Well I went drag racing for the first time ever last night, and it made me realize what my first mod needs to be. Suspension... Ok While I might be a little sarcastic as far as the drag racing thing I do want to focus on my suspension first, but like every student, I have no money...Well just a little. From working the corner and whatnot.

I was wondering what the most cost effective mod would be? I know nothing of suspensions. I spent the last 4 years learning every little technical detail I could about engines from magazines and the like...and now I'm not doing anything to it and it's a bit dissapointing. But I'm gonna be Auto-xing anyway. So if anyone can help me out it'd be great. I drive an 04 WRX. BTW...I ran 16's all night cause I love my clutch too much.


-Danny

 

Anti lift kit, sway bars, and better tires if you haven't already swapped them out. Or maybe some coilovers but if your short on cash then they might be out of the question. You could get the first two items and maybe a good set of springs..Then I would swap out brake lines, pads, and fluid..if your going to be auto-x

 

get new tires... the RE92s that come stock suck. On the cheap you can get falken azenis sports. I heard they have awesome dry grip and are pretty inexpensive (I think 80/tire?).

A larger swaybar is good too.. your 04 WRX comes with a 17mm RSB. You can do a cheap upgrade by finding a 20mm sedan RSB from a 2002 or earlier 2003 (40-50 bucks?) or upgrade to an aftermarket one (cusco, whiteline, etc).

So far I upgraded to 17"s with bridgestone S-03s (225/45/17) and it's made a HUGE difference already over the stock tires. I plan on getting a larger RSB next and then some coilovers or spring/struts.

 

This was my first and best mod but it will cost him around $1300. From what I've read the RSB is great at helping with understeer (this is also my next suspension mod). Adjusting camber settings and messing with tire pressure can also be benificial and cheap.

 

Would you recomend buying used wheels and tires? And what's a good offset?

 

The most important thing is the tires. Doodoobrown and I have So3's which are some of the best street tires you can buy. I have heard that Falken Azenis tires are a great tire and they are not too expensive.

I dont see a problem with buying used tires and rims as long as they are in good shape, have the correct offset and they arent too heavy. The recomended offset for our cars is between +48mm and +52mm.

Let me start off by saying that I'm no Suby guru or anything but here is what my experiences have lead me to beleive. I have a 02 sedan with SPT springs (front drop 1.4", rear 1.2") with -1 degree of camber in the rear with the stock struts and my So3's (225/45/17) rub the rear fender when I am hitting the curves hard so you need to think about all of the things you want to do with the car in the future before commiting to a specific wheel and tire. If I had it to do again I would have gone with the same tires and a wheel with a +50mm offset so I could run less -camber in the rear. Since I went with a wheel with a 48mm (the lower the # the closer to the fender) I will now need to run more - camber in the rear which doesnt help with understeer, roll the fenders, or buy some KYB struts to stiffen the suspension. But then again going back to -1.5 degrees of camber in the rear (stock settings) could possibly stop the rubbing and a stiffer RSB could help with the understeer problem caused by running more - camber in the rear. Also remember that all 225 tires dont have the same physical width and So3's are some of the widest tires on the market.

 

I have an 04 RS and I do autocross. The Azenis Sports are very grippy, but when they get hot they loose stick. I'm convinced that every set should come with a free watersprayer. I don't really use them on the street though. They would wear down pretty quick. From what I've heard they have the best initial bite in the ST classes, but the Kumho MX's handle the heat alot better. As far as suspension goes I just put a set of Prodrive coils on the stock struts. Oddly I think it actually rides smoother than with the stock springs. It lowered the car just a little in back and dropped it in the front enough to even out the fender clearances front and rear which drove me nuts, I hated that big front fender gap. I also just put on a set of Whiteline bars. 22mm out front and a 22-24-26mm out back. This by far has the biggest impact on handling and overall car balance if you ask me. Right now I have it on the 24mm setting and it made a world of difference. However if I had a WRX I would've went with the Hotchkis setup. Alot of people have been saying go with a stock STI RSB which is 20mm. Both the RS and WRX also have 20mm FSB's. So yeah it helps, but my car still pushed pretty bad with the STI bar in back especially with the sticky Azenis. The STI has a 19mm FSB and a 20mm RSB so it's handling is a little more neutral. My advice is if you can get new swaybars they make the biggest difference after tires. If you can only get one bar get an adjustable rear bar something like a 20-22-24 would probably be a good place to start with some stickier tires. Well that's my 2 1/2 cents