I've been running Crucial springs on my 04 wagon for probably close to a year.
I had them installed over the stock struts and was immediately impressed with how decent the ride was. I still felt the bigger bumps a bit sharper than with the stock springs, but the progressive nature of the spring smoothed out the small stuff. Going around corners was definitely better. Much less roll.
(my only other suspension mod is the swaybar from an 02 sedan)
The drop got rid of the ugly wheel gap without slamming the car. I'm still able to run 225s on my P1's without having had the fenders rolled.
Crucial's customer service is top notch as well.

Recently I replaced my stock struts with the Koni adjustable strut inserts. (also purchased through Crucial)
All I can say is WOW!! What an awesome combo is Crucial/Koni!
This is the setup to have for your daily driver/autocrosser/occasional-track- day car. Your kidneys will thank you.
Coilovers, while great on the track, cannot compete on the street where road irregularities will have you skittering sideways. I cannot believe how great this car sticks in the turns now.
Around town I usually keep the Konis on the softest setting which I believe equals the stock setup for comfort while at the same time performing much better. When I want to go play on the twisties, a simple and easy adjustment really really stiffens 'em up for incredible performance.

 

Sweet man,

Glad your happy with your purchase!

 

More or less, I run the same setup. JDM pinks and Konis. I too love it.

 

Yeah, I hear that the Crucial springs are similar to the pinks, so I'm sure your ride is nice.

 

Our spring rates are the same, but we've been told by a handful of customers who have switched between JDM Pinks and our springs that ours handle/grip, respond, and ride better! One big difference is that the JDM Pinks are only progressive in the rear, but linear in the front. Ours are progressive (and the way the progressive nature is done is not the same as the pinks; only the final rates are shared because of how well-researched the JDM Pink rates are) both front and rear. Other differences are the drop and the materials quality... and the price... and warranty... and color


Glad you like them rmanthon!!! Thanks for the review.

Jeremy

 

i don't want to hijack a thread, but what exactly are the koni inserts...do they use the stock struts and you just have to modify them or something? i'd love to go the same route as rmanthon cause i like that setup and it seems a lot of people on here talk about it.

 

The inserts are just that, inserts. You take your stock struts cut the tops off, pull the guts out, drill a hole in the bottom, insert the Koni, install the bottom fastener, reinstall, It's not the difficult. They are expensive, but is you don't want the coilover route these are the way to go. You can get these from Jeremy at Crucial as well.

Speaking of Jeremy... When are you going to give me a set of springs so I can compare, Pinks to Blacks. WTF is wrong with pink??>?

 

crucial or prodrive? koni or kyb? can i go wrong with any of these combos?

 

I've been debating getting the Koni inserts to use with USDM STi springs. glad youre happy with them

 

The main differences I see when I compare KYBs to Konis are:

1) The lifetime warranty with no limit on drop from Konis is far superior to the Warranty of KYBs.

2) Konis have much better lowspeed dampening. This means dampening will be better during turns, however, a harder ride at slower speeds due to increased dampening.

3) Konis require you to hack up the stock shocks, so if they ever do blow, you'll either need to find replacements or live without the WRX for the time it takes to get revalved.

I have never been in a car with a similar setup to mine on KYBs so the harshness is only from shock dynos, not from actual experience. So take point 2 with caution as I have no experience with both.

What I do know, however, is my Koni/Ground Control setup is loads better than my friend's old JIC FLT-A2 setup for daily driving .

 

A note to add to #3 is that when they are revalved they are done so in the USA, which means faster turnaround and good quality