Koni Sport Adjustable w/Tein S-tech or BC BR Coilovers?

I have been looking at different suspension options for my 2005 Legacy GT wagon 5MT. I have found the Koni and tein setup for $688 where as the coilovers are $1000. Can anybody give me their opinion on either the struts and lowering springs or the coilovers. I am a college student so twice a year the wagon will be fully loaded taking my stuff to school and back home again. I will be running an 18x8.5 et44 wheel with 235/40/18 tires. I do have the ability to roll the fender if needed however I would rather not. I am not looking to slam my wagon I just want minimal wheel gap while maintaining no camber.

It sounds like you want to be able to perfectly dial in your ride height to achieve a particular look. If that is the case then I would recommend coilovers for their ability to adjust ride height, but I would not recommend anything less than KWv2 coilovers if you want a decent ride. Even then the ride will suffer if you are lowering it to the point of minimal wheel gap (which is a vague requirement).

 

I have a combo sale on Konis, H&R springs, and Whiteline front upper mounts which lower the car ~1.3" and are actually streetable. If you wanted just the springs and Konis it comes out just a touch more expensive than the Teins, but I would recommend the full package as it works very well together.

My only contribution is run as far away from a stechs as possible

The S Techs have a pretty big drop and stiff ride. I ran H Techs for awhile. They gave the car a sporty stance and had a near stock ride comfort while improving the handling a bit.

 

Why are you afraid of camber? Part of the reason for getting lowering springs is for the increase in negative camber. Camber won't hurt tires, it's excessive toe in or out that does.

The S Techs have a pretty big drop and stiff ride. I ran H Techs for awhile. They gave the car a sporty stance and had a near stock ride comfort while improving the handling a bit.

 

Why are you afraid of camber? Part of the reason for getting lowering springs is for the increase in negative camber. Camber won't hurt tires, it's excessive toe in or out that does.

I am not a fan of how camber looks. I like keeping as much of the tire on the ground as possible for even tire wear. I have seen camber wear tires unevenly as toe does as well.

I am not a fan of how camber looks. I like keeping as much of the tire on the ground as possible for even tire wear. I have seen camber wear tires unevenly as toe does as well.

 

Small amounts of camber doesn't look like anything and won't affect tire wear. Toe affects it much more.

Small amounts of camber doesn't look like anything and won't affect tire wear. Toe affects it much more.

 

I'm okay with small unnoticeable amounts of camber. My previous gc8 impreza was on tanabe lowering springs and I know there was a little bit of camber. I just don't want anything outrageous.

I am not a fan of how camber looks. I like keeping as much of the tire on the ground as possible for even tire wear. I have seen camber wear tires unevenly as toe does as well.

 

1 or 2 degrees of negative camber won't hurt your tire life. I run 2.5 degrees on the front of my LGT and the tires wear extremely evenly, of course I also have 0 toe in the front and an 1/8 toe in in the rear.

 

1 degree of camber isn't noticeable to the eye. 2+ degrees is noticeable.

I'm currently running -2.25f -1.5r for camber, 0 toe all around. The front camber is noticeable, the rear is not.

 

I wouldn't even think of running less than -1 on the front of this car at a minimum.

God please do not run the S-Techs...

 

Get the konis and some swift sport springs.....

I've decided Koni's with H&R Sport springs are the best option for my budget. As soon as I started doing some looking and reading on here I realized how terrible the s-techs are.

You need to spend big bucks to get a good set of coil overs....S techs and ride improvement are not two words that are synonymous with me, from experience. I agree with the Konis and nice springs for the street. Unless you track or auto-x your car, coil over set ups on the street are just for bling. Koni's are high end street shocks.

 

While we're on the subject look at the Konis i just got, what's with the other style spring seat? The new seat is a substantial 1 inch plus higher that the one that normally comes with these. Plus with Koni you get the universal "speechless" install literature WTF. Wagon specific?

You need to spend big bucks to get a good set of coil overs....S techs and ride improvement are not two words that are synonymous with me, from experience. I agree with the Konis and nice springs for the street. Unless you track or auto-x your car, coil over set ups on the street are just for bling. Koni's are high end street shocks.

 

While we're on the subject look at the Konis i just got, what's with the other style spring seat? The new seat is a substantial 1 inch plus higher that the one that normally comes with these. Plus with Koni you get the universal "speechless" install literature WTF. Wagon specific?

 

I wonder if the seat is 1 inch higher to eliminate the "saggy butt" problem that people commonly incur. If so I think that that's better then using the spacers.

