wanted to see what the diference was purely from shocks/springs before I lowered the center of gravity. It'll go in the weeds this weekend .

One quick question. If I get the alignment done when my car is lowered 1.5 inches and I raise it .5 inch or 1 inch later on, does that mess up the alignment dramtically?

yes. Both toe and camber change based on ride height.

You could get a lifetime alignment, that way you can get it adjusted every time you change ride height.

pic/rightup would be good not just for me but anyone little timid bout doing something like this themselves..

im still a noob compared to most and have never done a suspension swap/work at all..

wow that is good news.

i was under the impression that the GC kit would not work on the GR2s on on the AGX.

that gives us a ton of options for or GR2 equipped 90 FWD legacy that we use for rallycross.

Once my car is up and running I plan on getting a set of GC coilovers and AGX's. When I install 'em I'll provide some crappy pictures from my cruddy camera