AWD struts on a FWD
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:22 am
This past Saturday beatersubi and I tried to swap my struts and springs for his struts and springs
My car- 90 FWD sedan
suspension- stock KYBs and springs
beatersubi's car- 93 AWD wagon
suspension- KYB AGR-2s and 06 WRX springs
He want to swap so he could have a higher height and I wanted a lower height. We assumed it would work and should work without a problem. The first thing we noticed was that my struts were taller than his and also the bracket to the perch height was different. This led us to believe we would both get the desired effect that we wanted. So we started with the rears first. We undid his and then mine and swaped his into mine. The first problem we ran into was the bottom of his struts seemed to be longer and were coming into contact with the knuckle so we decided to operate. Stephan busted out the grinder and cut to work. We did this about 6 times. Cutting and then installing and then uninstalling to cut some more. Finally it worked and we got it nstalled. We had also switched the top hats so I would have the apropriate ones. By this time we had realized that it might not work and knew this next test would determine if it was going to work all together. With my stock setup with 17inch wheels I had to run spacers so they wouldn't rub the perch. We put the tire and
. For sure was not going to work. So he decided maybe we could just swap springs and that would work. So he got the 90 springs and I got the 06 WRX springs. When we did my fronts we had to use the top spring perch since the diameter on the WRX springs was smaller than the Legacy ones. But I can say that they do feel good and are stiffer and there might be a slight decrease in height.
AWD strut to knuckle postion
FWD strut to knuckle postion
AWD strut on the left/FWD on the right. Also note the tapered spring
Here you can see how high the bottom bolt is on the AWD strut and why it was hitting the knuckle
Here you can see how low the bottom bolt is on the FWD strut
Height differnce and slant of FWD strut
So Awd struts will not work on a FWD but FWD struts and springs will work on an AWD just use the AWD top hats. Do this if you want to achieve a taller stance for off roading or whatever. I know this has been questioned before and but there has not been any pictures to prove this so I hope our attempet will help others to not make a bad decision or to acheiive a higher stance. Thanks Stephan for the help and let me know how the springs did help.
Tony
My car- 90 FWD sedan
suspension- stock KYBs and springs
beatersubi's car- 93 AWD wagon
suspension- KYB AGR-2s and 06 WRX springs
He want to swap so he could have a higher height and I wanted a lower height. We assumed it would work and should work without a problem. The first thing we noticed was that my struts were taller than his and also the bracket to the perch height was different. This led us to believe we would both get the desired effect that we wanted. So we started with the rears first. We undid his and then mine and swaped his into mine. The first problem we ran into was the bottom of his struts seemed to be longer and were coming into contact with the knuckle so we decided to operate. Stephan busted out the grinder and cut to work. We did this about 6 times. Cutting and then installing and then uninstalling to cut some more. Finally it worked and we got it nstalled. We had also switched the top hats so I would have the apropriate ones. By this time we had realized that it might not work and knew this next test would determine if it was going to work all together. With my stock setup with 17inch wheels I had to run spacers so they wouldn't rub the perch. We put the tire and
. For sure was not going to work. So he decided maybe we could just swap springs and that would work. So he got the 90 springs and I got the 06 WRX springs. When we did my fronts we had to use the top spring perch since the diameter on the WRX springs was smaller than the Legacy ones. But I can say that they do feel good and are stiffer and there might be a slight decrease in height.AWD strut to knuckle postion
FWD strut to knuckle postion
AWD strut on the left/FWD on the right. Also note the tapered spring
Here you can see how high the bottom bolt is on the AWD strut and why it was hitting the knuckle
Here you can see how low the bottom bolt is on the FWD strut
Height differnce and slant of FWD strut
So Awd struts will not work on a FWD but FWD struts and springs will work on an AWD just use the AWD top hats. Do this if you want to achieve a taller stance for off roading or whatever. I know this has been questioned before and but there has not been any pictures to prove this so I hope our attempet will help others to not make a bad decision or to acheiive a higher stance. Thanks Stephan for the help and let me know how the springs did help.
Tony