I just went through this little debate myself. Koni's with a decent spring are going to cost you almost the same as BC BRs. Struts and Springs will be around 700 bucks, but top hats, spring seats, hardware, etc. rounded it up to 970 for me. I ran coilovers before, and didn't like how much time I spent messing with them. If you are after unparalleled ride height adjustability: coilovers are a must. If you want to lower your car 1-1.5 inches: the Koni's with H&Rs are giving me a better than stock ride. Installing the Koni's was more difficult for me than a coilover install, but I saved several hours since there is no setting, and adjusting, after the install. I went with Koni adjustable inserts as well, which is worth noting; your front struts need to be in good shape (unbent) since you'll be re-using part of them.

Saggy butt is there for a reason. Look at your sideskirts and tell me if they are flat or not...

I feel your uncertainty OP. I just picked up some Swifts hoping they'll do me right with oem bilsteins. Will let ya know

I just went through this little debate myself. Koni's with a decent spring are going to cost you almost the same as BC BRs. Struts and Springs will be around 700 bucks, but top hats, spring seats, hardware, etc. rounded it up to 970 for me. I ran coilovers before, and didn't like how much time I spent messing with them. If you are after unparalleled ride height adjustability: coilovers are a must. If you want to lower your car 1-1.5 inches: the Koni's with H&Rs are giving me a better than stock ride. Installing the Koni's was more difficult for me than a coilover install, but I saved several hours since there is no setting, and adjusting, after the install. I went with Koni adjustable inserts as well, which is worth noting; your front struts need to be in good shape (unbent) since you'll be re-using part of them.

 

Do you have pictures of your car on the H&R springs? I'm curious as to how much of a drop they really are.

Saggy butt is there for a reason. Look at your sideskirts and tell me if they are flat or not...

 

Are you trying to say that with the saggy butt the side skirts should be level or are you trying to say that with saggy butt the rear part of the side skirt would be closer to the ground.

 

I feel your uncertainty OP. I just picked up some Swifts hoping they'll do me right with oem bilsteins. Will let ya know

 

Thanks. If you could post a picture and your interpretation of ride quality that would be awesome.

I have konis and tein-s, I maxed out the stiffness on the konis.The ride is super stiff, I feel everything, this is definitely not for anyone who can't handle bumps and potholes. But I turn like i'm on rails, and I love it.

 

For hardcore street racing setup it works very well. When I take off there is very little shift in weight from front to back. Its the same when I turn as well, very little weight shit.

 

But I know why people would dislike them. If comfort is a factor look elsewhere. If you want a low stiff ride and can drive without aiming at potholes then you may like it.

 

I was specifically looking for springs with the stiffest rate, and I think the tein-s out of h&r, swift, tein-other, etc had the stiffest spring rates.

I have konis and tein-s, I maxed out the stiffness on the konis.The ride is super stiff, I feel everything, this is definitely not for anyone who can't handle bumps and potholes. But I turn like i'm on rails, and I love it.

 

For hardcore street racing setup it works very well. When I take off there is very little shift in weight from front to back. Its the same when I turn as well, very little weight shit.

 

But I know why people would dislike them. If comfort is a factor look elsewhere. If you want a low stiff ride and can drive without aiming at potholes then you may like it.

 

I was specifically looking for springs with the stiffest rate, and I think the tein-s out of h&r, swift, tein-other, etc had the stiffest spring rates.

 

If you change the damper on the Koni's does it make the ride a little less stiff? I want the "Ride on Rails" Handling but I also would like to be able to carry all my school stuff with me to and from home for each semester. Are the s-techs stiff enough that you could load the car and not scrape constantly?

S-techs will lower the car to a state of uselessness.

 

The setup you were going with before was a good choice...h&r with Konis.

 

If you want something that will "handle like its on rails" with minimal monetary investment, look into a Miata.

s techs suck!

j/k, I got a flat.. I can see why people dislike them, but with the firmest setting on koni's they are not bad at all. I don't care at all for comfort, I just want as little movement as possible and they provide that. The drop is not that low imo. Off the line and in the turns I have very little body roll, which is what I wanted. I dislike the stock front and back roll on acceleration and braking, I figured any spring with stock like ratios would do the same.

Do you have pictures of your car on the H&R springs? I'm curious as to how much of a drop they really are.

 

 

Sorry for the late reply. Here is a shot about 400 miles after install. Koni's with H&R sport springs.

Sorry for the late reply. Here is a shot about 400 miles after install. Koni's with H&R sport springs.

 

Do you have any spacers in the rear? It doesn't look like you have any saggy butt problems. Also what are your wheel and tire specs?